The end of the year Holidays just seems to be the best time to enjoy a drink with friends and family.  This year’s festivities was no exception.  Since I was so impressed with the New Jack Daniel Tennessee Whiskey you might want to try bringing in the New Year with a little ‘Sip’, or two!

Since early summer I had been hearing about Jack Daniels’ new brand of whiskey..Tennessee Honey.  Just the name gets my taste buds starting up a Tea Party caucus and organizing an Occupy group to sit in my mouth until I buy a bottle.

Tasting is GOOD!

I finally got around to picking up a bottle of JD Honey around Thanksgiving when I make the semi-annual trip to the liquor store to pick up the spirits we will be having for the back to back to back Holiday festivities.  Even the label on the bottle is different from what JD usually designs.

I could tell when I took the cap off the bottle I was in for a treat..and a treat it was.  The sweet aroma of the Tennessee Honey filled the room. Before long everyone in the party room was asking if I was getting into the whiskey.  OH, they know me so well.

Since I like to sip my whiskey on the rocks I thought I would take the first sip with out the ice so I could get the true straight up flavor.  Kinda glad I did.  A number of emotions and expressions came over me as soon as that first drop hit my tongue.  First, I felt…warm…yes, Jack Daniels is known for the warm feeling it gives right at the end of the tongue to the back of the throat down through the rib cage.  The second was..sweet..what else would you expect with a name that includes Honey.   The Tennessee Honey gave a full great whiskey flavor all the way down.

Next came the breathing-in test…yes… that gasp of air through your mouth just after you take a shot of any whiskey tells the story if the Whiskey is any good or not.  If it burns like fire we are talking cheap whiskey..but if the feeling is more tasteful…you’re in the land of smooth whiskey.   For me..JD has never let me down with that refreshing experience of tasting the whiskey in my lungs.  The key is JD never has the burning a lesser whiskey has..Tennessee Honey paste the test in flying colors.

Speaking of Colors..JD’s Tennessee Whiskey has a smooth Blonde coloring that matches the taste.  Like the other JD products their color seems to match their taste.  In comparing JD Gentleman Jack..my favorite by far..with the Tennessee Honey you can definitely taste the sweetness..kinda like …aaah…Honey.

I am not sure I would go so far to compare the Tennessee Honey having a liqueur taste, however, there is a flavorful after-taste the Tennessee Honey develops a few minutes after each sip.

Yes, Jack Daniels distillers really hit their mark with the Tennessee Honey.  If you are looking for a fun new sweeter tasting sipping whiskey then try a shot of the Jack Daniels Tennessee Honey..I think I’ve said enough..tell me what you think after you have a shot or two.

Let me know how I can help.

Addison, Texas-October 10, 2011

PRESS RELEASE

Innovative Business Golf Solutions, LLC, (IBGS) announces its partnering with Tina E Clark Productions in a joint venture to produce Internet radio programs.  The partnership brings together over 50 years of innovative business operations and music business production.  The joint venture will develop a number of Internet radio program formats ranging from talk shows to full music showcases.

The programing will cover a broad spectrum of the global markets with a primary focus towards indie music artist, business executives, social media practitioners, business golfers as well as music enthusiast.

The joint venture will produce a broad range of programs developed for digital broadcast media and for use in social media marketing.  Podcasts and Video Blogs will also be byproducts from the Internet radio programs.

Innovative Business Golf Solutions is a multi faceted company offering the business community services to enhance operations. Services include business coaching, mentoring and social media training. Primary markets are golf industry, private clubs and all businesses in need of enhanced operations.

I have been interested in finding a way to add my third interest in life, music, with the other two, golf and business.  Entering the broadcast media of Internet radio just made sense.  I am very excited to have met Tina Clark who also was looking for a way to expand her message to her audience.  Producing Internet radio programs should be a fun and an exciting endeavor., said Scot Duke, CEO of IBGS.

Tina E Clark Productions, located in Dallas, Texas, is a music production company created around the music produced and written by Tina E Clark.  TECP Services include indie artist mentoring, songwriting, music arrangement and music business consulting as well as music artist development in the music business.

I have seen for sometime now the struggle musicians have with breaking into the music business.  My interest has always been to share my experience with those who are struggling to make it.  The ability to pass my experience and interest on to others through the Internet has brought me to realize I need to produce an Internet radio program that allows me to help others as it helps me., said Tina E Clark, owner of Tina E Clark Productions.

The launch of the first radio program is pending studio location and scheduling.  Marketing and sponsor/advertiser solicitation will begin immediately.  
More information and/or to schedule interviews contacting Scot Duke at 214 549-0306 or scot.duke@innovativebusinessgolf.com

One of my favorite golf playgrounds is Phoenix and Scottsdale, AZ.   No matter if it is the dead of the HOT summer or the middle of their gorgeous winters, there is no better Golf than Phoenix Golf .

