Thanks Gordon, and I agree....
 

Hi Gordon,

Glad you like Jan Noyes work, it looks very good to me too. :)

> Here is a link where you can read all about
> it.

> I just finished reading it, now I'm going to
> go back and pull out some of that great
> information that I might have overlooked the
> first time.

> http://www.sowpub.com/noyes.html Thanks
> again Jan and Dien (and Michael)

> Gordon Alexander

> PS. You guys are doing a great job with
> EH...it is just the right size and I love
> the articles you find. It is a real time
> saver.

Heheh, I'm glad you like the Entrepreneur's Hotsheet. Your suggestions are helping us to shape it. Both Michael Ross and I believe in CUSTOMER-focus, so we value all the feedback (positive or negative) we get, and try to ACT on it too. :)

The Entrepreneur's Hotsheet keeps growing, as word of it gets out!

- Dien Rice


Get the Entrepreneur's Hotsheet here (it's free)

The Entrepreneurs' Hotsheet
 

Hi Dien, you did it again!! Congratulations.

I just went through my copy of the EHotsheet from cover to cover. Man, the material in this newsletter was just excellent. You've done a marvelous job of taking the best from both sowpub and others' forums, and making life SO easy for me/us. Thank you very much and to all those who have contributed. And it's so nice to see Gordon is still as active as ever. Some things just never change.

What creative minds you've managed to gather and keep in one place. And it's so nice to see all the old crowd, (too many to mention) still around and sharing with everyone.

Keep up the great work. If there is a recession, noone would guess it has dampened the spirits of those participating on sowpub.

Kindest regards,

Elizabeth




http://www.designersatwork.com

Thanks Elizabeth!
 

Hi Elizabeth!

> Hi Dien, you did it again!! Congratulations.

Thanks, of course Michael gets half the kudos too.... :)

> I just went through my copy of the EHotsheet
> from cover to cover. Man, the material in
> this newsletter was just excellent. You've
> done a marvelous job of taking the best from
> both sowpub and others' forums, and making
> life SO easy for me/us. Thank you very much
> and to all those who have contributed. And
> it's so nice to see Gordon is still as
> active as ever. Some things just never
> change.

Yes, I remain a staunch member of the "Gordon Alexander fan club," which seems to be growing!

Did you read Gordon's post on the picnic and conference he is organizing on July 5th? It will be held in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio - apparently some from Toronto may be coming too.... I probably won't be able to come because of distance, but if I was in North America I would do my best to go. The picnic would be a great opportunity to meet some of the "great minds" here.... The picnic is free. :)

http://www.sowpub.com/cgi-bin/forum/webbbs_config.pl?read=6475

> What creative minds you've managed to gather
> and keep in one place. And it's so nice to
> see all the old crowd, (too many to mention)
> still around and sharing with everyone.

Thanks for your comments.... Michael and I have received VERY positive feedback so far.

And as for Sowpub, I think it is a nice hang-out - if I do say so myself! Even if I wasn't running it, it's the kind of place online I'd enjoy hanging out in.... :)

> Keep up the great work. If there is a
> recession, noone would guess it has dampened
> the spirits of those participating on
> sowpub.

Heheh, thanks Elizabeth!

It's GREAT to see you post again too, though I realize you are busy.... I miss your wonderful posts. I hope you will be able to post more in future whenever you get the opportunity....

I will ALWAYS make sure this stays a nice, friendly place to be online (there's already enough negativity around, I figure a nice friendly place is needed to try to keep it balanced.... :) )

- Dien


The Entrepreneur's Hotsheet - get it here (it's free)

Picnic eh?
 

Hi Dien, thanks for alerting me to the July 5th picnic in Ohio. I'll have to contact Gordon and get more info. By that time, I should hopefully be able to report that I completed my almost 2-yr. old interior design booklet and selling as many as Jimmy Krug!! (oh I wish) And I'm also planning to get into making my own aromatherapy creams and lotions as well as selling the raw materials (exotic butters and oils) for both the holistic/massage and cosmetic industry. This in itself is a very interesting story, which I'm going to ask for comments later on.

