Friday, March 28, 2014

Cowabunga!

When I was a team leader in my past life (as a corporate recruiter) I would occasionally have to sit down with a colleague and help them focus.  "What's the problem?" I'd ask? "Oh my gosh, I have a million phone calls to return, 2 million things to set up, I'm not sure which of my candidates is going to get an offer, so and so is mad at me, and I feel like my head is going to explode." she said.
"So, what's the problem?" say I.  Deafening silence and incredulous look from said colleague.

I reminded them if you feel like you are skiing down the mountain with no poles, it's probably because you are about to take a big leap forward. 

Today I am 
Tagging and inventorying 162 items I took out of a house on a house call
Trying to make plans to actually watch the NCAA tourney
Putting a second coat of finish on a table top
Needing a better way to organize our Client Wish List
Working the numbers for a corporate art deal
Being sad for me & happy for her that Cathy is retiring from her jewelry business
Still cleaning up after the Food & Beverage Show for Bob's Best
Regretting NOT working on my art +sigh+
Sneaking breaks to read Malcolm Gladwell's "The Tipping Point"
Trying to book consignors
Needing to thank Anna for painting that table
Wondering if it is going to snow again
Wondering if I need to go back to the doctor after falling down the stairs
Stacking up bills to pay
Not calling my mother back
Not cleaning the shop
Trying to slog through my email
Dragging the laundry downstairs wondering why it is not cleaning itself
Wishing I could repave the parking lot (the winter has been brutal!)
Excited that I have leads to call for Bob
Wondering what are in those bins in the shop basement
Wondering what are in those bins in my studio
Wishing I was rearranging the furniture
Loving that I am never bored

Thursday, March 27, 2014

Changing Hats

 Yesterday I took off my gallery owner/consignment shop manager/occasional artist hat and put on my supportive spouse hat.  I tied on an apron and went to be the "Booth Babe" or in my case the "Stifel who can stick to the point and not tell just tell stories" with Bob at the 2014 Virgnia Food and Beverage Expo.
 We were pretty happy with our booth set-up.  And with the smell of Bob's famous Pork BBQ and Apple Pie filling the air (happily we were next to people who were not cooking!), we were very popular in the "smellavison" category as well! .

 Folks were really intrigued by all of the applications Bob's Best has.  Everything from meat to veggies to dips to dessert was covered and covered well.
 The Easy as Pie mix was a big winner because no one had seen a product like it before!  What was surprising to us was the fact that we wasn't just retailers that were interested in it but caterers and institutions too. Easy -as-Pie coming to a school near you?  We even had a query from a gentleman that wanted to know how fast we could drop ship him 500 pies.  When I explained that we were only selling the pie MIX ans not the pie, he was visibly disappointed.
Maybe something to look into... Time to go write my follow-up letters.