Digital Future of Books

I'm attending the ECPA Leadership Conference focusing on digital books. In preparation I have been doing some extra reading on the subject. One good article appeared recently in the Wall Street Journal titled How the E-Book Will Change the Way We Read and Write - it's well worth your time to read. However, the one that really got me is a new video from Microsoft on our digital future. Notice the use of smart cards and digital paper. This is all real and will be part of our daily lives soon. Watch

Recession Ends today!

Dave Ramsey Town Hall for HOPE was fantastic last night. I completely agree with him and choose to not participate in the recession any longer. I was reminded that the Lord directed us to start Parable in the midst of the 1981-84 recession (much worse than this one). The Parable Group is the result and millions of lives have been touched for the Kingdom to HIS glory. Choosing not to participate starts with our attitude. Start by reading Matthew 5:2-11. The Beatitudes (BE-attitudes) start with self and the confession of sin and move up to the peak in verse 6 then the focus changes to others as we move down the other side. Spend time meditating on and applying these wonderful truths.

Next, remember RETAIL is DETAIL. Work with your team to get all the details done regularly. Let me illustrate this with DaySpring Cards. We learned that the chains have sales increases where we are down in sales. Why? Simple. They reorder every 6 days. We reorder on average every 24 days. No excuse. Remember, 32' of counter cards gets free freight. We need to order every seven days without fail and never be out of a counter card. The same principle holds true for Parable Essential Inventory and promoted products - NEVER OUT. This is part of the bigger picture--exceptional customer service. If we do these things we will win. Watch Dave Ramsey's whole presentation as soon as it's posted and listen to the story of Johnny. You'll see what I mean.

Center of Gods Will

Today I experienced the joy of watching God work.
I meet with a group of pastors regularly. Over the years we have worked together in various ministry opportunities locally. Today we met to plan our next endeavor. As is our custom, we start with a time of conversation where each man updates the others on his life/ministry. This is followed by a wonderful time of prayer. It was so encouraging to hear how God had used each one over the past month. Amazing stories of Gods provision. Even more exciting was the way God had worked to prepare our hearts for the next assignment together. When we got to the point in the meeting designed to share the proposal for the next project it was almost unnecessary - all were clearly on board. It was thrilling to watch the excitement build to unanimous agreement and commitment to move forward. There is nothing that compares to being in the center of Gods Will and waiting on his perfect timing. Safe. Exciting. Peaceful. Assured of success. I can hardly wait to see what God does next.

Multiple computers - one file sharing

Do you use different computers and want to share the same files between them? Laurie and I each have a PC laptop and we share a Mac at home. We just discovered a free service on line that automatically syncs files between the computers. It's called Dropbox. Check it out in this video

Future of the Independent

I'm more convinced then ever that as independents we have a future. I encourage you to read another Blog that make this point well. Click here. What do you think? How do we apply this to our stores today?

3/50 Project

With the current economic and job situation, there has been a growing movement to buy and support local business. One project that is getting considerable press is the 3/50 Project. I think this is an admirable project and one we should subscribe to. However, as Christian retailers the reasons to buy local are even greater then just the financial benefits. What are your thoughts on this? How would you improve it for your store? What could Parable do to help you with this?

Book Fairs

Over the years I've heard of the tremendous sales Christian Schools have had from Scholastic Book Fairs. I've also heard the frustration expressed because of the selection of products - many that do not support the values we believe in. I know that a few stores have had the opportunity to replace or supplement these book fairs with their local Christian Schools. Have you had any experience with this? If so, please share the good, the bad and the ugly. Thanks