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waywardnerd67 · 4 years ago

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Angel Cakes

Title: Angel Cakes Summary: A new bakery opens in Lebanon and (Y/N) goes to check it out. Pairing: No Pairing Rating: E - Everyone Warnings: Fluff Word Count: 1385 Squared Filled: Baker!Cas Bingo Card: @spnaubingo A/N: None

Read Part One: Sweet Slice Check Out: SPN AU Bingo Masterlist

The sign had a cake with a halo above it that read Angel Cakes Bakery. A tall, dark hair man stood admiring the sign before glancing over to them. He gave a small wave walking back into the building while (Y/N) looked over to Dean.

His jaw set in a strong line before muttering, “Son of a bitch…”

“Dean…”

“Son of a bitch!” Dean turned on his heels storming into their store.

She sighed looking back at the bakery across the street before following him inside. He was pacing in front of their case muttering to himself. She reached out grabbing his arms grounding him for a moment.

“Dean, I’m sure we have nothing to worry about. Let’s get our day going and focus on our lunch rush.” She looked up into his shining olive eyes as he took a deep breath.

A small smirk spread across his lips, “You’re right.” He leaned down kissing her quickly before they walked back hand in hand to the kitchen.

The next few weeks they watched as the new bakery took shape. Angel Cakes grand opening was in a few days and everyone in town was buzzing about it. Their loyal regulars swore they would never set foot in it, but even they were starting to talk about some of the services being advertised. The owner, Cas Novak, had invited them to the soft opening. Deciding it would be best for Dean to stay behind, (Y/N) went as the representative of Sweet Slice.

Upon walking inside, she knew they were in trouble. He had a large dining area set up with mix matched tables, booths and outdoor patio. He offered lunch specials comparable to Sweet Slice and a dinner for two every Wednesday. He also offered delivery service for lunch and a catering menu.

“So, what do you think?” A deep, raspy voice came from behind her.

Looking up she saw Cas standing there with a smirk, “I think you’re ambitious for such a small town.”

He chuckled running his hand through his thick, dark chocolate hair, “You’re probably right, but the only way to build up a small town is by drawing more business to it.”

“True, but then you lose the small town charm.”

“Mr. Novak, the mayor would like a word with you.” A young woman came up to him pointing over to the group of councilmen surrounding the mayor of Lebanon.

He nodded before turning his attention back to her, “Excuse me for a moment.”

(Y/N) watched as he went over the group then looked back down at the menu in her hands. On the back, were a listing of twenty other bakeries throughout Kansas. It was a chain of bakeries throughout the midwest that was based out of Chicago. She could see why the mayor had wanted Angel Cakes within his city to draw in tourists from all over. Her heart sank slightly knowing that little mom and pop shops like Sweet Slice usually went out of business after chain stores invaded.

She grabbed her sample lunch, dinner and cake from the display table. Looking around, (Y/N) slipped out the side door and made her way across the street to Sweet Slice. Finding Dean in the kitchen on his laptop looking at Angel Cakes website with a frown on his face.

“Hey handsome.” She whispered as he looked up.

“How was it?” He closed his laptop forcing a small smile.

She held up her goodie bags, “Let’s see what the competition has and draw up a battle plan.”

His smile turned into a genuine one as she pulled out the food. The lunch contained half of a Poor Boy sandwich, a bag of chips and a can of soda. The sandwich was decent but nothing like the ones they made for their lunch hour. The small slice of cake was delicious and (Y/N) could see why they were so popular. The yellow cake was moist and the chocolate buttercream frosting was rich but not overpowering.

“I don’t even like cake but this is damn good.” Dean mumbled showing the last bite into his mouth.

(Y/N) warmed up the dinner per the directions given in the bag. It was two servings of stew, with mashed potatoes and rolls. Overall, it was good if warmed up properly. However, she figured this option would go away quickly with most people not wanting to take the time to warm it up properly. The cake slices that were included were once again the most delicious part of the meal. A rich carrot cake and sinful red velvet both topped with cream cheese frosting had (Y/N) moaning in approval.

“I can’t even get you to make those noises…”

She chuckled at Dean’s pouty face, “Yes you do and you know it.”

He smiled proudly, “Damn right. Now, honest opinions.”

“Their food is okay, but definitely lacking. I don’t think we will have to worry about our lunch hour customers leaving. The cakes, however, are freaking amazing coupled with a delivery service…”

Dean nodded, “Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. There is no way we can compete with delivery service unless we raise the prices of everything.”

“Unless…” (Y/N) started writing out a plan for them to roll out within the next month.

Over the next six months, as Angel Cakes grew in popularity, Sweet Slice was winning over the locals with special deliveries to businesses once a month. They would cater lunch for a local business or the mayor’s office while keeping up with their normal busy lunch hour. Tourists from all over discovered Lebanon and the town began to flourish. As the town continued to blossom, the heat between Sweet Slice and Angel Cakes grew when Cas came over one evening after they had closed.

Dean was delivering a special pie to his brother and his wife while (Y/N) was closing up the store. The doorbell jingled as she looked up surprised to see Cas walking in.

“Hello (Y/N).”

“How can I help you, Mr. Novak?” She stood from the table she was at counting the day’s orders.

Cas looked around in silence for a moment, “Please, call me Cas. Is Dean around?”

“He’s gone to deliver some pies to the Lebanon High School Talent Show. I can have him stop by your shop when he comes back.”

Cas was looking at all the photos of customers on their wall as his eyes spotted the mural on the far wall, “Who did this?”

She smiled, “I did.” Suddenly she felt bashful as he smiled widely.

“It’s beautiful. Do you think that I could convince you to paint something like this on one of my walls?” His deep blue eyes turned locking with hers with a silent plea.

“I’ll think about it,” She crossed her arms over her chest, “Did you want Dean to come over?”

He shook his head, “No, that’s okay. I can catch up with him later. Seriously, I would love for you to come over to paint on my last blank wall in my dining area. I would pay you for your talents of course.”

