You may ask, “Marketing? This was a celebration — a phenomenon.” Exactly! Think about it, thousands of people traveled thousands of miles and spent a lot of money to celebrate their past purchase. There were events all weekend long in Milwaukee and at every Harley dealership where people gathered to socialize, admire each other’s bikes, buy more Harley merchandise, and (probably) plan their next bike purchase.

This did not happen on its own. It was a carefully orchestrated marketing plan that HD has worked over decades. While there are many facets to this marketing plan, there are two things that really stand out.

First: Mystique. People don’t buy a motorcycle when they buy a Harley, they buy an idea. There is a mystique about Harley Davidson that is unique in the automobile marketplace. I don’t know of any other vehicle that draws thousands of people from all over the world to celebrate it. Sure, some have fan clubs where enthusiasts will gather; but none have the same volume of fans. Over the last few decades, Harley carefully formed this mystique, saving the company from almost certain bankruptcy.

Second: Culture. Harley has built a distinct culture surrounding their product, which includes non-motorcycle merchandise that accounts for 5% of the company’s revenue. Rarely would you see someone riding a Hog that is not dressed the part. HD has carefully chosen their target market, and built their marketing around them. Sure, there are other motorcycles out there, but if you are in Harley’s target market there is no other bike to buy. Many who now can’t afford a Harley are waiting and aspiring to the point when they can join the club. And that’s just the point. Harley has built a community of people that espouse the culture that perpetually builds the mystique.

Of course, there are other products that build on these elements. Sports teams are the classic example from which Harley has taken many pages. A few teams have a unique cult stature, such as the Green Bay Packers and the Chicago Cubs. What would happen if you saw these ads: “Two for One Deal at Lambeau Field!” or “Cheap Seats Available at Wrigley Field!”? It would be disastrous for their marketing!

So, how can you build mystique and a supporting culture around your product? What can you do to separate yourself from the competition so you no longer have to ask for the sale — so your customers are asking to buy from you? How would it be if you never had to explain your price, but that your chosen customers are grateful to pay any price just so they can be in your club? This is my challenge to all of you business owners. What is your genius marketing idea?

Copyright © 2008 Kahuna Enterprises, Inc.

Tim Dollmeyer is a certified ActionCOACH business coach. If you have questions or would like to learn about coaching, visit http://timdollmeyer.com/

As the world of business moves faster and becomes more competitive, having a Business Coach is no longer a luxury; it has become a necessity! Tim’s role is to coach business owners to improve their businesses using the proven systems provided by ActionCOACH coupled with his experience and yours. Tim will work with you to develop your vision and then get you into Action to achieve it.

Tim is a powerful and inspirational presenter who uses humor and audience participation to bring his point across in a way that will make a big impact on you and your business. Whether teaching business management, leadership or team building, Tim will help you to view your business in a whole new way. Tim presents workshops for every aspect of growing a business. Each program can be tailored to your company’s specific needs. He also delivers workshops in various areas such as conflict resolution, negotiating and public speaking.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tim_Dollmeyer

Kenosha, WI (June 2009) — “Lock your front doors, take your name out of the phone book, rip down all your signs!” That might seem like a recipe for disaster, but it IS what Dr. Paddi Lund, owner of an “invitation only” dental practice in Brisbane, Australia did and his practice is thriving. Register now for the seminar Dr. Lund is giving in Kenosha on July 22 from 12:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. and learn how and why he took that approach and made his business thrive. Since the time Dr. Lund made that statement, he has cut his hours to 23 hours a week and earns 3 ½ times the norm for his profession. This rare opportunity to learn from Dr. Lund that is being sponsored by ActionCOACH Business Coaching, owned and operated by Coach Tim Dollmeyer.

On Wednesday, July 22, Dr. Paddi Lund will make his first appearance ever in Wisconsin, at Kenosha’s Radisson Hotel & Conference Center, conveniently situated between Chicago, IL and Milwaukee, WI. The half-day seminar will begin at 12:30 p.m. with registration and run through 6:30 p.m. During the seminar Dr. Lund will share his story of how he came to realize the importance and effectiveness of new systems in the areas of:
• Team Communication
• Customer Care
• Professional Credibility and Perceived Expertise
• Financial Transactions
• Selling and Marketing

The goal of the seminar is to give attendees direction for their business. With the information Dr. Lund provides, they will have the tools to accomplish the following:
• Happy clients gratefully paying higher prices and buying more
• Fulfilled team members who work happily and put in effort unstintingly
• De-stressed managers who spread calm in the office while providing better quality products and services

To reserve your space now go to www.tinyurl.com/lundinkenosha or call 262-672-2915. First seat booked is $197, each additional seat booked is $149.

Tim Dollmeyer, Owner of ActionCOACH Kenosha says that his mission is to make the community successful and grow.

“Dr. Paddi Lund teaches how to accomplish this and I want to share Paddi’s expertise with business owners so we can all be more successful, especially in this challenging economy. I give Paddi’s books as gifts to my coaching clients, but when I realized I could bring Paddi here in person, I recognized this is a much greater gift to bring to the whole community.”

For details on Dr. Lund’s seminar in Kenosha, visit: www.tinyurl.com/lundinkenosha

Christina Schwartz and her partner, Lynn Groleau, bought Franks Diner in 2001. They are the first non family members to own the diner. John Gilmore and Don Franks owned the diner for 22 years before they decided to retire in 2001.

Chris, a Kenosha native, and Lynn, who grew up mostly in Beaver Dam, have known each other since 1990. They met when they were both social workers. Lynn worked in adult crisis and Chris was the Associate Kenosha Youth Development Services Crisis Coordinator. In 2002, they went on a vacation and decided they couldn’t do social work much longer. “You kind of get the mentality of ‘Is this normal?’” They wanted to do some kind of service industry; food, bar, inn, bed and breakfast. “We like being around people. We like entertaining people. We like talking to people. We like to cook for people.” But they weren’t sure what they wanted to do. Two weeks after they returned from their vacation, Lynn came home and told Chris that Franks Diner was for sale. “We said let’s go look at it. John brought us in and we looked at it and ninety days later we had a diner.” They took it over on October 3, 2001. “We never looked back after that. We left our big-girl jobs and started running a diner.”

It has been a lot of work. Franks is open seven days a week for breakfast and lunch. The first couple of years there were no days off. All their time and energy went into building clientele and “establishing that the diner was still here.” The hard part for Chris and Lynn was trying to figure out how to have a life outside of the diner.

