No advertising, no direct mail, just a phone call or email to begin a conversation.

As a result, I contacted Larry and Julie Beaumont (pictured right) to learn more about the Mexico beach front rental and fractional ownership homes they handle in Puerto Peñasco, a favorite vacation spot for my family for more than 25 years. Larry and I had a great conversation and we ended up deciding to work together.

Larry and Julie approach their life and work in a manner that exemplifies what many of us seek: a lifestyle and place to live that we love and a way of making a living that supports those choices.

Definitely at the top of my favorite clients list, I was pleased when the Beaumonts agreed to share some of their secrets in an interview. Conducted while they were traveling, here it is:

ktcosmos: How does your business model differ today as compared with when you originally started in real estate and property management?

Larry Beaumont: When I first started in Real Estate, my dealings were primarily in Residential Sales. The business then evolved over time into specializing in Fractional Ownership Sales and Property Management for those properties.

ktcosmos: Have any of your business decisions been driven lifestyle changes you wanted to make?

Larry & Julie: Yes, the idea of being able to live on the beach in a foreign country and sell homes definitely was a lifestyle changing decision.

ktcosmos: How did you decide to move into the shared ownership business and how were you actually able to accomplish that?

L & J: We had recently purchased investment property in Mexico and while on a family vacation in Hilton Head S.C., we saw the fractional concept being used on some townhouses. The idea of trying the same concept in Mexico was then conceived and has been well received ever since.

ktcosmos: So, that was really a hunch that paid off. Can you share any other key business hunches you followed through on that were also successful?

L & J: Understanding the U.S. market and removing the hassles of owning property in a foreign country provided a unique service to the area. We were one of the first Arizona licensed Real Estate companies to provide this service south of the border.

ktcosmos: How about the flip side of that question?

L & J: We originally tried a commercial development concept that became a political issue and wasn’t successful. At that point we learned that our efforts were better spent on the residential fractional ownership concept that was lucrative, a lot more fun & less stressful.

ktcosmos: Do you advocate formal business planning and goal setting, or is that more of a spontaneous or instinctual undertaking for you?

Larry: Most of our formal business plans usually start out on a napkin at some restaurant. I went to 4 years of business school to learn that!

ktcosmos: (Chuckling). It seems that many successful entrepreneurs use that same restaurant napkin approach!

How many different types of subcontractors do you use in your work?

L & J: Our business has evolved into doing more of the detail work “in house” and we will usually sub-out the different phases of a job to different specialized contractors.

ktcosmos: Any interesting reading you’d like to recommend to others?

L & J: If you are contemplating doing any business dealings in Mexico, the book, God & Mr. Gomez is a good read, and another favorite was The World is Flat by Thomas Freidman. (See links to the Beaumont’s book recommendations at right)

ktcosmos: If there’s anything else you want to add about what makes your business successful, feel free.

L & J: One of our most challenging issues dealing with employees in a foreign country, has been in teaching them the importance of consistency of quality & service provided for our properties.

ktcosmos: Thanks, Larry and Julie! I look forward to finally meeting you in person in October in Rocky Point!

______

If you would like to visit Rocky Point, start planning your trip with a visit to Larry and Julie’s website, www.MexicoBeachhomes.com.

What’s Related:

• Client Spotlight Blogalogue: Brad Newman
• Client Spotlight Blogalogue: Hazel Bowman
• Client Spotlight Blogalogue: The Anonymous Trader
• Client Spotlight Blogalogue: What Kind of Client are YOU?

In lieu of an interview today, I direct you to a great presentation of 12 classic client postures.

All of us entrepreneurial types are at times the contractor and at times the client. Whatever you are in this moment, take some time to review this great post, “Twelve Breeds of Clients and How to Work With Them,” presented by Freelance Switch and discovered earlier today on LifeHacker.

Think, in your next interaction as client: which one am I today?

We sat down for dinner and wine recently at her home here in Arizona to talk; we’ve actually known one another for about 10 years, and are coincidentally both former Iowans who arrived in Arizona in the early 70′s. Our meeting wasn’t clandestine, however, the presentation of her story has kind of a rarefied, cloaked feeling, so sit back and enjoy the mystery.

ktcosmos: What is it you actually do?

Trader: I’m an Indian Trader and I do Indian jewelry at the wholesale level. I then retail it to some of our National Parks.

ktcosmos: You’ve been a business owner for about twelve years, is that right? And before that you were employed in the retail end of the Indian jewelry business for many years?

Trader: Right, 8 years in the business with my husband. The biggest change for me was when he died four years ago and I took over the entire business.

ktcosmos: What was that like? Did you already know the business inside and out and just take up the reins, other than the obvious trauma of losing your husband?

