"New beginnings..."

New beginnings. This year went by at just the right speed. Sure, parts were fast parts were slow, but the total quality and quantity of life packed into the past 365 days was good and right. 2011 is less than 24 hours away and for the new year to begin, the old year must end. I implore you to take time today to relive the best parts of 2010 and savor them one last time before making your new start; making your new beginning.

Practice what you preach. We've spent a lot of time this year talking by email about goals and achievement. I even get invited to speak about it, so I thought it appropriate to share my use the tools in my own life this past year. As I share the results through quotes and stories, know that there is good news: this stuff actually works when you work at it.

"Begin with the end in mind."
- Stephen Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

This year was only the 2nd time in my life I wrote down my goals. This was after re-re-reading "The 7 Hidden Secrets To Motivation: Unlocking the Genius Within" by Todd Beeler. Written goals have a way of clarifying your thoughts and creating the picture in your mind of success before it happens. Beeler promotes the idea that by defining the ending results of your goals you make goals "magnetic".

Clear goals, magnetic goals pull you towards completion. When you "begin with the end in mind", you subconsciously align your actions to get you to your goal. You become magnetized to it.

"You need a plan to build a house.
To build a life, it is even more important to have a plan or goal."

Zig Ziglar, Selling 101: What Every Successful Sales Professional Needs to Know

“He who fails to plan is planning to fail.”
– Winston Churchill

Clear your vision. Know where you are going. Use your goal process to clearly set the end point for your goals. If you want more profit, more time, more vacation, more work - whatever, set it clearly. How much profit? $10,000? $100,000? WHow much time? 3 hours per week? 10 hours?

Set the goals PRESCISELY to clear your vision, so you can see the end. So often I find myself answering questions such as how much money with "more!" Open-ended goals are de-motivating because you can never achieve them. By writing down your goals, assigning real numbers to them with real deadlines you crystallize your thoughts into actions. Choose an "end" when you start and celebrate victory when you reach it.

"People with clear, written goals, accomplish far more in a shorter period of time than people without them could ever imagine."
Brian Tracy

Powerful reasons "why". Goals and deadlines and numbers are great, but if you don't assign a big enough reason "why", you'll never find the motivation to complete the task.

Why am I setting this goal?
Why do you want more profit?
Why do you want more time with your family?
Why do you want more vacation?
Why do you want to pay off the loan?
Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?

Use the family example: you don't want to spend more time with your family because Dr. Phil says you should! You want to spend more time with the kids because they are important to you, you love them, it energizes you, it's important for you to be there for them. THOSE are powerful reasons "why"!

Use the loan example: You want to payoff that loan, not because of the threat to your financial well-being, but because you want to savor the freedom on the other side of the payoff when you get to tell the banker to "shove it!" The feeling when you go to bed without the loan hanging over your head! That's motivating!

Once you set your goals with the end in mind and clear your vision, load each goal with powerful reasons why you want to achieve it. Write them into the same document directly with each goal.

Hammer the last spike. I came across this story in my research for upcoming presentations:

Construction was to begin and certain California people decided that there ought to be a great ceremony. A host of dignitaries were invited to gather at the place where the first rail was to be laid.

One of those invited was Collis Huntington, perhaps the railroad's most important West Coast backer in California.

But he declined, saying: "If you want to jubiliate [celebrate] over driving the first spike, go ahead and do it. I don't. Those mountains over there look too ugly. We may fail, and if we do, I want to have as few people know it as we can ...Anybody can drive the first spike, but there are months of labor and unrest between the first and the last spike."

Wow. No kidding. How many times have you "jubiliated" over "first spikes" and NEVER MADE IT to the last spike?! I know I am guilty as charged.

Live for the last spike. As you prepare your plans for 2011, choose wisely which goals to pursue, then dedicate yourself to live for the last spike. No matter what you choose, see it through to the end of the task and celebrate your victories as they come.

“We are what we repeatedly do.
Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit.”

– Aristotle
"READ your statement out loud when you first get up every single morning, without fail. READ your statement out loud just before you go to bed every single night, without fail. AS YOU READ your statement two times every day, see and feel and believe you already have what you desire."
 - Andrew Carnegie

Are you leaving your 2011 to chance? Activate your goals through repetition. You can argue that you don't have time or that it's silly to read out loud to yourself, but Carnegie was, from humble beginnings as son of a hand loom weaver to become on of the richest men in the world. (The sale of Carnegie Steel to US Steel in 1901 earn him $200 million - in 1901!) I can personally attest that this works in focusing you on the days tasks that will lead you to success in your goals.

So did it work for me? YES. Remember, this was only the 2nd time I really took time to write out my goals - in my life. I also read the goals out loud for the first 30 days after setting them.

Results: We hit our attendance and growth goals this year. We hit our maze client growth goals. We delivered all our materials on-time to our maze design clients without rush shipping (which I consider a "mistake expense"). We stayed on budget without chasing random project ideas, products or advertising deals and held costs down. We implemented a solid, consistent social marketing plan. I spent more time with my family and I develop myself along the way.

Written goals were instrumental in focusing our efforts this season.

That said, I did fall down on a number of occasions and come up short of delivering the products and service that I wanted to deliver in some areas. This year, I know what works and what doesn't.

You can bet I'm purposely setting goals to improve in those areas this year. No system is perfect (and I'm surely not perfect!), but what if trying this out helped you completely meet even 50% of your goals? Would that be worth a try?

The best part is that the whole goal-setting system is FREE. Just sit down, work through it, and read your goals once in the morning, once at night.

Ask yourself the same question I asked myself at the beginning of 2010: "If you can't commit to writing your goals down, how committed to achieving them could you possibly be?"

Tomorrow, "jubiliate" and remember all that you accomplished in 2010. Look forward, then, to 2011 with a clear vision as you start with the end in mind.

Take the rest of the year off, and have a Happy New Year!
- Hugh

Reach us at: www.mazecatalog.com


Email me if you'd like to join the Ag Biz Book Club. Our 1st book is:

"Restocking the shelves."

Your personal inventory. I completely believe that we have mental inventories. Like any inventory, you have to buy stock, you sell / turn / churn that inventory; you empty the shelves and you have to restock.

What did you have on the shelves this year? I Your inventory is made up of the things you put in your head. Over last winter, you had ideas. You (hopefully) made plans. You gathered your people and resources. You worked hard to get ready. You got psyched! You stocked your shelves.

Turning inventory. Throughout this season your turned inventory. You brought ideas to life. You worked hard. You picked items off the shelf as you needed them and applied them to your daily life.

As things got busier, you probably noticed that you could restock as quickly as you were turning inventory. You ran that inventory of energy and ideas down. If you ran out of inventory, your supply chain of mental energy snapped. You felt burned out. You had to take a break, even just a small one, to survive.

Just like in retail, if your shelves went empty, you, temporarily, went out of business.

Time to restock. I know a lot of you are still going through the Christmas season, so your time is coming, but the fact remains that you have to restock the shelves. You have to rebuild that mental storehouse to get you through 2011.

Buy yourself something nice. You need to reward yourself for a job well done. Do not create financial peril, as that won't be relaxing, but get yourself something your WANT not something you NEED. If you don't have some reward for all your hard work, your mind won't be as willing to work with you to get through next season.