“There was no time away. We still don’t always have that. We get a little more now after eight years.”

As for the rest of it; learning how to short order cook and “cooking for mass quantities,” they learned on the job. “We just had to try and learn as it came. Luckily for us, it was slow enough where we were able to build up.” One reason for this is was that many people had forgotten about Franks Diner. “People from Kenosha had no clue that the diner was still around.”

Another reason Chris thinks it was slow initially was the “issue of downtown.” The clients that came in told her that there was nothing to do downtown, so why bother coming down in the first place. “I think that had a lot to do with it. When Lynn and I took over in 2001 it was pretty sparse down here. There wasn’t a whole lot going on.” As downtown developed over the last seven years and as the Diner established a solid and consistent business, new clientele was brought in. Maybe of these people became regulars.

Before she took over the diner, Chris spent a week shadowing John Gilmore, learning the ropes as best she could and getting to know some of the regulars. She still remembers meeting Lenny Palmer and Mike Schumacher for the first time. Palmer and Schumacher had heard two women were taking the diner over. Schumacher asked if she was “going to put curtains on the windows?” Chris looked at Mike and said “No, We’re just going to clean it up a little bit.” Chris and Lynn were regulars of the diner, often eating there on the weekends.

“We love the diner. We didn’t want to change it. We just wanted to enhance it.”

Chris and Lynn did change the menu, but not dramatically. They added some of their own recipes and took off some items that weren’t that popular. They added a turkey club sandwich, for example, and the “Blue Shoe,” which is a blue cheese and bacon stuffed burger, named after Mike Shumacher. Another new item is the “Ave Marie,” (fried eggs, sausage and cheese on an english muffin) named after its creator, Maria Caravati, the owner of Equinox Boutique downtown. “If people create things and it is popular we will throw it on the menu,” Chris said.

The famed “Garbage Plate” that John Gilmore created in the 80’s is Frank’s signature breakfast. Chris and Lynn added optional ingredients. Before, ham was the only meet choice. Chris and Lynn added sausage, bacon, and vegetables. Customers can chose what they want and make the “Garbage Plate” their own. One of the casualties of the new ownership is the hot hamburger item that had been on the menu for about 50 years. It is a special now. “It goes much better,” Chris noted. Frank’s has lunch specials Monday through Friday.

Chris and Lynn feel fortunate to be running Franks Diner. “We’re lucky to be part of this institution and make it what it is. It is a good thing to have down here. It is a draw for the downtown to have tha t oddity that is Frank’s Diner.” It is such a draw that a national TV program, the Food Channel’s “Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives” with Guy Fieri, profiled the diner in one of its episodes two years ago. “What that has brought, not only to us, but to Kenosha, is a very positive thing. We still get people who come in because they saw us on TV.”

One manifestation of the iconic nature of the diner is that Chris and Lynn have never put an add in the paper for a job at the diner. “I’ve always had people who were regulars here or grew up in the diner saying “I want to work here. Can I do this?” This results in “a lot of change over” because many of their employees leave for college or move on to other things. But their youthful or offbeat spirit adds to the charm of the diner. “We’ve got a good crew,” Chris noted with satisfaction.

Another important aspect of Franks Diner is the spirit of acceptance manifested there. This is very important to Chris and Lynn.

“Your not talking a bout who’s here, what was not here, who your sitting next to, who is in the both next to you.”

I don’t want to hear the crap. Everyone is welcome here regardless of who they are or what they want to be or where they think they need to be. We made sure we cut that. Don and John made sure of that. That was the concept when they took over as well as when Don’s father was here. It didn’t matter how much money or what color you were or who you belonged to or who you wanted to be with, this is a place where you could be safe.”

So, the next time you’re at Franks Diner and see Chris, if it is early, don’t expect much conversation; just let her make your food. Stand against the wall, stay in line, and don’t block the doorway. Don’t shout. Take your feet off the furniture and sit up straight and stop fidgeting.

Remember, whining is unattractive. Everything is good today. Eat your vegetables. Order what you want, eat what you get. Don’t be a stranger. Please pay at the register (cash only) and thank you.

Franks Diner
508 58th St
Kenosha, WI 53140
(262) 657-1017
www.franksdinerkenosha.com

ActionCOACH Tim Dollmeyer is an expert in leading business owners to thrive, no matter the economic conditions. With the power of hugely-successful ActionCOACH program and the guidance of Coach Tim, you can put those worries behind you. Based on ActionCOACH’s sales, marketing and business management systems, Coach Tim is trained to not only show you how to increase your business revenues and profits, but also how to develop your business so that you as the owner can work less and enjoy your family, friends and hobbies more.

Coach Tim says the secret to doing well in today’s economy is having a plan and understanding sales and marketing. The five areas of sales and marketing Coach Tim says you should focus on are listed below. Don’t worry, they can be easy and fun.

1. Number of Leads – The number of potential clients that you attract.
2. Conversion Rate – The percentage of leads that you convert into clients.
3. Average $ Sale – The average amount your clients spend each time they buy.
4. Number of Transactions – The number of times in a specific period your clients buy.
5. Margins – The percentage of profit over and above your costs of doing business.

Coach Tim says that within each of these areas, there are hundreds of strategies to choose from which
will, in turn, affect the bottom line … which means greater PROFITS! These are the strategies Coach Tim
teaches his clients to use with amazing results.

Remember, don’t just hope to survive this “recession;” plan to thrive!
Coach Tim Dollmeyer Resources
Web site: http://www.dabizcoach.com/
Blog: http://dabizcoach.wordpress.com/
Articles: http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Tim_Dollmeyer
Free Coaching Session: http://www.actioncoach.com/timdollmeyer/freecoachingquest.php

For a FREE one-hour coaching session with Coach Tim, contact him at 262-672-2915 or
timdollmeyer@actioncoach.com

“There is a very sharing spirit with the business owners down here. Maybe some of them are first time business owners. They’re taking a chance or they’re doing something they love. All these businesses seem imbued with a spirit of something they enjoy. I think that is really helping fire up people for promoting the area, not just their own individual businesses but each other.”