Trader: No, I didn’t know the people we’d be trading with and selling to, because he was always the front person. I DID know where to buy inventory, and knew most of his sources, but I didn’t know anything about running the business end of it. I guess my skills were limited to sending out an order and knowing the key people we dealt with. I didn’t know how much money was involved every year in buying inventory, or how much money we made annually. I didn’t know the addresses of where to send things because he had those in different places. He always handled the shipping, for instance, so I didn’t need to know the addresses.

There was a division of labor and there were just so many gaping holes. You know, when there’s a person you’ve done business with for twenty years, you don’t want to call them and say, “Oh, by the way, what’s your address?” [we both cracked up here] So, I would spend hours looking for the addresses.

ktcosmos: Did you make a plan together about the continuity of the business after his passing, or did you even know for sure that you would even continue with the business?

Trader: About a month before he died, he said, “You know, I’m giving you the business. I assume you want it?” And I said to him, “Yeah, I do. I need to make a living.” And that was all that was ever said. That was it.

ktcosmos: Then I imagine you had to start from scratch working out your own systems. Talk about that a little bit.

Trader: I kept his system of how to keep track of the jewelry that’s been sold since it’s all consigned and they send me the payment when the items have been sold. It’s not like I just go and sell it outright, it’s more complicated than that. I kept that system, but I switched to a computer, which was very hard.

I also had to learn how much money I needed to have each year to buy the jewelry to keep the business viable, and how much I would need for taxes, and all that kind of stuff. These were things I was unaware of when I acquired the business.

ktcosmos: Wow.

Trader: Yeah.

ktcosmos: Well, how long did it take before you felt you had stamped your own imprint on the business, or that you knew business colleagues were taking you seriously?

Trader: About three years. When I went into one of the shops where I buy, and they came up to greet me and said, “Hey Blank!” and they were happy to see me. You know, at first it felt like people felt sorry for me and they were just being supportive, out of respect for my husband. And that was great and I appreciated it. But then after awhile they were happy to see ME, and I thought, “I guess I’m an Indian Trader after all.” And I felt like, when that happened, I could feel my husband patting me on the back. It’s the only time I ever felt his presence after he died. He was saying, “I know you are a Trader. I knew you could do it.”

ktcosmos: Now that you’ve got enough years under your belt on your own and people know who you are, do you do any kind of annual planning process or have you initiated any new contracts, or projects?

Trader: I don’t do a formal thing, but I do try to set up every year what I’m going to do. Like, I do tourist trade jewelry but my husband did a whole Indian Trader thing which is dealing in higher end stuff, like baskets, pottery, and old antique jewelry. So, every year for the past two years I’ve gone to Santa Fe to try to deal in that arena, which is a whole different market. That means I have to buy old jewelry and then see if I can sell it for a profit. For the first time this year, I had put aside a certain amount of money for purchasing things to sell.

Before, I was just selling off some of the nice old pieces that he and I had around, that either he alone or the two of us had collected over the years. This time I knew how much I was paying for everything I planned to resell. On some things I broke even, or on others I made maybe $50.00. That’s not bad. I don’t need to mark it up as much as on the items I send to the national parks, because THEY take such a high percentage.

ktcosmos: You’ve told me before that this is a unique profession and that there aren’t too many people in the “club.” About how many other Traders are there?

Trader: Maybe, all over the country there would be a couple thousand. Maybe.

ktcosmos: How does your competition work? It’s said that competition is healthy and keeps you on your toes. Is that true for you, too, in this particular trade?

Trader: Yeah! I try to do a really good job! Yes, competition is healthy and there are people I can compete with. I don’t have a contract, so if the people I sell to found someone they liked dealing with better, they would just buy from the other person and quit ordering from me. So, I don’t think I can offer a better price, and I don’t think I can offer a better variety. But I do offer really good service. I figure that’s my strongest suit. I’ve heard that a lot of my competition are good old boys who are kind of lackadaisical and they don’t pay their bills on time, or if they say they’ll get something done, they don’t take care of it. I get it done. As far as I can see that’s the only attribute I have that I can offer my customers.

ktcosmos: How many women traders are out there?

Trader: You know, maybe ten? Oh, there’s more than that, but it’s predominantly male.

ktcosmos: Do you ever see that as an obstacle?

Trader: It’s an advantage. Men have a different attitude and women are more able to work with people. So I call and ask what they need. I read fashion magazines, just to see what the jewelry trends are. The good guys and girls [traders] follow fashion, too. They don’t talk about it that much. But they’ll say, “Our wives went to New York and they saw the Ralph Lauren show.” So, yes, the good ones do that, but not many people do that, because this is an old, very traditional business, traders tend to like traditional jewelry, and it’s an old-style way of doing things.

