I have been doing WordPress for over 1 year. I have a blog on my website and I have decided to change over to it.
I have over 300 post on this site, so take a moment and look around.
When you are done come and visit my new blogsite.
Simply click this link which will take you to our website home page and scoll to the bottom for the blog.
Blessings
Lowell Lane
Kingdom Business Journal
We attended the World View Weekend in Branson Missouri this weekend.
The Lane's In Branson Missouri at Table Rock Lake Dam
WOW! It was an awesome event and very informative. We were not really up to speed on all that has been going on in the world, but our eyes were open to many things.
The speakers were sharing information about what was going on in the world and backed all of it up with scripture. They had Dr. Youssef, Joel Rosenberg, Dr. David Reagan, Kay Arthur, David Barton, David Noebel, and hosted by Brannon Howse.
It was a ton of information and I need to go back and review all my notes in order to get the full impact of it all. If you are able to attend a Worldview Weekend, I would recommend it.
I have had 15 years experience in selling advertising. I have sold Radio, yellow pages, and worked with Internet. Advertising is an interesting business; and, as the economy changes, so do advertising trends.
Cut advertising expenses first??
I was getting gas this evening and ran into a friend who owns several radio stations. I asked how the radio business was, and he said things were great. He then told me he has been in radio through 4 recessions, and it has never really effected their business. He said that this year was not as good as last year, but better than the year before; and, it was an all time record. Much of it is because of the area we live in; and if we lived on the coast or in a large metropolitan area, he would be telling a different story. He asked me how my business was.
In yellow pages, the industry as a whole is down slightly. The last book we did ended up better than the year before. We are working on a new book at this time; and, it is going OK.
Before this conversation, I spoke with a body shop owner. He said that he has been in businesses for over 40 years and that it seems to him that when the economy is bad his business is better.
I talk to business people every day; and ,I hear both sides of the story. I hear the gloom and doom; and, I hear the success stories. Yes, there are folks out there that are truly having a hard time keeping the door open; and, I know how they feel because I have been there.
The number one difference I have see
n is the business owner’s attitude. The people I have personally met who are struggling are scared to death of what may happen with the economy and have chosen to start cutting everything possible. Many start with advertising. I had a salon owner tell me the other day that advertising is the thing she cuts first because it is a controlled cost. That makes sense in the checkbook; but, in the big picture it often proves to be a mistake.
Advertising during hard times is an awesome opportunity. Since there are those who are cutting, it opens the door for you to take their share of the market.
Time to Advertise
Yes, I agree you have to be careful where you put your money, but cutting advertising is a mistake.
Before you cut your advertising, ask yourself several questions.
1. In my overall budget, what is my current advertising cost?
2. Where are my advertising dollars going? Make a list of the last 3 -6 months advertising and break it down by category such as Yellow pages, radio, television, newspaper, and other. Where are the majority of your funds being spent?
3. Once you determine where your dollars are going, you need to look at how effective the ads are. EXAMPLE: If you are an at need service company, you need to consider the fact that people don’t think about your business unless they need you. 80% + turn to yellow pages at a crisis time such as this. They will not remember your phone number from an ad they heard on the radio 2 weeks ago going 70 miles per hour going down the freeway. On the other hand, if you having a slow month and you need to generate some fast income, then running a special time sensitive ad on the radio might make them react and go ahead and have the work done at a better price.
4. Re-direct your advertising dollars for maximum effectiveness. Example: If you are running television spots at
$80.00 per 60 second spot. and they are running 2 times a day 6 days a week, then you are spending $960.00 per week or $3840.00 per month. If you would like to run some specials for the last 2 weeks of the month but you can’t add the expense, then you can re-direct. If you simply did one spot per day then you have a budget of $ 1920.00 for the month to run your specials. After your special is over, you can then resume your regular schedule. This will give you a chance to evaluate the effectiveness of your ads by judging the results.
5. The last thing before cutting your advertising it to look at your entire budget and expenses and see what else is a cost that you can cut.
Remember cutting advertising is cutting your customer flow; and, cutting your customer flow is cutting your income.
If you are fearful of the economy or just want to know what is really going on, not just what you hear on the media….
Click the Banner on the right for TOWN HALL FOR HOPE WITH DAVE RAMSEY!
Blessings!
For more information, we have several really good articles on www.kingdombusinessjournal.com, Check them out!
As a family we observed the last supper tonight at dinner.
We read in Matthew 26:14-30
14 Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests 15 and said, “What are you willing to give me if I deliver Him to you?” And they counted out to him thirty pieces of silver. 16 So from that time he sought opportunity to betray Him.
Jesus Celebrates Passover with His Disciples
17 Now on the first day of the Feast of the Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying to Him, “Where do You want us to prepare for You to eat the Passover?”
18 And He said, “Go into the city to a certain man, and say to him, ‘The Teacher says, “My time is at hand; I will keep the Passover at your house with My disciples.”’”
19 So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them; and they prepared the Passover.
20 When evening had come, He sat down with the twelve. 21 Now as they were eating, He said, “Assuredly, I say to you, one of you will betray Me.”
22 And they were exceedingly sorrowful, and each of them began to say to Him, “Lord, is it I?”
23 He answered and said, “He who dipped his hand with Me in the dish will betray Me. 24 The Son of Man indeed goes just as it is written of Him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had not been born.”
25 Then Judas, who was betraying Him, answered and said, “Rabbi, is it I?”
He said to him, “You have said it.”
Jesus Institutes the Lord’s Supper
26 And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed[b] and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.”
27 Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. 28 For this is My blood of the new[c] covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. 29 But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.”
