“The challenge with Showa is that I find it one of the most difficult of the varieties in achieving the goal of breeding a Grand Champion.” The Showa is comprised of three colors: red, black and white. Mat talks about the three colors, especially sumi (black) and the tendency of customers wanting to buy for today and the problems/suggestions of dealing with that.
Most customers end up keeping to many animals in their ponds. Read what can happen when the “customer” thinks they know more then you do. This is a fun article to read, but the important point is the problems animals can cause when the pond is not built for them. For
example, red-eared sliders do not go well with lilies in a water garden and oh what a mess swans can make! Balance is the key.
Who doesn’t suffer from stressful times? We all do and here are some
great ways to deal with stress – including things like sex and taking
the day off! The authors all time favorite is number 12 – Take a nap.
Taking a nap is like a restart button for your life. There are many
other ideas, so make the time to read this one.
The story of how a pond became much bigger by seaming two existing
liners together. First I said it was impossible – they never work,
but this homeowner convinced me otherwise and the project began.
Follow this step-by-step process and see how this fabulously larger
pond turned out.
Some plants require behavior modification! All plants, like people, have distinct personalities and they are equally as varied. What some plants need is just a little behavior modification or boundaries – who knew you had to learn the psychology of plants. Read the case study of nine plants and learn about the best and worst of them. Then finish with some preventative medicine.
How important is a first impression? Very – so why not dress for
success. Here are some quick reminders and of things you can do to
make that great first impression time after time. Also a tip on where
you can buy those work shirts.
This is a good time to remind your customers of various factors that can affect the health of their pond. While most consider filtration to be the number one way to clean water, there are several other aspects to a healthy pond: water treatments, UV clarifiers and the food pond fish are fed, all add to the overall health of the ecosystem. Learn ways to help maintain good water quality.
What was originally “The Fish Health Management Seminar,” has evolved into the Koi Health Seminar. It is now offered to any one interested in Koi Health each February. The course consists of three days of intensive lectures and hours of hands on time in the wet labs. If you are interested in koi, this is a great jam pack weekend of learning (while eating some great food and having some fun).
Do you know the Distributor you buy your products from? Some distributors like Unit Liner offer great learning opportunities throughout the year. The Spring Kickoff event held at Unit Liner was a great opportunity to learn about several different manufactures’ products – learn to use these products the right way the first time. Learning never ends – get to know your distributors and the great products available to this industry.
With the current economic conditions, the amount of work
opportunities seems to have dwindled – here are a few tip on how to
keep you busy. This is a good time to also think about how you market
and brand your business. Maybe you should concentrate on smaller
projects or projects that will be done in phases. Do you just need to
get out and say “Hi” to prior customer – what do you have to offer
them? Failure to plan is a plan to fail.