Of course, if you are looking for breath taking golf, Scottsdale Golf has few competitors.  Either locations is a safe bet for some exceptional and off the chart exciting golf courses.

Phoenix Scottsdale Golf has some of the best Arizona Golf Packages available.  Some of the golf courses they have access to are McCormick Ranch, Starfire, Orangetree, Arizona Grand.

At Phoenix Scottsdale Golf, they take pride in providing discount Arizona golf vacations that focus on finding the best golf and lodging deals in Arizona.  They take the time to listen to your needs and understand your golfing style in order to make the best possible accommodation and course recommendations for you.

Phoenix Golf Packages include golf course like Golf Club of Estrella, Pointe Golf Club – Lookout Mountain, Rancho Manana, Kierland Golf Club.

Scottsdale Golf Packages include golf courses like Stonecreek, Orangetree, Starfire, Lookout Mountain.

How can they do it?

Well, …

1. The folks at Phoenix Scottsdale Golf live in Phoenix and regularly play golf courses allover Arizona.  This personal touch insures you to have a quality experience.
2. They have access to the latest tee time sheets and accommodation promotions to find the best package deals, enabling them to provide complete custom Arizona golf vacation planning at low package prices.
3. They help you tee it up at some of the finest golf courses in Arizona and enjoy first class hotel and resort accommodations for much less than you think!

Phoenix Scottsdale Golf prides themselves in providing detailed information and insider secrets to help make your Arizona golf vacation an unforgettable experience.

So, save yourself the time and hassle of planning your Arizona golf vacation. Let Phoenix Scottsdale Golf plan it for you.

Like most homeowners I am proud of the house I own and want to keep it top shape.  When it comes to repairs or replacement of fixtures like Windows I want to get the best I can get for the money, but really don’t need the sales pitch if the cost is over budget.  This is why the internet is playing more and more of the way consumers get their home improvement information.

Unfortunately, many remodeling contractors and, more specifically to this conversation, window replacement contractors just don’t get it..or do they and are trying to fight the new consumer driven economy.  There are a few window contractors who advertise heavily in the print media who really are lost in how business is done today.  Could it be due to their very large investments into their business when the economy turned against them? More than likely. 

In my recent efforts to find a contractor to replace 6 windows in my home I experienced attitudes towards passing the cost information to me very archaic.  In some ways their approach to setting up an appointment to come out and provide a close estimate sent me back to the days when my dad would answer the door and their was an encyclopedia salesman wanting to come in to pitch what he had to dump on people.  It is no mystery why the window companies what to use old outdated forms of marketing.  It usually based on their products cost is based on very high margins of profits which also is inflated with the salesperson’s commission.

So,since when does receiving a quote on installing 6 standard size windows have to include covering that quote with both me and my wife present..with seemingly no exceptions? 

This is what the Statewide Remodeling salesperson told me on the phone when she called to confirm the appointment.  She wanted to make sure the time she was coming out was convenient for her to review the costs with me and my wife.  What a waste of time. When I asked why there is a continued insistence on my wife being present for them to pass me a written quote I was offered a glimpse into what I suspected from the beginning was the problem…their products are off the chart over priced.

I made it clear when I called Statewide Remodeling to get a quote that I just needed a quote for the windows so I can decide with my wife which window company we are going to hire.  Even the person on the phone was apprehensive since she also said “they like for the wife to be present when the quote is explained”.

What made this incident worth this blog was I had already received two quotes through emails from two other local reputable window companies.  Their prices were on a good baseline pricing.  They provided the window and installation all broken down, nice and neat.  Very simple and VERY impressive..kudu’s to these window companies who understand consumers.

So why doesn’t an overly advertised supposedly reputable window installation company like Statewide Remodeling not developed an online quote form on their vast web-site?  Could it be due to their products being about 150% more expensive and it takes a very hard used car salesman pitch to get anyone to buy them at their price? 

After telling the Statewide Remodel sales lady that my wife will not be presence and no other appointment will be made for her to be present, she answered my questions on the pricing of their windows by saying “there baseline custom built windows run from $700 to $1000 each..”    Yes..right..a smooth grand for a window….my reaction was to ask if I got to choose where the Golf Plating was to be placed on the windows, but I know it was time to move on and let them find someone else to waste time with. 

The other two bids we received through emails were no where near as high priced and the windows were also custom made quality windows.  So what is up with that kind of pricing? 

This indicates to me the requirement they have for my wife to be present for them to cover the quote also included a very high pressure sales pitch.  It would have to be high pressured since that is about the only way I could see those prices in this economy being accepted as normal by anyone.  Are there that many stupid people other there who would pay that much for windows?  It seems like it or they would have changed to a more consumer friendly approach to quoting their pricing.

