BEING OLDER HAS IT'S ADVANTAGES

Today's my birthday...and the older I get the more I feel like I can kinda sorta say and do what I want to do.  I'm at the point in my life that I don't have to have a job with lots of stress and lots of money.  However,, the money WOULD be nice. :)  I can pick and choose what I can do with my extra job income going towards extras.  Extras.....Like my annual vacation south to the caribbean.  Best money I've ever earned...or ever spent.  

I've been a bit stressed out lately over something that's not one bit my business.  Keep tryin' to let it go but it's something I really care about.  I mean I really, REALLY care about. 

You know that old story line about "build it and they will come"?  Well, that's not the truth.  You can build a fancy business, whether it be a restaurant, gift shop or club .....but if you don't spend the time to promote it and make the customers feel welcome and special....they might come at first...but they will leave.  And just like my daddy taught me...the ones that leave will tell 20 other people why they left.  It doesn't take long for that pyramid of disgruntled customers to close your doors.

It takes a lot of work to make a business thrive.  First and foremost is to make your customers feel like they're the most important thing going on.  You have to shmooze.

 EVERY customer wants to be recognized.  They need the boss lady, or boss man, or manager, to be visible and hopefully know them by name.  They want to be told that you're glad to have them.  If you can't remember their name you can always call them buddy or sugar....just call them SOMEthing nice.  

You have to have specials and you have to PROMOTE those specials.  You can NOT depend on one group of customers to keep your doors open.  Find something for EVERYbody...EVERY day.  You have to spend a little money to make a little money...Just make sure you spend it in the right way.  A way that the customers FEEL....even if that's in their pockets.  More people means more sales...even if you have to cut your prices to get the volume.  10 customers a day at $5 a pop gets you $50 dollars a day.  200 customers at $4 gets you $800 dollars a day.  Now...Did that dollar hurt that bad?  Or did it give you 200 customers who will be back tomorrow?

Be CONSISTENT.  Open early and close late. At the same time EVERY day.  Be there for the convenience of your customers.  When they come more than once and find your doors closed they probably won't come back again.  They will find another business that cares enough to be open for 'em.  Give them a REASON to come.  Those three customers who were there at 10AM may come back tomorrow and bring 10 more with them because you were OPEN...you had a REALISTIC price on your product...and you made them feel like they were the best customers you've ever had.  SCHMOOZE...one more time...I can't say it enough.

If you're unhappy with how your employees are handling things...sit them down and talk to them...in private...show them by example.  If they're experiencing more customers than the employees can handle...get in there and HELP them.  Get some extra hands in the door and get the customers taken care of...with a SMILE on your face.   Videotaping them with a frown on your face in front of your customers will NOT get you better business. And, it certainly won't get you better employees.  It only puts a bitter taste in the mouth of the customers who have to witness your poor management.  It will also cause you to be short-staffed TOMORROW! Your employees have to KNOW what is expected and be given the tools to make things happen.  If you're happy with your employees...for gosh sakes let them know!

 

"Too many Chiefs and not enough Indians".  Assistant managers are OK...but there should only be ONE manager.  And let that manager call the shots! There should always be an employee meeting once a week where the manager can set out the pros and cons of the week before...in a way that is not harsh and makes the employees feel that, YES, they can make better things happen.  Upcoming expected busy dates and special events should be discussed and all employees aware of what to expect and what is expected of them.  LISTEN to your employees and brainstorm where improvements can be made...and where extra help may be needed.  The employees interact with the customers much more than the manager or the owner.  If the owner chooses a manager that they feel is capable of managing his or her business let them make decisions, hire and fire, add extra help...whatever it takes to make their business a success.  

Coming up with new ideas is great, but if you don't promote them they will not pay off.  Deciding today to have a 50% off sale tomorrow will get you a few new customers but planning it far enough ahead to market the sales promotion will pay off in a much bigger way.  Same goes with events and contests.  The general public and your potential market customers have to KNOW about it!  Poor promotion equals poor business.  Don't be one of those people who tries something on the spur of the moment and then gets teed off at prospective customers because they weren't there.  They didn't KNOW.  Run a promotion long enough for customers to tell other potential customers what a great promotion it is and convince them that YOUR business is the place to spend their money.

  You can take over a business and make it an even BIGGER success.  But you have to make it YOUR business and put YOUR stamp on it.  And you have to convince the old customers as well as new customers that you cater to them and appreciate every time they step through your doors.  Let them get to know you and become someone they can expect to see the next time they visit your establishment.

A business can't expect to just cut on an OPEN sign when they think customers might come in.  The ones that came by yesterday when the sign wasn't on won't be back today.  The three customers in the morning are just as important as the fifty who come in the afternoon.

Success all depends on customer service and proper management.  There has to be interaction between the customers and the employees have to be educated with what has gone on, what is going on and what is going to go on.  Only the boss can make that happen. 

My thoughts are...If it wasn't broke...Don't try to fix it...Just make it better!

Whew...What a way to spend my birthday afternoon!  A true sign that I'm gettin' old...and crotchety....and my way is the ONLY way!  Yeah, right!  Let's just be happy and thank the Lord every day because we're clearly blessed.  I'm not worried!  Somebody's gonna take care of me.