Some of the people I deal with now days are corporate and they’re not from the Western tradition, and it irks me. But at the same time, I try to say to myself, “Well, they got hired for another reason,” and not let that difference in background affect my attitude when I’m working with someone like that. Maybe they don’t know good jewelry, but they do know what sells, so I try to start there.

I’ve found that within traditional Indian jewelry, I make mine VERY traditional. I try to use the good sense acquired from working in retail. Like, I know that this earring is too heavy. A woman wouldn’t wear it. This isn’t going to look right if she has an open neckline, but this would work great with a scoop-necked shirt. You know, I try to think of, or I try to buy jewelry by knowing what people look like in it. And that’s all from retail experience.

ktcosmos: So you combined your retail experience and the fact that you’re trained as an interior designer, and you are trained as a painterâ€â€?you’re an artist, yourself. If you combine the aesthetics of all those aspects of yourself, it seems that you could really use that skill and expertise to your advantage. Do you find that other Traders have any kind of background in other arts?

Trader: Yes, there’s a high proportion of them who do. They’re painters, or potters, or they just have the eye. You have to have discernment, especially if you are going to trade in old pieces. It’s got to hit youâ€â€?you’ve got to be able to see if the turquoise is good or not. Almost all the Indian Traders I know have excellent eyes and good taste.

ktcosmos: Sometimes people who are artistic are not thought to have good business sense.

Trader: Most Indian Traders are odd in that they ARE good at that. Most are cut-throat businessmen with a very good eye. They have to have both. They don’t have to know how to talk to people well, but they do have to know how to get in touch with the right people to sell things to.

ktcosmos: Is there any of that in what you do? Finding things for a collector?

Trader: That’s other people. I don’t really do that too much. Now that I’m branching outâ€â€?you know that store in Santa Fe, she has clothing and cowboy stuff, Native American stuff. So, I’m trying to get into that a little more. Sometimes when you buy stuff, you find that the people who’ll want to buy it might also be into cowboy stuff. They might have a really nice buckle or like Mexican jewelry, too. Well, I don’t sell Mexican jewelry right now because that’s not allowed by the Forest Service (they only allow Native American made items), but I’m trying to learn more about the prices of that, and find more outlets for it, because some Mexican jewelry is really beautiful.

ktcosmos: Do you have plans to expand into other parts of the country, say, the East Coast?

Trader: No. I have enough to keep me busy. I’ve taken a lot of small shops out here and deal with them, take them some pieces sometimes. So, I have little places that I outlet to. Some of them have ended up making more money than I would have thought. In one in particular, a museum shop in Prescott, the manager has a background in retail jewelry of this kind, and she has tripled my sales since she’s been there. Initially, I just placed some things in their shop as a favor, but since her volume has tripled, it makes it worth my while AND it’s fun.

ktcosmos: What about economic factors, like, is your merchandise in the luxury item category? Is it always going to be something that people will buy, regardless of economic downturns?

Trader: Yeah. People always buy art. They see it as art, and they will buy it. Even with the high gas prices, my business has held pretty steady. You might think that even if the tourists do still come to the parks for vacation, they’ll forego that trinket for Grandma because of fuel prices. But my business held steady. Everybody in the business is saying “Wow, we’ve all had a good year, and we don’t know why!” It’s not like it was a banner year, but we expected it to be depressed and it wasn’t. And also, the price of silver was high. I mean, $16.00 an oz. Now it’s back down to $10.00 an oz. So, one, the Indians weren’t making jewelry. You’d go and try to find it but they wouldn’t pay the price and they just weren’t making it.

Like, I couldn’t get those silver boxes all summer. But when I went to Gallup yesterday, there were BAGS of silver boxes and I bought a lot of them. I said, “I see you finally have silver boxes and little pots,” and they told me, “Yeah, the lady finally started making them again because she could buy the silver at a price she thought was reasonable.” If she bought the silver at $16/oz., and the price went down, she can’t sell it at that extra high price.

I keep up with things like that. Usually my Gallup contacts tell me those kinds of things. All of that: the price of silver, the price of turquoise, where the turquoise is coming from, it all has an impact on the business.

ktcosmos: Yours is a totally home-based business, and there would be no reason ever to change that, right?

Trader: Right.

ktcosmos: How many people would you ever want to employ, at most? Would you ever see a reason to expand?

