Thursday, July 23, 2009

Red Sunflower Farm

I know I usually blog about financial or economic related topics, but today I’m going to take a break from all that and write about some subjects near and dear to my heart—namely Red Sunflower Farm and gardening. After all, it is summer and everyone’s looking to slow down, take it easy and enjoy themselves.

Red Sunflower Farm is a farm owned by my husband Barry and myself. It’s located on twenty-one acres in Independence, Kentucky. We took an existing ranch house and redid it to be more Earth-friendly; for example, we now have a geo-thermal system, a 10,000 gallon cistern, and a wood stove. Barry’s favorite part of the house is his commercial size sink; mine is the food dehydrator that allows us to preserve and enjoy the fruits and veggies we grow in the summer all year long. We are fortunate to have a creek on our property as well as a quarter-acre pond full of catfish and bluegills.

We have a large and bountiful garden. I try to take time each week to step back from my work at Mackey Advisors and clear my mind by gardening. So far this summer I have shared with my friends and co-workers many delicious offerings including fresh vegetables and zucchini bread.

I would like to invite you all to one of our open houses at Red Sunflower Farm. Open houses are typically held on the third Sunday of each month. Barry and I take the time to do farm tours and share with our old friends, family, and new friends our love of our land as well as our insights and experiences with sustainable living. Feel free to bring your children to have fun and play as well—weather permitting, kickball games are often a big hit with our visitors. These open houses are potluck events, so bring something to be shared and enjoyed by all, and have your walking shoes on in preparation for the farm tour and a wildflower walk. Hope to see you there!

Mackey’s Zucchini Bread

2 cups peeled grated zucchini
3 eggs
2 cups sugar*
1 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon nutmeg
2 cups plain flour
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
1 cup chopped nuts

Beat eggs, add remaining ingredients. Mix well. Bake in a greased loaf pan for 1 hour at 350 degrees. Let cool; serve while still warm. Enjoy!

*If you don’t like a lot of sugar, feel free to use less; I usually do and the bread has more of a naturally sweetened flavor.

Twitter… Tweet Tweet Tweet All Day Long

As I have previously mentioned in this blog, Mackey Advisors has been keeping up with the latest and greatest social media trends, most recently Twitter. At first I kept hearing about how great Twitter is and how fun it is to tweet…

Ok, I’ll admit it. At first I wasn’t too sure about this whole ‘tweeting’ thing. Tweeting? Is that like texting? Why would anyone want to read something I tweeted about? Then a month or so ago I attended a social media breakfast event at the Mets Center in Northern Kentucky (where we were encouraged to get on our Facebooks, LinkedIns, and Twitters and were told to type ‘#metscenter’ if we were tweeting during the event). The panelists were so enthusiastic about Twitter I decided that it was time to give it a try. I signed up, made a profile, and tentatively offered my first tweet: ‘Excited to be on Twitter!’. Hey—give me a break. I really was excited! Then I attended a webinar where representatives from the AICPA spoke about their use of Twitter, so I signed up to follow them. And ever since then, my Twitter homepage has been full of tweets from the AICPA letting me know about all kinds of new laws and developments in taxes and accounting.

I’ve been doing my best to keep up with my Twitter; I’m up to almost 20 followers (wow!) and I’ve updated my tweets nine times. Okay, so this part of Twitter is what I’m still working on: the whole ‘stream of consciousness/I can update my Twitter 2576367 times I day if I want to’ idea. I’m still adjusting to the idea that a Twitter post isn’t exactly like a Facebook status update. I’ll get there! In fact, I’m soon to be on to my second post in one day (previously unheard of for me!).

While I’m getting adjusted and acclimated to the Twitter environment, I decided to take a look and see how other small to mid-size businesses were making use of their Twitters. Boy did I find out a lot!

For example, a man in San Francisco named Sam Kimball recently started a new business—a crème brûlée cart that he takes around the city. He sells new and interesting flavors of crème brûlée such as lavender and chocolate raspberry. Soon after signing up for a Twitter account he began to notice more and more customers coming to his cart to purchase crème brûlées. Upon inquiring how they heard about his cart they all said they had seen his tweets on Twitter. Now, Sam has over 5,000 followers on Twitter. When he is planning on taking out his cart, he will post the location he is heading to as well as the flavors of crème brûlée he is taking along… And then he goes. And his Twitter followers follow him in real life to get some tasy crème brûlée.