Go away. My wife plans our family vacation for the week after we close. After (for us) 26 weeks of 7 days per week, up to 18 hours per day, you need to get away. The Law of Diminishing Returns applies to you - you can stay and keep working, but your efficiency and your results will degrade. Go away. Step back. Get a change of scenery.

Read. During the season I reach a point at which I don't have the time or desire to read. I'm overwhelmed already and I can't put anything else in my head. By about the 3rd day of vacation, I start to crave books again. Listen to audio books or read the real thing. No matter how smart you are, you don't know everything and books help restock your shelves.

My great joy this year is re-reading the Harry Potter series to my 6-year-old, out loud in my best mimic of Jim Dale's voices (Mr. Dale recorded the audio books and is THE master.) Reading aloud is an often under utilized skill, but trains your mind in very different ways than reading in your head. Plus, the father/kiddo time is a great recharger.

Incidentally, one of my favorite people, Kristy Leads wife of Rob Leads many of you know them from NAFDMA, suggested starting a businesses-like-ours book club. I'd be more than willing to help her in this endeavor with a separate email list and use of our e-learning/presentation tools we use in our Maze Master Classes for MQ corn maze franchises. If you're interested, drop me an email with "Book Club" in the subject line.
Watch great movies. We limit screen time in our household to 1-2hrs per day, but engaging in good movies, translating the story to your own life is a powerful tool for igniting ideas.

Explore music. Music is proven to affect humans on a psychological level. As the Centre Presbyterian choir director, I get directly involved with making music twice a week, but listening can work wonders, too.

My newest experiment is with Pandora.com. You log in to listen to music for free on the Internet or mobile phone. You then setup your own radio "stations" by telling Pandora a song you like. It's Music Genome Project uses software to create a "Station" based on your music preferences. The stations get better and better to your liking as you vote songs up or down and add more artists you like.

My experiment is to make stations such as "Feel Good", "Traveling Music", "Sad and Lonely", "Angry", "Workout Energy", etc. to explore music without having to purchase it and guess which artists or songs I might like.

Exercise. You have time now, and fewer excuses. I'm a bit of an exercise junkie, but that wasn't always the case. Two years ago I weighed 185lbs at nearly 30% body fat (I'm only 5'6") and making it through a season was a struggle often ending in eating candy bars for "energy".

I don't know what came over me, but I decided I wanted something different for me, my wife and my kids. So I started working out with the stuff I had lying around, made progress and moved on eventually to P90X and other intense home workout programs.

My wife was supportive, but set the rule that it couldn't subtract family time in the evenings, so I had to workout at 530 in the morning. The mental discipline gained from working out like that has been a powerful force in my life and it can be in your life too.

The incremental results in energy and appearance have been a daily source of encouragement. I now weigh 158lbs at 10% body fat and I'm stronger than I was as a high school athlete.

Keep in mind this has been 2 years, year 1 was not as focused as year 2, but STILL. That's a lifetime of lessons in patience and perseverance. It's daily, mental restocking. Exercise time is your personal "me time".
Go to conventions. This is one near and dear to my heart. After my first year in business I was asked to speak at the NAFDMA convention and suddenly I was thrust into a world of other crazy people just like me! It was awesome! The interactions, the friends, the sessions, ideas at the trade show - conventions are a super re-stocker.

Here are some favorites:
NAFDMA - North American Farmers Direct Marketing Association. This is the granddaddy of them all. Maize Quest will be at the trade show, as usual, and I am presenting "A Goal Without A Plan Is A Wish."

For convenience, we plan our Maize Quest Maze Master Summit meeting for the Friday before, Feb 4 this year. Our corn maze clients get an extra kick-off day of sessions specifically targeted to building their businesses. If you want to attend, join the MQ team for 2011 and we'll get you into the Summit FREE.

Canadians - Ontario Fruit & Veggie Convention with Ontario Farm Fresh is a great event as well. This year OFFMA retained me for a FULL-DAY workshop, bonus session and panel discussions. If you are setting your 2011 plans for success, it will be a great day for you to leave with your year's plan nearly completed!

Make a restocking plan. You manage inventory in your business. You probably never place an order without a plan. Plan out your restocking strategy.

Schedule a vacation. Pick out something nice. Go crazy for exercise or just go for a daily walk. Register for a convention. Get some magazines you wouldn't normally read and pick out some books (if you need suggestions, I'm here for you:-). Listen to some music and rent a movie you've always wanted to see.

Restock the shelves. You need inventory for 2011. Your business and family need you to be restocked, too.

Have a great week.

Hugh

Reach us at: www.mazecatalog.com

"Congratulations! Now before you forget..."

Congratulations! I hope you kicked a** this season. Almost universally, reports from the season have ranged from good to exceptional and I hope the report is good with you as well. Once you have closed for the season, celebrate! You deserve it.

Now before you forget... I know the temptation is to run away, I know I feel it! But before you forget, spend some purposeful time remembering.

What should you remember? Write down your thoughts from the season. Here are some brain kickers:

What worked / What didn't?
What questions did customer repeatedly ask you and the staff?
What coupons did you get back?
What advertising campaign was referenced the most?
What soda/candy/bakery/jam/apple flavors sold?
What tour booked heaviest?
When did your systems breakdown?
What was your staff to guest ratio on a big day / slow day?
Where did you save money?
Where did you flush money?
What attractions were busy? Slow?
What food sold?
Which employees worked hard or not?
When did you have a breakdown/meltdown (mentally)?


You will never know it like you do now. Recall works better, sooner. Don't wait to collect the knowledge from this great season. Particularly if you had good traffic through the door, your numbers will be more informative than in a slow year - you have a better statistical sample.

They won't all be like this. I am an eternal optimist, but I know that the seasons will not all be like this one. Take some of your profits and put yourself in a better position for the future. It might mean paying yourself or saving for the future. It might mean paying down debt. It might mean investing in infrastructure.

We're investing in a big renovation of our indoor playground, because we've got parties booked from Dec 5th on - and we've been waiting years to do it. Whatever it is, make sure you take the opportunity to prepare a better future for yourself.

Decompress. We are all in 'firefighter mode' right now. make sure to give yourself a little space to readjust to a more normal pace. You'll drive yourself into the ground, and your staff too, if you pound away in 'panic mode' toward the next project. They need space, and a break from you, just like you need space and a break from them! You need to consciously take time away to decompress before you have a meltdown.

(Just as an aside, you have unconscious coping mechanisms you may not recognize. If you are burning out, there are things your body and mind do to try to help you survive. Can you spot them? For me, when I find myself making excuses to 'go for parts/supplies', I know I'm hitting the wall - I HATE shopping, but it gives me time in the car, in the quiet of my vehicle without the music playing and a change of scenery that I need mentally to survive. You have something you do unconsciously, too. I know you do. Do you know it?)

Replay your victories. Take some time to mentally playback the great moments of the season. Hauling your deposits to the bank. Enjoying time with guests. Paying off bills. That super party you hosted for a great group of kids. That perfect school tour.

This is a joyful activity that recharges your batteries. It's OK to take 1/2 a day to do this. I like to write my favorite parts of the season down. I'm so future focused I often forget to relive past victories.

You NEED to do this. You need to remember all the good that you did for the community, your guests, and people in general by opening your farm to the general public and providing such a great place for families to be together.