If Heather Poyner had one of those “I’d rather be . . .” frames that goes around a car license plate, it would say “I’d rather be drumming.” As it is, her license plate reads “We Drum.” Close enough. For Heather, the full truth is “I’d rather be drumming and facilitating.” She does both and is passionate about both. The latest example of her passion is a new “retail and community play space” called The Drum Hut (5607 Seventh Ave.) that opened on January 31st.

The Drum Hut is really two spaces; a retail area and a public, community space. In the retail part of the “Hut,” Heather sells “any indigenous or ethnic percussion that I find interesting and that is unusual in Kenosha,” she said in a recent interview. This includes ethnic percussion such as African drums, bells, rattles, and shakers. “I want this to be a museum where you can play the toys.” In the more public part of the store, chairs are always set up as if ready for a “community shared time.” The idea for the community area, aside from providing a space for drum lessons is to offer a “play space to like-minded musicians.” Heather hopes that it might become “a gathering place for musically minded people.” As part of this, she will hold free drum circles during Second Saturdays.

Heather’s plan is to offer hand drum lessons and facilitated drum circles. The hand drum lessons will be tailored to the age and experience of those taking lessons. She plans on daytime/afternoon classes for kids and teens, reserving evenings for adults.
She also wants to do workshops. “I would really like to have someone come in and do a Native American flute workshop.” She is open to any workshop ideas. “We’ll try and make it happen.”

Heather’s main focus is what sh e calls “rhythm facilitation.” Her mission is to make music easy and fun. “I strive to provide groups of all ages and abilities with the adventure of making upbeat and exciting music. Ethnic percussion is accessible because it is all about rhythm. Each of us is a rhythm machine from our pulse to our heartbeat, so when we sit in a drum circle we’ve already brought our music with us. Drum circles are less about what we know than what we share. I just supply a few instruments and the opportunity to explore and play. If I am doing my job as a facilitator I am helping you connect to your song as you connect to those of others in the circle.”

What does Heather like about drumming and facilitating? She likes “the magic,” and “transformation” that occurs when she sits with people. “I am connecting to the music of the larger circle because we are influencing each other and creating together. What we are doing is an ephemeral art. It is like a sand mandala that blows away when it is done. I like being part of that in the circle. I also enjoy the rhythms and the fact that rhythm is in our bodies and we get to express that connection to being alive. Related to that is facilitating. I like being that person that helps facilitate other people’s enjoyment of what I also enjoy”

For Heather, facilitating is about “making sure everybody gets their voice heard” and “helping everyone in the circle tell their musical story.” A good facilitator knows how to deal with the one person whose story is louder than the others or is so off that they are throwing everyone off. How do you deal with that? Do you say ’sorry you’re wrong. Your stuff sucks. Go away.’ No you don’t. You have to manage that. You have to figure out how you can still honor that person’s gifts to the circle but help the other people still play nice together.

Why did she open her store now? It was “the logical manifestation of what I have already been doing. We had done a semi-public circle in our home for eight years. I’d been in the public with the drums for about that time and I began to feel that a home-based business was not the sort of business that this drumming needed. It needed a public face.”

Heather’s journey to finding a “public face” for her drumming has been an evolution. After studying journalism at U.W.- Madison Heather worked for the Kenosha News as a local and feature reporter. In 1999 she discovered drum circles, took hand drumming lessons, and learned music facilitation f rom Tom Gill of Wauwatosa. By mid-2000, she was holding regular drum circles in her home and began facilitating. Since then, she has facilitated at Lemonstreet Art Gallery, schools, adult daycare centers, the Dayton Hotel, and numerous birthday parties. In 2003, she left the Kenosha News “trading my Reporter’s Guild card for a vanload of ethnic drums and assorted percussion.” Over the years, she has assembled a core group drum enthusiasts who drum at public venues, some of whom also get together each month to play didjeridus and Native American flutes. She also formed a company she named Rhythm in the Round. In 2005, her literary urges got the best of her and she decided to share her drum circle and facilitation experiences in a book entitled, Some Kind of Magic: Livin’ the Rhythm of Community Drumming (AuthorHouse, 2005). Then, last Fall, two events conspired to make the Drum Hut a reality.

Last Fall, Heather went back for her third year of substitute teaching and got kicked around a little. “There were some bad days with middle school kids; disrespectful behavior. I remember being in the school saying I’d had enough.” So, in October, she took the day off and I said “I’m going to look downtown.” She realized she wanted to invest her energy in something that she was passionate about. “This is better for me and this is better for the people I am with; not ju st my family but the community.” “What am I good at?” she asked herself. “What do I love? Well, I have a passion for the drums. I’m an educator, a communicator, and a community person. I love drumming and I want to grow Kenosha.” It was then that she found the space that would become the Drum Hut.

Heather shares her building with Dakini Healing Arts, which offers therapeutic massage, energy work, and meditation. The question arose: would a drum and percussion space be compatible with a massage and meditation place next door? Heather and a friend, John von Eiff, tested the sound dynamics by banging on washing machines and dryers that were stored in her prospective space while Stacy, the owner of Dakini Healing Arts, and the real-estate agent listened. Stacy told Heather that the drumming was OK. “It was audible but not disturbing,” she said.

As a person new to retail, Heather is realizing the importance of marketing and that she needs to find ways “to make my store and my goodies attractive.” Although this is her first retail business it seems “very natural” and “an easy transition” because she knows her product: drumming. “I love my product. I have been working with this product, which is both a drum product and a drum circle experience, for nine years. I think knowing takes some of the fear out of it? There are plenty of things I don’t know; for instance, sales tax. Colleen from Down the Rabbit Hole was my ‘go to business mentor’ on a lot of things. She was actually “my tax chart angel.” The night before Heather’s grand opening, Colleen worked out and printed a tax chart for Heather.

Colleen illustrates what Heather sees as a very important aspect of the downtown business community. “There is a very sharing spirit with the business owners down here. Maybe some of them are first time business owners. They’re taking a chance or they’re doing something they love. All these businesses seem imbued with a spirit of something they enjoy. I think that is really helping fire up people for promoting the area, not just their own individual businesses but each other.” In Heather’s view, this “sharing spirit” means “people are going to put a lot of energy into growing their businesses and continue to be artisan oriented.”

Having lived in Kenosha for twenty years, Heather remembers when there were a number of antique stores downtown. “Those have all gone. Now we have coffee shops where artists are showing their work. It is a new feeling and I don’t think it is going away or is a fad. I think20it is the beginning of the future. There is the potential for it becoming a community of grassroots art. It is people believing in what they are doing.”