(Y/N) rolled her eyes, “I’ll think about it and get back to you in a couple of days.”

With a short nod and a wave, Cas walked out the front door and across the street back to his bakery. She could use the extra cash, but knew Dean would never want the competition’s money. She decided to not say anything to him about Cas coming over and to extend an olive branch by painting the wall for free.

It took nearly a month of sneaking over to Angel Cakes whenever she could to finish the mural for Cas. In that time, she got to know him and realized he was not as bad as she had thought he would be. He genuinely cared about bringing people joy with his bakery. He had requested to leave his successful bakery in St. Louis to come to a small town.

As she stood admiring her work the door to the front of the bakery suddenly slammed open. There stood Dean, his dark olive eyes narrowed on Cas then slowly turned towards her.

“Going behind my back to work with the competition!”

If you enjoyed this story then check out my Masterlist!

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darcyfarber · 5 years ago

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20+ Tricks to Make Copies Near You and at Best Price You Didn’t Know About

Do you ever find yourself in a situation where you need to make copies? Even though you may not have a copier machine at home, you may occasionally need copies for a tax return, to sell a home, to apply for a loan or anything else where the digital paper trail is just not quite enough.

Or maybe you simply want to make a Word doc or PDF into a laminated, covered spiral bound book, or you need to make a copy for your child’s school project. Whatever the case, there are many places you can get copies made for cheap so you’re not stuck purchasing an expensive copier for the once-a-year you need one.

How Much Does it Cost to Make Copies Near Me?

I can’t necessarily tell you what the costs are for specific stores in your area (although some sites are specific), but I can give you an idea of what copies might cost in your area.

Black and white copies are relatively inexpensive to get made; you can plan on spending between 3 cents per page up to 25 cents per page.

Color copies will be a bit more expensive. You can plan on spending roughly between 30 cents a page up to 75 cents a page. And then of course you’ll pay more if you want them spiral bound in a book of some sort, or laminated or some other type of additional service.

Now that you have a rough estimate of what you’ll pay, let’s talk about some of the places where you might be able to make copies near you.

Make Copies at an Office Supply or Shipping Store

There are stores that exist for the purpose of providing office supplies and services, and those stores will often have copy services available for customers. Here is a list of some of the more well-known office supply stores.

OfficeMax/Office Depot

Office Depot (also known as OfficeMax) has approximately 1,400 store locations in the U.S. They provide a wide variety of office services including copy making.

You can get them made in a store location or order online and have them ready to pick up at a location near you. Or you can have them shipped to you. Shipping from Office Depot is free on qualifying orders of $35 or more.

Online prices via their website are currently running at 9 cents per black and white page and 42 cents for a color page.

Prices may vary if you go directly into a store location to order. When we use Office Depot, we prefer to go directly to the office to have them scan the document and copy it, simply because they have much higher quality scanners than what we have at home.

We’ve had the local Office Depot scan and copy dozens of documents for us – even color documents that need to be super high quality – and they’ve always done a great job, at least at our local store location.

FedEx/Kinkos

FedEx (also known as FedEx/Kinkos in some locations) is another popular chain store to use. They have over 1,800 available locations.

FedEx will also let you make copies online and pick them up at a store location near you, or they’ll ship them to you. You can plan on paying for shipping unless you have an order of $100 or more, in which case they’ll ship for free.

The FedEx website didn’t list prices for basic black and white or color copies online anywhere that I could find, however in our area I’ve found that they tend to be more expensive than what the local Office Max charges.

You’ll want to call your local FedEx location for more information before heading to their store, especially if you’ve got competing office supply stores close by. It’s always good to compare prices.

The UPS Store

The UPS Store is primarily a shipping store but many locations also offer copy and print services. There are currently over 5,000 UPS Store locations (independently owned via the franchise system) in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico.

Because UPS Stores are franchised, the cost varies by location, so your best bet is to stop in or call a location near you to get prices.

They also offer laminating, binding and other special print services. Again, because the store locations are independently owned it’s best to call or stop in to a location to get the full scoop on services and prices.

Staples

The Staples office supply store chain has over 1,500 locations in the U.S. They offer color and black and white copy services at all locations.

They also offer presentation manual creation and other services. Pricing depends on your preferences. You can contact your individual Staples location for more information, or check online to design and order copies of documents you upload.

Other Local Print Shops

Besides national chain print shops such as Office Depot and Staples, you might be able to find copy machines at local, franchise and mom and pop print shops near you.

You can do an Internet search for these types of places if you’re not familiar with ones in your area. Just search “copy services near me” or “make copies near me”.

Other Local or National Brand Shipping Stores

There are also other shipping stores besides FedEx and UPS that may offer copy machine services for you.

One that comes to mind is PostNet. PostNet is a smaller franchised shipping store that also offers copy services at many locations.

In fact, when I was running a non-profit group several years back we got all of our copying done at the local PostNet franchise store. They gave us a super competitive price and had great service.

If you do an Internet search for “shipping stores near me” you should be able to find other stores besides the well-known UPS and FedEx stores.

Make Copies at Other Types of Stores

Your local grocery store may or may not offer copy machine services. Note that Walmart and Target do not offer these services, at least not at any of the stores I’ve researched or visited. Walmart does offer some check cashing services.

Here is a list of some of the grocery stores that may offer copy services.

Costco

Okay, so Costco is more of a warehouse club than a grocery store, but they do offer copy services at many locations. And the prices are super competitive. They charge 3.5 cents for black and white, and 29 cents for color.

Bonus: there’s a little asterisk on the Costco website denoting that volume pricing is available, meaning you could pay even less than that if you’ve got a large number of copies to make.

*Note: Sam’s Club now has a business center along with their photo center, but it’s not clear about whether or not they offer basic black and white or color copying services. Check with your local Sam’s Club for details.

Hy-Vee

Some Hy-Vee grocery stores also offer copy services, although all of them don’t. Prices and services vary by location, so call or stop into your local Hy-Vee grocery store location for more details on what they offer as far as office services and how much they charge.

