Done and Moving On

[Mojo]

I just finished the big Motorcoach Rally in Indiana and am heading to my sons for some R & R for two weeks before heading to Bristol to check on our Hillbilly shack. This rally was huge and taught me a great deal in regards to organization. I flew a retired friend of ours in to staff the booth and she did an awesome job for us. I learned alot and need to go back and make some adjustments to my business model for rallys. I outpaced other vendors in some areas but dropped the ball in other areas. In other words I was happy with myself on some issues and kicked my own ass for forgetting things in other areas.

The two seminars I conducted were a bit stressful because of the moderator. Because this is a big rally with many national directors in attendance they evaluate your performance. I was scored from 1-5 and got mostly 5's with a couple 4's. The seminars went well but I hated the fact of turning and seeing that moderator sitting there watching me. I did two slide presentations and had two great audiences. My seminar on slide toppers was very well attended. To well attended as there were a heck of a lot of people there. :)

Business wise this rally was a HUGE success. I found my reputatioin is solid and I am very well known throughout the association. This made me feel good. I met my financial goal for orders and actually went over it. I was shocked as it started out slow. But after a few days the orders poured in. 6 days a week again sewing in June and July.

I am dead assed tired. I went up onto 30 buses and did slide topper/awning inspections. Seen alot of issues with the factory toppers and found two that I need to replace that were recently done by local canvas shops. The fit was poor and they shorted the sides badly. They seem easy to make but retrackable toppers need exact fits. Worse yet the canvas people used the old toppers as patterns. Very bad idea. Each topper has to be made from scratch with exact measurements off the roller tubes. The factory toppers are always short to begin with and provide bad coverage.

On a personal front, our new German Shepherd arrived at Southbend airport last night. I bought her from a breeder in Missouri and she was flown up to me. All black and simply gorgeous. But it was a long night. I forgot how much work puppies are. :)

I have some very tight deadlines when I get back at the end of the month as I am chasing traveling customers all across the country again. I have already been in touch with Miami Mike to ensure they have rolls of Sattler in place in Jacksonville so that base is covered. I am going to be going through a whole lot of fabric and be back to buying full rolls again. :(

I was able to pass on some work to Dennis. Had a customer who needed some interior work done on their new bus so I referred them to Dennis. ( They live 20 miles from his shop ). I hope he gets the order, especially after lying my ass off and telling them what a nice guy Dennis is.  ;D   :D   8)

Hope everyone is having a good month so far. Be safe, be happy and make some money ya'll. :)

Chris

[Mojo]

I forgot to mention I was asked back again for next years rally and agreed to do next years show. The big bomb was I have to do two weeks next year as they want me to stay and do the big International Rally which follows the other bus rally. Thankfully the fairgrounds here is awesome with great facilities and a great campground to park my coach at.

I also agreed to do the Myrtle beach rally in October. I plan on having MiamiMike come over and do the seminar with me. He doesn't know it and cannot wait to break the news to him. :)

Do we have anyone from the Myrtle beach area on here ?

Chris

[sofadoc]

I was able to pass on some work to Dennis. Had a customer who needed some interior work done on their new bus so I referred them to Dennis. ( They live 20 miles from his shop ). I hope he gets the order, especially after lying my ass off and telling them what a nice guy Dennis is. 

It's not too often that a customer travelling through Indiana hears about me from a knucklehead from Florida. Thanks for the referral. After talking with him, it turns out that we're more like 70 miles apart, so I'm not sure that he'll make it up my way any time soon. But he said that he plans to.

While you were at it, you should have slipped in to a few RV's and cut some slits in the seats, and stuck one of my business cards in the slits. THAT'S how you market!! ;)

That's actually a good idea for your next gig. While Miami Mike is droning on and on with his presentation, you can sneak around ripping up awnings. ;D

[gene]

Thanks for the update, mojo. It is great to hear about a different side of our business. And I was getting tired from just reading about everything you were doing. LOL

When I started my business, I went through SCORE. Service Corp of Retired Executives. One of their main focus points was that the best chance a small business person has of success is to find a niche market. I'm finding that this is where any growth for me will be.

Dennis: Years ago when I got my first job as a sales rep in the paper packaging industry, I was assigned a specific area to sell in. After about two months, the BIG boss came up to me and showed me an article where a competitor's building had burned down. This was in my area. The BIG boss said, "Gene, I want you to be competitive, but for Christ's sake don't get caught." He then walked away as if he were serious. I always thought he was joking, but maybe not!?!

gene

[mike802]

Chris:  Glad to hear everything went well, I was wondering how you were  doing.

[Mike]

I was wondering if fhey want you to do the show and now 2 weeks next year. Is the rv space on the house there not exactly cheap

[bobbin]

I wanna see the GSD puppy.  (Bet Kody does, too).  What's her name?

My dog is part Shepherd.  He's smart, gentle, and had been through at least 3 shelters before we adopted him at 1 1/2 yrs. old.  No one had bothered to give him any obedience training andhe was a horror, lol.  Out of control large dogs are not "given the pass" little ones are.  We knuckled down on obedience work and, voila! he went from out of control to great company in a couple of months.  It is said that you can train your dog in 20 minutes a day.  It's true. 

The guy doing the obedience classes we took said our dog was really smart and had had things his own way for too long so training him would take commitment and time but would return big dividends.  He was right.  I often wonder what our dog would be like if we'd had him from puppyhood. 

Lucky you!

[scottymc]

Wouldn't be as good Bobbin, he has probably had the chance to develop his own personality, our last dog was like that, she was her own dog.
Well Chris, with your pup starting its life traveling around in the bus, that's where you will probably find it for the rest of its life, sitting up front just waiting for you to hop in and take it on a new adventure. :)

[kodydog]

I wanna see the GSD puppy.  (Bet Kody does, too).  What's her name?

Yeah, now I actually have a good reason to stop by next time I'm heading to Clearwater to visit mom. :D

[Mojo]

I wished you would stop in Ed. I need you or Paul's help and input on a couple bus projects I have in mind. It will be my first foray into furniture and I need some pointers.

Chris