Heather’s days consist of minding the shop, offering programs, and “tilling the soil because spring will come soon.” When people walk by, usually on their way to the nearby Subway, the drums get their attention. Heather believes now is the time and location to make her dreams a reality. “If I can’t make it in this space with what I’ve got for energy and resources, then it is not going to happen. I’m not going to try it again or beat myself up about it. I think I am giving myself as many advantages as I can. I am right off the main street. I have nice beautiful windows. If it can’t happen here then maybe it is not going to happen and maybe that is OK.”

Currently, Heather is doing an after shool program at an elementary school in Milwaukee where she facilitates the crafting of ethnic instruments such as digeridoos, rain sticks, and egg shakers. All artisans, especially those who make indigenous-inspired instruments, are invited to contact Heather to find out how to show your wares at The Drum Hut. For more information check out her website at www.rhythmintheround.com.

“I’ve always had a passion for the natural sciences. If you go to my office you would see bug pictures all over the place. I’m a member of the Entomological Society of America. I have, at my finger tips, thousands of pictures of different insects. If you want to get a picture of a tsetse fly’s right wing, I have access to the pictures. I discovered this was a passion that I didn’t know was there.”

He may have been influenced by his father who has degrees in botany and human anatomy. Brent plans on taking the Entomological Society of America test to become an Associate Certified Entomologist, normally a two year degree but, because of his field experience, he should be able to test out (after brushing up on nonlocal pests).

Brent not only has an “interest in biology and nature itself” but also enjoys helping people and problem solving. “I really enjoy it when someone calls up and says that they called four other companies who say there is nothing that can be done. It’s like when you hear the stories about three out of four doctors agree? Sometimes you want to know what that other doctor knows that the three don’t. I’m fascinated by that.”

As it is, Brent is the first one-man operator to be president of the Wisconsin Pest Control Association in over thirty years and a “Master Technician” certified by the Wisconsin Pest Control Association. The immediate past president of the WPCA, he was on the board of the association when the Master Technician program began and helped write the initial test. Although Wisconsin requires every applicator to be state certified and licensed, the Master Technician program is run by the WPCA. After waiting a year, Brent took the test himself and six years later, is still the highest scoring Master Technician in the state. He also received a 100% in the legal part of the WPCA’s certification exam. “Only two other people received a 100% on the legal part of it,” he noted. “I always score high on my state exams. I’m real anal about following the letter of the law.”

Born and raised in Kenosha, Brent attended U.W. Parkside. After two years, he ran out of money and went to work for a national pest control service company. He intended to go back to Parkside after a year, but never made it back. Two years later he briefly worked for an insurance company, where he met his wife Judith, then went back to the pest control service. He was subsequently recruited by another national pest control service who groomed him to be a regional technical director because of his ability to train people; “To take things that were complicated and make them simple.” Brent worked for Terminix for two years but was unhappy with “the cookie cutter approach” that, in his view, is not always in the best interest of the consumer. “Some people didn’t get serviced well enough and some would get over-serviced.” As a result, he and his wife started Spectrum Pest Control on Feb. 1, 1994. Not surprisingly, Brent has a much greater passion for his work now that he is on his own.

Fifteen years later he is still a “one man operation by design.” They have no desire to have employees. The difficulty, he notes, is not having three or four employees.

“It’s getting from number one to number two. This kills about half of the successful one man pest control operations because you go through three or four guys, at the cost of $10-15,000 per new hire, before you find the one that stays. You have to go through a background check, training, equipment and everything else. It just takes you out.”

Another of Brent’s certifications is that of a Certified Quality Pro Company. This is a kind of a “Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval for pest control.” You submit to a background check and sign an affidavit agreeing to certain standards of insurance, training, and vehicles, and then take a test. Of course, the certifications and testing imply the biggest area of concern for most people; the toxicity of the pesticides.

According to Brent, the pest control industry is one of the most over-regulated industries because of “perceived risks.” The “actual risks are far lower than industries that have virtually no regulations on them. There are things under your kitchen sink that will kill you or make you sick far quicker than anything any pest control company legally uses inside your home.” The risk of asthma from roaches, and other health risks associated with the urine of rodents gives controlling the pests “a far greater payoff” than the remote risks of pesticide application, in Brent’s view.

The person at the greatest risk is the applicator. But, “when you look at the medical history of applicators, you realize just how safe what we use is. There has never been a correlation between an increase of cancer and applicators,” according to Brent. “We are mixing it. We are applying it. We are breathing it in and sometimes we are absorbing it into our skin. I take all the precautions. So, if the customer sees me respecting a product they realize that I am respecting their safety too. The mentality by a lot of technicians is that I don’t want to wear the gloves because the customer might think it is a lot more dangerous than it is. Then you have to educate them.” The client is far less at risk than the applicator unless they’re “licking floorboards or rolling on the carpeting right after something has been applied.”

The inherent safety and environmental concerns, as well as smart marketing, prompted the
Towles to offer organic pest control services when they opened their business in 1994. Then, there were only a few products available. Even today, the viable “green” products are just a hand-full. One of the major stumbling blocks is the lack of clarity about what “green” means. The National Pest Control Association has been aggressive in clarifying the definition, in Brent’s opinion, but he thinks it will take another ten years before there will be a clear government definition of “green.”

An example of the complexity of the “green” pesticide issue is that of Chrysanthemum oil; a “natural” insecticide made from the flower’s oil. The most common synthetic pesticide available is a version of Chrysanthemum oil called pyrethroids. It has all of the benefits of the natural Chrysanthemum oil but lasts longer. The problem with most natural botanical oil extracts, Brent notes, is that they have a very short period of effectiveness. Although the toxicity of the synthetic might be greater than the natural, synthetics last longer and need to be reapplied fewer times lessoning applicator and environmental exposure. In addition, in some of the formulations of the pyrethroid category of insecticides, all the allergens have been eliminated. Allergens can be a problem with some of the natural oil extracts.

About a year ago Spectrum Pest Control started working on a Quality Pro Green Certification. Brent consulted on the NPA’s certification development and conveyed what he felt were the most important issues from a pest control and consumer perspective. “I am literally Quality Pro Green qualified before they even have the program because they are standards we are already utilizing. We are probably 90% Green.” There are some products he uses that would not fall under a “green” category because there is no better alternative.

