You have a phone, but do you answer it?

Technology is great. You can do so much, but the simple things in business still matter. 

We been around for 20 years, promoting "LOCAL BUSINESS", and we're good at it but you have to help.When your phone rings - it's a really good idea to answer it. Stop screening your calls - don't lie to me - I know you screen - I called you!  

Phones, they do everything, they connect us to the cat videos, the stupid pet tricks, graphs and spreadsheets. There is still 1 thing they do better than almost any piece of technology - they connect you to a client or customer - maybe a new one! So when you hear it ring - ANSWER!

Be as Thankful as your pet!


It's time to give thanks. Thank you for your continued support and loyalty to our LOCAL COMMUNITY GUIDES!.

Thanks to our families and friends for their love and affection.
Thanks for the laughter that made our days lighter and our hearts swell with joy.

Thanks that we are living in a lovely city...wonderful state...and the greatest nation to grace the earth.

You can HEAR a smile....

We know being in small - local - business is no day at the beach...unless you work in Maui, but it doesn't cost a dime to smile. 

When you answer your phone make sure you have a smile on your face, studies show the person on the other side of the connection can "hear" the positivity that shines through a smile. So, even when you don't want to...SMILE...it's a way to elevate those pesky endorphin's. AND we all look better doing it. 

YOGA....YOGA DEN...AMAZING!

Who knew? Well the YOGA DEN knew, but I didn't.

"Restorative" & "Gentle" Yoga are an amazing way to get in touch with yourself. Feeling stressed? (and who among us isn't?) Feeling cranky...my default setting somedays. Feeling the need to stretch it all out? If any of these are the questions - YOGA DEN IS THE ANSWER!!

What have you got to lose - stress, irritation, knots in your muscles? Plus you can feel good about the soothing wonderfulness of doing something just for you!!

CAN YOU SAY......SCAM????

Businesses get these ALL THE TIME, a "OFFER", to fill in their names & Addresses to be "PUBLISHED" in the......what?? The ONLINE California internet??? The online USA directory??? The online ENTIRE WORLD BUSINESS listing directory???

DO NOT FALL FOR IT!!! STOP...DO NOT!!! If you send this in the only ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY SURE THING THAT WILL HAPPEN IS THIS.....YOU WILL GET A BILL FOR OVER $1000.00 per year - SELF RENEWING!!

And to be even more clear, these people have a room full of hot shot lawyers who's only job is to make you pay. Credit dings, Credit Card charges, nasty phone calls....this is the world of the people who prey on you by using the "Walking Fingers', a much respected logo, to part you from your money.

COURAGE

The people of Boston, are us - writ bloody. Whatever the reasoning of the person or people who commit these acts, we know the truth....they have a character filled with cowardice. A heart 10 sizes too small. A mind and spirit so twisted, so stunted, so grotesquely deformed - they are unrecognizable to the rest of us. They lack the very humanity we so often forget runs so deep in our souls. We are only reminded of our shared communal humanity when events shock us into seeing the horrific. 

I heard an interview with a runner at the Boston Marathon, who having completed her run, the ran to the devastation - toward the emergency area to try and help. When asked if she feared for herself she answered, "Well, not really. I did what I had to do". You often hear soldiers who have performed an act of extreme courage say the same thing, i.e, "I didn't think about the danger I went to help my friends". Police officers and Fire personnel - same thing...they go into the arena of bullets, into the fire, into the stairwells, with their courage showing brighter than their badges, to help others. Thoughts of self are secondary. Mother & Fathers often perform acts of enormous courage in protecting their families and children - they also respond, "the fear comes later, but I had to act or my children would have been hurt".  Patricia Maisch who tackled the shooter in Tuscon when he had to reload from a jammed gun could have run...but she didn't. She says it was instinct. Our own American horror night in Aurora Colorado, where people covered their loved ones with their own bodies. America, founded on a principle of religious freedom had a crazed anti-Muslim terrorist with more firepower than will power, attack a Sikh Temple. Newtown....teachers urged their students into any area they thought might be safer from the incredibly well armed lunatic who was staking them, and spoke to them of love and hugged these terrified babies.

All of these heroes could have looked out for them selves, some could have run, many could have simply put self above others - but they didn't. 

Courage - a human quality, that we value so highly we give medals, hold parades, write books about it, award citations. We attempt, in every small way we can recognize it, to reward it. Often we are rewarding it posthumously, but still we try. Flags are flown, salutes given, tears are shed...and we wonder....how can these people do these things? From any distance it sounds like an effort we're not sure we can give. It looks too big...it might cost too much.... and then when our turn comes....and it surely will....will we have what it takes? Gabby Giffords has it. The survivors of the Newtown horror have it. The survivors of each and every man-made tragedy are testament to it. 

Well, the answer may be different for each person, but I believe that we are made from sterner stuff. We have courage in our DNA. Bravery in our veins. Persistence as a part of our hearts so we can overcome. We must also reward courage in our elected leaders and remind them, that we - not they - are the heart & soul of this nation. We - not they - bear the burdens, pay the price, and endure the unendurable. We - not they - are what makes this nation great and we will no stand for their divisive, petty, money grasping, diminished behavior in regard to our country. Show the same courage you had when sending our treasure off to war. Show the courage you have seen from us during very difficult economic times, during terror attacks, during mass shootings....look to us - WE WILL SHOW YOU THE WAY! 

I only use  ONLINE...I only use PRINT ... REALLY??

When the Internet hit local businesses several years ago...We were told - this is earth shattering - EVERYTHING WILL BE DIFFERENT NOW. ALL YOUR NEEDS WILL BE MET --- ONLINE.

AT&T rushed out to change all your print ads to online. (web designers became our new best friends)

The funerals were planned for Newspaper advertising. (send paper flowers)

Directories, and most print including magazines  were buried at sea with Osama Bin Laden. (splish-splash)

Well, now its 2013, and the "fog of advertising war" has begun to lift. Visibility is better...local small business has a better - clearer -  view of the battlefield.  There was an..... unexpected result. The internet only ADDED to your need to reach out ability - it NEVER replaced it. I know everyone thought they could STOP all advertising - even the stuff that was PROVEN to work, but change is never that fast, never that complete, and it never stops.

So, small LOCAL businesses simply had to ADD another "door" to their business. Not, CLOSE their PRINT ADVERTISING DOOR door.