May
1
Project Runway Designer holds Photo Shoot at the Dreamland Ballroom
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While the Dreamland Ballroom is not quite ready to book events, she (I think “Dreamland” is a girl) has been garnering quite a lot of attention. Word of Dreamland’s enchanting aura has spread among photographers and she has been getting a lot of press. I have always felt that I could feel the ghosts of Duke Ellington and other great musicians that once played within her walls, but apparently the custom woodwork, faded and chipped plaster, and abundant windows make for a fantastic photo shoot.
When Photographer Jason Masters called requesting a photo shoot, we were more than happy to oblige. Dreamland is a national treasure and such treasures should be shared. And when we learned that the photo shoot was for Little Rock’s own designer, Korto Momolu from Season 5 of Project Runway, we were ecstatic. We had a little photo shoot of our own to record the event. Take a look. I think this proves that while it’s true that “One day you are in, the next you are out,” it is also true that beauty endures. And as sure as Dreamland was once magnificent, even in decay she is still beautiful. Soon she will be restored to her former grandeur and get a second chance at fame.
We took a few pictures to show you how cool it was.
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Apr
22
Job Fair at Arkansas FlagandBanner.com
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When hiring new employees, I usually use “temp to perm” staffing services, that way you have 90 days of trial period before you put them on your payroll. And the nicest thing is, if they are not working out, you tell the staffing service and they do the firing.
With the economy as slow as it is, I thought to hire telemarketers to try and increase sales. “Whew, what a lot of hiring and training,” I thought. Then I decided to hire and train them all at once, like a big classroom. With the job market flooded, I decided to run my own ad in the newspaper and have a job fair. I had a lot of applicants, about twenty. To save time, make the first step in the process easy. Tip 1: Have applicants send their resume’s via email. That weeds out a lot of folks and eliminates the phone calls and drop ins.
I hired four people and they were all black women. We trained in a group and all went well. Never forget the power of training. Tip 2: The reason a lot of employees fail is because they don’t understand what you want. If they are well trained and still don’t understand… thats when you call the temp service and let them do the dirty work.
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Jan
7
Dreamland Ballroom, cont.
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Dang it! Another year and no Dreamland Ballroom, but I am the eternal optimist and I have not given up. My timing may be bad but my ambition is still good.
In an effort to move Dreamland forward in this poor economic time I am now planning on building in phases. I am scaling back the new construction and only doing the bare minimum to get the Dreamland open.
Will see.
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Nov
3
Election Peace
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Peace after the election that is what I am looking for. Arkansas’ FlagandBanner.com had a great September but October felt like slow motion. Half the country truly believes that if McCain is elected then the country is going to Hell in a hand basket and the other half of the country feels exactly the same way about Obama being elected.
I feel frozen in time. I am ready to get back to work. Hurry up Tuesday!
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Aug
4
The “Reality” of Running a Small Business
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My husband says, “don’t put anything personal in my blog.” I know he is right but who wants to read an impersonal blog? Reality t.v. shows aren’t impersonal… If they were, nobody would tune in. If the person or family in the show isn’t a little nuts, then it’s boring.
Well, there is absolutely nothing boring about running a small company. Out of my 25 employees, 95% of them are great and have been with me forever. But there are always a few on the fringe of sanity. For example, since May, two of my employees have been sleeping with the same man. Which is fine, if I don’t hear about it. But I do hear about it, in far too much detail. Another employee had an emotional breakdown and ran out of the building screaming the F… word, then called and wanted her job back. Another employee accidentally falsified her commissions and ended up with $8,000 of Arkansas Flag and Banner’s money in her checking account. And just last week, a sheriff showed up and picked up one of my newest employees for a felony charge in Texas, aggrevated assault.
I am sorry, but it is just too good to not talk about. I haven’t written in my blog because all I want to do is spread the gossip. I think I am crazy but these people make me feel sane. I could write my own reality TV show with just the goings on at this place. And I bet it’s the same everywhere. Flag and Banner, after all, doesn’t have a corner on crazy’s. So how do you help these people? All the training and second chances in the world can’t help people who make bad decisions. My kids have the answer… They need to Buy a Clue!
