This is my first post aside from posting articles that I have published and I am really excited to tell you that I just got back from Dallas for a client’s Grand Opening. For me, as an Entrepreneur Coach, I work with people all over the country helping them to explore options and get started in business. So it is truly a luxury when I get to meet a client face to face! I went to meet one client and, as it turned out, I got to meet five! So before I get too far ahead of myself, let me tell you about the client that had the Grand Opening, the one I went there for in the first place.

His name is Jon Mark Harmon and he opened a Go Fish Retail Clothing & Jewelry store. Before you dismiss this as just another store, let me tell you their story. The founder of the company actually started the company because every time he would take a mission trip and bring back gifts, people would always want more. So over the years, he has grown into to having retail stores in partnership with people like my client, Jon Mark. In a nutshell, they sell almost exclusively items that are made by families in third-world countries. In their stores, they even have displays that tell the story of the family who makes the particular item. It is a fabulous value proposition for everybody, not to mention they have “way-cool” stuff. If you want to check out their website, you can link directly into Jon Mark’s site at dallas.gofishretail.com. You can also shop online and see for yourself the “way-cool” stuff they have.

I won’t even go into the business model of Go Fish, which are all the things that attracted Jon Mark to this particular business in the first place. But if this sounds interesting to you and you want to know more about it, email me at lisa@pigletpaper.com.

I was also able to meet with four other clients. One of my current clients, who also rides a motorcycle (Did I mention I rode Pulchritude to Dallas for this trip?) let me ride with some of his riding buddies for their regular Thursday night ride. WOW, that was a trip! That was the first time I had ever ridden in a group and those guys ride FAST! I got initiated, to say the least. It was a good thing I didn’t have to pay attention to where we going and I just had to follow the leader! Did I mention we were riding at night? They took me to Wilhoite’s in Grapevine, which is a pretty famous place in old historic Grapevine. It used to be a service station. It was cool biker bar that I am sure I will revisit again. From Wilhoite’s, they took me to Stroker’s Dallas. This is the part of the trip that really stretched my riding comfort zone because we were riding fast thru construction and traffic. If you don’t know Stroker’s, check our their website www.strokersdallas.com. They are apparently well known for their women, namely on lingerie and bikini night. The night we were there, it was pretty dead, but it is definitely a cool place that I will go back on a weekend night when they have a band. You even get to park your bike in the back. Oh, and the guy who owns it, Rick Fairless, has or has had a TV show about the place. I guess because he builds choppers. I have never seen it, that is only hearsay, but it seems to be accurate hearsay. So, thanks Jim (my client), Rick, Steve & Greg for a wild ride! And no, not Rick Fairless. Rick I don’t know his last name, but the Rick that hung back in case I wanted to go slower than Jim, Steve & Greg.

I also got a chance to meet with a client that I was not able to help get into business. Sometimes that happens, and in Ross’s case, it happened because what he learned thru the process of working with me was that his heart is really with the business he already had. You see, when he first engaged me to help him explore other opportunities, it was because he thought he wanted to quit the business he had built from the ground up. But with a little coaching, a big success and a renewed inspiration, he set about turning his business around rather than getting into another one. (View his Letter of Recommendation below) Today, he has a thriving business called Motion Media Solutions where he digitizes media in the “most coolest” forms. He has pioneered a product called the Story Box DVD that will make family archivists, genealogists, photography enthusiasts, home movie amateurs and scrapbookers go wild! I won’t spoil it for you. Check it out for yourself!

Ross Mason’s Letter of Recommendation [PDF, 151KB]

So those are the happenings on my trip; many openings, firsts, starters; any of those words will work. But there were also many lessons and revelations along the way that I am still downloading. So until the download finishes… -Lisa