“Tis the summer of retirement parties for many of our friends in the Queen City fire department. Like many cities across the nation, our police and fire department have some pension issues.

So we hooked up the smoker, iced the keg, tuned the instruments and kicked the first party off in a green valley just south of the garden.

And when we’re not having a hoedown, we’re hunching the keyboard and rolling out a line of high quality 14K urn jewelry for our clients.

It’s an honor to  serve our client families, but it’s hard not to be distracted by the beauty out the window.

Stay focused and:

click for BIG

spotted in Harper’s Bazaar

OVERHEARD AT THE OFFICE:

Earlier this week I overheard a colleague in all seriousness, comment on an event being “ironical”.

THE END IS NEAR:

Despite feeling the end of year crunch, 2008 has been a bright year for Hall Enterprises. It gives me hope.

Earlier this year we had a few set-backs with ice and flooding and twisters at World Headquarters, and we are wrapping up the Urn Garden advertising experiment using the blog as a marketing tool. No facebook or twitter. No time.

I’m excited about the possibilities that word press offers, I’m grateful to have a technical adviser that will bail me out if needed. Now, it’s just finding the precious time.

On average, it takes me a couple of hours to write a post. It’s getting better, and it helps when I’m organized. A work in progress. I’m still unsure about mixing business and personal posts, although the personal posts seem to get more comments. Really though, it’s about the families we serve and the adventure of selling the product that no one want to buy.

We’ve in the middle of relocating the warehouse, which was one of the goals of 2008. This was our sixth move in four years. I see one more in the future.

We hit the projected sales goal for 2008.

The business paid for the intern’s education.

I Hate Bank of America: Paid off!

We made some headway on a side project that will launch in 2009.

On a personal note, I did learn that not only should you not discuss politics at work, you shouldn’t comment in the comfort of your own home. Just recently, I’ve realized the toll that the election took on my marriage.

All summer I looked for rainbows and unicorns, and while I never actually saw one….I’m told they will appear. It might be a few years.

Happy New Year!

This morning, I saw a familiar face, but the timing was off. I commented that he was later than usual and he smiled, “Not working today”. Then froze, “I lost my job Friday.” He looked like he was going to cry. Like he needed to say the words to convince himself.

There was no time to talk. Besides, what do you say? I silently gave thanks for the gifts that I’ve received. 2008 has been an encouraging year for Hall Enterprises and in April of 2009, we’ll celebrate our fifth year of leaving the corporate world and being a small business owner. It’s not the sexy world of advertising, but it works.

Even though the day to day is so unpredictable? For the first time in five years I have more clarity about the coming year. I enjoy selling the product NO ONE wants to buy.

That’s what I tell myself.

Let’s get real. Some days are better than others.

Last week I spilled coffee in my car twice and grabbed the deodorant instead of hairspray to set my style. If that’s a bad week, then I’m doing alright.*

We’re sending out good wishes to all of our associates that are on that journey of new beginnings. It can be so traumatic leaving a job. It’s taken me four years just to recover from the culture shock.

Etsy shop: Please Be Still

*Amended to include a chocolate milk spill that leaked into my keyboard.

Remember when Mountain Dew was all about ticklin’ yore innards?

You can still embrace your inner hillbilly.

Found at: Advertising is Good for You

Due to extreme laziness, I’m linking it up:

Another example of effective advertising, Jet Packs buys a creepy yet classic Hershey Bar.

Copyranter showers us with the the bloody spray of the Kill Bill billboard in Australia. Inquiring minds want to know…is it real?

Stepping outside the “box”, Final Taxi has the story on Fred Baur’s package.

And then, if you think you’re job sucks, or you are having a bad day at work, read this and feel better.

Specifically, Ad Words. I still love the Google channel.

Last January was a record breaking month for sales for Urngarden, however, due to a heavy advertising schedule, our bottom line was less than impressive.

Phase two of the Great Google Experiment consists of monitoring first quarter activity without running an adwords campaign or advertising on Amazon. This was a scary proposition, but the good news is that we’ve already surpassed our Jan. 07 sales with zero dollars spent on adwords.

February will be interesting.

We also made changes to our distribution channels and unfortunately it’s starting to feel like a divorce. At the time, it was strictly a business decision. Now, it’s become personal. The firm we contracted with last year provided excellent service, and we wanted to leave the door open for future partnerships. Did you just hear the door slam? I’m not going to get into specifics, the whole thing is rather tedious and kinda sad.

That might be another post.

Mary Schmidt said it best in her Small Biz Snafus post,

“As I noted to the owner, it’s not my job to make them profitable.”

Two Words For Today: Own it.

The Great Google Experiment:

The results are in from a year long experiment with the Google Adwords. Fact: Google Adwords delivers traffic, but is it a good return on my investment? I’d have to say no. We’ve been measuring the results and trying to find a happy medium with an effective return. That has not happened yet and I’m not sold on adwords for the product that no one wants to buy.

We attempted a small campaign when we first started urngarden v1, but the real problem was organic listings. We hired a professional to create an ad campaign and optimize the site. Reports reveal: SEO good. Article submission, very good. Google Adwords, hmmmmmm.

A heavy schedule for the first few months (too long) of the campaign, delivered the visitors and even surpassed traffic on the busiest venue I sell on. That was one of the goals. However, the sales from the CPC did not justify the dollars spent on adwords. Ah, but the information has been priceless.

Informal surveys from clients on how they land in the garden: Most have answered that they don’t click on the ads on the right side of the page, nor do they click on the top two listings. Or, if they click, they don’t buy. At least not enough to justify the ad spend. The hard numbers support this. Personally, when I’m google-ing my eye doesn’t even travel to the right side of the page.

Some marketers say “adwords lend an air of credibility”, I look at it as an expensive image and brand building campaign. So, I guess I need to repost my call for a service monkey personal assistant who will work for food.

Thank you for your patronage. Have a great week!

Thanks to Copyranter for the tip!

When your clothes have cobwebs on them, you might consider cleaning out the closet. And so it goes.

Cull it down to the minimum. If it requires a foundation undergarment to smooth the surface….lose it. I’ve been hanging on to the past and since I don’t dress for success anymore, I’m chucking the old office wardrobe.

Breakthrough:

I’ve found freedom in my new unflattering khaki slacks and slippers. Embrace the full figure. At least that struggle has subsided.

Let’s burn fat!

Speaking of “embracing”: shout out to Final Embrace for bringing a breath of fresh air to the funeral world with interesting correspondents. “Next generation” observations of the industry are fun to read. It’s about time.

Snap Judgment:
The marketing department earmarked this ad a while back for today’s review:

Powerful image. I should have cropped the verbiage. Because the words don’t matter.

Although, I’ve only studied the industry for the last few years, I don’t recall seeing a female “call to action” in the trade mags. This ad got my attention.

At the risk of embarrassing myself: Who is this lady looking all satisfied in her conservative blue bidnez suit? Should I know her?

Or is it subliminal:

Woman Strong. Vault strong.

For What It’s Worth:

Too many words.

Dial down the copy, you love that logo, so brand and develop the female heavy metal angle.

Rock on!