Trader: I’m 55 and so I don’t think I need to keep too much busier. All I have is myself to take care of. I make a really good living. For me, where my challenge lies is, you know, I do the National Parks. How many National Parks are there? Where you make the money is with the old stuff. You buy a pot at one price and sell it for three times what you paid for it. Dealing with more beautiful and expensive items is the challenge for me, but is what I would like to do more of.

Lately, I’ve been pondering starting an interior design business. But, I like the Indian business, I like the people in it, I know a lot of people in it. I’d always like to find more sources of old jewelry. I love the stories of where things came from and love the history behind it. Most of the people that are in the business are interested in history as well. They’re an odd amalgam of traits. Some are better business people than others, but they all understand the basic idea is to buy low and sell high.

I’ve known Brad Newman, Executive Director of Yavapai EXCEPTIONAL Industries (YEI!) here in Prescott, for about 15 years, and we teamed up to work together nearly ten years ago. YEI! is a program that provides meaningful work and volunteer opportunities for developmentally disabled people who live in Yavapai County. An outgrowth of the antiquated term “sheltered workshops,” YEI! is a thriving hub of business enterprise, a household name in my town, with locations in Prescott and Prescott Valley, and a long list of business partnerships.

Interestingly, on the day we met to conduct this interview, The Arizona Republic featured an article titled, “Non Profits Run Like Businesses.” The focus of the article was that in today’s economy, many non-profits are for the first time taking stock of where they stand financially and calling in consultants to help them create a sound business model. In the article, too, Allison Rapping, CEO of Phoenix-based Alliance of Arizona Nonprofits, comments that she has seen non-profits move toward increased business planning with creativity and innovation.

And, that segues nicely into today’s interview with Brad Newman. Even though we see each other regularly, I hadn’t ever had the chance to just sit down and ask him about his approach to his work. We talked about that and more over some really strong coffee at Prescott Coffee Roasters recently. Listening back to the interview, recorded on my iPod, I hear a very cool jazz CD playing in the background, along with the other voices of folks conversing over java. Might have worked great as a podcast, especially when Brad would spontaneously burst into song, but that’s going to have to be in the future. For now, ya have to read it.

ktcosmos: Brad, you’ve had this job for over 30 years now! Is your approach to management any different today as compared with 30 years ago?

B. Newman: Well, when I told our Industrial Services Manager, Bill Loughney, that I was sitting down to talk with you about my management style and how it’s different from thirty years ago, Bill said, “Your management style right now is different than and hour ago!” So, there you go.

I like to think that, going way back to my youth—19, 20, 21—when I worked at Easter Seals Camp I learned the power of sincere enthusiasm. I’m not making up my passion for the guys at YEI! It’s a real and powerful thing that I think comes through. Once I reached my illustrious 25th anniversary with the gig, I think I became even more aware of the payback in this kind of work. It was probably always there, but it’s about YEI!, not about me.

I ask myself and others, often, “Do you want me to RUN YEI! or do you want me to DIRECT it?” You know, do you want me to buy the toner? Or can somebody else do that? It’s all about empowerment and surrounding yourself with really good people. I love that people figure out good ways of doing things at work that I didn’t know anything about. Or that someone comes in and shows me a new form they came up. Or when someone who’s responsibility it wasn’t, ends up answering the phone and making some sales.

Today, I know that my job is to sell the ideas to the CEO or GM of the company we’re partnering with. You know, Brad and the CEO or GM, we talk and come up with the concept. Then I turn the execution of the project over to Bill, the Industrial Services Manager, who figures out exactly how we’ll do it and makes sure the job gets done on schedule and on budget.

Integrity and Spontaneity are what makes it all work today. We have the tight job descriptions, we have the organizational flow charts, we have the C.A.R.F. accreditation, showing that we choose to put ourselves up for evaluation even though it’s not required by the state. You can have the spontaneity if you have integrity.

ktcosmos: So, do you advocate formal business planning and goal setting, or is that more of a spontaneous thing for you? (ok�I already know the answer, but go ahead!)

B. Newman: Yes, I’m obviously very instinctual and spontaneous and even though that has changed a little over the years. Look at our new project – Grandma Lamure’s Spice ‘n Slice (a food product company YEI! has recently acquired). A local guy, Tom Cantlon, is writing a book about long time executives of area non profits. I saw his chapter on me and I laughed out loud: “very spontaneous … does more than he thinks … says more than he does … doesn’t really think about it … gets a gut feeling and goes.” And that’s very much how I am.