Coborn’s

Coborn’s grocery stores are located primarily in the upper Midwest. Some stores offer these services and some don’t, and of course prices and services vary by location. Check out their store locator to find a store near you, and call or stop by to see if your local Coborn’s offers copy services to the public.

Fiesta Mart

Fiesta Mart grocery stores are located primarily in the south, and some of their store locations offer copy services too. Again, services and pricing vary by location. Check out their store locator to find a Fiesta Mart near you, and call or stop in for more information.

Your Local Pharmacy or Drugstore

Some local pharmacies and drug stores have copy services too. It’s important to note that some of the larger, national pharmacy store chains, such as Walgreen’s and Rite-Aid, do not. However, there is one national chain that does.

CVS

CVS stores do offer copy services at many locations. While these services are not available in all locations, CVS is working to establish copy services at select locations.

You can stop in to your local CVS to find out if they offer this service. Note that copies at CVS aren’t cheap: their website says (as of this writing) it’ll cost you 19 cents to make a single-sided black and white copy and 99 cents for single-sided color.

Make Copies at Government Offices

Some government office may also offer copy machine services, but that all depends on your local city’s individual venue.

Your Local Library

Some public libraries have machines available for use. Most of the time you’ll find a coin operated copy machine if there are these services at your local public library. Call or stop in to your local library to find out if they have a machine available for public use.

Post Offices

Some post offices also have coin operated copy machines available in their lobbies, although this is not a service available at all post offices. You’ll need to stop by your local post office to find out if they offer this service.

Make Copies Through Online Copy Websites

If you’re not in a huge hurry, you may be able to use one of the online websites that will allow you to scan or upload a file and have the copies delivered right to your door.

Many offer expedited shipping options too, so you could potentially have them at your home or business within just a couple of days. Here is a list of some of the more popular websites.

Best Value Copy

Best Value Copy will make copies for just 9 cents and black and white for 2.5 cents each. They also have coupon codes on the site that can get you even more discounts depending on how many you’ll need.

Know that you’ll pay for shipping with these guys unless your order is over $125.

DocuCopies

DocuCopies is more expensive than Best Value, with prices starting at roughly 11 cents for black and white copies and 28 cents for color copies. You do get deep discounts on these prices if you’re making 1,000 or more copies.

As with Best Value Copy, DocuCopies will ship your order free of charge if you spend $125 or more.

I don’t know that I’d use this site for making just a few individual copies as they have set-up fees as well. However, they could be a good choice if you’re printing manuals, books, etc.

Color Copies Today

Don’t let the name fool you: Color Copies Today makes black and white and color copies, and they’ve been in business for nearly 40 years. The prices given on the website are for bulk orders, so it might be best to use this company if you need a lot of copies.

Shipping costs for these guys depends on the size of your order and is calculated during checkout.

Other Places You Might Be Able to Make Copies

There are a few other places you might be able to make copies as well. Here are some ideas.

Your Employer

Most employers have copy machines available somewhere in their offices. Of course, you’d have to get permission first, but many employers are fine with employees making copies at the office.

Some employers will charge a small amount for making copies in order to make up for ink and paper costs, others will let you make them for free as long as you’re not doing so on a regular basis and using up an inordinate amount of ink and paper supplies.

Using the machine at work is probably best if you only need to do so once in awhile and if you have permission from the powers-that-be to do so.

Your Local Bank

Your local bank – the one you do business with – may be willing to make copies for you on occasion. I wouldn’t expect them to do so on a regular basis, however they might be okay with it once in a while, especially if it’s a smaller, local bank.

Many of the bigger, national banks won’t make copies for customers anymore (when I worked at the bigger banks years ago they’d always make copies for customers) but it wouldn’t hurt to ask next time you stop in.

Many of the smaller banks, however, are still very customer service oriented and happy to provide that service to customers on an occasional basis.

Related: Get up to $750 Bonus with These Bank Promotions

Your Rental Leasing Office

If you lease an apartment or townhome with an on-site leasing office, the leasing office may be able to make copies for you occasionally.

As with your bank, I wouldn’t expect to be able to use them to make copies on any kind of a regular basis, however once in a while may not be a problem. Check with your leasing office to see if they have a copier available for tenants, and how much it costs to make copies if they do.

Local Colleges and Universities

Local colleges and universities often have copy machines available for use – by students, faculty and/or alumni. Very rarely will you find their machines open to the public.

If you (or your kid) are attending a local college or university, you may be able to get copies made at the student office.

Again, I wouldn’t use this source on any kind of a regular basis (unless it’s specifically related to your schooling), however the option may exist for students, faculty or alumni. Check with the school’s office staff for more information on whether or not you can use their copier and how much it will cost to do so.

Hotel Business Centers

Copy machines are also often available at hotel business centers. Many hotel chains – and even some smaller hotel companies – have a business center that includes one or two desktop computers, a fax machine and a copy machine.

Some hotel offer this service at no charge, some cost money you pay to the hotel concierge or are coin operated. Copies at hotel business centers are generally reserved for patron use only, but if it’s a coin operated copier you may be able to get permission from hotel staff to use it.

Airports

Most larger airports have business centers. If you have to go to the airport you can time it so you can make copies while you’re there. Expect to pay some type of a fee to make copies at an airport business center.

Public Office Buildings

Besides a post office or library location, you can occasionally find coin operated copy machines at other public office buildings such as a courthouse or city hall building, or potentially a school district office.

Usage rules may vary, so you’ll have to check with your city hall or other public building employees for more information on whether they have a machine and what the rules for use are.

Tips for Making Great Copies

Before you go into any store or other location to get copies made, keep in mind these tips for making great copies.

Have a High Quality Original

One of the reasons people use copy stores instead of inexpensive home copiers is that the quality of the copy is so much better – especially if you need to make color copies.