YOU ROCK! You deserve some time to store that in your memory banks to use as fuel for next year. We work in the best industry in the world. Be proud of what you bring to your guests, your community, and the world.

Take some time to remember all that was 2010 and all the lives upon which you had a positive impact. Well done, you. I'm proud of you.

Have a great week.

Hugh

Reach us at: www.mazecatalog.com

"Help the guest in front of you."

I bet you're busy. I have heard nothing but good reports on this season, so far, and it is so good to hear after 2009! We, too, have been very busy and it has been fun, but exhausting. And, I but you're tired, too.

Service degradation. When you get tired, service level declines. I don't care who you are, if it happens to me (I'm an interaction addict, if you've met me, you know.), it happens even to you.

You simply cannot keep it up indefinitely. You also cannot expect your staff to do as well as you do. They don't have it in them.

If you know it's coming, train for it. To combat this service degradation, our policy is to "help the guest in front of you." We had a girl get flustered and quit because she couldn't handle the line of guests hassling her to "hurry up", "go faster", "why is taking so long."

My only advice to her was to "help the guest in front of you." I didn't realize that that's what we've been doing for years. I'd never thought of explaining it to anyone else.

Help the guest in front of you. When you boil down guest interactions and expectations, the guests just want you to deal with them until they are cared for and the personal transaction is complete. Give them your full attention. You can't multitask guest services or both parties will be upset.

You also can't help the next person in line until the person in front of you is done! So, stay focused, help the guest in front of you quickly and efficiently, and move on the the next guest. No matter how big the line behind them.

Train, model, and encourage. Your employees are people, too. They behave just like people do. They want to do well, but they don't know what to do. They watch to see what you do when you're stressed and busy, then they do it. They want encouragement.

Chances are that they have a lot of people in their lives who are mean to them and do not encourage them. What they are lacking in their lives is encouragement. Employees + Encouragement = Effective.

I hope you are crushed with guests this weekend. I hope you have to work your tail off. When you are in the heat of the rush and you start feeling the stress mounting as the lines get longer remember that all you have to do is...
Help the guest in front of you.

Have a great week.

Hugh

Reach us at: www.mazecatalog.com

Don't call an audible.

How's your plan. I spent a lot of time this year encouraging and guiding you through planning your fall harvest season marketing. So, how's you plan? In the thick of things, you should be referring to your plan and executing the tasks in it.

For instance, my radio advertising plan runs every week. Depending on the weather and specials for the week, I just record the ads and send them to the station to run. Our promotions come up on the calendar, and we knock'em down.

Don't call an 'audible'. In football, calling an 'audible' means that the quarterback looks around and changes the play called by the coach based on what he sees. Sounds like a good idea doesn't it?

In marketing, it's generally not. The reason is that you can't 'see' well enough this early in the season. Attendance might seem low, might seem high, but the real data is so limited that you are not getting enough information to change things on the fly.

Stick to the plan. It is so hard for me to do, too, but you've got to stick to the plan. Don't change your radio station, buy more ads, cancel ads, buy some 'fire sale' new ad you didn't plan for, or drive yourself crazy second guessing your decision.

At best, you'll ruin your chances of finding out what works. At worse, you'll cost yourself an arm and a leg to move from radio station to radio station, just when you were about to have played enough ads to convince the 1st station's listeners to come!

I can't see it either, neither can anyone else. Everyone thinks they can see what's happening - ad reps, your staff, your friends, you, me - but they don't. You really can't tell until the end of the season, and we all know that weather is really the biggest factor. Weather beats clever every time.

Consistency beats trickery. Your ads do not need to tricky - there aren't magic words - they just need to be on all the time, time and time again, hammering your message home, to whatever audience you are trying to reach. Stay consistent to the end.
I truly wish you the best, most profitable season you've ever had. As an industry, we have so much to offer the general public and this is our time to shine.

Stick to the plan. Don't call an audible. Remain consistent. That's the key to success.

Have a great week.

Hugh

PS Hayride Audio Systems. If you want them for October ORDER NOW!

PPS If you want to make it easy for groups to book your school tours and parties online, check out our online booking system at www.BookMyGroups.com. See it in action on our home website at www.MazeFunPark.com

PPPS If you missed the "Goal without a plan is a wish" live event, we recorded it for you to view anytime!

Reach us at: www.mazecatalog.com

The "Biggest Ever Times Infinity."

Life on the Farm

Record-tying 51 pound pumpkin picked this weekend. Yes, it's bigger than the girl!

The "Biggest Ever Times Infinity." In America, we just keep trying to make it bigger. 24-hr this and that, the biggest, the best, the Super Bowl of Whatever, the one-stop-shop, a local diner even says "World's Greatest Coffee", but I'd wager the owners haven't yet left town to check. Every weekend some car dealer has the biggest sales event yet. Whatever happened to simple celebrations?

Simple celebrations. It's this time of year that I get to enjoy people having simple celebrations. Just a family, together picking pumpkins and everybody cheers for the big pumpkin Dad brought back.

The youth group comes out of the maze and high-fives each other, quickly defending their collective honor against another team that exited earlier. Mom cheers for her preschooler who just learned how to pick an apple with Farmer Hugh.

These are the victories that really matter. They are simple celebrations, but life isn't a collection of "Super Bowl"-sized events. Life, real life, is made up of individual moments and memories.

Waiting for the big one. How do you live your life? are you waiting for the big one? It is a real feat to live for the little moments, the simple celebrations. Often I find myself using language such as, "If I could just...., Once I get to there, I'll really.... I just need X, then I'll be Y." When I think like that, I'm waiting for a "Super Bowl" to drop into my life.

Can you see how that kind of language easily permeates your life with a feeling that here and now is somehow not good enough? Simple moments aren't of value compared to the 'big one.'

It's a dream we chase, when it is already ours. You don't need a million dollars to pick a pumpkin with the kids; to work with a youth group; to relax for a day with your friends.

Cut the chase. Do you really need "The Biggest Ever Times Infinity"? Cut the chase. Chances are you already have the dream in your life. Keep your ambition, but don't be ruled by it.

I took 15 minutes out of a "parts run" on a busy Saturday to swing in and see my daughter's first soccer game. Maybe it was being a soccer player as a youth, but I almost burst with pride seeing her compete for the first time. They lost and it didn't matter. 15 minutes and I'll never forget it.

You can't live at the Super Bowl. We all know people who live in the Super Bowl. There was one shining moment in their lives to which they cling. The tell and retell the story of it with great passion, and you just want to ask, "But what did you do today?"

Today. Now. The present. That's what matters. Relive the Super Bowl moments of your life, but use them to empower your present life with the same sense of victory and possibility you felt back then.

There's only one Super Bowl. Simple celebrations are what life's really about. What's really neat is that once you start to see and appreciate those simple celebrations, you notice that there are a lot more of them. The Super Bowl is only on once a year and most people watch it for the commercials.

Talk to you next week,
Farmer Hugh

PS Pumpkin picking in the Pumpkin Patch every weekend. See the GIANT Pumpkin Express wagon here.

Perception is the new reality.

I don't really exist. I am just a figment of your imagination. Some of you have met me in person, so you hold a picture of me in your mind (I'm actually thinner and more handsome than you might remember), but for the rest of you I don't really exist; except in your mind.