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Apr
16
Taxation without Representation
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2007 was the first year since 2001 that Flag and Banner has shown a decent profit and I had every intention of reinvesting that profit into my business, my employees and ultimately, the American Economy. “But, noooo, the tax man cometh.” So instead of reinvesting in my community, I sent the extra money to Washington, where it seems like they just toss it in the air or maybe toss it towards each other. Our politicians just don’t get it… Small business is to our economy what the middle class is to our society. We pay the highest taxes, bear the biggest burdens, and while small business does not literally “die” for our country as the middle and working classes often do, it seems Washington has no qualms about trying to tax us to death.
When the government needs money, we are the first group of people they go to for higher taxes (can you believe Exxon just asked for a tax break, they’ll probably get it). And then when we (the middle class or small business) complain, we are the ones accused of being unpatriotic. I’m not the most well read person in the world, but one quote does come to mind, from Alexis De’Toqueville’s “Democracy in America…” “America is great because she is good. When she ceases to be good, she will cease to be great.” It’s awfully hard to be good for too long when things aren’t fair. And the tax burden in this country has been unfair for far too long. Not surprisingly, when discussing this blog with one of my friends, he mentioned another lesser know quote from Alexis De Tocqueville, “A democratic government is the only one in which those who vote for a tax can escape the obligation to pay it.” Go figure.
I started wondering just how well we compare with the taxes of other countries and so I did a Google search. Low and behold, the only super powers with taxes higher than ours are China and Germany, one a communist and the other a socialist.
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Feb
19
My Arkansas Journey
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You know, sometimes it’s the little things in life that give me the most satisfaction. Sure, a twenty-percent jump in sales would be really nice about now, but something that happened recently has given me almost as much pleasure.
In a new Arkansas History textbook, The Arkansas Journey, my story and that of Arkansas Flag and Banner are profiled in a chapter entitled “Making A Living in Arkansas.” The piece, which is used to illustrate “The Entrepreneurial Spirit” of Arkansas, tells a brief history of Flag and Banner, along with a picture of our building, and one of myself with then governor Mike Huckabee. How cool is that?
I mean, a lot of people can say they work for themselves, but not so many are pictured in history books. No matter what we accomplish in our lives, we sometimes tend to ask ourselves, “What if…” we had done something else, as if the work of our life might not be good enough. Things like this make me feel just fine about what I’ve accomplished. To top it all off, I noticed that on the first page of the chapter, under the heading “People to Know,” six names were listed, and of those, Sam Walton of Wal-Mart, Charles Murphy of Murphy Oil, and William T. Dillard of Dillards Department stores were mentioned with that of little ol’ me, Kerry McCoy. Not bad. Not bad at all. Now I’d better get back to work before my entrepreneurial spirit gets lost in my gloating.
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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
15
Stop the Bleeding
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FlagandBanner has had the best year. Our sales are up, our stress is down and our bills are all paid. Man it feels good.
And then it happens. Just when you think you’re sittin’ pretty, Boom–everything changes. Thank goodness I am an eternal optimist. I like what one of my employees, Jason, just said, “Think Big.” And why not? But right now my big thoughts are about Big Losses.
This November’s sales are slower than I have seen them all year. And you’d think it is because of all the fears of recession we keep hearing. But, historically, the economic trends of the country haven’t applied to the flag business. In fact, sometimes they even go in the opposite direction. When people are feeling poorly, they rally around the Flag and the Cross because, emotionally, they can believe in State and Church to see them through. And when other businesses see a slump in sales, they tend to advertise more. And given that Banners are a relatively inexpensive way to advertise, we sell more banners. Maybe I need to buy a banner.
So what gives? I have revved up our advertising and still nothing. I don’t know the answer. What I do know is that come this Friday, if things don’t change, I am going to have to scrub up and get my hands dirty. After 33 years as chief surgeon at Arkansas Flag and Banner, I have learned that you have to stop the bleeding if you want to save the patient, and the faster you do it the better. Dang it. We still have ’til Friday. Maybe we’ll have a great day today(that is my eternal optimist speaking).
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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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