One of my daughters is an artist, and for her getting color copies that match the original is of the utmost importance to her. Unfortunately, while our $59 home copy machine is great for basic copying, it’s horrible at mimicking the detailed colors on Madelyn’s original artwork, so we always use the local OfficeMax.

However, a copy will only be as good as the original you have, so it’s important to have a high quality original when you go in.

High quality originals consist of:

A digital file. This is best as there is the least chance of damage to the original.

A paper copy that is totally free of smudges, dirt or damage to the paper. The more interference your original has in terms of dirt or wrinkles, the more chance you have of the copies not looking their best. Try carrying paper originals in a manila folder or envelope for extra protection on the way to the copy store.

Be Specific About What You Want

Copies can come on a variety of different types of papers and inks. Be clear with the store employee about exactly what you are looking for.

For instance, if you’re making copies of an artistic endeavor for selling to the public you’ll want to be sure to use high quality paper instead of the typical 20 pound weight stuff you would use for basic black and white copies.

Be sure to talk with the copy center employee and let him or her know specifically what you need in terms of copy quality.

Ask for the Expert’s Advice

If you’re doing a specialized print job such as a manual for your business or brochure for your business, ask the copy employee’s advice about paper style, binding information and so forth.

These guys and gals are the printing experts and often have valuable advice on how to get your job done with the best results and at the best price.

If you need copies made, there’s no shortage of places you can go to get the work done. Luckily for you, copy services are in abundant supply in most metropolitan areas.

Where do you go to get high quality copies?

20+ Tricks to Make Copies Near You and at Best Price You Didn’t Know About published first on https://mysingaporepools.weebly.com/

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kennethherrerablog · 5 years ago

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20+ Tricks to Make Copies Near You and at Best Price You Didn’t Know About

How Much Does it Cost to Make Copies Near Me?

I can’t necessarily tell you what the costs are for specific stores in your area (although some sites are specific), but I can give you an idea of what copies might cost in your area.

Black and white copies are relatively inexpensive to get made; you can plan on spending between 3 cents per page up to 25 cents per page.

Now that you have a rough estimate of what you’ll pay, let’s talk about some of the places where you might be able to make copies near you.

Make Copies at an Office Supply or Shipping Store

OfficeMax/Office Depot

Office Depot (also known as OfficeMax) has approximately 1,400 store locations in the U.S. They provide a wide variety of office services including copy making.

Online prices via their website are currently running at 9 cents per black and white page and 42 cents for a color page.

FedEx/Kinkos

FedEx (also known as FedEx/Kinkos in some locations) is another popular chain store to use. They have over 1,800 available locations.

The UPS Store

Because UPS Stores are franchised, the cost varies by location, so your best bet is to stop in or call a location near you to get prices.

Staples

The Staples office supply store chain has over 1,500 locations in the U.S. They offer color and black and white copy services at all locations.

Other Local Print Shops

Besides national chain print shops such as Office Depot and Staples, you might be able to find copy machines at local, franchise and mom and pop print shops near you.

You can do an Internet search for these types of places if you’re not familiar with ones in your area. Just search “copy services near me” or “make copies near me”.

Other Local or National Brand Shipping Stores

There are also other shipping stores besides FedEx and UPS that may offer copy machine services for you.

One that comes to mind is PostNet. PostNet is a smaller franchised shipping store that also offers copy services at many locations.

In fact, when I was running a non-profit group several years back we got all of our copying done at the local PostNet franchise store. They gave us a super competitive price and had great service.

If you do an Internet search for “shipping stores near me” you should be able to find other stores besides the well-known UPS and FedEx stores.

Make Copies at Other Types of Stores

Here is a list of some of the grocery stores that may offer copy services.

Costco

Bonus: there’s a little asterisk on the Costco website denoting that volume pricing is available, meaning you could pay even less than that if you’ve got a large number of copies to make.

Hy-Vee

Coborn’s

Fiesta Mart

Your Local Pharmacy or Drugstore

CVS

CVS stores do offer copy services at many locations. While these services are not available in all locations, CVS is working to establish copy services at select locations.

Make Copies at Government Offices

Some government office may also offer copy machine services, but that all depends on your local city’s individual venue.

Your Local Library

Post Offices

Make Copies Through Online Copy Websites

If you’re not in a huge hurry, you may be able to use one of the online websites that will allow you to scan or upload a file and have the copies delivered right to your door.

Many offer expedited shipping options too, so you could potentially have them at your home or business within just a couple of days. Here is a list of some of the more popular websites.

Best Value Copy

Know that you’ll pay for shipping with these guys unless your order is over $125.

DocuCopies

As with Best Value Copy, DocuCopies will ship your order free of charge if you spend $125 or more.

I don’t know that I’d use this site for making just a few individual copies as they have set-up fees as well. However, they could be a good choice if you’re printing manuals, books, etc.

Color Copies Today

Shipping costs for these guys depends on the size of your order and is calculated during checkout.

Other Places You Might Be Able to Make Copies

There are a few other places you might be able to make copies as well. Here are some ideas.

Your Employer

Most employers have copy machines available somewhere in their offices. Of course, you’d have to get permission first, but many employers are fine with employees making copies at the office.

Using the machine at work is probably best if you only need to do so once in awhile and if you have permission from the powers-that-be to do so.

Your Local Bank

Many of the smaller banks, however, are still very customer service oriented and happy to provide that service to customers on an occasional basis.

Related: Get up to $750 Bonus with These Bank Promotions

Your Rental Leasing Office

If you lease an apartment or townhome with an on-site leasing office, the leasing office may be able to make copies for you occasionally.

Local Colleges and Universities

Local colleges and universities often have copy machines available for use – by students, faculty and/or alumni. Very rarely will you find their machines open to the public.

If you (or your kid) are attending a local college or university, you may be able to get copies made at the student office.

Hotel Business Centers

Airports

Public Office Buildings

Usage rules may vary, so you’ll have to check with your city hall or other public building employees for more information on whether they have a machine and what the rules for use are.