You don't really exist either. Unfortunately for you, you really don't. You don't exist in the minds of your target market. Awareness that you exist is the real problem in your marketing plan. You don't need 'tricky' ads, you just need people to know you exist.

Weak minds. It's not your fault. People have proven limitations in their minds. They can only keep between 7 and 12 'channels' open and meaningful in their lives.

I can prove it. Think about your 'channels'. Do you really maintain more than 7 strong interpersonal relationships, counting your spouse and kids, active at one time? No, you don't. Neither do I. I might be even more remedial than 7.

You, and your business, are competing for limited channel space in the minds of your customers.

You exist first in cyberspace. Frightening as it may seem, you only exist in the minds of your guests by the perceptions they form by visiting your web site, until they actually visit your business in person. Their 'reality of you' exisit completely between cyberspace (a.k.a. your web site) and their imagination. Their perceptions are your reality.

Back to reality. Your guests make a huge leap of faith to visit your business as they choose to come based on your web site, your phone system, your brochures, and their imagination. If your reality doesn't live up to their imaginations, you're sunk. Worse, if the perceptions you are creating, DON'T create a good enough reality in their imaginations, they won't even try you out!

What's there to do in this land of make believe? You MUST review all the perceptions created by your guests' first contacts with your business. Check your web site, your Facebook page, your answering machine, your brochures. Are your brochures as fun as you are? Is your web site as fun as a visit? Are the pictures your use in your ads of people you'd like to attract? Do your radio ads sound as fun as you are?

Test me. We are working hard here to make it all happen. We're a long way from perfect, but check out our stuff to see how we're the same, uniformly fun, brand of crazy fall fun everywhere.

Call 1-866-WE-LOSE-U 1-866-935-6738 for our phone system.
 Visit www.MazeFunPark.com
See brochures on the web site.
Listen to a radio commercial

(Please note that all my material is, of course, copyright protected. You need your own brand, not mine. That would be inauthentic and people can smell a fake. Fake is not what you want people to perceive.)

Build your own reality. Your guests and prospects count on your to create reality for them. It is your job to make sure they know who you are and what to expect as a visitor. You have to make sure that you are building your reality in their imaginations, because right now... you don't exist.

Have a great week.

Hugh

PS Hayride Audio Systems If you want them for October ORDER NOW!

PPS If you want to make it easy for groups to book your school tours and parties online, check out our online booking system at www.BookMyGroups.com. See it in action on our home website at www.MazeFunPark.com

PPPS If you missed the "Goal without a plan is a wish" live event, we recorded it for you to view anytime!

Reach us at: www.mazecatalog.com

Sense and Adjust.

Life on the Farm

Sense and adjust. You just never know what's coming on the farm. It's hot, it's dry, it's raining, fruit's early, Labor Day's late, apple pies are selling, strawberry is not - it can get overwhelming! Mom and Dad have always taught me to "sense and adjust".

Be decisive. I just love working with our team. We had inventory to take, order, new merchandising and displays to fix speed-of-service issues from the weekend, and lots more. We all stood around, brought our viewpoints, had a heated discussion, but came to a resolution looking at the facts within 20 minutes. Sensed and adjusted. Decision made.

Somebody is good at it. Even on our little team of people, somebody is good at "it", whatever it is. Dad and I, though often after long debates, end up a pretty good team. I'm a super-delegator; he's an analytical.

Matt is Mr. Relationship-builder. Linda can't sleep if the registers are off by $5.00 at the end of the day. Laura, well, I haven't found anything she can't do. (You'll likely see her in the market, making fudge, making doughnuts, stocking, inventory-ing - you get the picture). Frank fixes everything we break, my maze masters know the corn maze pathways cold.

Everyone has his or her place. Whatever the problem, somebody is good at fixing it. It's the balance that makes this very complex farm and entertainment business go 'round.

How about your balance? Have you ever though about your own balance? You are probably REALLY busy this time of year, but balance is the key to making your life go 'round, too.

Carve out some special time, away from all the busy-ness of this season and make some memories. Escape with your family and let our family do all the work for you; let us take care of you for the day.

Sense and adjust. If you're not sensing that your family is enjoying the passing time, but instead is just plowing joylessly through to 'get things done', adjust. Call a 'time out' and carve out some family time this weekend.

The fall weather's going to be great.

Talk to you next week,
Farmer Hugh

PS Pumpkin picking in the Pumpkin Patch every weekend. See the GIANT Pumpkin Express wagon here.

Hayride audio systems

We has TREMENDOUS response from the Agritourism Vendor Spotlight email last week from readers and vendors alike. I got the message: More information like that!!

Here's the deal for this week: This is really and truly the last call for 2010 delivery for our SUPER POPULAR Hayride Audio Systems. Not only are these by far our best-selling audio product, but they are the industry standard for adding easy-to-operate, consistent audio to wagon rides.

Our clients love them and you will too, but this is it for 2010. If you have any desire to get one to try for this season or you'd like to add a box to your existing set of system for your other wagons. Please order this week!

We have these custom built and you can still get them for the busy October season. To make it even easier for you to rapidly deploy, we are including FREE recording/programming of the system, so it ships ready to install quickly.

If you have any other questions, please call me direct at 717-382-4878 ext 102.

Thanks!
HughHayride Audio Systems. We are the inventors of the Hayride Audio Box and it is a best-seller. Why? because it makes life easier for the farms that use it. Imagine if every driver you have could give a good hayride tour! That's what the boxes with pre-recorded messages activated by button can do for you. There still time to get them before your busy season. Get the order sheet.

See the page.


Even Bob can do it!

Video Point of Sale Boxes. Ever want a tireless employee to sell, sell, sell? Hire our video box to do it for you. Place it anywhere, activate the full motion movie and let it play your marketing message to all passers by.
Get the order sheet.



PS Hayride Audio Systems If you want them for October ORDER NOW!

PPS If you want to make it easy for groups to book your school tours and parties online, check out our online booking system at www.BookMyGroups.com. See it in action on our home website at www.MazeFunPark.com

PPPS If you missed the "Goal without a plan is a wish" live event, we recorded it for you to view anytime!

Reach us at: www.mazecatalog.com

"You love what you do, but you should probably quit."

You love what you do, but you should probably quit. I just love running our front desk on busy weekends. I love welcoming guests, the ring of the register, the classic jokes with the kiddos about getting lost. It is quintessentially Maize Quest season for me. Unfortunately, I need to quit.


You probably love to bake pies or run the doughnut machine or the ribbon fry fryer or the BBQ smoker. I bet you're really good at it! You are probably the BEST at it. However, you too need to qui

Quitters are the real winners. We all have our reasons for holding on to our jobs, some are good reasons (such as we're really good at it and it's really important); some are less good reasons (such as, employees can't bother us while we're with guests, or the smoker is a great place to hide and act busy when we don't feel like talking to people anymore).

We have to face the facts that our real, true and best position as the leader of the organization is to be the leader, not just another employee. You need to quit your 'job' and lead.

Create your maximum value. Andy Stanley says, "You should do what only you are best at doing, and delegate the rest." Your maximum value comes from making sure that everyone else is doing the very best they can to serve your guests. It does not, and I argue CANNOT, come from performing a 'job' function someone else can do.