The upside to a properly managed “green” program, in Brent’s view, is that one can do more “integrated pest management” using both chemical and organic pesticides. “You weigh the ecological impact of the pesticides. Sometimes the synthetically derived chemical is more earth friendly than the natural version.” A downside, is the degree to which “green” has become a gimmick. “Suddenly, Clorox is relabeling some of their existing products as “green.” Some of it may be “green,” but we don’t have the standards yet.” He wants things that weigh economic and practical considerations and are effective for the environment, not just marketing ploys.

In that same spirit, Brent does not believe politics or religion should be used as a marketing tool. Brent is “a card carrying Republican” and considered McCain “a flaming liberal.” But, that doesn’t change his view that “we all breathe the same air and drink the same water and want to enjoy the same sunsets.” There are people who don’t want to be affiliated with Al Gore’s idea of what “green” means, he noted. “I take it as a good stewardship idea.”

An unexpected element of pest control, Brent notes, is the emotional aspect of it. “When you are doing pest control, it is very emotional.” In Brent’s experience, if he shows up five minutes late people can get “freaked out,” especially if it is the first visit. “They really need you there right away and on time. It is just emotional. If you wake up in the middle of the night with bed bugs in your bed, you’re not going to like it if I cannot get out there for a week. Your going to call the next service. Even if the one who can come out in a week will get rid of it faster, you want the person who can show up yesterday.” There is a temptation to take advantage of this emotion Brent warns. One has to be careful not to fall prey to “manipulations of fear and emotion.”

Speaking of emotion, Brent admitted to another great passion in his life, playing the Irish drum; the Bodhran. Several years ago he bought a drum at Irish Fest and used it as a wall hanging. A year later his wife signed him up for an irish music class at the Kenosha Institute of Art. He enjoyed it. A year after that, he met Jim Mcveigh, a man originally from Belfast at McAuliffe’s Pub in Racine. Brent bought a custom-made, tunable drum and took lessons from Jim. “Somebody who has just learned how to play thinks they are great because they know the accents they want to do and they think they hear them better than they actually do. That is a struggle I go through as well. It can be a ‘dangerous’ instrument in the wrong hands. It is an exciting instrument to play, so when somebody figures out they can finally do something with it, they want to go tell everybody.” Brent may not be telling the world about his Bodhran playing, but he is not shy about his passion for and knowledge of pest control. That is probably fortunate for the people of Kenosha.

If Carolyn Kirkby sleeps until 7 a.m., she slept in. She is usually up by 5:00 a.m. “That is the time my body usually wakes me up.” Rising that early, while good for giving Carolyn a head-start on just about everybody, presented one problem in particular; finding an open coffee shop. Carolyn had recently moved to Carol Beach in Pleasant Prairie and was renovating a house when the need for early morning caffeine became apparent. However, she couldn’t find a coffee shop that was open before 7 a.m. “I’m up at 5:00 and that’s when I need coffee. By 7 a.m., I am fine. I don’t need it any more.” It was this inability to find a coffee shop open before 7 a.m. that first inspired her to open Carolyn’s Coffee Connection three years ago.

Carolyn grew up in Bartlett, IL, a suburb of Chicago about 35 miles northwest of the city. She worked as an account executive at a brokerage firm in Chicago then went back to school to study elementary education. After studying, she found her reaction to the profession mixed. “I loved working with kids but really hated the administrative part of it.” She moved to the Kenosha area six years ago. “I moved here basically because I had gotten engaged. My husband had a house up here, so I moved, we ended up in Carol Beach a year later.”

They stumbled across the building that originally housed Coffee Connection by chance. They learned from the shop owner across the street that the owners of the building might be willing to sell. It was owned by the family that owned Gottfredsen & Nicoll and was vacant. The owners had been working on the building for a wile; gutting it, replacing the HVHC, doing a lot of grunt work. The building wasn’t for sale but Carolyn and her husband approached them anyhow. The owners asked for a price that they thought was “extremely reasonable” and bought it in February 2006.

Originally, they wanted the building for office space on the second floor. They were unsure of what to do with the downstairs, however. An initial thought of Carolyn’s was to start a bookstore. After she moved here, Carolyn was shocked to learn that there was no bookstore in Kenosha. “You have to go to Gurnee or Racine to find a book store. It blows my mind.”
(Lakeshore Books is currently the only real bookstore in Kenosha. They sell used books). They also discussed opening a bar. But this was not good option for Carolyn because she is a “morning person, not an evening person.”

It was at this point that the memories of early morning caffeine frustration came back to her. “The thought of doing a coffee shop was very appealing to me.” Fortunately, the space was large enough to do more than just coffee. “I’ve always been into food. I love gourmet food, unique things. I wanted to do something that was food related.” She also wanted to create a place that she would want to “hang out” in. “I didn’t feel like there was one of those here.” As part of creating that type of place, she added a children’s playroom; a place for mom’s to “go and relax” while watching their children. After she decided to open a coffee shop, and while she was working on the renovation of the house in Carol Beach, she got a job at a well known coffee franchise “to see how they did it” figuring it might be a good idea to “see what works.”

The fact that the building was downtown and close to the lake was a benefit in Carolyn’s mind. While living in Illinois, she did a lot of sailing and was surprised to learn that easily accessible food was a problem for boaters. “You go into marinas and there would be nothing within walking distance. All you had was what you had on your boat for provisions.” This is where the building’s downtown location combined with her interest in food. “We wanted to be able to market it to the boats.” She did research and looked into the population of HarborPark, learning how many of them were full-time residents and would potentially be taking the train and looking for coffee on the way to the train station. Carolyn saw her new building and new business as a long term investment. She had no desire to purchase the building and turn it over. “It was a chance for us to be a part of something.” That something is a revitalized downtown. “To be honest, I didn’t know Kenosha had a downtown until we came down here to buy a suit at S. J. Crystals. I had never been downtown and I had been here for about three years.”