Tips for Making Great Copies

Before you go into any store or other location to get copies made, keep in mind these tips for making great copies.

Have a High Quality Original

One of the reasons people use copy stores instead of inexpensive home copiers is that the quality of the copy is so much better – especially if you need to make color copies.

However, a copy will only be as good as the original you have, so it’s important to have a high quality original when you go in.

High quality originals consist of:

A digital file. This is best as there is the least chance of damage to the original.

Be Specific About What You Want

Copies can come on a variety of different types of papers and inks. Be clear with the store employee about exactly what you are looking for.

Be sure to talk with the copy center employee and let him or her know specifically what you need in terms of copy quality.

Ask for the Expert’s Advice

If you’re doing a specialized print job such as a manual for your business or brochure for your business, ask the copy employee’s advice about paper style, binding information and so forth.

These guys and gals are the printing experts and often have valuable advice on how to get your job done with the best results and at the best price.

If you need copies made, there’s no shortage of places you can go to get the work done. Luckily for you, copy services are in abundant supply in most metropolitan areas.

Where do you go to get high quality copies?

20+ Tricks to Make Copies Near You and at Best Price You Didn’t Know About published first on https://justinbetreviews.tumblr.com/

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goodra-king · 5 years ago

Text

Transcript of Investing in Small Businesses to Do Good for the Community

Transcript of Investing in Small Businesses to Do Good for the Community written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing

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Transcript

John Jantsch: This episode of The Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by Klaviyo. Klaviyo is a platform that helps growth-focused eCommerce brands drive more sales with super-targeted, highly relevant email, Facebook and Instagram marketing.

Hello and welcome to another episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast. This is John Jantsch, and my guest today is Amanda Brinkman. She is the chief brand officer for Deluxe, and the host and producer of the very fun, Small Business Revolution TV series, which is in season four currently. So, Amanda, thanks for joining us.

Amanda Brinkman: Thank you so much for having me.

John Jantsch: So, start by setting up the premise of the show for people that are not familiar with what you’re doing.

Amanda Brinkman: So, the small business revolution main street is a docu series, where each season we revitalize a different small towns main street through its small businesses. We really believe in the thesis of the show is that if you have a strong, small business core that any community or town can thrive. So, each year we ask people to nominate their favorite small town. And then the Luxal invest half a million dollars in revitalizing that winning town’s main streets, and they’ll be featured in that season of the show.

John Jantsch: So, where can people tune in if they want to find both past seasons, and follow along with you right away?

Amanda Brinkman: Lots of different places. So, they can watch it on Hulu, or it’s on Amazon Prime Video. Amazon just picked it up, or it’s streams online @smallbusinessrevolution.org. So, if you don’t have Prime or you don’t have Hulu, you can watch it online for free @smallbusinessrevolution.org.`

John Jantsch: Awesome. So, let’s talk about the town. So, I love this concept of marrying the two things. Not only the small businesses, but just as you suggest, the impact that that has on the overall community. And some of these small towns are hurting, I think in that regard. So, talk about the process for choosing the town, because I know you get inundated with people that say, “Oh, come to our town.”

Amanda Brinkman: Yeah, exactly. Well, I think that’s because small towns are all struggling with the same thing, no matter where they are geographically. All small towns are struggling with… Big box retailers are moving down on the edge of town, which is putting pressure on their mom and pop shops. They’ve got online competition, which is a problem for small business and across the country, no matter what size community you’re in, you’ve got restaurant chains moving in.

Amanda Brinkman: It’s really hard for these small businesses to compete. And when you think about a small town, and when you tell someone to either visit your favorite small town, or where you’re from, you talk about the small businesses. Small businesses are what make a town or a unique, or a community, or a neighborhood, even in a large urban area, these small businesses are what make it unique. You talk about the barber shop, or your dad used to get his hair cut, and you got your first haircuts, or you talk about that diner where they know your order, or the local coffee shop where you see people that you know from the community.

Amanda Brinkman: You talk about these gathering places that small businesses are, and small businesses also give back to their communities in disproportionate ways. They are the ones who are spending their tax dollars are seeing within your community, they’re hiring employees from your community. They’re certainly the ones who are sponsoring the local little league team. And so we need to see these small businesses be successful in order for towns to thrive. Because again, that’s a differentiated small town is their individual small businesses.

John Jantsch: So, my father was a manufacturer’s representative. So, we’re talking about 50 years ago, and he would go to these small towns, and there he’d always have three or four clients on now on the square on every one of them. And my favorite was… I used to go with him sometimes when I was growing up on these trips, and my favorite was always the hardware store, with the worn wooden floors and everybody working there had worked there for 35 years, and they knew they had one of everything, and they knew where it was. Still, today there were a few of those around, aren’t there?

Amanda Brinkman: Oh absolutely. And you know, what’s so special about small businesses is that they often say to us, “How do I compete with online pressure? I can’t compete with those online prices or their distribution.” It’s like, no, you can’t. But what you can compete on is that personalized customer service. The fact that when you go into those local hardware shops, they know how to fix the thing you’re trying to fix, and they’re going to spend time with you getting to know exactly what that challenge is, or that problem is that you’re trying to solve.

Amanda Brinkman: And big box stores can try and emulate that same service experience. But when you’re not from that community, or you’re not the owner of that business, it’s just hard to get the average employee to treat the customers at that same level of personalization. And so, we always tell small business, compete on what you can be differentiated around. And that is that service, and knowing your customers, and knowing their unique needs.

John Jantsch: All right, so you roll into town, you’ve chosen a city, and you have a fun way because you reveal it. They don’t know they got picked. So, you’re all in, you pick that town. How do you pick the individual businesses in that town then? Because, obviously there’s a whole lot of people that would love help.