Delegate the tasks, execute evangelism. You can't delegate passion and spreading your passion, evangelizing for your farm and business is your real job. This can be to the 'universe' like when you are pitching PR sources or to your guests on-site as they enjoy their day. You are the evangelist for your business. It's just hard to be the evangelist and hold down a 'job' at the same time.

So quit already. Andy Stanly again,"If you are doing a task that could be done by someone else who works for minimum wage (i.e. less than your hourly rate), you are actually STEALING from the company!"

You heard me: You are stealing from the company if you are doing menial, hourly work someone else could do cheaper, because you are SO VALUABLE as the evangelist!

You love what you do, but you should probably quit. IThe season, take that leap and quit your 'job', so you can find a 'higher calling' as your business' evangelist.

The more people you 'convert', the more profits you'll reap. Take it from a 'quitter'!

Have a great week.

Hugh

PS Hayride Audio Systems have a 2-3 week lead time. If you want them for October ORDER NOW!

PPS If you want to make it easy for groups to book your school tours and parties online, check out our online booking system at www.BookMyGroups.com. See it in action on our home website at www.MazeFunPark.com

PPPS If you missed the "Goal without a plan is a wish" live event, we recorded it for you to view anytime!

Reach us at: www.mazecatalog.com

Family Traditions

Life on the Farm

Family traditions. One of the most rewarding parts of our fall harvest is seeing families and kids and grandkids come back year after year growing up with Maple Lawn Farms as their "trip to the country"; their "Fall tradition."

The photo above was sent to us by the Bell Family that got together to pick apples at the farm, spend time together, and (hopefully) get to relax a bit in the fresh country air.

Traditions are important. They've done lots of studies showing the correlation of families that eat dinner together and positive adolescent behavior. I think you could make the leap to say that the same connection exists between a family taking time from hectic schedules, essentially creating or blocking family time, and the same positive benefits. This family prioritized family time over a thousand other things they could be doing.

How cool is that? Do you think that leaves an impression on the kids?

We're here for you. If you need to get your family away from the rush of everyday life, we're here for you. The farm is as quiet, peaceful, and relaxing as you need it to be. If you want action and adventure, come do the mazes at the Fun Park. You can make it exactly the day you need.

No matter which options you choose, you are making a powerful statement to your family: "We value our family time and are willing to block out specific time to be together."

Nobody's perfect. I have to admit that, as son of two hard-working parents, it's hard for me to carve out this kind of time. As a small business start-up back in the late-90's, I would often sleep on a couch in the office to keep working more and more hours; to get just one more thing done.

Luckily for me, I married a great woman, Janine. She has been a balancing force in my life, making it OK for me to carve out that family time - making sure I don't miss our children growing up; making sure I'm present and accessible for them.

Seize the day. I know this has been my theme for the season, but take it to heart. If you get the chance and the weather's good like it will be this weekend. Carve out that time. Tell your family that the world can wait. Start a family tradition of your own.

We're here for you.

Talk to you next week,
Farmer Hugh

PS Pumpkin picking in the Pumpkin Patch starts this weekend. See the GIANT Pumpkin Express wagon here.

The morning staff meeting.

Life on the Farm

The morning staff meeting. Most mornings the management staff meeting consists of Dad sitting at his desk, then I walk in and lean on the door frame to his office with my insulated coffee tumbler. I'll ask, "Anything special going on today?" and we'll talk through his list and mine as we endeavor to pilot the Maple Lawn Farms ship through the season.

We're soon joined by Dad's farm staff, one by one, looking for their assignments, but I like those first few minutes. Today we were talking about the apple crop and how we can continue our transition from producing for packing houses to producing for you, directly.

We discussed the loss we took on our peach crop, burned up in the July sun and heat. It seems, though, that this will be a good season for pick your own apples. The weather already feels like fall, especially in the mornings.

Branches hanging low. As farmers, we have had a lot of challenges this season with a big winter, late spring, hot July, blah, blah, blah. BUT, I'm telling you, it warms our hearts to see branches hanging low, loaded with fruit!

Record picking times. I think you know that our dwarf trees are low to the ground, seldom are ladders needed. You might be surprised to know how quickly you can pick a basket of fruit.

If you wanted a 1/2 bushel of apples from one of our trees this year, it will take you about five minutes - picking all by yourself! That's fast. You might want to slow down on purpose to sample an apple (yes, samples are allowed for pickers.)

The orchards and market are open M-Sat 8AM-6PM, Sun 1PM-7PM.

The weekend weather looks absolutely gorgeous! After last year's rained-out October, don't hesitate when a good weekend smiles upon you.

You never know what tomorrow (or next weekend) may bring.

Talk to you next week,
Farmer Hugh

PS If you know of a Preschool class that might like to join us this fall, find all the information on the web site.

"Who's your vendor?"

We are asked often about the vendors we use to make it happen at the Maize Quest Fun Park.

Here's how we thought we'd share some answers with you:

There's no way we can think of everything, so we opened our catalog to other Ag Entertainment vendors. The list is in the online line catalog, but here are a few highlights. If you know of a vendor who might be interested, we allow each appropriate vendor one page each.

Pedal Karts. We have pedal karts at our Fun Park and they have been a really big hit with our family crowd. We started with Prime Pedal Karts and have had a good experience with Derek and his gang there. The often offer quantity discounts and specials for the ag industry. See the page.Decorations. Veldsma & Sons are a great source for fall decoratives. They are regulars at our industry trade shows and I saw their products first-hand at NAFDMA. Check them out as you stock up your Fall Harvest shop or farm market. See the page.

Gemstone mining. Sandy Creek Mining built our mining sluice and I have to admit, I think it rocks! The also supply bags of dirt with gemstones, fossils and arrowheads for you to resell to your guests. They have been a very good vendor for us over the years. See the page.

The 2nd vendor we've met in our travels is Cold River Mining. Though later to the market, they have been regulars for enough years to warrant review. FULL DISCLOSURE: We have not used their bagged product and already had a sluice installed before they came on the scene, but they do have nice-looking sluices and well-labeled mining bags. We particularly liked their "indoor" or self-contained model. See the page.

Bakery. It is tricky to start a bakery or take on to the next level, but Joy Grose specializes in helping farm markets do just that. Full disclosure: We have not used her services, but she was delightful when we met at NAFDMA.  See the page.
Credit Card Processing & Machines. Though not in our catalog, we have nothing but good things to say about our credit card processing service BCMS. Cindy, our rep, has been great to work with and they have a month to month program for seasonal businesses like ours. Very competitive fees, too.

We use their Internet-based machines and process cards in 7 seconds! If you have Internet, they are the 'bomb'. If you don't they have cellular and dial-up machines, too. They have a "Verify Later" card-swiping-only, process later system - don't bother, it's a hassle.

I feel strongly that credit card processing increases sales by more than you pay in fees. When in doubt, I say, "Get more machines." I was in Hershey Park over Labor Day and the Coke Vending Machines had card readers on them!!!

BCMS Info:
Cindy Kaufmann, Regional Manager
Office 888-697-1017
Fax 888-377-1018
Mobile 406-465-9701
Banc Certified Merchant Services
23 South Last Chance Gulch
Helena, Montana 59601
Who do you like? I don't know everything. (Surprised to hear that weren't you:-) If you have a vendor you like or would be a good addition to the catalog, please forward them the information or link to the catalog. We'll do our best to get them in and make the Maze Catalog an industry resource.