Here in Cincinnati Woodhouse Day Spa uses Twitter to announce weekly specials and discounts on Tuesday. They like using Twitter as opposed to a mass email because Twitter is a fresher, faster way to reach more people. And people are almost guaranteed to read a tweet because it’s fast and easy.

All over the country businesses and individuals are using Twitter to market and drive customers to their business. So far it has proven to be highly effective at communicating the desires and offers of business owners to their clientel.

My question to you is are you on Twitter? What have you used it for? Do you have any Twitter-related business or personal success stories? Please share! And if you’re on Twitter—follow me!!

Resources:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/23/business/smallbusiness/23twitter.html?_r=1&em

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Detail or Big Picture? Executives Weigh In

Recently at a small business summit, several different executives weighed in on which they focused on: details or the big picture. Out of the three executives interviewed there were varying responses.

Claudia Chan from Shecky’s Media Inc. who is in charge of the Girls Night Out events talked about trying to let go of one project in order to look at the next big thing. Once she has helped with the development and implementation of a new idea or project, she tries to delegate tasks and step aside so that her employees can work on the nitty gritty details particular to that project while she moves on to something else. However, she said that one problem she has is that it is never really possible for her to let go; that is, she’s constantly turning over the project in her mind even if she’s no longer directly working on the details. Her advice to other business owners was to have a management team that is in-line with the CEO’s vision and the company’s mission that can see a project through to completion.

Lisa Kaplan-Thaler is CEO and Chief Creative Officer at the Kaplan Thaler Group, an advertising firm dedicated to helping companies make the most out of different media arenas. Kaplan-Thaler talked about how important it is to focus on the details, because she said the details can really get you. What if one crucial detail is off? Could this derail your entire project? Perhaps. Her take on it was that details set the tone for the entire brand.

Jim Koch, founder of The Boston Beer Company, producer of the Samuel Adams brand of beer, talked about how stepping down from his company’s CEO position was one of the best things ever for him because someone who actually enjoyed CEO work took over the position. He said that he tries to consider the following questions in dealing with product development: “Where do I add value? What is the quality of my product? What is the culture of my company like, and does this product fit into that culture?”.

In conclusion… Whether you look at details or the big picture often depends on your personality style, but as a CEO or executive it’s important to do both. Begin with the big picture inception of a new idea and then focus some on the details, staying mindful that there will come a time when you will have to leave the detail work to someone else and move on to the next big thing. However, if you’re supported by a confident and hard-working team devoted to the values and goals of the company, you should feel better about letting go.

Monday, July 20, 2009

Eat more… Lobster?

When you think seafood, what comes to mind? All the typical fare—fish, shrimp, oysters, etc. But what about lobster? Most people (including me!) don’t eat too much of this particular crusty critter due to its expensive price tag. However, the recession is hitting people everywhere, and lobster may be more inexpensive than you think.

During times such as these, the demand for all types of luxury goods is down, and that includes lobster. Right now, the price of lobster per pound is cheaper than hot dogs. If you think you read that incorrectly, here it is again: per pound, the current price of lobster ($2.25) is less expensive than hot dogs. Crazy, right? Well consider this: restaurant demand for lobster is down 30-35%. Usually, people only go out for lobster when they have something to celebrate, and people just don’t feel like celebrating right now. Also, the Icelandic banks that have long been lenders to Canadian lobster processors are going under. If no funds are available to the processors, they will not process. This is a big blow to lobstermen, especially in Maine. Canadian processors usually purchase more than half of Maine’s annual lobster catch.

Add this to the fact that the lobster catch this year is bigger than ever, and you have a high supply and a low demand. Enter lower prices! In 2006 at peak price, the price of lobster was $10/pound. Today, it’s $2.25. Of course, buying lobster at a restaurant will cost you more, but purchasing lobster in the store and preparing it at home won’t blow a hole in your budget.

Unfortunately, this news, although good for the lobster connoisseur, is bad for the Maine lobsterman. Not only are they not making the profit on lobster that they used to, but the price of diesel fuel is rising and the price of herring (lobster bait) has doubled since 2007. Lobstermen have actually been losing money on lobster catches.

Some experts predict that the price of lobster will go down even farther as peak lobster season approaches at the end of the summer.

