We love sugar down south. It goes in everything… sweet tea… cookies… brownies… you name it. Of course you want the cheapest price for the highest quality sugar that you can find.

You folks up north don’t know what you are missing out on with sweet tea. Most northerners say it is just too sweet for them. I think they’re nuts.

Maybe I should start networking on that end…

Every dollar counts.

In the same vein, every marketing dollar is especially important. First, the fewer dollars you spend, the more you have to do those other things like product development and paying employees.

Secondly, you’re small and can’t just throw money at a problem. You need those few dollars you spend on marketing to generate a lot of revenue — which in turn can generate more marketing. Kind of a cycle.

One way to make sure your marketing dollars have a big impact is to not pay for marketing at all!

Now that seems kind of crazy, you’re not going to be able to run an add in the newspaper for free.

But a viral marketing does just that. If people love your product or service, they can become your marketing force. They generate word of mouth (the best kind of marketing) for your company. That’s awesome. But sometimes it can be hard to do that. You might want to check out Ryan Pitylak and his blog. He’s out there showing you how to go viral.

I’m watching the Braves vs. Phillies game tonight…

The Curtain Shop is an online store to help you get connected with all kinds of new interior decorations… from window drapes, to bedding ensembles, to rods and hardware, to kitchen and bath things.

When shopping online you want to make sure you are getting connected with a high quality shop. One that will not only provide high quality products, but one that will ship them on time, ship them appropriately, and give you great customer service. I always say the litmus test for an online store is how they take returns. The better the return policy, the more likely I am to do business with them.

The Curtain Shop will also do price matching — which you don’t see very often from an online retailer. That speaks to the quality of the shop.

I’m not the guy to talk to about what type of curtains to get — that is more my wife’s deal. Actually that IS my wife’s deal. She’s great with interior decorating. Me, on the other hand, … well, let’s just say if I were in charge it would look like we’re still in a college dorm room.

My boss is bi-polar. Maybe not medically or technically speaking, but he certainly acts like it.

Happy one minute. Pissed the next.

Is your boss like that?

We’ve had a few financial scares in our short time together. Primarily the issues haven’t been major — we’re not talking $50,000 in credit card debt, or gambling away my 401k and life savings. Nothing like that. I’m not currently a candidate for Debt consolidation.

But there have been a few … what we consider, at least … financial scares. Primarily bills not getting paid on time. The bills weren’t paid not because we didn’t have the money — we did — but due to poor organization skills. I’ve thought several times that a bill has been paid, or scheduled to be paid online, only to find out later that payment was never received, or I forgot to setup the bill pay.

The bad thing is if you’re using credit cards, it can kind of snowball. I had a credit card payment deducted from an old checking account one time. That triggered several fees: a late fee or financing fee (can’t remember) from the credit card company. Then two separate NSF (non sufficient funds) fees from the bank. Why two? Because naturally, the credit card company tried twice to come in and get the money… from an old account.

That took about a week to clear up, but we ended up paying no fees. It helps to be a good customer!

I love to hate it. T-com guys are so different from the rest of the information technology world. They can be clean cut, $60/hour guys, or they can be straight up, blue collar, football-talkin’ guys.

Makes for a varied candidate base… funny times!

Simply put, a trade show is a great place to be if your product fits into that type of environment.

We’ve talked about giving away custom made t-shirts with your company logo on it, or other types of knick knacks (pens, trade show badge hangers to go around your neck, or mouse pads), but all that is for naught if you have an ugly, unappealing, or unprofessional trade show display.

So don’t mess it up — get some professional help in designing your truss trade show display.

I love rain — helps to not have to water everything constantly. But it also brings the temperatures down, at least for a little while. I’m sure we’ll be back up into the high 90’s soon enough.