Amanda Brinkman: Absolutely. So, each year we get about 200 businesses that apply to be one of the six businesses we feature each season. And we do work with all of the small businesses within the community, Deluxe hosts, marketing seminars, and financial seminars. So, we go door to door and help the small businesses. So, we can really only feature in depth, six of them within each season of the show. And so, a couple of things we’re looking for is, through the series we’re really trying to show them what a difference marketing can make for small businesses. And so we’re looking for a business where maybe marketing is a challenge for them, and where we think it will make the biggest difference. We’re looking for businesses where people-

John Jantsch: So, basically every business.

Amanda Brinkman: You know it, that’s true. So, you can help us narrow it down. We’re all set. And so we also are looking for business owner stories that are going to resonate with the audience. And because the whole part… One of the main reasons we do this show is because there’s something about that affirmation.

Amanda Brinkman: So, the large base of our fans are other entrepreneurs and small businesses because they want to learn from what we do in the show. But we also are striving to affirm the viewer that the things that you’re struggling with as a small business owner, aren’t unique to you that other people are struggling with this too. Because, it can be very lonely to be a business owner. And wonder if other businesses are struggling with the same thing, and why don’t you have the answers. And so, we want to find stories where the viewers can see themselves in those struggles, and see themselves in the stories.

Amanda Brinkman: And the whole reason again, is a seriousness because through that story time we’re also trying to inspire non-small business owners to support small businesses. So, when you hear a family story, and why they run the business, you put a face to the business, you want to go out and support them. So, we’re trying to find stories that resonate both in a business level, as well as a personal level. We’re also trying to show a great diversity of businesses, not just diversity in the business owners, but that’s a very important factor for us throughout the seasons. But also diversity of the kind of category or vertical of business.

Amanda Brinkman: So we don’t want to just do a restaurant makeover shore, or just retail, we want to show very niche businesses too. So, in past seasons we’ve featured a dog groomer, or a boxing jim, or a barber shop, a daycare center. We want to show as many different kinds of business too, to make sure that the advice that we give in the series is as applicable to as many kinds of businesses as possible.

John Jantsch: Now you have a co-host on the show, and first couple of seasons it was Robert, oh gosh, I’m forgetting his last name.

Amanda Brinkman: Robert Herjavec.

John Jantsch: There, Herjavec there we go.

Amanda Brinkman: From Shark Tank.

John Jantsch: And now you have Ty Pennington on the show with you. And I will say, you’re a much sharper dresser than he is.

Amanda Brinkman: [inaudible] I got to tell you, I don’t mind you saying that.

John Jantsch: So, tell me this, what are some of the universe… You already mentioned it, marketing, but what are some of the kind of universal problems that you see, that you walk in, you go, [inaudible] here we are again.

Amanda Brinkman: The two things we seem to struggle with the most, are the marketing. Not understanding how to use marketing to grow and differentiate their business. And the second thing is their finances. So, not necessarily having a handle on their numbers, or what the numbers are telling them. And so that is why those are the two things we focused on most in the show, because those are the two things you need to have a handle on, to really run your business and those are two things that most business owners start their business to get into. They don’t come naturally to a lot of people for good reason.

Amanda Brinkman: People start a bakery because they love to bake, not because they can’t wait to build a website, or to figure out what the heck SEO is, or to balance their books at the end of the month. But none of the important factors of the success of your business. So, every episode and in real life, we just come in to walk alongside those businesses and help them with the resources, so that they can get back to doing what they love about their business. We never have to invent the passion for this business. We never have to convince them to try a different kind of bakery. And they’ve got those pieces of their business nailed. We just try and help them with the things that don’t come naturally, because we want them to be successful.

John Jantsch: I want to remind you that this episode is brought to you by Klaviyo. Klaviyo helps you build meaningful customer relationships by listening and understanding cues from your customers. And it allows you to easily turn that information into valuable marketing messages. There’s powerful segmentation, email autoresponder that are ready to go. Great reporting. You want to learn a little bit about the secret to building customer relationships. They’ve got a really fun series called Klaviyo’s beyond black Friday. It’s a docu-series, a lot of fun, quick lessons. Just head on over to klaviyo.com/beyondBF, beyond black Friday.

John Jantsch: Some of the shows have some drama. There are tears, and there’s joy, and there’s anger and frustration. What’s been the most touching story for you?

Amanda Brinkman: Oh my. I think this season it’s hard, because we in real life are so close with all these businesses, and I think all of their stories have such emotional elements. So, I think that one of the stories that we’re seeing really resonate with people, and certainly did with my team and I if Whilma’s Filipino Restaurant, it’s episode two of season four. The [Forgosa] family is from the Philippines. And so, Whilma who owns the restaurant, and her husband moved their family from the Philippines to Searcy, Arkansas. It’s the great American dream with literally $100 and two suitcases. And they moved their four children who are all under, I believe the age of 10 at the time. All in pursuit of creating what they perceived to be a better life for their children, or more opportunities for them.

Amanda Brinkman: And how brave to not only do that, so she as apparent on how sacrificial, and then also to them start a business and being a business owner from the most briefings you can do. And we saw her be… What I talked about before. She has a passion for cooking. She’s an amazing cook. She has this incredible sense of hospitality, which is inherent to not just her Filipino culture, but just her as a person. But things like cost of goods and marketing, and interior decor, and some of these other things we’re seeing in her way of actually being a profitable business. So who should have been in business about 10 years and had barely paid herself and some years maybe not at all. And working that hard, you want to see people be able to… There’s nothing wrong with making money from the business when a business is meant to do and provide for the family.

Amanda Brinkman: And so we were just so proud to see what marketing and the publicity of the show, and helping her with some of those operational things like quantity sizes of menu pricing, and some of those less fun things to talk about, but how they could really impact your bottom line. And so that was a very emotional, I think probably because she just sat in such a space of gratitude throughout the entire process. And it’s always wonderful to see a family come together and move themselves forward. It’s very rewarding.

John Jantsch: So, I’m freely will admit, I’m a fan of the Queer Eye series and there is a little bit of that for business. It feels like there’s a lot of hope you’re focused on businesses as opposed to individuals, but there’s a bit of a makeover aspect to it, isn’t there?

