Grumpy Today

I'll admit it, I'm a little grumpy today. I don't consider my blog to be my favorite place to vent, but I'd like to know what you think. Maybe this does even have some relevance for homeschooling, at least my kids and I are certainly learning stuff here!

As the owner of a small business I need to find ways of getting out into my community and meeting new people who may be interested in working with me. If you are in sales one of the established ways of meeting new people is to do vendor events - fairs, festivals, bazaars and marts. Yet the more I do this the more I'm realizing that there are a bunch of folks out there who feed off the fees of small business owners like hungry sharks sneaking up and taking bites. The question is, is this reasonable, and if not what should small business owners do about it?

I'll give you an example. Last night I paid $85 ($60 table fee and $25 donation to a PTA auction) to attend an event which I was led to believe was established and had PTA support. I was quoted estimated sales of $500-1,200 per vendor for the previous year's event. I don't expect any kind of guarantee on my sales at an event like this, but I do expect the organizer to be responsible for generating traffic. Needless to say attendance at this event was far below what I'd been led to expect and there are plenty of clues to convince me that it wasn't a whole lot different the year before. My loss from this event turned out to be $63, and that's before I event count mileage or business overheads. Now the thing is that this event was a success for the organizer. There were 15 vendors there, which generated around $1,275 in fees for the PTA. I can't imagine that the PTA put out more than $275 in costs for photocopying and signage, therefore they made a nice little profit of around $1,000, meaning that for the organizer this was a success and they'll be happy to do it again next year, assuming they can find vendors.

No doubt I was not the only vendor who was disappointed with this event, but the thing is that there are a seemingly unlimited supply of small business owners, many of them in their first year of business, looking for events to do. Where's the incentive for an organizer to change their behavior when they can just go out and find a whole new set of businesses who will take part?

Well, the lessons my kids are learning from this may not be the ones I'd had in mind when I started up in business, but it's certainly learning. What do you think? Should a vendor expect a fee that is in line with the traffic for an event? Should organizers get away with raising funds at the expense of a different set of vendors each year? Is there something I should be doing to change this?

10 Attributes to Positively Influence Your Family and Community and How to Grow Them #1

We all have our little peculiarities. My family have helped me to write a list of 10 things they think I'm good at; I was looking for qualities that would show I have something worthwhile to share through blogging. Let's say that some will be a challenge to put a positive spin on! I'm up for the challenge though. Over the next 10 days I'll share them one at a time and include ideas for growing these qualities in yourself and your kids, and for homeschool lessons, should you feel so inclined.

#1 = nice
Comes from the English word for foolish or stupid! I think my family were aiming for pleasant and kind, but maybe I should check with them. Then again.... maybe not!

Here is a list of resources related to "nice":

• Apparently there's a danger in raising nice kids - who'd have thought it. I think you should all read this just in case my promoting nice is about to damage your family! You can even get a study guide.
• An overseas American thinks that our kids aren't really so nice and has some ideas on why. There could be some ideas here on raising nice American kids!
  
• Googling 'nice "lesson plans" comes up with a guide to analyzing political cartoons. I'm not sure why that comes up under nice, unless they're talking about "nice" politicians. Who's your favorite "nice" politician?
• Did you know that there is a Very Nice People Society? They even have a calendar of monthly opportunities for being nice!
• You'll want to know about conquering the business world by being nice and maybe even invest in the book The Power of Nice
• Let's not forget about manners and etiquette! Teacher Planet has some ideas for lessons. Or how about cross-cultural etiquette with the Peace Corps?
• Or maybe your kids would prefer to learn about morality with art activities. The high school topic of morality and brain science sounds intriguing, or you could use Aesop's Fables with lessons from National Endowment of the Humanities.
• Last, but not least, Mrs Boot at Apple Tree Farm is just plain nice! How about this, she's even a female farmer!

Have fun!

I Love to Read and I Love My Usborne Business

Can you imagine a day without books? A day without reading? If you're a bookworm like me you may wonder how you'd get through. Of course, now I have the internet - I could spend hours reading on here - but somehow that can't replace the magic of a good book. Don't get me wrong, if you don't love books that much, I still like you. My husband rarely reads anything other than manuals, forums and internet news, but I still think he's a great guy! Naturally when I was looking for a business to make my own, books were the first thing I thought of. The Usborne books business is the one I chose.

I LOVE my book business. There are many reasons. I get to read a big pile of children's books and it's part of my job! I get many, many discounted books, which is much better than paying full price; my children have a wonderful Usborne home library full of fantastic books that I paid very little for. I can pay myself for sharing these wonderful, engaging, colorful, and interactive books with others. I am my own boss and I choose my own hours and how much I earn. I get to give away books - I love giving things to people. I enjoy the thrill of hearing that a child learned to read or count because of Usborne books. I am promoting literacy in my community and beyond. My colleagues are other moms who love books - some of them are now among my best friends. And of course, I do actually have the option to work for the little or big extras or essentials, like homeschooling items, trips, activities for my kids, or to buy groceries.

Here's a quote from my son, who has clearly joined the ranks of bookworms, "Life without books is dirt."

Happy Reading and I hope you enjoy a good book today. Let me know what books your kids love.