I know I have an advantage over most homeowners since I know what goes on with pricing in the remodeling business. I worked in custom home building industry and had my own remodeling business for a few years, and now offer remodeling consultation for homeowners. I can safely say, there are more cost effective ways of getting quality windows installed without your wife being present for the passing of the written quote.

Maybe highlighting how Statewide Remodeling goes about pitching their windows will alert consumers to there being alternatives to having the old ‘Vacuum Cleaner sales pitch’ put on you in your living room.

Today’s businesses…especially window replacement businesses… have to understand the internet and how it is NOW how business is conducted in today’s economy.  For them to take the old adage in saying… it takes a hard sale for a business to be successful..just shows how hard up and lost these businesses have become. 

Having commissioned sales people going out to pitch someone..and their wife…on how good their product is over others is now done is a waste of time.  This pitch now is done with a video on their web-site.  The old thinking of not being able to close a sale without pitching someone in person was buried with Madoff’s ponzi scheme.  Consumers are much smarter, so why don’t window companies try to get smarter with them…I know it can be done since I have now three bids I have received from window replacement contractors who spent their money in hiring a good web developer to provide access to pricing online.  Hope things get better over at Statewide Remodeling..sounds like they could use a lot of help.

As most of you know..or now know..I am not a fan of Games on Facebook.  Now that I have that out of the way, let me eat a little crow and talk about one of the Games recently launched on Facebook that I think makes sense.  Well, as much sense as a friggin game in a social network makes.

Empire Avenue , a Social Media Exchange game for Facebook, has caught my eye, which is directly tied to my interest. The concept of exactly how Empire Avenue is played..if that is what you do with it..is not clear.  Seems the founders of EA, as humble as they look in this picture, have take some pains to not really explain to the the slow adaptors..like me..exactly the rules or the goal of being on Empire Avenue.  SO, here is a video on how Empire Avenue is played.

Now that I jumped into the stock market exchange thing EA  my fans, friends, family..and a couple almost strangers (their Texan so they are almost family) have asked me to show them how I am using it.  Even though I have only been on Empire Avenue for a few days I am by far NOT an expert.  For a quick review..here is Chris Pirillo who I met last year at Open Camp or Some Camp around..his video of Empire Avenue gives you a little flavor of how you can get hooked.

Yes, Chris can be a little long winded, but he does give you a sense of how Empire Avenue can work for you.  Below..is how I found it to work for ME.

Jump In and Interact

Really, if you sit back and look at what is blatantly apparent Empire Avenue is in a way kinda like Monopoly, without the Going the Jail and rolling the dice crap.  You just have to jump in and start pressing buttons..and Oh Yaw..read what the button does.

When you join EA you are given Eaves, which in some alien languages must translate into MooLa or Cash. You are also given a value from the evaluation EA does of you social spaces.  Naturally, like most games Facebook allows in, you are encouraged to invite your entire contact list, friends on Facebook and all your Followers as well as LinkedIn, Flickr, FriendFeed and YouTube, to join.  I never do that but I am sure most people do and it probably makes a difference to my EA value, but I would rather not Bug my contacts since many of them are YOU.

Of course there is the infamous Profile Page every site uses.  And yes, they ask for your photo which I HIGHLY recommend if you are wanting the game to play out like it should.  Posting a character, or even worst posting nothing, will probably get you nothing since their is this thing growing online called TRUST that is resulting in people pushing back from getting involved with anyone or anything that is not trusted with their personal information.

Once you get through the basics it is time to find someone on Empire Avenue you know.  If they are not there get someone you know to go in with you on this since it is good to have a Go-2 person to compare notes.  I have several I know in Empire Avenue so I went and bought as many of their Shares as I had ‘Eaves’.  Just doing that automatically raised my EA value and the price per share.

I can hear most of you going..AAAH..so it is like the Stock Market…answer: DUH!

But Wait..there’s more! (Man I hate that line..but there is).

Awards

Along the way you will get these somewhat annoying pop-ups awarding you with badges and stuff.  It is your choose to take them.  In most cases it is good to take them since you get paid Eaves for doing it.  What happens is EA shares the announcement of what you were awarded on Facebook and Twitter, or just one social space if you choose (I only work Facebook since these type of announcements are near Totally worthless on Twitter).

Shout Outs

There also Shout Outs which are updates or comments you can make that get posted to you profile or to a person depending on where the shout out is made.  It is good to do a few Shout Outs because any activity you show on EA increases your value.

Communities

Of course there are sub networks called Communities for special interest to gather.  Yes, I am in the GOLF and the Dallas Communities where I quickly have become the CEO of the Golf Community and I must just be a street person in the Dallas Community since your position in the community determined by how activity you are in that community..I think.

Watch

I like the Watch feature since when you run up on someone’s Profile and buy their shares you can press the Watch button under their picture and it places their Ticker up in the header of your site so you can see if their value is going up or down.