As for the struggling downtown itself, what can be done? Carolyn is skeptical that the city administration can do much. In her view, razing vacant buildings isn’t the solution. “Then what do you have? A building that is torn down and there is still not a viable business there.” To her, the best answer is for the city to go after an anchor store for downtown and put together a tax incentive program. “Downtown can’t support retail without an anchor store in this economy.” Aside from this, she thinks the initial goal should be to make downtown an entertainment destination. “I think we need to become an entertainment district first and get people coming downtown.” Once people are coming downtown, the retail stores will stand a much better chance of success. “People will see them and they’ll come back downtown to go to them. The important thing is to get people downtown.” But, she doesn’t expect this to happen overnight. “What is key is that business owners start being proactive and working together to promote downtown as a whole.” “Second Saturdays,” she thinks, is a good example of this and has great potential but “business owners need to take more active roles in promoting their own businesses.”

Unfortunately, not all downtown business owners are interested in promoting their business more. “There are some who say they don’t need to stay open later, to promote their businesses and do things like that. Their business is doing fine. To them I say, that’s great for you, but now it’s your responsibility to help your neighbor and take your customers and make sure they are becoming the customers of the other businesses as well. I’ll send my customers to The Nook, Common Grounds, Moe’s or Scoops for lunch if I don’t have what they’re looking for. We all need business. It doesn’t help any of us if a business opens and closes two years later.”

While some of the downtown business owners have a “leave me alone” attitude, many do not. “We’ve got a really good group down here that all work together. There is really a great vibe. I think the difference now is we don’t see each other as competition. I don’t view The Nook as competition. I view them as an occupied store front. In order for downtown to succeed, everyone has to work together.” This is why Carolyn’s support of the arts downtown and events such as “Bloomin Days” and “Lightin’ Up” is so strong. She sees them as a way of supporting downtown and her own business. “I think you can blend both together.”

Much of this new, positive attitude comes from the new business owners downtown. “The great thing about getting new people in is that you get new energy. When I came in three years ago, I had an energy that some of the business owners down here were burned out on. I can see that happening because it becomes two, three, or four people doing a lot of the work.”

As for the vacant buildings downtown, she believes the responsibility lies with the building owners realistically pricing their properties and renting them at a price that takes into consideration that downtown is not a popular destination yet. “If you want a business to go in there and to succeed, you need to charge them a reasonable rent. Don’t make them suffer four months out of the year, because January through April they are going to be slow until the boats get back into the water. That is just the reality of it. We make it through the fourth quarter because people remember we are here and they keep coming down.” She noted that “You don’t start a small business for the money. You do it because you love what you are doing. And you will keep doing it even if you can’t afford to.”

It is this huge commitment of time, energy, and passion that can make opening and owning a small business difficult. “It is a balancing act. You’re trying to run your business, manage your family and then trying to revitalize an area. It is very easy to get sidetracked and focus on downtown and building up other people and neglect your own business.”

In addition, Carolyn notes, “You have to have a life. There is no way I could have done this if I had kids. And it definitely took a toll on my personal life.” Starting her own business “brought to light some weaknesses” in her marriage and ultimately doomed it. “I started this married. I am now divorced. I don’t regret the marriage. I wouldn’t have had the courage to open this without my ex-husband. I also don’t regret the personal fallout from it. Owning your own business shows your strengths and your weaknesses.” But the personal cost was high. I got married, renovated a house & opened a business all within two years. Starting a business with “someone you are married to” is difficult. “You never leave work. You go home and it is still there. You can’t go home and not talk about it. Even if you take a day off, the other person is working. You have no escape from it.” Carolyn would be very picky about who she chooses to mix business & pleasure with in the future. “If somebody I know wants to be a financial investor; a silent partner, that’s easy.” But, she’s very aware of the toll that starting a business with a friend let alone a significant other can have “you spend a lot of time together and it’s natural you are going to get on each others nerves.”

In the process of opening the Coffee Connection and creating a successful business, Carolyn Kirkby has become a business leader downtown. She is on the Board of Directors at Lemon Street Art Gallery and has been on the Lakeshore Business Improvement District board for the last two years. She was the Chair of “Kenosha Bloomin Days” and “Lightin’ Up Kenosha” this year and will be the chair for “Kenosha Bloomin Days” in 2009. “The “Bloomin Days’ this year was very different from the first year and the committee that we had was incredible. They did much more work than I did! I think a lot people around here give me more credit than I deserve. I just do what comes naturally to me which is get involved.”

UPDATE:

WHERE DID CAROLYN GO?!?!?

I’ve heard that a lot in the last month. Fear not, my caffeinated friends, we are not closed. We decided to go South for the winter, to 5819 6th Ave. Unfortunately it’s still very cold down here but the snow has been cleared! The address may sound familiar because it’s the home of Scoops Ice Cream in the Orpheum Theatre! And yes, we are still brewing Intelligentsia coffee.

So be sure to stop in & visit us in the new location at 5819 6th Ave. Our hours are the same. Don’t feel like coffee? The ice cream is fabulous!! Trust me, I’ve tried almost every flavor! I won’t even tell you about the fudge but it safe to say my New Years resolution is officially out the window!
Sincerely,

Carolyn Kirkby

Carolyn’s Coffee Connection

Born in Chicago and raised in Illinois and Michigan, Janie Dziedzic, a co-owner of Anytime Fitness in downtown Kenosha, got off to a fast start in the business world. She took the $10,000 she had saved and bought an arboriculture or tree care service. She also earned a real-estate license while working at Fed-Ex. The Fed Ex job and arbiculture business brought in enough money to buy a house in Riverwoods, Illinois, which she bought with her real-estate license. “Within just over a year after high school I already owned a business and a home,” she said in a recent interview.

Janie lived in Riverwoods until three years ago, dealing in real-estate when she decided to move to Kenosha. Why? Because she found Kenosha a “valuable place to ‘invest’” and because of the “famously friendly Kenosha Midwestern people.” In her view, “The downtown merchants have a wonderful ’support thy neighbor’ ethic not found elsewhere. I love it. It inspires me.”

Although Janie is the co-owner of four area fitness clubs (with Louie Arecco), and has licenses for 12 more between Milwaukee and Chicago, her initial focus was real-estate. She purchased the Art Deco limestone building at the southwest corner of 6th Ave. and 56th Street. “Anytime Fitness was a response to the needs of Kenosha, this vacant building I bought, and to the question, ‘how do you promote the economic wellness of the community?’” Janie realized downtown needed foot traffic and felt a health club “would be ideal, it would enrich the quality of life” She solicited companies and trainers to build a health club, investing $20,000 in floor plans for one potential tenant who did not follow through so, she and Louis Arecco decided to open one themselves.

