Aaron Ewer
Aaron Ewers thoughts about everything

I’ve been percolating on a business idea that involves advertising for small businesses and I think the time is getting ripe to launch it in the next year or two. I won’t go into the details here, but it involves a custom made display for use in regional malls and I think I finally came up with the design that would work for my idea.

I’ve been looking at the mall kiosks and pushcarts and know that what they have available at the malls now won’t really adapt well for my use. So I started looking online for companies that make displays and found the Godfrey Group. I like their web site because it has lots of photos and good ideas of what other people have designed and use for their businesses. Of course, most of what is out there was designed for trade show displays. But I think it can be easily adapted for use in the malls, too.

I clicked on their tab for custom designs and found a lot of good information. And the Godfrey Group has a best price guarantee. So I can’t go wrong working with the Godfrey Group to fine tune my display design and get my new business launched early next year.

A few jobs ago one of the executives was a highly educated but productively worthless marketing guru. He talked all the high dollar words, but when it came to putting results on the board he usually came up empty. These guys with the V.P. titles and too big bank accounts drive me nuts - I’m all about results. So it didn’t bother me much when I learned he left the company under a “mutual agreement.”

Since I didn’t consider him a friend, I was surprised to get an email from him a couple weeks ago announcing his new company. He has bought the territory rights to most of the southeastern states to launch a new product and he’s taking it on a roadshow to promote it. He made arrangements with Sam’s Club to put up a display for one week at a time at rotating Sam’s Club locations.

So out of curiosity, I stopped by the local Sam’s Club to check it out and see if he was doing any business. I have to admit the display was nice and it was getting it’s fair share of attention from the shoppers. He had a 10 x 10 carpet laid out, four chairs - one on each corner of the carpet, and a nice, eyecatching backdrop with lights and graphics. The two blondes with big hair and bigger cleavage handing out brochures didn’t hurt, either.

Chatting with him in between customers, he told me that his cost of entry into the business was minimal. He bought the custom trade show displays from a company online called the “Godfrey Group” and couldn’t be more pleased with all the design help and cost effective solutions they provided to produce the most important part of his road show exhibit, the portable display wall.

So it looks like he is off to a good start and maybe has finally found his calling - out of the big corporate world and into entrepreneurism.

I know that every time we Americans whine about the cost of gas, someone will pipe up with the cost of gas in Europe is so much higher - it’s so expensive they sell it by the liter instead of the gallon, yadda yadda yadda.

Well, it’s too expensive here in the State and it is also too expensive in Europe. They had a huge truckers strike today to make that point. I’m concerned that we are getting close to seeing the same thing here, as the cost of diesel is even higher than the $4 a gallon gasoline. If the truckers start causing shortages, the cost of everything will sky rocket.

I’m getting really nervous about how the cost of gas is going to affect us all and our quality of life in America. Might be a good time to make moves toward more self sufficiency and stocking up on essentials - just in case.

This summer might turn into a staycation for us - the cost of gas is still going up and my fun money part of the budget is drying up pretty fast.

The wife would like to just stay at home and have a little staycation instead of an expensive trip to the beach. We can fix up the backyard and maybe go on a few Harley rides to the parks and natural areas that we never seem to get around to seeing.

I’d like to put in a small pond and fountain in the backyard, with a swing and garden area for some quiet moments in the early morning or late evening when either the wife or I want to get away from it all. I’m even thinking about buying a couple of marble statues to make the garden area a little more formal and classy.

I found a website that has a great variety of marble statues and figurines - from classic to modern. I liked one that I saw and then I noticed that the same site has fountains, too. They also have planters, urns, and ornate marble fireplaces. Now I’m getting all kinds of great ideas for landscaping the yard and then we can have a year round staycation - right at home.

One of the best things about summer is that the cantalopes and watermelons are ripe and fresh. I never really knew how to pick a good one from the bins until a buddy showed me how to smell the butt of the melon. If you can smell something just a little sweet or fragrant, then it’s a good one.

Last night we went Krogering and they had a bin of cantalopes that looked pretty good. They are from somewhere in the U.S. but I don’t know where. I’m guessing Texas. I picked one that smelled good and when the wife cut into this morning I was proven right again. This was a great melon - perfectly ripe - not too hard and not yet mushie, and sweet as you could ever want.