Barbara Walters Price

Why send your kids to swim camp when you can send them to Cash Camp?

Now is the time when parents are sending their kids off to camp for a week (or weeks) at a time.  While my two rug rats are too young to go (and I'm not sure I could send them off with total strangers although their stay-at-home dad certainly could), I thought this tidbit from the most recent issue of Inc. was interesting. 

"Send Your Kids to Cash Camp

... try an approach that's more fun and interactive, such as sending them to money camp.  Connie Proulx, of Lafayette, CO, sent her 13 year old daughter, Elaine, to Money $ense, a day camp operated by the nonprofit Young Americans Center for Financial Education (www.yacenter.org), in Denver.  Elaine also attended the center's Be Your Own Boss camp and now runs a small jewelry-making business.  She has put some of her money into a certificate of deposit and contributes a portion of her business profits to charity.  'All my friends talk about how they'll work for her one day,' says Connie.

The center has two five-day finance camps: Money $ense, starting in late July, is for kids who've finished sixth or seventh grade and covers budgeting, investing, credit and taxes.  Junior Money Matters, in late June and early July, is for youngsters just out of second or third grade.  The younger children learn the history of money and play games, such as banking bingo.  Everyone spends time running the center's mock town.  Each camp costs $175 per child, and sessions are held at facilities in Denver and Lakewood, Co.

... Find more finance camps at www.mysummercamps.com and www.campchannel.com." (by Amy Esbenshade Hebert)

The camp for the younger kids sounds a bit too nerdy to me - "banking bingo" - YAWN. 

The camp for the older kids does sounds interesting.  Exposing kids to the idea of entreprenuership at such a young age and then teaching them how to be good stewards of their money sounds very valuable.  But it is valuable only as long as it's fun and not just a mini-B-school and they don't come home peppering me and wonderful-stay-at-home-dad with questions about our investing philosphy.

Why waste all that time swimming and making crafts at camp when it could be spent teaching your kids how to one day own the camp!  Hmmmmmmm.   

Sales Training not effective?

In Larry Bodine's PROFESSIONAL SERVICES MARKETING Blog, his post "Shock and Awe at LSSO," he comments on the "Defining Business Development" session, where Sue Stock Allison of the Brand Research Company and Katherine Daisley, Marketing Manager for ALM Research, presented the findings of the new "Law Firm Business Development Survey."

The survey of 157 law firm marketing directors and CMOs from November 2005 to January 2006 reported that sales training for the lawyers was the least effective factor contributing to the firm's revenue growth.

Larry rightly commented:

Without followup and without requiring the partners to compose personal sales plans, of course the training would be ineffective.

If you are considering sales training, as we are, take Larry's words to heart. 

And what's up with "cost-cutting" making the list of factors contributing to a firm's growth - from CMOs?  (If you get closer to your speakers, I bet you can hear me sighing!)

Are you a Foodie?

This post is for my friend, Eva Lang, a self-described "foodie."  I love going out to eat with Eva because she can always interpret the menu for me (you see I don't cook and come from a meat and potatoes family so I'm a bit handicapped at a nice restaurant). 

Food-related websites from this weekend's WSJ (subscription required):

• www.chowhound.com (the granddaddy of the virtual dining world)
• www.egullet.com (upscale site with articles, forums, recipes)
• www.sautewednesday.com (commentary from San Francisco-based food writer)
• www.chocolateandzucchini.com (blog by 26 year old parisian that is all the rage)
• www.thefoodselection.com (New York-centric)
• www.mouthfulsfood.com (community bulletin board)

Bon appetite!

New Matter Questionnaire - What a good idea!

Bruce Allen over at Marketing Catalyst has created what he calls a New Matter Questionnaire which is sent to attorneys at his firm, Rutan & Tucker, whenever they have obtained a new client.  See his most recent post which details the status of the Questionnaire and what it currently contains.

What a great idea!  I hate it when I don't think of tools like this but love it when others do and I get to take their good idea and run with it.

Our firm is a bit smaller than Bruce's so I plan to take the Questionnaire idea and tailor it to Mercer Capital and obtain the answers in face-to-face meetings.  This could be a simple way to get in front of our fee-earners and begin a conversation about new clients, as well as put me in the middle of our selling efforts.  As my role transitions from traditional "marketing" to "business development," this strikes me as a potentially helpful tool.

Thanks for sharing this wonderful idea Bruce!!

For those of you who are considering starting your own business...

Are you thinking or dreaming about making the leap and starting your own business? If so, see Pamela Slim's post Escape from Cubicle Nation: Writing a Dr. Seuss business plan and other questionable things I did when I started my business. 

Why is this so hard?

Now that I'm back, let's revisit a truth that could be the difference between creating and building a successful and rewarding career and merely putting in your time in a daily grind job (lean into the monitor, I'm only going to say this once):

I'm Back

Hello all.  Sabbatical over.  Fun had.  Not much rest but much accomplished.  If anyone out there missed me, I missed you too.