It filled a need. “I think people are hungry for a place where they can work out after 9 p.m,” Janie noted. Many members such as the police, firemen and medical staff work second shift. “Where do they go with all of their adrenalin after their done working? They don’t want to go to bars. I felt like a hero when I opened this gym because people said ‘Oh, my gosh! I have something to do when my friends and family are sleeping’. Some of our busiest hours are between 10:30 and 12:30.”

An additional benefit for Kenosha is the fact that people come to the club late at night and see that downtown is safe. Women are coming here at 2 am. As a precaution, Anytime Fitness has security measures in place. Members receive a small key chip that unlocks the door to the club and identifies them. The system knows if a person is going in or out and to keep members safe, it sets off an alarm if a person comes in without a key then delivers a video replay to the surveillance system. If a person wants to walk home, the club offers a “panic button” with a block range. They can also wear it while working out and in the shower. Janie noted that when the “panic button” is triggered, the police come quickly because it is a personal safety device instead of a door alarm.

The equipment in the club is state of art as well. There is a computer terminal that creates an individualized 36 week workout program. Members are able to pick different types of programs such as sports, delayed aging, and general fitness to name a few. The workout program, targeting cardio and strengthening, indicates which machines to use and in what order. All the machines are wirelessly connected to the computer and record such things as a member’s seat position, range of motion, and height. If a person is on the wrong machine or is going too fast, or did not do a complete rep (because it knows the person’s range of motion), the machine will indicate that. If a member wants to go out of order they can. The machine will let them know they are on the wrong machine, keep track of what they do, and then take them back to the machine they missed. It also gives extra credit, trying to get the member to go a little harder or farther and increases the weight over time, giving periodic strength tests. “It keeps track of everything,” Janie noted and “we can print out the complete history of everything you did this last year.”

For those who want to work on free weights but don’t have the experience, Anytime Fitness provides trainers. “We have a lot of really phenomenal trainers. One trainer’s schedule is filled with appointments scheduled out for the next 12 months.” “He’s changing lives. People just love him.” There are four highly qualified trainers at the Kenosha Anytime Fitness.

A side benefit of the hi-tech nature of the club is that it broadcasts free WI-FI downtown. The signal covers the area from the Lakefront to Sheridan Rd., and from Library Park to the Best Western. “Mo’s has an ‘internet cafe’ and they are using our WI-FI system” Janie noted. Janie did this “to be able to communicate with the community.” They publish notices about dance classes and events and sell adds on pop-ups that appear every fifteen minutes (only while surfing or changing web pages). Equinox, Moes, and a few others have advertised already.

In addition to providing free WI-Fi to the downtown, Anytime Fitness provides satellite TV viewable on the cardio machines. As an additional public service, they plan to dedicate a channel to local programming and community activities.

A focus of Anytime Fitness is to “take away barriers between people and their goals.” The 24 hour nature of the club is one way of removing barriers for busy people with long schedules. We don’t want people to wait to get on cardio,” Janie said. “Instead we will cap off our membership sales and open a club 3 miles away in a nearby neighborhood. Members enjoy free reciprocity so they can go to over a thousand clubs worldwide. There is a new Anytime Fitness club opening every single day.” Another fitness industry barrier discovered by Anytime Fitness is the condition and quality of the equipment. “People are tired of the “out of order” signs and want a quality work out, so we offer our members only the top tier of the top brands of commercial equipment, Nautilus, Precor & Life Fitness. All the clubs feature new equipment that is simple to use so members don’t get frustrated. They can surf their favorite TV channels on all the cardio equipment and to keep things simple as you move from the treadmill to the elliptical to the bikes, all the panels are the same, from the TV controls to the simple “quick start” button.

Locker rooms are another typical gym barrier. Part of the unique design of the clubs is that there are no locker rooms. “People just hate locker rooms. They don’t want to undress in front of others and they don’t want to see naked people either. In this day and age with video cell phones, locker rooms have become extremely problematic. For obvious reasons, video surveillance is not an appropriate security option for locker rooms. Anytime Fitness members shower safely in individualized private rooms without the need to lock-up their bags.”

“Our goal is to make sure people get the best fitness environment for their needs. Part of this strategy is to make the club as comfortable as possible. We furnish the club like home. They really like being here and having the view of the lake is really a treat for them.” Janie also mentioned that the third floor location of the club is a “phenomenal place to watch fireworks. We turn down the lights. You can see everything from here. People can work on the treadmill while watching the fireworks.”

There are two shower rooms, two tanning rooms, and two bathrooms. Janie plans on using the same formula in future clubs. When Janie and Louie purchased the three-story Art Deco office building it needed to be remodeled. “It was very dark. There were narrow, dark halls and little dark rooms with a window, but solid doors and no glass to let the light into the halls.” She remodeled the entire building. Now, rooms finished in a cherry wood color, are flooded with light by rows of windows.

On the third floor is the Anytime Fitness club. Three of the floors have mixed uses. Some of the spaces will be rented as offices. A tax accounting service, a law firm, and Jeff Arnson, a microscopist, massage practitioners and the President of the International Microscopy Association, have already set up shop. Janie is also setting aside space to sell nutritional products and fitness clothing and paraphernalia. The most noticeable feature of the second floor is a large room rented by the hour overlooking 6th Ave. It is to be used for various functions from yoga classes to political events. “We have all sorts of things booked in there,” Janie said. One of the most popular events is the ballroom dance group “Learn to Dance,” that uses the room weekly. “At night, all the street lights, line up like a spectacular runway. The room really has a romantic kind of glow.” On the first floor, there will be a store that will sell nutritional supplements. There is also a phenomenal conference or board room available to the tenants.

Janie plans on utilizing the wide open spaces and conference room for corporate retreats. The idea is that the attendees may want to break-up their seminars and meetings with a yoga or Zumba class “to get the energy going so they can brainstorm some more.” And while they are downtown, attendees hopefully will shop. In addition, Anytime Fitness offers corporate rates and wellness programs.

One of the commercially attractive things about running a fitness club is the demographic it attracts. “It’s ideal,” Janie noted. “They’re over 18. They have a credit card or checking account and take care of themselves. This is the demographic that advertisers want to reach.” which provides another revenue stream for the business: advertising. A company called Health Club Panel Network rents space on the stairway and walls of the club, finds the national advertisers, and changes the ads periodically.

