Flying to China

Today is November 22. I missed my flight to Hong Kong On November 20. I showed up at 9:00am for a 9:45 am flight and I was toasted by Air Canada. See they closed the flight, and if I had carry on, I could get on, but it was because I had checked baggage. It was my fault, so I went back to my office to see what Aeroplan could do with me which is usually nothing. Then the lady says she found a flight. I felt like I won a lottery. She found me a seat on a flight through Chicago with only an hour layover, then on to Hong Kong. Trouble was when I went to check in a day later, United Airlines, the ticket agent told me AC didn't issue the tickets yet and I'd have to go to the ticket office and get that sorted. I showed up at the airport at 8:40am for the 10:00am flight which is normal for me. I'm experienced enough to know three hours early us usually way too much and you fight the crowds. Anyway, by the time it was sorted out. I was on the plane with 5 minutes to spare. Too close for comfort. I think I'm going to bump up my time to 2 hours ahead. Airports are getting too stressful.

So I'm in the air now and let me tell you. I wish I was on Air Canada. This 747 is old. The service is ok, but the food was poor and selection not close to Air Canada. Asia airlines such as Singapore are the best but Canada isn't too bad folks. Now I know why Air Canada wins awards. We should be proud. Sometimes we don't know what we have until we look around.....

I have lots of product to make this time around. Some final touches to my Ultimate Personal Shaver, and my awesome graphic department have come up with some great 3D product views for my manufacturing people in China to make molds from as the more information they have the better it is.

Update: I'm in my room now and let me tell you, this room is awesome. I just came back from a from breakfast and checking out my new Trimmer which was given to me last night from my supplier. It is yet another improvement to The Ultimate Personal Shaver which is a product developed by my sister company. It was given to me last night when I met my supplier for dinner. Wow is it good. Production of this work of art will start soon. The product now is awesome.

I'll update you when I get back from todays meeting. So it took over 24 hours by the time my wife dropped me off and I finished dinner and was in my hotel room. By the way it is 25 and sunny. Have a nice day! Chat later!

In Seattle

For some reason, only some of the pictures are not showing. I will try to fix that later. Well I'm in seattle now. It's Saturday night. I've been invited to a grand reopening of "Lovers" a huge 15,000 square foot store similar to Aren't We Naughty, but we just don't have that 15,000 square foot baby, just yet. They are suppose to have 1000 people show up for this event, but that included yesterdays media event. Apparnently the Mayor and other big names showed up for this grand opening as well.

Well let me tell you. The store was exciting and well done. Great location too. I was very proud to be there. I had a couple of tiny suggestions to improve things, and I hope they took them constructively. One of them was they have three exciting floors of merchandise, but I didn't know how to get to the stairs to see them, and in this type of store, not too many customers will put up their hand and ask. So my suggestion was to make the stairs more visible.


I was hoping to get some pictures and I may even get some ideas for our next store....nuknuknuk. I also got to see a wonderful lady named Jennifer who you can see to the left here. She buys for this "Lovers" that has over 30 stores. She is my good friend who I have the world of respect for. I can call her anytime and ask her how things are going and what is hot in our business. Following the grand reopening celebration, we went out for dinner which is an honour to be invited to.


Unfortunately I didn't get to see seattle much. It is suppose to be a great city. I'm leaving Sunday morning early back to Toronto, and then I'm off to Hong Kong on Tuesday morning. I'm meeting with old and new suppliers.

Bad but Good

Yes, this is the time of year when golf season is over and all of us golfers put our clubs away for the season, however we are in the midst of an Indian Summer so they're not away yet. The bad part about this time of year is the lack of sun light. I mean around 5:00pm its getting dark. How bad is that? The positive part to all this is its Christmas time and that makes me feel good. I'm also getting closer to a golf vacation too. I'm fairly deciplined in business and my practices, but have a weekness for a friend calling for golf. What time is my usual answer. Moreover my wife, never nags me about it, ever. What a great life!

Our Ottawa store is slow to open. So many city issues to cover, but things are looking good. As fate happens, I got a call yesterday from an old business colleague in Ottawa who is experienced in the business and is looking for a job in Ottawa. I told her the position is filled but I will pass on her number and her history to my management team. So our newly hired store manager in Ottawa, just as she is 65% trained, which took a two weeks quits today. So my old business colleague's timing maybe perfect, after all, who knows. It would be nice if it works out and she shines at AWN. So far its a wonderful story. I have a feeling Ottawa will open early December. Its exciting.


Wait until you see the new stuff coming in for Christmas. My buyer is awesome and the increased sales at all of our locations reflect this taste. I thought I was good. Drop buy and see some amazing styles only available at Aren't We Naughty.

Steve

Final Thoughts on the Sex Show....

Ok, I've been busy but I must confess, I've taken a few days off. When someone calls me to play golf I can't say no. I guess I'm a golf slut and have been for years. What can I say, the weather wasn't bad.

The big deal yesterday was The Rolling Stones. I had a friend get me some awesome tickets for them who were to be playing in Vancouver on Friday November 3. They just postponed their stop in Vancouver until the November 25 but I'll be in Hong Kong then. I had to give up my tickets to my staff members who worked exceptionally hard and deserved a treat. I felt great doing that.

Well I thought a fun yet informative video outlining our participation in this years show would be appropriate. The team I had this year was so good! The merchandising in our booths was exceptional as you can see in the attached video. All my staff put in a solid performance. I was there for every hour as I am every year. I love it.

In the office I try to always create a fun atmosphere. I have a few simple rules. For example, arrive at least 15 minutes before work to prepare, don't be late, and put forth your best effort and always think quality. I don't care if someone makes a mistake, I make them all the time. I just do not accept lack of effort. All in all, we have plenty of laughs in the office, as you can imagine. Anyway, check this out what I received on my Blackberry yesterday while on the golf course. It was part of a joke that I received as an email and I of course sent it around to my staff. They took my photograph and make the photo ME! I can tell its not me because I hang it on my right shoulder. The below photograph is not me. It is only for humour purposes.