Amanda Brinkman: There really is. And I think the other thing we have in common with Queer and they wish more shows for following this is. This is really a makeover show with heart. We aren’t there to make the business owners look stupid, or to look like we’re the saviors we’ve certainly had distribution partners, not the existing ones, but others that we’ve talked to that want to dial up drama,or different things like we’re not just not going to do that. Yo don’t need to invent drama. When you run a small business to be antagonists is, in a business like that there is no need to pretend or dial that up. We’re truly just there to help, and there are certainly dramatic moments in every episode that come out just naturally, because that is the nature again of being an entrepreneur.

John Jantsch: It’s very personal. So, you’ve got a few seasons under your belt now. I suspect you’ve probably checked back in with some of your folks from past seasons. Have you seen real impact in bottom line impact? They have a different business now?

Amanda Brinkman: Absolutely. Every business is certainly far more profitable. Some of the greatest success stories are a season two Annabella Italian restaurant and Bristol borough has tripled their sales, and hired a few more people. Ellen’s dress and bridal from Wabash, Indiana season one went from being $100,000 in debt, and never paying herself to certainly paying herself in doing well.

Amanda Brinkman: Well first of all, the fact that all 24 businesses are still in business, is actually a statistical anomaly in terms of business. Seeing this is being able to stay open and those open rates. But no, they’re all doing extremely well and in different ways. Some have more work life balance, which was a goal for them. They’re all more profitable. Some of them would be able to hire people, which was a goal. So, all of them had certain goals going into it and those have been met.

Amanda Brinkman: And the funny thing that we do is, each season we actually kick off the season with a return to episode from the previous season. So, we did a return to all [inaudible] a few weeks before we just launched season four, which is in Searcy, Arkansas. And it’s so fun to see impact on the whole community. Some of that half a million dollar investment from Deluxe also goes to the town. We gave aesthetic improvements to the main street, and invest in different things within the town as well. And it’s just fun to see the ripple effect. It’s more than just those six businesses. The whole town is really on a different trajectory on the other side of the small business revolution.

John Jantsch: So, your publicity team, when they were lining up this interview said that you were going to use this occasion to announce season five’s winner.

Amanda Brinkman: Well, that was very preempted on themselves. Here’s where we’re at actually in the process. So we’re actually, [inaudible]

John Jantsch: I was going to stay silent there as long as you needed.

Amanda Brinkman: We’re actually in the process of narrowing down the season five nominations. So, over the course of the five years, we’ve received 35,000 nominations accounts. So, every year we get thousands and thousands of towns nominated. So, we’re not even close to announcing that, because what we do is, we narrow down to the top 10, we go out and visit them, boots on the ground, and then we announced the top five, which we’ll announce on January 14th, and then it is up to the public, the public votes, where we actually end up going. And once we identify the five, it’s out of Deluxe is hand sending it up to the American public to vote. And then I’ll pop out on someone’s stage. I believe it’s scenery 28th.

John Jantsch: Okay, awesome. So, your title is chief brand officer. I’m guessing there’s a day job beyond the show involved in that?

Amanda Brinkman: Yes, there is. Over the years, it’s been nice that I’ve been able to focus more and more in the series producing and hosting, and show running a series is an all consuming full time job. And so my team and I are quite focused on the series itself, but we’re very proud at Deluxe that we not only do the small business revolution, but it’s truly our brand purpose turned into a brand action. And so we very much as a company look at this as the leading efforts that we do to really get our brand out there. And it’s making a difference beyond just selling small businesses, marketing services. We’re actually going out and putting our money where our mouth is, and helping these communities and businesses. And so, much of what I do is focused on that brand pieces is how this is leading us as a company.

John Jantsch: And really this is going to sound like a commercial for Deluxe, but here it goes. Deluxe is such a great example of one of these companies that is a very old company that was in a very old industry, that was very entrenched in a very old industry that said, “Wait a minute, at some point people are going to stop buying checks. Maybe we’re going to have to do something else.” And I think a lot of companies died because the golden calf was there and they hung onto it.

John Jantsch: I think Deluxe probably earlier than a lot of companies pivoted to,”Hey, we have to be something else to our customers.” And we got into marketing. You were one of the first companies to really get into content, as a lot of us marketers started talking about it 15 years ago, and now maybe just briefly. What are, what are the offerings at Deluxe look like for small business?

Amanda Brinkman: So, we can help a small business with anything they need to market their business. So, whether it is designing your logo, building your website, securing your domain, email marketing, promotional items, apparel, business cards, email marketing, the list is long. Anything you need to really market your business. And we’re really the only company that can do all of those things for small businesses. We certainly have a lot of competitors that just focus on email marketing, or just business cards, or just domains. But it’s really nice to work with one company that not only has the heart that Deluxe does, but that can do all of those things for you, because it’s just easier than having to try and go and work with a different company for [inaudible] marketing needs.

Amanda Brinkman: And again, we really do it because we recognize that marketing just isn’t something that comes naturally to small businesses, and we want them to be able to focus on what comes naturally to them. So, why not work with a company that can walk alongside you in an affordable way where you can focus on what you want to do in money in your business, rather than trying to figure it out, some of these marketing things that keep evolving and changing over time.

John Jantsch: Speaking with Amanda Brinkman, she is the host and producer of the Small Business Revolution Main Street, currently in season four of that you can find on Hulu and Amazon prime, and Amanda, tell folks where they might also find more information about the work at Deluxe and the show itself.

Amanda Brinkman: So, we encourage people to either visit Deluxe.com, or smallbusinessrevolution.org, and smallbusinessrevolution.org is a really great resource to hear more behind the scenes of what we work with the businesses on. So, especially if you’ve seen an episode maybe on a different platform like Hulu or Prime, it’s a great place to go and find out more about how we built out that website, or why we recommended a certain marketing solution, or a certain financial solution, gives a little bit more in depth. Because as you can imagine, needs to be scenes that ended up being about three minutes in an episode or actually, two hour conversation. So, we really want to provide small businesses with the resources to understand the strategies that we recommend.

