NBA Allstar 2010 is turning out to be the biggest hit..or biggest flop. Everyone is throwing a party. The problem is how do you know which party is good. Do you hit 3 to 4 in a night? well if you can afford that. Some clubs are charging as much as twice the normal drink price plus cover. Diddy is said to be doing 4 parties. Then you have the lines that will be ridiculous, and the traffic as well. What do you do. Then you have the money making opportunities. Sponsorships galore, everyone theowing , but the only problem with that is what does a sponsorship do for your bottom line. how can you capitalize on that. Is there an ROI. How can you best utilize your brand to get the maximum exposure while still trying to make some money. Well thats where you have to be creative and a great salesman on how strong your brand is. I am trying to partner with an A list celebrity party so as to increase my brand awareness as well as try and capture the celebrity dollar as a client. 
    So throwing away the business side of this event you have to look at the entertainment aspect. it is going to be crazy here. come on out and have some fun. The amount of money that will be streaming through this city will be ridiculous. Dallas being situated perfectly in this region makes driving in for the parties the popular option even if you are not going to the game. Exotic cars will be the hottest game in town, my opinion. its all about how you look in valet.

This week Terry Glenn was arrested and charged with auto theft. The vehicle in question was a suburban that was rented from National Rental Car in Irving. The irony about this is that this was a former football player and just a suburban. But I have been through this before where you have to go to extreme measures in order to get your equipment back. I have had customers come in and rent vehicles to weeks at a time. You run the credit card, get the big charge and you think cool, good rental. Return date comes up and you call to verify time to return and he wants to keep a few more days, so you run the card. its declined. You call the customer and they say i wil bring you a new card to extend the dates. No show. You call again and you get the usual excuse but i will be by there to take care of the charges. Now human instinct, you think, well he is "so and so", high profile he should be good for it. But thats your mistake, you assume. Everybody has been affected by the turn in the economy. Now that may not be the case with Terry Glenn, I dont know, but the real problem is that this customer has you handcuffed because you cant rent the vehicle to another customer because you really dont have a certain date on when it will be returned. He comes in and gives you payment for the days he has used and needs more days, and will pay up when he returns. Now good business sense will tell you to confiscate the vehicle or put anther card on file in order to extend the rental period. But you want the revenue so you say no problem. BIG MISTAKE. There are stories like this throughout my industry and the limousine industry where celebrites or athletes run up the charges and you have to chase them for your money. Sometimes even file a law suit. Good saying that I use, not all money is good money. When you a re dealing with a customer and if you have even the slightest feeling thats not warm and fuzzy, dont do it.

So what is my weigh in on the Tiger Woods situation, well I have two different outlooks.
As a married man with 3 children, it's dissapointing to see the hurt done to the family and the disrespect of the wife. I mean some of the stupid things that came out in the news were reminiscent of young single almost collegiate mistakes with the texts and voice mails. Once you actually heard the despair of please take your name off the phone, i think my wife went through my phone. That was really pitiful.
My second though was on Tiger as the brand.It came out today that Accenture has dropped him as a spokesman. Thats a huge blow to your bottom line. As a business owner as well, these creates an interesting dilema, how long do you stay away as a money making machine? I mean, family is first, anyone who knows me, knows where my priorites lie with my family, but as you see that the empire you built is crumbling because the products that endorse you have said your actions no longer represent what we stand for, what do you do? Nike is a different story, their decision will be the most compelling. TW golf generates 800 million. But, will people still buy and adorn products that a proven adulterer with numerous women represents. Isnt a majority of the demographic buying TW golf apparel middle aged married men? im just sayin

So the holidays are wuickly upon us. In fact so quick, I am still trying to get my marketing together. This year I think I blew my marketing opportunities. Not to say that I lost, I just did not capitalize. I mean according to most marketing calendars, I need to be planning opportunites and marketing strategies at least a full quarter ahead of schedule. It is something I struggle with, but next year will not be the same. I am looking into adding streaming video to my site as part of my marketing plan next year. I also plan to utilize the marquee board that I own on my property as well. what are some other ideas you have that you are going to incorporate next year.

