JUST OPENED

Blessed Babies and Bellies Boutique just opened inside Party and Main in Susanville. They have baby and toddler carriers in a variety of styles and colors. They offer a free Baby Wearing 101 class from 11 a.m. to noon April 19 in the party room at Party and Main. The class will touch on the benefits of baby wearing, and will demonstrate the proper use of a variety of carriers. If you have a carrier you don’t know how to use, feel free to bring it. All parents, including first time pregnant mothers, caregivers and siblings are welcome to attend. No purchase necessary to attend.

NEW BEGINNINGS

Spring is a time for new beginnings. The all-new Zaengles Carpet One Floor and Home, located at 2800 Main St. next to the bowling alley is counting down the days until they open. Joe, Nancy, Mark and Quin Zaengle have called Lassen County home for many years, and they are very excited about their new store. They have been encouraged by the feedback and comments they have received.

New carpet, fresh paint and more have been installed in the store, not to mention the Carpet One Store inside. They have already received Englander 2012 mattresses, plus recliners and motion furniture from Lane and La-Z-Boy are due to arrive soon.

They plan on opening in just a short time.

MARKETING TIPS FROM A RENOWNED EXPERT

Phillip Humbert, PhD, Column writer

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.” This is an insult in Texas and refers to someone who has a big mouth and little or no follow-through. The reverse is to build a great enterprise, with little or no marketing.

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.

Insanity: “Doing the same thing over and over, while expecting a different result.”

Consider this scenario, 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,” thenwait, 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.

Invest in marketing! And perhaps more importantly — 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.