Greetings! We are now getting into the business part of the year for many, the bank holidays are out of the way and we can look forward to summer and an increase in our pedicure, polish and treatment business.
Having visited Greece, Bulgaria and the Ukraine recently, I can tell you that these economies are all having their challenges and if I hear the word crisis once more I think I will scream!!!! There is no doubt that for some people the problems in the Eurozone can play on the mind and if you are not careful can make you pessimistic and create a self-fulfilling prophecy.
I am often asked what is the difference between the American mentality and the rest of the world and I can tell you that there a number of different mentalities that have often been fostered by either cultural or governmental forces. In America for instance, we believe that any one can be successful, that any one has the opportunity to rise from the mediocre and reach the summit in their chosen field. This doesn’t mean everyone can – it doesn’t mean that you don’t have to also have good fortune or good timing to be successful. What it actually means is that if you are exceptional, if you work hard, you will get a chance to succeed. Compare this with the attitude I come across in central Europe recently. This is where the state has created a belief in its people that it is not worthy to seek material or individual business success and in some way it is better to be poor and happy (not sure how you can achieve this) and you will see why entrepreneurialism is struggling to make changes in these countries. In many of these eastern European countries, capitalism is viewed as an owner exploiting the work force for low wages to make big profits, something that is so far removed from the general view in America. In the states, an entrepreneur creating not only wealth, but jobs and incomes for workers to enjoy a better standard of living and for them to have increasing disposable income, in turn enabling them to buy the very goods and services that they create. Without doubt, the mind set of an individual can change the success of that individual. We have all heard the saying of where the glass is half empty or half full and this is so very true for business. I can honestly say that I have never worked as hard as I have this year. We had 3 major products launches along with our biggest global promotion; our match maker deal. This was a deal we had to create as we were a little late to the soak off polish gel market. We took the decision to wait until we were completely satisfied with our formula before we went to market. I have to tell you that this decision cost me millions of dollars; but I saw the problems that were created with some formulas and I didn’t want to rush to market with an inferior product and repent at my leisure. So now that we have the product I had to create a global demand for it, I had to get customers to try the product so that they can see for themselves. I knew that if they did then without doubt we would gain market share. So after much debate among my marketing team we came up with the match maker deal. This is where you buy a Veneer soak off and polish you get another Veneer soak off and polish of your choice free. I am seeing the glass half full and I believe that if we run this promotion for the next 6 months we can persuade our potential customers to try our product and if they like it and the price they will buy it. I believe in our product and our Company and I don’t know if that is an American attitude or just something my parents instilled in me as I grew up. I won’t rest until my company is successful, I won’t stop working or trying to come up with ideas to grow my business – can you say the same about you and yours?