What has to give? Experts say that the industry needs to change the way lobster is marketed and presented to the consumer. One recommendation is offering frozen lobster much like frozen shrimp and salmon instead of making customers buy directly from the tank.

We’re all hoping for an end to the recession, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t enjoy ourselves when something previously thought of as a luxury becomes available at a price we can afford. Instead of eating dinner out, consider preparing lobster on the grill along with corn on the cob, potato salad, and cherry pie—a summer feast! That way, you’ll be able to enjoy yourself by eating something you probably haven’t had for a while, and more lobsters are sold, helping out the lobsterman. It’s a win-win situation… For everyone except the lobster.

Resouces:

http://money.cnn.com/2009/07/17/news/economy/cheap_lobster_bargain.fortune/index.htm?postversion=2009071809

Thursday, July 16, 2009

A Password How-To

Social networking is fun, right? We do plenty of it here at Mackey Advisors—Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn (check us out—look for Mackey McNeill!), and this blog. With all of the excitement about social networking and the fun of exploring something new, a lot of people don’t think about is password security—for example, some workers at Twitter.

Today in the news is an article about Twitter being hacked for the third time since January. As if this isn’t worrisome enough, the hackers were able to gain access to Twitter company documents through guessing an employee’s personal Gmail password and then using that password to access other Google Aps that the employee uses at work—applications such as those used to create spreadsheets and presentations. Twitter is now considering taking legal action against other websites and blogs that are publishing leaked documents, but who knows what will happen with that.

For the average bear (err, person!) the take-away is this: amp up your password security! I know you’ve all heard this over and over again, but read below for some tips for strong passwords (courtesy of Microsoft).

The best password:
-Is long
-Has some combination of numbers, letters, and symbols
-Uses the entire keyboard
-Contain words and phrases particular to you but unknown to others

A 4-Step path to the perfect password:
1. Think of a sentence that you can remember, something like ‘My car is a green Toyta’.
2. If you can use a long phrase, then use your phrase. If you cannot use a phrase, create a password by taking the first letter of each word: ‘mciagt’.
3. Make the password more complex by making a mixture of lowercase and uppercase letters. For example: ‘mCiAGt’ or ‘mY CAr iS A GrEeN TOyoTA’.
4. Use symbols to look like letters , combine words, etc. to make your password more complex. For example: ‘mYKa R7sa9r#3 nT0y04a’ or ‘3Ki59T’.

When making a password, do NOT:
-Use sequences (5678) or repeated characters (yyyyyy)
-Use your login name
-Use common/dictionary words (bean, birdhouse, etc.)
-Use the same password for every account (hack one, hack ‘em all)
-Store your password online

Hope this helps you protect your personal and financial information!!

Resources:
http://www.microsoft.com/protect/yourself/password/create.mspx

Monday, July 13, 2009

Looking to the (Financial) Future

As many recent high profile deaths has reminded us, no one—famous or not—lives forever. It is important to provide for your family so that they can continue to live successfully and happily even after you are gone.

First, be sure that you are properly insured. However, you do not want to be misled by an untrustworthy company with a good advertising strategy. Know the credit worthiness of the company. Also, have the right amount of insurance. It’s just like Goldilocks and the three bears—you shouldn’t have too much or too little, you should have what’s just right for you. Types of insurance to consider include life, health, disability, long-term care, liability, property, and casualty.

Also, be educated about estate planning and wills. Currently, if your estate is worth less than $3.5 million, your family will not have to pay estate taxes after your death (this will change in 2011; then, if your estate is greater than $1 million, your descendants will have to pay estate taxes).

A will directs the flow of your assets and establishes a guardian for any minor children and property and an executor. In a will, you can establish a trust that tells your family what you want to happen with your property, assets, and money. A living will describes acceptable medical procedures, should you be unable to communicate with your healthcare providers due to accident or injury. A living will also allows you to appoint a healthcare proxy to speak in your stead. You can also designate someone to have power of attorney and handle your legal and business needs should you be unable to do so. Wills, living wills, and so on should be updated every three to five years, just to keep things current and clear to anyone reading your documents.

Also, consider arranging and preparing your official documents. It’s often difficult for other people to try to gather and make sense of your personal documents. If you do it for them, not only will you have a neat and orderly filing system during your life but your family will also have the same system after your death.

While this type of event isn’t anyone’s favorite thing to think about, being prepared can allow families to mourn the passing of a loved one with having to worry about the financial end of things.