30 And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
Then just as in vs 26 we ate the bread as a representation of his body and in 27 we drank the juice as a remembrance of his blood that was shed and covered my sins.
This was a wonderful experience and part of building legacy in my family.
As we celebrate this Easter we need to remember what Jesus went through and how much he loves us. Take a moment and watch this video, and then thank Jesus Christ for what he has done for us.
May God Bless you!
Here it is April 6 and we are having a FREEZE WARNING tonight.
I just heard on the news that a local strawberry farmer was covering his 22,000 plants and hoping for the best. The last time we had a April Freeze he lost 70% of his crop. He said that farming is like gambling, but it is a lot more work.
I hope his strawberries produce. I can just taste that strawberry shortcake. MMM!
I have my garden covered with straw. The only thing showing is a few cabbages, a row of peas, and a few onions. I just hope this is the last of the cold weather. If I lose them, it won’t be a major loss, but I am trying to be a good steward.
If you are a business owner then you can relate to the farmer’s comment about farming being like gambling. Being is business is also a gamble. The best advice I can offer is to be a good steward of what God has given you. Prepare for the slow times and store up some grain during the harvest. Treat your employees, customers, and vendors well.
I have been thinking about this so we started a series on the Seven traits of a Good Steward. Our Tip of the Week is available on our home page. Go to www.kingdombusinessjournal.com and there will be a pop-up box that allows you to sign up.
Be blessed!
Have you ever seen a person along side a rode who has a sign that reads, “Will work for food”?
I saw a guy yesterday who was standing at an intersection that said, “Steve the painter” Interior painting and his #.
How creative is that? Marketing with no money!
What will you work for?
It has been a very long day, but a good one. I was up early, and unfortunately my wife was up early also with sick kids. I did my devotion and answered some e-mails and got busy. I
made calls all morning setting appointments and trying to a good start on the week. I had an appointment this afternoon and one this evening.
I would like to talk about my appointment from this evening. I met with a young man who has a ministry in Joplin and from a phone conversation we had, we decided to get together and talk. Neither of us knew exactly why we were getting together, but we were to get together. We visited and talked about kids, and life and then we really got started. I knew he had a ministry, but I was not sure what he did. He proceeded to describe what he did and what his ministry was all about. At this point I still had no idea why we were meeting. I told him it was interesting, but I had no revelation for him.
We kept talking and I was able to share some similar stories, and then he asked me the question. “I have this idea and passion but I have no idea how to make money with it.” I thought to myself, join the crowd. He was looking for answers and I said, I did not have any ideas but I would think about it.
Two weeks ago my partner and I met with a gentlemen who is a coach and Internet marketing expert. We talked and in that conversation he was fact finding and trying to pull out of Rich and I what our giftings were. He simply asked me a question, “What do your family, friends, and co-workers say that you are really good at?” This question popped into my head and so I thought, well maybe it will work with this guy. So I asked him the same question.
I believe that the Holy Spirit took over at this point. The guy proceeded to tell me what he was good at and as I was taking notes a plan started forming. There was one thing in particular that as I was sharing these ideas, he had a look in his eye that was one of those, AHA MOMENTS! It was as if a light switch was turned on.
Now here is what is interesting. Two weeks ago the guy in Kansas City asked me, “”What do your family, friends, and co-workers say that you are really good at?” From that conversation a word was spoken, “HAND TO THE PLOW” and what came from it was that I had a gift to take an idea and be able to implement it from design to completion. He had given me several ideas of how I could use that gift, but I walked away thinking, I have this gifting but what am I going to do with it and how could I make money with it ? Déjà vu!
As I left this meeting tonight I had an, AHA MOMENT.
I just spent a little over an hour putting, THE HAND TO THE PLOW!
Blessings!
I have been busy preparing a mailing. This is a first time for me, and it is a lot of work and it has been frustrating.
The computer I have is a Windows XP- Garage Sales Special. I am not joking. My laptop died and I was at a garage sale and bought it for $25.00. Shortly after getting it it crashed, but they were able to restore it and since it did not have the Office disc’s, they installed Open Office. It works fine, but printing labels has been a nightmare. I finally got it to print the labels, but they are not perfect as I wished.
We have all 1500 envelopes ready except the postage and inserting the letters. They are will be going out Monday, I hope.
I have only had people tell me about direct mail marketing in the past. Since the average is about a 1-2% return, I have never messed with it. This is a different situation and my boss says it is an effective tool.
What about you, have you tried direct mail marketing? Letters, postcards, or flyer’s?
If you have had experience with this form of marketing would you share it by commenting ?
Blessings!
Lowell Lane
I started the day this morning with a word of encouragement from by (boss) friend. This has been a blessing to have a Godly man for a boss.
I decided to return the blessing and I sent words of encouragement and blessing to two more friends.
What if we all did this!
Encourage a friend today and encourage them to pass it on.
Have a blessed day!
Lowell and Laura Lane 2003
We lost out on our date night this Friday because I was in KC, so we went out tonight. Laura and I have been married coming up on 23 years this May. It is very nice having an 18 year old to babysit, and he is FREE. We feel that it is very important to take this time out for us, especially after spending the last 18 years raising children and with a 7 year old at least another 12+ years before we even think about being empty-nesters. We have to take time out to be Laura and Lowell, not Daddy and Mommy.
As a couple we have to work on our relationship and nurture it. If you and your spouse don’t have a weekly time to get away and be yourself, I highly recommend it.
The Lane Family 2008
If you are in business and especially if you are in a partnership, make sure you have time each week that you or you and your partner can get away and be yourself. Get away from the business. Turn off the cell phone, pager, e-mail, and just escape. It is a much better alternative than a psychiatrist, heart surgeon, or bankruptcy judge.
Just a thought……