Maize Quest. Hopefully by now, you know what we do. We work hard to be the vendor of choice for corn mazes, corn maze games, puzzle mazes, group tour booking, hayride audio systems, and marketing information & support.

Hope this helps you have a great season this fall!

Have a great week.

Hugh

PS Hayride Audio Systems have a 2-3 week lead time. If you want them for October ORDER NOW!

PPS If you want to make it easy for groups to book your school tours and parties online, check out our online booking system at www.BookMyGroups.com. See it in action on our home website at www.MazeFunPark.com

PPPS If you missed the "Goal without a plan is a wish" live event, we recorded it for you to view anytime!

Reach us at: www.mazecatalog.com

Be personal.

Hugh, The Maze Master

Hugh's Reviews

Each week Hugh reviews something, anything really, that has provoked a thoughtful insight.

Be personal.

"As the amount of inputs go up, as the number of people and ideas that clamor for attention continue to increase, we do what people always do: we rely on the familiar, the trusted and the personal. 

The experience I have with you as a customer or a friend is far more important than a few random bits flying by on the screen. 

The incredible surplus of digital data means that human actions, generosity and sacrifice are more important than they ever were before."  -Seth Godin

Seth Godin has written a number of books on marketing and creative ideas, but his quote from Seth's Blog really stuck with me.

We are in the business of creating space for our guests to have real, interpersonal interaction. We are at the center of promoting a positive, trustworthy experience for our guests.

If we are successful, they will in turn share that experience with their friends.

Seth's quote expands the structure of word of mouth advertising in the digital age. People will lean on their friends. It's just that now, they can do it on Facebook or Twitter a whole lot faster.

As you are marketing this fall, remember that nothing trumps a good experience for your guests. Nothing.

If you provide something good enough, you won't have to worry so much about the marketing.

Have fun,

Hugh

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Redundancy.

Hugh, The Maze Master

Hugh's Reviews

Each week Hugh reviews something, anything really, that has provoked a thoughtful insight.

Redundancy.

Just got a great lesson in pre-planning for emergencies. We had a lightning storm that took out our local Internet service provider's tower, our service, fused a wire, and blew out an ethernet switch.

That may sound like mumbo-jumbo, but basically, our Internet was down.

With our business, that means the credit card machines were down, our POS registers were down, my online CRM was down, even our phones were down because we have an IP-based phone system.

So for 6 hours(!), I ran around the farm tracing, testing, replacing, until we got service back.

Here's the lesson.
We weren't even busy and it was a disaster. I bet there are systems you can't live without too, so it's time to plan for redundancy.

Take two, they're small!
I now have ordered a second unit for every critical point in our IT infrastructure. EVERY POINT. Routers are $50, switches are $15, credit card machines are cheap to rent. (Email me if you want a CC processing vendor.)

I can swap out our entire network in less than 30 minutes now. How much money can you lose in 30 minutes in October?

Assess you vulnerabilities. Open one week early, just to make sure you know how everything is going to work. Turn all the power on, on EVERYTHING. Try to blow a breaker now, because you don't want to be without a 100AMP fuse with guests in the corn maze. (Had that happen too!)

In the end, your preparation is more about safety of your guests than making money. Without safety, you're sunk.

Think about redundancy in your critical systems this week and try to 'break' something.
 

Have fun,

Hugh

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"Marinate your decisions."

"Marinate your decisions."

Beef. Really any meat. Cook it and I'm in, spice it up with a marinate and I'm in heaven. I am not a griller extrodinaire as many of you are, but I love tasty food and I've noticed that marinating is generally a good idea. It adds flavor. It tenderizes. It takes time.

Alright, that's the part I hate. Marinating takes time, which I am perpetually short on. No matter what you do, you simply cannot marinate something in 15 minutes. It won't work. Those juices and spices need time to break down the meat, to infuse their flavors, to permeate.
Split-second decisions. Many of you who know me well, know that Hugh writing about taking time to make decisions might be a stretch. In fact, in society we are told that "He who hesitates is lost!" We prize split-second decisions; going with your gut.

There is a time and a place for split-second decisions. Hesitation is often a detriment to success. The trouble is that we force ourselves into split-second decisions through poor planning, preparation, and practice.

We create a world in which we have to make split-second decisions. That's different than living in a world that creates a need for quick decisions.

Plan time to marinate. More often than not, you have time to marinate your ideas and decisions, even in your busy season. By marinate your ideas, I mean give them some time to float around in your brain. Sleep on it. Has it out with your people or family. Wait a day. Think about something else.

The key is to give yourself time in the planning process to make well-thought out decisions. You won't have to rush if you've planned time for decision making.
Stock your marinade. You can't expect anything to happen if you don't add some 'spice' to your marinade. I listen to NPR (liberal), Rush Limbaugh (uh, right wing, I think), Podcasts from Scientific America, Buckhead Church, BBC "The World's Technology", Marketing Over Coffee, and probably 5-6 others.

I listen, often while working out, just to stock my brain with perspectives, ideas, current events, etc. They are spices for my marinade. I wouldn't like a steady diet of any one 'spice', but together, they provide a rich background for evaluating and critiquing my ideas and decisions.
Paralysis of analysis. We've heard it a million times, is the situation in which you spend so much time analyzing a decisions the opportunity passes you by. This is not ever going to be a problem for me.

If it is for you, you have to consider taking some fresh chicken fillets and marinating them for 3 weeks. No matter how great your marinade, you aren't going to want to eat it!

Relieve the pressure. I am the worst at adding unnecessary pressure to myself to make decisions quickly. You need to make wise decisions; right decisions. As pressure from inside you mounts to 'pull the trigger', ask yourself if it's really going to hurt to wait until tomorrow morning after you 'sleep on it.'

1. Start stocking your marinade. (If you're reading this you already are!)
2. Plan time to decide.
3. Release yourself from false time pressure.
4. Think things through.

Take the time to make a good decision, but it's never too late to correct a bad decision.

Have a great week.

Hugh

PS Hayride Audio Systems have a 2-3 week lead time. If you want them for October ORDER NOW!

PPS If you want to make it easy for groups to book your school tours and parties online, check out our online booking system at www.BookMyGroups.com. See it in action on our home website at www.MazeFunPark.com

PPPS If you missed the "Goal without a plan is a wish" live event, we recorded it for you to view anytime!

Reach us at: www.mazecatalog.com

"Underestimate/Overestimate"

 "Underestimate/Overestimate"

"Once you have mastered time, you will understand how true it is that most people overestimate what they can accomplish in a year - and underestimate what they can achieve in a decade! " - Tony Robbins Tighten the parameters. Mr. Robbins was right, but I'd tighten the parameters while keeping the ratio. It's crunch time people and I think most of us overestimate what can be done in a day and underestimate what can be done in a month.

Everyday frustrations. When we plan our days, at least when I do, I tend to have very ambitious lists of task to be completed in a finite amount of time. The same happens with my people. I am demanding and try to push them as hard as possible to achieve.

