Remember the Presidential Fitness Test from elementary school? If you’re reading this newsletter, the answer is most likely, yes. Evidently the program was replaced in 2013, but my daughter’s PE curriculum still includes a nearly identical version, so it’s very much a part of my life again.
Since I didn’t actually enjoy exercise of any form until my mid 30’s (thank you, Peloton), those fitness tests were somewhere between annoying and dreadful. I recall sit-and-reach being kinda fun, but I didn’t like the mile run, and I downright hated the pull-ups. Even when we got to do the remedial version, the “flexed-arm-hang,” I could never, ever seem to do it. I wasn’t alone. I’m pretty sure that...
We all know that Ben Franklin was right about death and taxes, but there’s another certainty of life that he left out. If I could Bill and Ted my way back to the 1790’s (no thanks), I think he’d agree that when you want something is rarely when you can have it...if you can have it at all.
Obviously I’m not talking about anything money can buy, since you can buy anything on the internet and have it within 2-3 business days. But for the big stuff that really matters -- security, health, relationships -- as hard as we will something into existence, we have limited control.
All we can do is dig deep and have hope and patience. Well, that’s exactly what Cara and Travis Loving did.
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Not long ago, I patronized a child-operated bake sale. Technically, she was a teen, but as anyone who knows me can attest, if someone too young to drive is selling creations at a table in public, I’m buying. Now this particular bake sale was a fundraiser, not an emerging small business, but I’m flexible.
When I saw the email announcement on Thursday of said bake sale on Sunday, I planned ahead to get cash and show up on time. I am an easy and enthusiastic customer.
So on the big day, I approached the bake sale table. It was positioned front and center in a lobby swarming with children and parents – truly top notch real estate. But right from the jump, I was paralyzed with anxiety and d...
A couple weeks ago we talked about why people lose their ever-loving minds and try to Mortal Kombat us when we tell them they’re going to need more money to open their brick and mortar business.
So today we’re taking it one step farther and discussing one of the biggest reasons why it costs way more to get open than people often expect: brick and mortar businesses require certain up front expenditures that you absolutely, positively have to incur whether you want to or not.
It would seem that the amount of money you spend would be entirely within your control – that if you’re scrappy enough, you can always make something work within your budget. To some extent that’s true; bigge...
While Abby hosted a houseful of family, I traveled across the pond to London which was, as advertised, unbelievable at Christmastime. We were very fortunate to have had perfect weather and only one mediocre meal, so all in all it was a smashing success.
On the day of our return flight home, I thought about how the actual travel part of taking a big trip is largely forgotten. In these days of mobile boarding passes, we rarely have the IAD to LHR ticket stubs to keep as mementos. So unless the “getting there” was particularly memorable (like the time my poor child vomited the entire way from Iceland to Paris), we forget about it pretty quickly upon arrival.
Can you guess what that ...
What did we all do before memes? How did we express ourselves so pointedly? I suppose we’ve always been doing this, and I have a vague recollection from Latin 2 that people were etching sick burns on columns in the Roman forum.
Anyhow, I saw a perfect small business meme the other day:
EBITDA: Earnings before insomnia, therapy, depression and anxiety.
Lollllll.
No shade if you don’t get the joke. EBITDA really stands for earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, and it’s basically a calculation of profitability before all the complicated tax and accounting finagling.
If you DO get the joke, it feels spot on.
When my restaurant closed in 20...
I was a cheerleader in middle school. Like many other eighth grade girls, I did it mostly for the outfits, but also because I don’t have much athletic ability, and if I didn’t pick a sport, I had to do P.E. instead of study hall.
Now this was the late 1900’s (as the kids say), and the current brand of seriously athletic cheerleading had not yet made it to
...✨ Welcome to a four part series we’re calling “What makes Pedal so unique and effective in the retail real estate industry.” Otherwise known as “Why we need our own TV show pronto.” ✨
Today we’re discussing point #2:
We know Pedal Retailers’ businesses inside and out.
When I started to draft this newsletter I went to Father Internet because I knew there was some quote about proximity and familiarity. Lo and behold, the first page of search results gave me just what I needed:
“Proximity bred familiarity, and familiarity bred comfort.” ― Nicholas Sparks, The Lucky One
Now first of all, I very much do not like Nicholas Sparks
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