FRIENDS OF THE NRA BANQUET   

Lassen County Friends of the NRA is hosting its third annual fund-raising banquet and auction. It will be held at 6 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 28 at the Veterans Memorial Hall in Susanville. You must get your tickets prior to the dinner, as they will not be sold at the door. There will be a live auction, silent auctions and special drawings. There will be limited edition firearms, custom knives, art prints and so much more, including lots of guns. For more information or to get tickets, call Della Smith at 254-6595.

Community Church is starting their new club year on Tuesday, Sept. 14. It's available for children ages 3 to sixth grade. For more information on Awana's, you can call the church office.

NEW LOCATION ON MAIN STREET FOR STRUCTURES   

Rodney Mast, of Sturdy Built Structures, has moved his units to Main Street in Susanville. You will find an assortment of their structures near Burger King. You can see Mast every Thursday between 2 and 4 p.m. at that location.

GARNIER WELCOMES A NEW TEAM MEMBER   

There is a new face at Big Valley Mortgage these days. Kathie Garnier, welcomes Janet Baker to the team of ladies. You will find Big Valley Mortgage on Nevada Street. in Susanville. Stop in and say hi to Janet.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS FOR FALL CRAFT FESTIVAL   

Before we know it fall will be in the air. The Historic Uptown Susanville Association will be having its annual Fall Crafters Festival on Sept. 25 this year. For more information, contact Kathie at Big Valley Mortgage or Mary Ellen at Great Basin Antiques.

FAIRWAYS FOR FOOTBALL   

The Lassen Football Boosters is at it again. They are working hard to make improvements to Arnold Field and help with the cost of new uniforms. Teresa Pustejovsky tells us the woosters are having their annual Fairways For Football golf tournament on Saturday, Sept. 11. It will be a four-person scramble. Dinner will be served after the tournament. There are lots of prizes and raffles. So enjoy a day of golf and help the Lassen Football Boosters as they work hard to help out the team.

HELP SPAY YOUR DOG   

Lassen County Humane Society tells us they have financial assistance available to Lassen County residents to spay or neuter their dogs. For more information, see their ad in this weeks paper.

BUILD SELF ESTEEM IN YOUR YOUTH   

White Tiger Martial Arts tells us they are starting their fall classes for student’s age 5 to 18 years. If you are interested in learning self-defense skills, self-control and self-confidence, then this just might be the activity for you. You can call them at 253-1133 for more information on class times.

FABULOUS TREASURES IN UPTOWN   

If you haven’t been into Great Basin Antiques in Uptown Susanville, then you’ve been missing out on lots of great treasures and bargains. Mary Ellen Huffman tells us she and Rhonda Fuller have many new items in store from unique antiques and vintage clothes to fabulous jewelry and affordable furniture. So if you are tired of giving gifts that are mass-produced, consider a one of a kind find. They have a good selection of western décor and gifts for men and women.

MARKETING TIPS FROM RENOWNED EXPERT   

The following was written by Phillip Humbert PhD, who writes a regular column, entitled Tips for Extraordinary Results.   

One of the saddest mistakes I see professionals and businesses owners make is the reverse of the phrase, “all hat and no cattle.” I’ve been told this is an insult in Texas and refers to someone who has a big mouth and little or no follow through. The reverse of that is to build a great enterprise, with little or no marketing.   

Every week, I work with professionals and entrepreneurs who provide a great product or service, people who have invested and taken risks to create a great business only to watch it struggle for lack of customers. Why?   

A common pattern is that they (1) are not good at marketing and (2) they compound the problem by refusing to invest in marketing!   

Yes, they may throw a little money at advertising. They may have attended a workshop or even paid a consultant at some point, but they fail to understand the dynamics of effective marketing and they refuse to get better at it!   

Remember the definition of insanity: “Doing the same thing over and over, while expecting a different result!”   

Consider this scenario, which is all too frequent: a passionate professional invests many years and thousands of dollars in education. They love their work and they are very good at it. So they do a little “marketing,” then they wait, hoping their expertise and passion will attract customers. Unfortunately, it doesn’t happen.   

Or I see business owners who put their life savings into a new business because they know they provide a great service at a fair price. But since everything’s invested in the business, there’s no money or energy or time for marketing and within a year, the business closes its doors. What a waste. The community loses a valuable service and the owner loses the business and their life savings.   

Invest in marketing! And perhaps more important — invest in learning how to market! There are lots of great training books and manuals to help you. If you don’t have enough customers, treat it as a skill problem and master it.