One of my most frequent frustrations is if we don't get through the list! No matter how far I overestimated our abilities in the list's creation. I thought we could get 10 things done, but really it's 6 things done well.

Marketing presents infinite options and time requirements. Face it: You could spend 40 hours a week on marketing without getting all the options done. It is a limitless task! To be effective and not go crazy, you have to set limits and make decisions NOW before the height of the season.

A brief aside: I remember one season where I told all my ad reps to call me if they had "Fire Sale" deals. They called every week and I nearly bought them all. (TERRIBLE PLAN, McPherson!) Now I set the advertising budget and plan early, while I can really think about the options. I choose and stick with it. I love new ad reps calling me and I say, "The budget is set for the year, send me an email next February."

Anyway, marketing could take your whole life. When you get ready to work on marketing or PR it can seem insurmountable. You could say, "I'm going to call 50 newspapers today!" and I assure you you will give up before you hit 15. You will overestimate what you can do in a single day.

However, If you call 2-3 media outlets per day from now until pumpkin season, you will have reached nearly 100 potential media promoters and never made more than 3 calls a day. Do not underestimate what you can do in little chunks over time.

See your achievements as stepping stones over time.
1. Need to write an email to your customers? Pick 1 hour per week - NO MORE and schedule it like a doctors appointment.

2. Need to update your web site? Only do 2 pages per day for two weeks and you'll find 28 pages done before you're busy.

3. Need to make brochures? Make one brochure now and proof and finish it tomorrow.

4. Need to do public relations? Pitch just one story every two weeks through the end of the season, and you'll have pitched 13-15 story ideas.

5. Need to train employees? Train a maximum of three employees per day for the next three weeks. That plan gets you through 60+ trainees, more than many of us employ!

A brief aside: One of my tricks for motivating myself if I have an ad, brochure or letter that needs written, but I can't bring myself to do it, is to make the new needed file and save it under the new name. Even if I leave and come back to it, it's started and somehow that makes it easier to finish. Another motivational speaker called this "Puncturing the project." It becomes less arduous if you've done something.
You can accomplish WAY more than you think over time, but you have to start today. Getting yourself short on time compresses your ability to succeed. Remember that in everything, especially in marketing, one big splash doesn't make your season, it is continuous, consistent incremental progress that leads to long-lasting success.

Just get something from your big project done everyday.

Have a great week.

Hugh

PS Hayride Audio Systems have a 2-3 week lead time. If you want them for October ORDER NOW!

PPS If you want to make it easy for groups to book your school tours and parties online, check out our online booking system at www.BookMyGroups.com. See it in action on our home website at www.MazeFunPark.com

PPPS If you missed the "Goal without a plan is a wish" live event, we recorded it for you to view anytime!

Reach us at: www.mazecatalog.com

I sent a helicopter...

Life on the Farm

Of course it did. We installed thousands of dollars of irrigation in the corn maze field and it promptly rained. Not that we mind, but you better have a pretty good sense of humor to be in farming. Maybe it was just a test of faith and I guess I failed.

I sent a helicopter... It reminds me of the man who, as the flood waters rose, proclaimed, "The Lord will save me!"

A neighbor in a boat came by and offered to take the man to higher ground, but he proclaimed again, 'The Lord will save me!"

Later, a Coast Guard Cutter came by and implored the man to climb aboard but he proclaimed again, 'The Lord will save me!"

As the water reached the roof of the house a man was lowered to the roof from a helicopter and tried to pull the man to safety, but he proclaimed again, 'The Lord will save me!"

The house was soon under water and the man died. As he entered the presence of the Lord he said, Lord! Why didn't you save me?"

The Lord said, "I sent two boats and a chopper. What more did you want?"

Get in the boat. We're self-reliant people and I didn't want to be guilty of ignoring the "helicopter", so we installed the irrigation. In the grand scheme of things, it was a wise insurance policy to make sure we were able to entertain our guests this fall.

None of that makes you feel better when you have to pay that insurance bill for a policy that goes unused, though. I guess it's still better than collecting on the "policy" with drought stressed corn.

I don't know about you, but I feel just fine having hopped in the irrigation "boat" just in case :-)

Talk to you next week,
Farmer Hugh

The SmartFax Epiphany.

Hugh, The Maze Master

Hugh's Reviews

Each week Hugh reviews something, anything really, that has provoked a thoughtful insight.

The SmartFax Epiphany.

I hate our fax machine. Not only is it crappy output, but it takes $$$ of ink to get that crappy output. You also have to be there to get the fax.

If you phone line goes out - you're out. When it malfunctions, you lose the information and have to call to have the send er re-fax.

I hate it.

No longer! I searched around when my fax line, yet again, was down and we were out of ink and found a service that sends my faxes to my email inbox.

I know these services have been in existence for years, but I've just caught on and I have to share.


I chose http://www.smartfax.com. There are probably 50 other versions of it but here are the basics:

1. They give you a new fax number - yes, changing is a huge pain in the rear (imagine all the order forms I have to change!)

2. Faxes go to the new number inside their servers and are saved in my account.

3. The faxes are sent to my email AND to Michelle's email (she our franchise coordinator if you haven't met her yet.)

4. The fax is now a PDF inside your inbox FOREVER and searchable, no wasted paper or copies of faxes. We even attach client faxes to their records in Salesforce.com our CRM program so we can find them anytime.

5. Michelle and I have Droid smartphones, so we can forward faxes, review them, add our own notes and email them to anyone from the road.

6. It is SO COOL! Well, as cool as faxes can be. It does cost about $6.00 per month. We saved that much within 2 days in time, paper, effort and convenience.

7. You can send any document from your computer via fax to anyone you want as well.

8. I have a scanner, so I really don't need a fax machine at all, but we keep it around for old school users like my Dad.

Give it a try. You'll be hooked the first time a fax comes to your email. Enjoy the time savings!

 

Have fun,

Hugh

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hughmc@mazecatalog.com

"Are you easy to do business with?"

Top five ways to make it hard to do business with you.
1. Hide information - Make sure that the information people often need is hidden or out of date. People should be forced to call you because you know they are too dumb to read.

2. Do not (under any circumstances) call back or allow people access to you - People need to know that you are a rare a valuable commodity and they will be lucky to reach you. When they do, they should feel privileged.

3. Limit payment options - You know what? People should have to pay cash because 2-3% of credit card revenues get taken from you when they use VISA. If they didn't remember you are "cash only", too bad. They should read the web site better (oh, wait, they are too dumb to read.)

4. No modifications - do not let people make any choices. You know what's best for them anyway. Options just confuse the "dimly-lit" peasants.

5. Provide what you want - Choose the products to carry that you like best. Sure, people will ask for other things, but don't listen to them. They don't know what they are talking about.

Roadblocks. If I hear another comment such as "In this economy..." followed by an excuse, I'm going to scream. I talk to a lot of business people and many of them are setting new records in this "down" economy.

With technology and connection to customers getting easier, many of the things that are making people successful have less to do with being clever and more to do with identifying and eliminating roadblocks to doing business.

I want it now. This is the way of the world. People want it now. I was reading a super article about "leaving instant money on the table" by Denny Hatch. In the article he wrote about his experience getting all fired up about a new book that he immediately wanted to buy on his Amazon Kindle reading device, but the publishing company had purposely not allowed a Kindle version. They lost instant money because they didn't want to sell on the Kindle platform. They made it hard to do business.