The health club market is a growing one. The number of health club members more than doubled from 1990 to 2006, to more than 42 million. Members are evenly split between male and female, the median age is 36, almost three-quarters are college graduates, and the average household income is over $95,000. In the case of the Kenosha Harborside Anytime Fitness, 25,000 people come through the door each year.

The excitement Janie has for the health club is obvious .. So is the reward in her eyes. “We really save lives and help people transform. It’s exciting to be around this type of culture and most of all, it is staggering to think that if all physically inactive Americans were to begin exercising, we as a nation could realize a savings of $77 billion in direct medical costs each year*. Just think about that ‘economic stimulus’”. She is on a “mission to turn around the unhealthy report card of Kenosha.” Hopefully, she will help transform Downtown Kenosha as well.

If the answer to any of these questions is “No” or “I don’t know,” then you seriously need some introspection. If your business does not provide you with all that you imagined when you first started, why you are still in business?

What is the measurable gain from owning a business? If your answer is anything other than Profits, you should consider selling the business and finding a job. If your business does not supply you with profits, you own a very expensive and stressful hobby. That is, unless you own a non-profit business - yet, you still need to make money in a non-profit.

Now let me inject a cliché: “Money can’t buy you happiness.” If your business supplies you with profits but makes you unhappy, you should also consider your options. Would you be better off either working for someone else, or perhaps finding a better way to go about your business?

Life is too short to spend the majority of our waking hours (which is the time that we typically work) in an unhappy state. And yet, there are so many people who build for themselves miserable lives, with the hope that someday they can enjoy the fruits of the labors. Usually, that means retirement. Why wait? Why not enjoy yourself now, while you are working?

Some say that working and making money have nothing to do with happiness. Those are some sad people. We are the ones who control our attitude, and thus we own the ability to create happiness in our business. If you want to create a business that makes you happy, you need to create systems around just that.

Focus on your team. If they are not happy, your customers won’t be happy, and you will definitely not be happy. If you can create enjoyment for your employees, they will be more than willing to do the same for your customers. You need to create an atmosphere that is polite, appreciative, caring and warm. Your team needs to feel not only that they have great jobs, but that they would want to work noplace else. This will translate to each customer having an awesome experience every time they do business with you. They will want to deal with your business more often, spending more money on your product or service - which ultimately leads to more Profits! So you see: happiness leads to more money; not the other way around.

Tim Dollmeyer is a certified ActionCOACH business coach. If you have questions or would like to learn about coaching, visit http://timdollmeyer.com/

As the world of business moves faster and becomes more competitive, having a Business Coach is no longer a luxury; it has become a necessity! Tim’s role is to coach business owners to improve their businesses using the proven systems provided by ActionCOACH coupled with his experience and yours. Tim will work with you to develop your vision and then get you into Action to achieve it.

Tim is a powerful and inspirational presenter who uses humor and audience participation to bring his point across in a way that will make a big impact on you and your business. Whether teaching business management, leadership or team building, Tim will help you to view your business in a whole new way. Tim presents workshops for every aspect of growing a business. Each program can be tailored to your company’s specific needs. He also delivers workshops in various areas such as conflict resolution, negotiating and public speaking.

“. . . perhaps I should say that goofing off is my biggest time waster. Mostly little things - like when I say to myself, ‘Oh my . . . look . . . all of my pencils are dull . . . can’t work with dull pencils . . . better sharpen those pencils . . . .’ And off I go to sharpen my pencils. I get back to my desk and realize that my coffee cup is almost empty. ‘Can’t work without coffee . . .’ “

Sound familiar? When some essential task needs to be done, do you find yourself sharpening pencils? Here are some ideas to help you identify why you procrastinate, and some potential solutions.

Perfectionism.
If you never get started because you don’t have time to make it perfect, this may be your problem. Does it really have to be perfect? Recognize when “good enough” is good enough. For example, I’ve found many clients spend hours worrying over the design of a mailing piece. Experts on direct marketing will tell you the creative part is responsible for only about 15% of the results. If it looks clean and professional, and has no grammatical or spelling errors, it’s good enough. Work on your mailing list and your offer . . . and just do it.

Avoiding a difficult or painful task.
Some tasks are difficult, but does putting them off solve the problem? Confronting that difficult employee may provoke an emotional discussion, but what’s the cost of not having the talk? Try this:

• Face your fear: what is the worst thing that could happen? Is it that bad? What will you do if the worst happens? What will happen if you do nothing?
• Recruit a coach - a good friend, a neutral co-worker - to discuss the problem with. Commit to a date and ask that person to hold you accountable.
• Work out how you will handle the situation. Rehearse your script with your coach.
• Reward yourself for completing a job you didn’t want to face. Chocolate for making that phone call, an hour off for writing that proposal.

Task too big, too hard
Is the job so big you can’t even imagine where you’ll get the time to do it? Don’t know where to start?

• Break insurmountable tasks down into small, more easily achievable ones. Set a goal of making a list of the small tasks that need to be done to get the big job done. Then take the easiest task and schedule a time to complete that one.
• .Is this something you just aren’t very good at? You may need to hire outside help to do it. You’ll get a more professional job and free up more of your time for the things only you can do. Is the payoff not worth the money you’ll spend? Then maybe it shouldn’t be done at all.

Boredom

• Is this task something you really hate doing? What makes you feel that way? Can you change the way you look at it and reward yourself for doing it? (If this applies to most of what you do, maybe you’re in the wrong business.)

Fatigue

Work.

We are all obsessed by it.
That 4-letter word.
We spend our lives doing it, thinking about it, talking about it.
So, if you’re not doing it right or you don’t like it, then you have a problem.
Too many people get stuck in a rut in their careers and work lives. They get embedded in a “this
is how things should be done” culture, where they are slaves to the corporation, where they leave
their personality at the office door, and the Work You is a million miles away from the Real You.
People forget they can change things—just like that. They forget that the status quo is not mandatory.
After all, the world of business and work is changing, often and rapidly, “just like that.” . . .

Click HERE to read the article, courtesy of Change this

We usually think of business strategy as some sort of aspirational market positioning statement. Doubtless that’s part of it. But I believe that the number one “strategic strength” is excellence in execution and systemic relationships (i.e., with everyone we come in contact with). Hence I offer the following 48 pieces of advice in creating a winning strategic that is inherently sustainable. . .

Click HEREto read the article courtesy of Tom Peters