February 2018
Building Your Own ‘Robo Picker’
The show promoter’s message to dealers was quite clear: “WARNING !!!! DO NOT EMBARRASS YOURSELF BY TRYING TO SNEAK IN PICKERS TO BUY DURING SETUP. BUYING, HOLDING, AND SELLING IS NOT PERMITTED BEFORE 7:00 A.M. ON FRIDAY. YOUR COOPERATION IS EXPECTED. Violators will forfeit their space and will be asked to leave the show.” (sic) […]
Adding Profit Centers Levels Out the Revenue Ups and Downs
When I graduated from high school back in the Neolithic Age, my uncles pressed me as to what my future plans were. Being a bit of a teenage scamp, I replied that I intended to be an unemployed ski instructor in the summer and an unemployed lifeguard in the winter. That plan didn’t work out […]
Are Antiques Prices Too Low?
For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been following a discussion of antiques prices on a LinkedIn forum. The participants are all dealers, and the conversation continues as I write. Supply and demand antiques pricesIt’s been a lively discussion, and the general tone of the thread is respectful, which I find refreshing. Here are a […]
Opening a Second Store? Do Your Homework
When the ghost of Jacob Marley visited Ebenezer Scrooge on that Victorian Christmas eve, Marley was dragging chains representative of the mistakes he had made in his life. Small business owners – especially retailers – do the same thing. We drag our mistakes around year after year until we become accustomed to them. We feel […]
Social Media Image Size Cheat-Sheet
I set up a new Facebook page for a client yesterday, and struggled to correctly size the images he provided. Part of the problem is that social media platforms change the page requirements regularly. It’s difficult to keep up with the various specifications for multimedia content across each social network (format, aspect ratio, file size). As […]
Dealing in Used Goods More Profitable than New
My friend Brian is an exercise fanatic. He has special outfits for each type of exercise, and electronic meters to gauge each workout. I’m not into exercise at all. You’ve heard the expression “No pain, no gain”; my motto is “No pain, no pain.” As Phyllis Diller once said, “My idea of a workout is […]
The Best Credit Card Processor For On-the-Road Selling
On a dark, clear night, look up into the sky and imagine trying to count all the stars. You could spend the rest of your life doing so, and never finish the job. It’s said that there are over one hundred billion stars in our galaxy. Now stretch your imagination around this number: Credit and […]
Choosing The Best Domain Name
Choosing the best domain name is an important part of setting up your business, so take some time to research it and select wisely. A catchy domain name will be easier to remember than your telephone number and will result in fewer lost sales. Like a good business name, your domain name should tell people […]
Keyword Research Essentials
There are only 3 steps in any online marketing campaign: Keywords, Strategy, and Execution. It doesn’t matter if you have a website, a blog, a social network, mobile marketing, or whatever the next big thing is; it all comes down to these three things. If you are going to effectively promote your business, you must […]
Create More Cash Without Raising Sales, Prices
Too often, we antique dealers find ourselves in the position of being “inventory rich and cash poor.” We have a lot of money tied up in inventory but not enough cash to pay our bills and write ourselves a regular paycheck. We try various tactics to squeeze more cash from our inventory: We mark-down items, […]