Our customers and guests are the same way. They want it now. Often it's as simple as directions, prices, coupons, descriptions, available booking dates, party times, fruit available, etc. They don't want to call you, they want to know NOW.

Work at work. At the IAAPA convention, talk amongst the birthday party operators was about people doing 'work' at work. Working parents were taking a quick often unsanctioned break at work to book their child's birthday party online quickly before the boss walked pass their cubical.

They were saying that online party booking was a necessity because these parents would only book at sites hat let them plan without making a phone call! We've got to sense and adapt to that market as well, or risk being left behind.

Top five ways to make it easy to do business with you this fall.
1. Review and update information - Read your own web site! It's probably dreadfully out of date, even if you think you've updated it. Update your phone messages. People still call, so get them good information on your machine, so maybe you don't have to return the call AND they don't have to wait for you.

Have someone outside the office review each page for mistakes, broken links, contact information, prices (a big one!), hours, etc. Spend the time and money to get it right! We're moving to a live google embedded calendar so we can update dates and times on the fly.

2. Respond - Assign different people to respond to different inquiries, so no one is overburdened with call backs. Our market girls make market call backs, Michelle handles groups, I handle big gigs or fund raising partnerships.

3. Accept (nearly) all payment options - Take VISA, MC, DISC, Cash, DEBT at least! AMEX if you do a lot of business to business, WIC, Food Stamps, Senior Produce Coupons. We do not accept checks from the public anymore, but we sure do take church, scout, school, YMCA group checks because that's how they do business. Expand the number of locations you take credit card payments too. We went from front desk only to market, snack bar, gift shop, and I'll add Miner Max Gemstone mining this year too!

4. Modifications - Package your options well and you'll allow up-selling, choice, and satisfaction. You do not need a full a la carte suite of a million combinations, but you do need to guide and direct guests with your packaging program. No matter what package they pick, give your front desk staff clearance to "make it happen" for the guest/customer. In the end, you should be glad they came and glad to make it happen for them.

5. Provide what they want - Choose the products to carry that your guests ask for. If 25 people a day are asking for tomatoes - carry tomatoes. If no one can ever get the directions to your farm right - review/change/modify the directions.


Building your business is often less about being clever to attract new customers than it is about making it easy for people to do business with you.

Have a great week.

Hugh

Have a great week. - Hugh

PS If you want to make it easy for groups to book your school tours and parties online, check out our online booking system at www.BookMyGroups.com. See it in action on our home website at www.MazeFunPark.com

PPS If you missed the "Goal without a plan is a wish" live event, we recorded it for you to view anytime!

Reach us at: www.mazecatalog.com

Life on the Farm: "To each its season."

To each its season. I love fresh fruit and I was so ready for cherries to be ready, but now I'm craving blueberries (which are just about a week a away.) To each fruit its season.

So it is with life on the farm. First we get ready to plant corn, then we plant like crazy, then we thin the fruit trees, then we mow the orchards, then we ready the Fun Park, then we layout the corn maze.

Each season comes and goes, maybe it's similar in your annual sequence of events. When you're in the moment it seems like such a crisis rush to get tasks done. I think we wear each other out by living on 'crisis responses'.

As I've gotten older, and I know some of you have been visiting Maple Lawn Farms since before I was born(!), the ebb and flow of the seasons feels less like 'continual crisis' and more like a 'comforting pattern'. I can see that each 'season' will come and go; each enjoying anticipation, hard work, and eventual completion.

At least it should be like that. Moving from 'continual crisis' to 'comforting pattern' is one of my personal goals for the next, oh, 35 years!

Have you ever looked at the patterns and annual crisis(s) in your life? Maybe there's a pattern...

Talk to you next week,
Farmer Hugh

www.maplelawnfarms.com

"Rifle or Shotgun?"

Rifle or Shotgun?

 

Mark Zuckerburg said (I'm paraphrasing) to a "would be purchaser" of Facebook.com who had just offered him and insane amount of money, "I might not ever have an idea this good again, so I better keep working on this one."

Mark is dealing with a rifle. It's his one "Big Idea" and man is it a good one. In a social-media-defining sweep, Mark created not a web site that provides you what you need, but a platform for you to decide what you need, what you want, who you want to know, and more.

 

Rifling ideas creates focus. Focus is powerful because, as I proposed in my theory of "Magnetic Goals", focus aligns particles, people, resources, luck, probability, and effort to bring about your objectives. We've all operated without focus, often we go enitre days or weeks, listlessly working on tasks, but always feeling we're missing the point.

 

Goal-setting, planning, and strategic meetings sharpen your focus. Task lists, priorities, delegations, follow-up, and measurements enhance your focus. Rifling your ideas is key to executing the vision you choose. This is when  you make it real.

 

I, however, am a shotgun. I should clarify, by saying I am most productive and valuable as a shotgun. Where rifling is for execution of implementation, shotguns are best for the creation process. i had a friend recently ask me, after we received the final payment for selling the wireless Internet service provider we built from 2001 to 2008, "Wasn't that one of the best things you've ever done?"

 

His question sent me on a reminisent trip through the memories of all the things, products, attractions, programs, marketing plans, sports, performances, systems, emails, business ventures, and relationships I'd ever "done". (This is a worthwhile journey down memory lane for an hour or two of a plane ride, long drive, or hike. I thoroughly recommend it to you.)

 

In the face of all "I'd ever done", I realized that I am a shotgun. We have tried so many ideas out there I was flabergasted. I was also amazed at our failure rate. We have failed every way you can possibly imagine, but all the failures were on our raod to success.

 

Thomas Edison was famously asked about how demoralizing it must have been to fail over 1,000 times before inventing the carbon fliament lightbulb. He replied, "Fail?! I now know over 1,000 ways that don't work!" I can identify with Tom. I know at least a thousand things that don't work, but we've got thousand more to try.

 

Choose your weapon. It's OK to be a shotgun and it's OK to be a rifle. Every organization needs both and every individual needs to be both, often within the same day. The only source of conflict is when you choose the wrong weapon.

 

Choose your rifle when:

You just need to get real work done.

You are working on a repetitive task.

You already have the plan formulated.

You are giving instructions to employees.

 

Choose your shotgun when:

You need some new ideas.

You are testing alternatives.

You need to improve a function.

You are brainstorming.

 

Weaponize your employees. Don't you love it when your employees innovate for you? It is truly awesome when a frontline staffer comes up with a sales idea, procedure, merchandising arrangement, or efficient system that I never would have imagined. Wholeheartedly encourage them to do so everyday and implement their ideas, as appropriate, to give them ownership in the workplace. I know Mark at Saunders Farm brings employees together specifically to collect their ideas and bring them into the creative process.

 

There are also times for the boys to "just do it the way I told them to do it", because it's the best way. Explain the difference to your employees so they know they aren't being penalized for creativity, but that this is just a task that requires a "rifle".  

 

Rifle or shotgun? As you get out there this season, choose your weapon wisely. There is a time for each and true wisdom is knowing what time it is:-)

 

Have a great week.

Hugh

Have a great week. - Hugh

PS If you missed the "Goal without a plan is a wish" live event, we recorded it for you to view anytime!

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