Tickers

Now this is where EA starts looking like, and has the feel of the Day Traders of the Stock Market.  Along the top of the page you will see scrolling from right to left the Tickers (or the abbreviations of the person’s Share name).  This is where you can see how well your Portfolio is doing.

If you see someone’s E share price in Green with a ‘+’ it means that person’s share price is going up..the figure next to the ‘+’ tell you how much.  The same with the ‘-‘ sign..tells you their share price is going down.

How the ‘+’ and ‘-‘ are determined is from the person’s activity.  If someone is REALLY active in all of their social spaces the amount in the ‘+’ goes up.  If they are not active much anywhere then the ‘-‘ sign starts to show.  This is not to say there is a problem when you see the ‘-‘ sign.  Everyone is not going to be able to be 24/7 online so it should be normal to see the ‘-‘ from time to time.  However, if the ‘-‘ shows up for several days it might be time to help them out.  Remember..you have shares in that person’s social media so you have some investment in that person.  If they go down..you go down.

Here you make decisions.

Help Others

If you see someone shares going up you may want to go over and buy more shares in that person.  Because..you get get paid a dividend from each share you buy.  Those dividend Eaves go into your account.  The more their share goes up the more the dividend the more Eaves you have to buy more stock.

If you see a friend going into the ‘-‘ you can go to their profile to see why and here is where you might be able to help.  If you see it has been a few days since they have been activity it might be time to send a Shout Out.  If they are not responsive..it might be time to Sell…yes..sell.  It is your investment.  You can always go back and buy..maybe at a lower price.  Just re3member, the more people who buy your shares the more value your shares become..but think about this..look how big and influential that following..or Stakeholders are to you influence.  HUM>>>gets ya to think doesn’t it?  I know the Stakeholders I have on Empire Avenue are starting to be more valuable than my Twitter followers.

Time Suck?

Yes, like anything online, Empire Avenue can suck the time right off your work day.  That is why I leave EA up on my FireFox browser and go over to it when I can.  Empire is a Game, but it really is more than a game.  It shows you who is REALLY active…honestly active… in their social spaces and shows you who are Really the Influencers.

I have only been on EA for a week and like I said..I am just touching the surface of what EA can do.  From what I see it is for Real, and I kinda like it.  I could see in time it being more valuable than say..Twitter since it helps cut to the chase to who you should really be checking out for information on you interest.

I’ll be back with more once I learn more.  Until then..Buy my shares on Empire Avenue..I am going for Cheap.  Let me know how I can help.

As the economy staggers around the world, many people are still interested in starting or growing their business.  Many questions come up..Do I buy a business?  Do I expand my current business?  Or, do I do nothing?  The big question we all have is..What will help stabilize the world economy so a new economy can start building?

Possibly help could come from the Franchise World.  But are Franchises for everyone?  Not necessarily.  In a recent Google search I found the TexasFranchiseLawyer.com site, the leading franchise law for Texas site on Google, to offer a few tips on each side of the Franchise arena. 

First there was, So You Think You Want to be a Franchisor?  , which outlines the thinking of buying and being a franchisee and then Are You Ready to Franchise Your Business? ,which gives you an idea the thinking needed before becoming a franchisor, a person that franchises their business. 

Either way, there is a good possibility many business people in the world may want to consider the world of Franchising to speed up their efforts to secure or improve their business.

But, which franchise would be good for you?  Surely this decision comes down to more than taste, want or interest.  As the Texas Franchise Lawyer mentioned, you have to have a talent for doing business no matter what your interest maybe.  And you have to remember franchises are real work and something that will take a lot of work to get going.  This level of thinking may persuade your approach on which franchise would work for you or if your business is ready to be franchised.

Franchises do serve a purpose in the economy and produce revenue which the economy really needs.  Franchises could help in offering jobs for the millions unemployed and generate the taxes the government needs to float its budget.  

So we are back to the question, which franchise would be good for you?  Naturally a franchise that is a good performer would be the safe bet, but, again, is the safe bet what interests you?  Lets assume the fastest growing franchise fits your bill.

Fastest Growing Franchises

In this month’s Entrepreneur.com magazine they listed the fastest growing franchises.  Below is their ranking on the fastest growing.  Make sure to check out their site to see all of the franchises and how they rank in growth.

Top 10 Fastest Growing Franchises for 2011

So, as you see, there are a lot of opportunities available for people who are cut out to run a business and work hard to build a business.  Just be careful out there and check out everything with someone who has a proven track record on franchising.  There are also a lot of laws surrounding what a franchise is and does, so look up a good franchise attorney since you will need one if you buy a franchise or start franchising.

Let me know how I can help.

(This is not a paid advertisement.  All of the opinions are my own and I am not endorsing any of the businesses or people I have provided information on.)