Feb
15
On November 12th, I wrote a little blog entry called “Married to My Employees.” After yesterday, I need to change it to “Marrying My Employees.” That’s right… on Valentines Day, we had a wedding right here at Flag and Banner.
It all began during the Monday morning meeting, when our purchasing agent, Jeremy, informed us that he would need to take a half-day off on Valentines Day to marry Ashley, his partner and mother to his son. Hearing that they intended to get married at the Justice of the Peace, our accountant, Sandra, flatly rejected the idea, saying “The Justice of the Peace is for ending marriages and not starting them!” She then immediately got on the phone to her Baptist Preacher husband and before we knew it, we were planning a wedding on the fly. 
It was decided that the Ceremony would take place in the Dreamland Ballroom and the reception would be held afterwards, downstairs in “Doc’s Pool Hall.” The women of Flag and Banner brought in arches, balloons, rose petals, banners (of course), a wedding cake, champagne, mints, chocolate strawbery fondue, more flowers and, of course, the Wedding Cake. As Ashley walked the red nylon runway, we all hummed “Here Comes the Bride” and there wasn’t a dry eye in the house. Overcome with emotion, Ashley almost fainted while saying her vows.
After the ceremony, everyone moved downstairs to Doc’s Pool Hall for the reception. The cake was cut and Champagne flowed. Meanwhile the men of Flag and Banner crept off to decorate the getaway car. As Jeremy and Ashley drove away, I couldn’t help but smile. It was such a blessed day.
So if you are one of my customers that tried to call the office between 2 and 3 pm, central time on Valentines Day and got the voice mail, I apologize. I have been the Mother of the Bride before, but this is the first time I have ever been the Boss of the Groom. And it feels good. But just like being the mother of the bride, it is a little hard on the pocket book. Next time, if there is a next time, we will do it after 5 p.m.
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Nov
12
Married to my Employees
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Everybody has to answer to somebody and usually it is their spouse, boss and mother. But I answer to spouse, boss, mother, kids and employees. And employees are like marriages: some are good, some bad, and all have to be dealt with on a daily basis. Some old employees keep coming back. Some I’m glad to see again and some I would like to forget.
Through the years I have gotten a lot faster at hiring and firing employees. I used to try to fix everyone. But now I have become calloused. After several exhaustive attempts to help someone, I say, “That’s it!” and stop. Maybe I have lost my idealism or faith in the human race. Perhaps I just don’t have enough energy for the crazy ones. No, I just finally accept the fact that you can’t help someone who is unwilling to help themself. There are too many good people/employees that need attention to waste it on the ones who aren’t serious.
This year, my primary account manager,”Captain Kirk” Wygal, gave me a book on management and it was an eye opener. It said 80% of your management time was spent on your bad employees and only 20% went to your Stars. Every time I fire a bad employee or discipline one of my kids, they say “That’s Not Fair.” And they are right. It’s not fair… to those who deserve more of my time.
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Oct
8
Jason’s Blog
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Wow. These days, it seems, all I do is human resources. Today a rather interesting guy applied for an entry level position with my company. He is a friend of a friend. I kinda felt like we should switch places and he should be interviewing me. In fact the more I get to know him, I think he is.
Anyway, his resume is unusual, he has been a script writer for several very notable prime time TV shows, i.e. Touched By an Angel. Why is he sitting in front of me applying for an entry level job? Midlife crisis he says. I can certainly identify with that.
With all this said, look for Jason’s Blog, next to mine. He is fun to read and doesn’t really care what I think, which should make him even more fun to read. Get Jason’s macabre view as he learns the flag business and writes from the inside out about the industry and more specifically about the cast of Flag and Banner.
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Sep
21
Bucket Brigade
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Last week after 45 days of absolutely no rain in Little Rock, we had a flash flood. The ground was so hard it could not absorb the water fast enough, so rain rushed into my warehouse. Moments before we noticed the warehouse was flooding, lightning struck the cell tower across the street knocking out my telephones and computers.
Since nobody in the offices could work, we all gathered in the warehouse to start bailing water. The water was just an inch from reaching the bottom shelves of our inventory, so we were bailing fast. At first I had everybody with Rubbermaid trash cans scooping and running to the front door (the water was coming in the back door) and throwing it in the street. We were barefoot, pants rolled up and the concrete floor was wet and so slippery, I was just waiting for someone to slip and crack their head open.
Then words of wisdom from Kirk, an ex-Navy man, “Form a line to the front door and start passing buckets of water. You on the end start scooping water and passing it. When you get tired move to the other end of the line and the next guy moves up to scoop.”
Glory Be! We drained the warehouse so fast, efficiently and with distributed work effort. Thank you Captain Kirk.
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Aug
21
President or Personnel Manager
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Just when I think things are smoothing out, something changes again. I know change is good. In fact, I am kind of a change junkie. But it is still a lot of work.
With approximately 25 employees, it seems my job has gone from managing growth and expenditures to human resources. I feel like I am always in the hiring mode. This month I have hired a seamstress, a salesperson, a shipping clerk and a telemarketer. And in the weeks to come I loose my Purchasing Agent (pregnancy), Marketing Director (better job) and layout seamstress (back to school). Now that will make your head spin.
But like anything, the more you do it the better you get at it. So don’t be intimidated, fellow entrepreneurs, you can’t grow without good employees. Make time to hire.
Posted by kerry
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