If there was a DJ at the ODP today I'd go down and dance a little...but I guess me and the kids will just stay home and dance.  Put the music on, Miss BayBay!

THANKS FOR DROPPIN' IN AND LISTENIN' TO AN OLD LADY...WHILE YOU'RE HERE WON'T YOU LEAVE A COMMENT?

GRATEFUL FOR MY ANNUAL MIGRATION SOUTH

There are 52 weeks in a year.  I bust my butt for 51 of 'em to be able to get a change in latitude and head to the islands once a year.  In the old days I could do this 3 or 4 times a year, but if 1 is all I can get I'll take it!

This year was especially good because I went back to one of my favorite places in the whole world, Harbour Island in the Bahamas.  Located off the tip of North Eleuthera, Harbour Island is a small island only 3 miles long and 1/2 mile wide.  Only way to get there is by boat, sea plane or helicopter.  Since I don't have a yacht, sea plane or helicopter I flew into North Eleuthera and took a water taxi over.  Five bucks and five minutes.

Papa Grant takes real good care of us on the water taxi and his grandson's load and unload your luggage for a mere $1 tip.  (However, we tip more!) His young men have been taught well and I'm sure one day will continue his legacy on the harbour waters.

This year I went with 3 fabulous ladies from the Greensboro area.  None of them had visited the island before and I was excited to see if they would love it as much as I do.  Due to them flying directly out of Greensboro I was left alone to fly out of Myrtle Beach for my first solo trip in a long time.  Took me 3 airplanes and a water taxi to get there.  My flight out of Charlotte to Nassau was a real experience, as there were only about 7 people on a good sized jet.  Gave me the opportunity to kick back and enjoy the ride.

Once in Nassau I took a puddle jumper over to North Eleuthera.  Always full....always fun.   And you always get to meet your captain.  Everybody on the plane is excited to get to Harbour Island.

 I like to travel by myself...y'all know I'm weird.  I like to meet new people and talk about something new.  On the trip over I met two fabulous guys going to Harbour Island for their first time.  They were full of questions when they found out I was also going to the island and had been there many times.  I felt like the "old wise one" and filled 'em in on the beauty and character of Briland.  We rode the water taxi over with no other passengers.  I knew it wouldn't be goodbye, so I left 'em with "see you around the island".  And, yes, we DID run into each other several times.

My partners in good times had arrived several hours before me and met me at the dock on our golf cart to pick me and my bags up.  I was anxious to hear their first impressions when they got there, knowing not very much about the island.  I had tried to "school" them for several months that this was not a fancy place....no high rises....90% golf cart transportation....and about as low key as you can get.  The houses in Dunmore Town were all built in the 1700's and early 1800's.  Ours was a new one, built in 1848.

It was half a block from the harbour, one block to the grocery & licquor store and a short walk to where my favorite local owned little bars, grills and shops are located.  The golf cart was for exploring the island and getting to the beautiful sand beach about 8 blocks away.

 

So began a great week of sun, fun and friendship.  We bought enough groceries and libations to sustain us for the week, while taking most of our meals and a few cocktails at the many friendly establishments on Harbour Island.  It was all about relaxation, the beautiful water...and the fabulous local folks.  Nobody over-ate....nobody over-drank.   There wasn't a schedule and everybody was free to go where they wanted to...when they wanted to.  We split up and went our merry way.

Being with some island newbies I partook of a few "touristy" activities offered and enjoyed riding horses on the pink sand beach and snorkeling.  Thoroughly enjoyed both adventures.

All in all...It was a GREAT week.  I only had a couple of ADD meltdowns and met a lot of nice folks.  I got a little sun...Weather was perfect...In the mid to high 80's every day.  I returned to my 51 weeks a year paradise, Ocean Drive, with a new lease on life.  Ahhhhhhh.  

Don't worry....Be Happy.  Didn't worry about a thing at home, as I knew Lulu had my job taken care of and a dear friend had Mr. Brady and Miss BayBay taken care of.  Tony sent me  photos of the "kids" and kept me filled in via text as to their adventures.  I'm not sure but from what I heard they were havin' a ball.  Tony took 'em on golf cart rides, to the beach and played endless games of fetch.  Everybody needs a friend like Tony.  The "kids" loved him so much they were torn between welcomin' me home and fear that he would be leavin'.  But once we all settled down I got some poodle kisses and hugs that seemed like they'd never end. 

I'm back in the daily grind....And savin' up for week #52 next year.  Eleuthera will be my change in latitude and attitude once again...The main island IS my favorite place.  

Now that I'm home we're back to dancin'...It seems to take the stress outta all our problems the other 51 weeks.  Let's do it!  Miss BayBay...Cut the music on!

 Thanks for droppin' in....While you're here, won't you leave a comment?

REMEMBERING HARRY LEE BROWN

Hmmm..One of H. Lee Brown's favorite songs.  A Love To Call Mine, by Johnny Taylor.  This song says a lot about the man.  If you really knew H. Lee..the REAL H. Lee...He was really a big mushball.  And I mean this in a GOOD way.  In his own way he spent his entire adulthood lookin' for a love to call his.  When he finally found one, he couldn't hang on to it.  In this way, he was his own worst enemy.  