John Jantsch: Awesome. Thanks so much for showing up, and sharing your time and information with us, and hopefully we Will run into you soon out there on the road.

Amanda Brinkman: Thank you so much.

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topinforma · 8 years ago

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New Post has been published on Mortgage News

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Real estate prices are today’s dominant news. Whatever the malady — the possibility of a real estate bubble destabilizing our fragile economy, the impact on home affordability, the plight of the millennials shopping for their first home — ascribed to Canada’s inflated land values, the average price of a Canadian home (now said to be well over $1-million for single-family dwelling in Toronto and Vancouver) is never far from the front page. Short of the thought of Donald Trump’s rather impulsive thumb on the red button, nothing disturbs Canadians quite like the conundrum of whether they should be celebrating or lamenting the sky-high value of their homes.

Nonetheless, there are yet more twists to the effects of low interest rates, as rampaging real estate prices reach far beyond simple home affordability. To wit: Soaring home prices are putting gas stations out of business and, in so doing, accomplishing what years of government subsidies have so far failed to do, making internal combustion cars inconvenient enough to promote electric vehicles.

While much has been written on the demise of the gas station — there were as many as 20,000 in 1990, while fewer than 12,000 are operating in Canada today — attributing their demise to the rising popularity of electric cars — as Macleans and the Financial Post do — is vastly exaggerating the success of the environmental movement.

How It Works: What type of gasoline is right for your car?

In fact, as of the beginning of this year, there were fewer than 15,000 electric cars registered in Canada, a mere pittance compared with more than 25,200,000 gasoline-fuelled automobiles still prowling our roads. EVs’ 0.06 per cent share of the Canadian automotive fleet is hardly the reason that almost half of our gas stations have gone out of business in the last 25 years.

Nonetheless, gas stations — especially in big city downtown cores — are disappearing, their dwindling profit margins and the soaring value of the property they rest on making their continued existence untenable. Finding a pump in Toronto’s Bloor Street-Queen’s Quay corridor is getting ever more problematic. Chevron recently announced the pending sales of five of its Shell stations in Vancouver, and it’s not hard to see why. Thanks to Vancouver’s insatiable appetite for condos, one of Chevron’s locations had its value reassessed at $32.8 million, making a worthwhile return on capital from the pennies-a-litre profits of pumping gasoline all but impossible. Only Montreal clings to a convenient number of downtown gas stations, and one wonders how long that can last given Quebec’s (relatively) booming economy.

Nor is this problem confined to Canada. In San Francisco, for instance, there are 40 per cent fewer gas stations than there were but a decade ago, abc7news reporting that literally “hundreds of gas stations have closed across the Bay Area since 2000.” Mainly, says the TV station, because the average net profit of five cents per gallon can’t compete with San Fran’s soaring real estate market. According to the New York Times, there are now less than 50 gas stations in Manhattan — despite car registrations increasing by 100,000 in the last five years — and less than 10 below 96th Street. The reason? Look no further than the BP station that recently sold for more than US$25 million, only to be replaced by a luxury 56-unit condominium. Even in America’s suburbs, the lure of filthy real estate lucre is putting gas stations out of business. “Properties are just worth too much money,” R. Steven Embrey, general manager at Eastham’s Auto Service Center, told the Washington Post before he stopped selling fuel for good at a gas station in Bethesda (a Maryland suburb of Washington, D.C.), in business since 1929.

Nor is it only mom and pop gas stations getting squeezed out of the retail business. Last March, Imperial sold off 497 of its Canadian Esso-branded gas stations, ostensibly, it was reported, to fund its expansion in the Kearl oil sands in northern Alberta. Nonetheless, one can’t help but think this profit-versus-real-estate-value conundrum played a large part in its decision. The sale brought in, said the Globe and Mail, some $2.8 billion, which works out, for those slow on their calculator, to $5.6 million an outlet, a number extremely tough to ignore when you’re making but pennies on the litre.

Motor Mouth: We don’t need Tesla’s Superchargers

Indeed, it’s perhaps even more telling who bought the stations. While a few were bought by fuel distributors — Parkland Fuel Corp., Harnois Groupe pétrolier and Wilson Fuel Co. Ltd. — the vast majority were bought by Couche-Tard (one of the world’s largest convenience store chains, originally based in Quebec) and 7-Eleven Canada. As Dan McTeague, senior petroleum analyst for GasBuddy.com, says, “the fuel retailing business is now so unprofitable that it has become nothing but a loss leader for convenience stores.” What makes Imperial’s sales all the more ironic is that the large oil companies that were using low retail margins to encourage mom and pop retailers to leave the business are now finding themselves squeezed, with the number of gas stations under the direct price control of major oil companies barely more than 10 per cent. Nor are convenience stores the only retail outlets taking over the retail gas business. Big box stores, especially Costco, are the fastest-growing part of the segment.

Whether they are in fact being eliminated or being moved to suburban retail outlets, downtown gas stations are slowly disappearing. And while there are still enough to fill the needs of motorists — the Greater Vancouver area, for instance, still boasts about 70 locations with pumps — it is nonetheless less convenient to fill up than it once was. Ironic then that, after years of promoting electric cars through subsidies both direct and indirect, it is the politician’s greatest fear — a real estate bubble — that is their best weapon for promoting the adoption of emissions-free automobiles, at least in downtown cores.

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topinforma · 8 years ago

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New Post has been published on Mortgage News

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How It Works: What type of gasoline is right for your car?

Motor Mouth: We don’t need Tesla’s Superchargers

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topinforma · 8 years ago

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New Post has been published on Mortgage News

New Post has been published on http://bit.ly/2q2RUbx

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How It Works: What type of gasoline is right for your car?

Motor Mouth: We don’t need Tesla’s Superchargers

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