so this Bugatti in the water is all over the internet and the news. Some guy traveling down I45 looking at real estate and a bird swooped in low causing him to swerve and drop his cell phone and into the lake he goes. First of all, that was his personal car. There is not a car rental facility in the US that has a Bugatti as a rental car. But to make the situatuion even more crazy is that someone got it on youtube. That shows how crazy attention these cars get. People pull up all the time and grab their phones to record and take pictures of these cars when their traveling down the road. Whats cool about this video is they just happen to come across this car and you can hear the guys talking about driving this car someday. The power of video is amazing

Boardwalk Porsche had the uveiling of the new Panamera. They always draw a good crwd first of all. Boardwalk is a staple in north Plano so their crowd was nice, a good mix. Great finger foods along with wine and imported beer. The car itself, well, I'm not sold.
Dont get me wrong, its has its appeal and it will draw. I just do not think it would make a good exotic car rental. The base vehicle model starts at $118,000. you are well north of a $140,000 to get the decked out turbo nodel. The inside is stellar. It has all the cool gadgets and a great looking cockpit. The backseat is not very comfortable if you are above 6 feet. The trunk will hold 3 to 4 large suitcases. But the rear end is really a hatchback and almost looks like a Chrylser Crossfire. I havent driven it but it is a Porsche.
My opinion, i would rather have a Mercedes S63 or loaded mercedes s550.

Im reading today that Bentley has announced the launching of the new Mulsanne. This vehicle is replacing the Arnage and starts at $300,000. Now what I think is interesting is that they announce this vehicle in the middle of a "recession". But, you have to ask, is their customer really in a recession. The people who buy this type of vehicle have extreme wealth. And I have always said the rich will still be rich. The reports have Bentley, Lamborghini and Rolls Royce and Maybach down a cumulative 31%. But Rolls Royce, Porsche and Ferrari reported individual increases of 8%. The brand in my opinion is whats driving the sales. The fact that only certain people can afford this car is a given, but the fact that this brand is such a status symbol is the biggest catch. Right now is the best time to increase market share and double up on your marketing efforts and strengthen your brand. When your competitor is slimming back on advertising and marketing, you swoop in and gain mind share, which is important.

So how are you effectively marketing your company with the least amount of money. In my industry the product sells itself. But you have to convince them or coach them into why they should buy. I have always relied on setting up visuals when I am marketing my company. A perfect example is when I sponsor any event whether it is a golf tournament or show, I always make sure I have an opportunity to interact with the audience that is on hand. I think that is the best way to have people interact with you and your brand.
So you have to be dynamic. If you are not, the n you have to have a dynamic product. Now, you also have to make sure your dynamic product is in front of the correct audience and demographic. I think this is going to be the best way for small companies to continue to thrive and be successful. You have to be effective and take advantage of any opportunity you have to put your product in front of eyeballs with personal interaction.Thats the winner. If they like your product your halfway there, but to keep and gain them as a customer they have to like you.

Well, saturday night was a test of all things to get money to your event. The annual Cattle Barons Ball was held about 45 miles outside of Dallas in Kaufman.This is one of the most hyped charity event of the year with tickets going for as much as $3000.
Well this night was going to be interesting. It had rained all day steadily and being on a ranch it was a mudfest.
The crowd did come out in droves with at least a 1000 people in attendance. But with rain falling steadily and even though many people came out for the party and support a great cause mother nature prevailed.

What do you do to grow your business? I sit and think with a pen and paper in my hand. I try and think of different ways to generate more revenue. Different ways to create different revenue streams. What am I doing that is not working. What can I do to make something work thats not working. I think that as a business owner, thats the only way to grow. You have to be constantly thinking. Your mind should never stop trying to think of different ways to succeed. Thats the disadvantage we have being small business;  is that in most cases you dont have a think tank or a marketing team to bounce ideas back and forth. But the edge that we have being small, is that we can move quickly when opportunities arise. Thats the edge you have to strive and keep. When an opportunity comes, be ready to jump