Nothin' he liked better than havin' a pretty woman on  his arm.  With fancy cars, a beautiful smile and the gift of gab the pretty ladies were always waitin' in line to be the next one to get his attention.  His presence as the proprietor of several successful beach clubs didn't hurt, either.  The ladies were always close by just to get a photo with  him.

H. Lee Brown didn't always have the "good life".  Raised without the finer things he struggled as a young man to become the man he finally became.  He struggled through not having a pair of decent shoes to wear to his high school prom and had to borrow some from a friend.  He struggled through addiction...and he won.  He lost some very important years due to his alcoholism and he'd be the first to tell you how God, some special people and AA saved his life.  He struggled through times of not knowing where his next dime would come from. He struggled through many loves that he thought would make him whole. To really know H. Lee you HAD to know his past.

If you were lucky enough to spend some quality time with this man you would get to know where he came from and what he was all about.  He was a great story and a sad story...all at the same time.  He could rant and rave and talk about someone like a dog...and the next thing you know his eyes would be filled with big crocodile tears because that person was going through a hard time...and reach out to help them any way he could.

We had our ups and downs...I've screamed at him as much as he screamed at me.  But, we always stayed friends.  One of the hardest things in our friendship was understanding that to make one person happy he had to pretend to turn his back on someone else.  But I understood.  We still had our private talks and he still called me friend.  We still hugged and occasionally cried together over things we couldn't do a darn thing about.  To most he represented a strong, powerful,  icon in Ocean Drive and to a very few he represented a shy man who NEEDED to be recognized and loved.  The real H. Lee Brown was hidden behind all of the beautiful clothes, jewelry, cars and women that he felt necessary to show his worth. 

On many occasions this OD giant would call me when invited to a social event and ask me to wait for him so he wouldn't have to walk in alone.  Seeming larger than life and extremely confident to those that only knew him casually he was really still that young man that dreamed of someday being "somebody".  He still didn't have the confidence to walk into a group of people that he admired, or envied, without a hand to hold and get the conversation started.  But give him a microphone and he was totally in charge and oozed of self-confidence.  Sometimes too much!  LOL.

H. Lee LOVED this painting given to him by Jeanie Plyler.  It always reminded him of where he came from.  He never forgot...and some of it he never overcame.  This mailbox represents Harry Lee Brown.  He had a dream and he left us still trying to fulfill that dream.  To most he seemed to have met his dream, but to those that knew him well he was still looking for the life and acceptance that he thought would make him complete.  

To know Harry Lee Brown, you needed to go fishing with him, where he could let his guard down and be comfortable.   You needed to go on a road trip and hear the stories about his youth along the way.  You needed to sit in private with him and let him tell you where he felt he had gone wrong along the way and hear him talk and cry about the father he wanted to be and knew he wasn't.  He always felt like it was too late to make some of his past RIGHT.  Being with H. Lee Brown when nobody else was around and with someone who didn't expect him to be Mr. Big was a great thing.  He was a good man.  He was a successful man.  He was a caring man.  But he still wanted to be Mr. Big Wheel.  And he was truly in his element when rubbing shoulders with the local politicians, driving in the local parades and sometimes just walkin' down Main Street. 

I'll never forget the day H. Lee came by my house and found out I didn't have air conditioning.  My HVAC unit had gone out the year before and I'd gone through the winter with no heat and the summer was here and my house was hot as hades.  He was mad as fire that I hadn't let him know about it and let him help.  I told him I was fine and I had some funds coming in a couple of weeks.  He left and returned with a wad of hundred dollar bills and said "You call somebody right now and get a system put in tomorrow.  Take your time and don't worry about paying me back.  I trust you".  Had it done the next day and about 3 days later my funds came in.  My first stop was to the bank for cash and my second stop was to see H. Lee.  He tried his best not to take it, saying that he would wait until I got back on my feet.  He finally took the money and we were square.  We sat down and laughed and talked about back in the day when it wasn't a bad thing not to have air conditioning.  He didn't want anyone to know what he'd done.  He didn't want a BIG thank you.  He was just helping a friend.  And a friend he was.

Losing this friend so quickly and the way he had to pass is really hard to accept.  I'm sorry that he missed the presence of his family and close friends towards the end.  For whatever reason, God chose to take him much too quickly.  Knowing H. Lee Brown he still had a lot to do and a lot to say.  He still had some things to forgive and be forgiven for.  But in the end all is right.  He is resting in peace and I'm sure he'd love for all of us to find peace in having known him.  But, let's not forget, he DID enjoy causing a few ruffles along the way.  I can smile at the ruffles and hope that his memory will sail on smoothly.

Harry Lee was really a good 'ol boy....With a hard shell and a soft heart.

Whew...this was tough.  I need to dance...Only wish the ODP was open and I could run down there and dance it off.  Hope to do that REAL soon...

THANKS FOR DROPPIN' IN.  WHILE YOU'RE HERE, WONT YOU LEAVE A COMMENT?