Go Nuts and Eat Injera

We're gearing up for the Richmond Flying Squirrels to take the field, now that baseball is back in Richmond. And last week, we attended the Creative Change Center's monthly Breakfast Club, held at the Diamond, where we learned more about the updates and changes the Flying Squirrels have brought to make the Diamond a more "funn" place to be. Having fun is their philosophy and have incorporated "funn" into their marketing messaging and overall sense of doing things at the park. Why the 2 "n"s you say? Well, their phone number is 359-FUNN, so there you go. Just try to forget it - you can't. We also got to meet Nutzy, the mascot!

In other news, we met with a potential client who just happens to be a local Ethiopian Restaurant. If you've never tried Ethiopian food, I would recommend trying it, at least once. We sampled the restaurants offerings of sambussas, katenya, keye sega wot, chicken tibs, a wonderfully spicy salad and a vegetarian combination platter. The entrees are served on a big platter, so that everyone at the table can share, and yes, you eat with your hands! Well, you have rolls of injera bread that you use as your utensil. And the injera bread has the most interesting texture - almost spongy, yet light, and is naturally almost 100% gluten free. We learned so much about Ethiopian culture in just an hour and a half, including a story about the Queen of Sheba and one about Ethiopian coffee.

To Those Who Wait

Good things do come! Out of the blue, sometimes. A referral from a business associate via one of his business associates has turned into a new and exciting client. All in the span of 5 days. It's a new industry for us, with a connection Down Under which has great potential. We couldn't be more excited. And of course, we have another reason for champagne!

I wish for you patience and the confidence to know that closed windows can turn into open doors. Salud!

Oh that World Wide Web

I have been such a slacker on our blog - but for good reason! I've been busy getting new websites and website updates taken care of for my clients. Take a look!

BRAND new website for The Crossings at Ironbridge

UPDATES for Solid Ground Yoga

UPDATES for Creative

The thing I really love about working on websites is Google Analytics. I'm always so entertained to check out who's viewing our clients' websites and where they're coming from. In fact, I'll be able to see who reads this blog post and clicks on the web links above - how convenient is that?

Champ-agne

When asked how she survived her crazy rock & roll marriages, Pamela Anderson said "2 words: champ-agne!" Dorothy Parker listed "sufficient champagne" as one of the 3 things she would "never attain." And my mother always accused me of "champagne tastes and a beer pocketbook."

As you may recall, at MBM we find as many opportunities as possible to enjoy the bubbly (often a Cava or California sparkling rather than the real French stuff). Excuses this week, so far (it's only Tuesday) are Kelly's birthday today, the release to press of the National Capital Bank annual report, and the fact that we survived last week.

Cheers to you and to a reason for you to celebrate before the week's over! Salud!

Go Banks!

I feel like all of a sudden, our banking clients have new products to roll out - that's exciting stuff! One client is ready to launch Mobile Banking, another, estatements. We are also doing some research on commercial analysis accounts and high interest rewards checking accounts to assist with developing some new products. Sounds like our clients are ready to offer something new to their markets.

For our client launching estatements, they're hoping to partner with a local non profit that plants trees around the area. In turn, the bank will make a tree planting donation for every person who signs up to receive the estatements. We'll keep you posted on the progress of the campaign.

And Mobile Banking - with all of the smart phone innovations and apps, it looks like Mobile Banking will soon be the norm. Some smart phones can even pull up actual websites, like you would view on your computer screen, pretty cool!

Tuesday = Done

Donna Carvana who used to work here always warned us to watch our electronic and digital equipment when "Mercury is in retrograde." Somehow she pegged it and our phones would fail, computers would crash or cable get knocked out.

I wonder how she'd explain today? We were all riding high with new clients and some strong proposals in the hands of potential clients. Today we heard "no" and "no" from potentials and lots of "how do you explain this" from the currents.

Ugh. It's cold, raining (planning on turning to snow), and we're an unhappy lot. We just spent a few minutes talking about what we're going to do when we leave the office. Highlights include a birthday party for an 11 year old, yoga, the gym, the last 50 pages of The Angel's Game, test driving a Mazda and ANOTHER EPISODE OF LOST!

Here's to vodka shots and wishes for a better day for all tomorrow!