And I'm almost tempted to tackle the project mentioned on the board by approaching some indoor parking garages to sell advertising but maybe I should at least get one project completed and see some profits before tackling too many!:-)

I'm not a great one for going to the US on long holiday weekends, especially after Sept. 11. Those border crossings could be real long and I hate long lines. But I think the event would be worth it.

This reminds me of Crispy Creme donuts which recently opened its first store in Canada (Mississauga) which is fairly close to where I live. Anyway, I am not a donut lover so had no interest in lining up for donuts. But fortunately, I was attending a workshop the day the store opened, so the workshop facilitator surprised the group by buying several boxes of the glazed type. Far too sweet for me but very light. Maybe we Canadians don't enjoy the sugar as much as the Americans. And I hope my comments don't start a donut war between US and Canada! As many of you know, Canadians really take their donuts seriously and I think Americans also have a great love for them as well.

Anyway, quite unexpectedly, I had to take a friend to the hospital for a checkup two weeks ago and she lives close to the Crispy Creme location. She begged me to stop. We looked into the store from the street and 'thought' that the store looked relatively empty, although there were easily 40 cars lined up. We parked and in the cold, we were led to a heated outdoor tent. This was the first waiting area. Then as those who were lined up inside the store got served, they let those outside into the store. It took us about 10 minutes to get in the store, and it would have taken another 20 minutes to get served (at least). At this time, I was not amused. But my friend had such a sad look on her face, that I had to contain my impatience. Anyway, the staff made the mistake of giving those in line a sampling of the donuts. I politely took one, suggested she do the same, gave her mine, and headed for the exit. She was horrified that I would do such a thing. But then she phoned me after she got home and said "you know Liz, I'm glad we didn't wait. Those donuts were so sweet. So I can now say that I tasted a Crispy Creme."

Sorry to be so long winded.

We all like to follow a crowd.... :)
 

Hi Elizabeth!

> By that time, I
> should hopefully be able to report that I
> completed my almost 2-yr. old interior
> design booklet and selling as many as Jimmy
> Krug!! (oh I wish)

Heheh, well you never know until you try! I find that things generally keep getting better as time goes by, as you figure out what works and what doesn't....

> And I'm also planning to
> get into making my own aromatherapy creams
> and lotions as well as selling the raw
> materials (exotic butters and oils) for both
> the holistic/massage and cosmetic industry.
> This in itself is a very interesting story,
> which I'm going to ask for comments later
> on.

Sounds like a great area to get into - I've read that "alternative health" products are continuing to increase in popularity....

> And I'm almost tempted to tackle the project
> mentioned on the board by approaching some
> indoor parking garages to sell advertising

You know, I'm thinking the same thing, but I have a lot of things I'm working on already.... I need time to slow down a while so I can pack more into my day. :)

That's interesting about Krispy Kreme! One of the interesting things about our behavior (as people) is that we all tend to like to follow a crowd to some degree....

I read a true story once about a restaurant owner who couldn't get people to come to his restaurant. So he got some of his friends to form a line that went out the door.... Once he got a line started, others joined the line too!

I also read they used this technique to promote "The Blair Witch Project." They had done some good publicity, and when it was time to open the film, they could have opened across thousands of cinemas across the USA. Instead, they decided to only open the film in a few hundred cinemas.... So that it would be hard to see it! This caused long lines to form to see "The Blair Witch Project" in the few places it opened.

I was in Boston at the time and I remember seeing a HUGE line stretching outside of the only cinema it opened at there. It was the same kind of principle....

People saw the long lines and thought "that movie must really be SOMETHING!"

So there's a lesson in that Krispy Kreme story, I think! Thank you for sharing it Elizabeth.... :)

- Dien