Here’s an example: I’m walking into a Rotary Club meeting one day to make a speech, and of course I had no idea what I was going to say. I saw a smashed aluminum can on the driveway, and I picked it up and put it in my coat. When it was time for my little speech, I pulled out the can and said, “We used to think this was waste. Something you throw away. Now we know a little applied technology that’s available to us in this modern age, and we see it as reclaimable material. Old thinking: Disabled people? Throw them away. Now, with a little more applied technology, they can be contributing members of the economy and community. Which way do you want to go? Overflowing landfills and institutions or recycling and rehabilitation?”

ktcosmos: To follow up on that, what fund-raising strategies have you found work best?

B. Newman: I’m not trying to pretend to be a student of marketing or anything like that, but let’s go back to some of Steve Forbes’ capitalist tools. (Brad is a huge fan of Forbes – in his office is an autographed picture of Brad and Steve). It don’t pay unless it sells. There are no unsold goods; there ARE a lot of unsold bads. Not every “good idea” deserves its own non profit agency with a paid executive director.

So, that said, you have to have a good idea and I think YEI! is a very good idea. There is just no arguing the OTHER side of YEI! For example: “No, these people should be in institutions, away from the general public and virtually hospitalized.” There’s no supporting argument for that, so therefore, we win. That’s it.

Second of all, a guy I know well told me a LONG time ago, “You know, Brad, people fund people.” Along those lines, then, why do I do volunteer work for Steve Forbes? Because I like him. I met him. I like HIM. I work for him.

As another example of this, I called the regional manager of Arizona Public Service (APS) because I heard they bought ten acres out at the airport. I could sure use an acre of that land as the site of our next plant. The answer I got went like this: “There is no organization we’d like to help more than YEI! There is nothing in town that works as well as YEI! Nobody has a better reputation.” And of course, he’s telling me no, but he’s also telling me things I love to hear and you say, “that’s what we’ve worked to build for thirty two years.”

So, good stewardship seems to just attract support and donors.

ktcosmos: How exactly does YEI! attract business partners?

B. Newman: I get the chance to travel around the state and talk to other groups about how we get our projects going. Whether I’m describing our picnic table business or any of our other activities, it comes back to this: It’s a good deal. AND it helps handicapped people. You get a better product for half the price you’d pay somewhere else.

Another of our business partners tells us that when clients find out that the cremation trays we supply were made here, families love knowing that. Nothing sells itself, but our products are good and our projects do make people feel good.

ktcosmos: Can you share any hunches you followed through on that worked out great?

B. Newman: Well, I’m thinking of some of the software solutions we’ve come up with. I don’t know anything about programming, but sometimes I’ll get an idea, or spot something like, when I went in to sign one of my kids out of a program for the day, and there was a computerized sign in and sign out system. I asked around and was told that “one of our parents. Mr. _______ is retired executive from Microsoft. He designed the software for us.” What a wonderful, sweet, talented guy he turned out to be!

So, we brought him in and he developed the same software for us, and he charges us nothing for support. All I had to say to him was “make it do this.” So that, when Janie downstairs says, “I made a Ruger clip,” it charges Ruger, it records a payment to YEI!, it reports to Linda that Janie got that done, when I head over to Sharlot Hall with Josh to clean the windows, it says I was in community service for an hour and a half, when I sit down with Mona to learn how to make lunch, it shows I was in instruction for an hour.

Now we’re not chasing everyone down all day to write down who’s doing what where when. At the end of the month you push a button and you have a report that accounts for everybody’s whereabouts, activities, broken down by employment, instruction and community.

And then, I’m a hometown guy. I think it’s all about relationships. When we put in a new heating and cooling system, we always use the same guy. When we start a new capital building project, we use the same builder. That hunch worked out very well for us. It also means that when we start a new project, we know exactly how much material we need, how long it will take, who the subs will be, and that saves us a lot of time and money. Of COURSE building the second group home is easier than building the FIRST group home.

ktcosmos: And what about the flip side of that question?

In 1977 I lost big. This was a very big learning experience for me.

In fact, last week I was confronted with that mistake when I walked in from Prescott Valley and Linda (one of our employees) said, “Bill ______ was just here!” Bill _____ was working here when I first arrived in town, back when our place was called Yavapai Rehab Center.

When I came for my interview in October 1975, Bill _____ and I met and shook hands and I immediately thought to myself “he’s gotta go!” I looked around and saw that all the YEI! guys were assembling printed electronic circuit boards for Global Wulfsberg. 14 workers, dark room, cold old building. I remember an employee sitting, working with a client at that table looking up at me with hope in her eyes, as if to say, “help us out!”

This was a $4000/month task: a very sophisticated—overlay cards, color coded training, each circuit board worth about $2000.

I show up, and the former Easter Seals camp director in me says, “What we’re gonna do is have different activities every period, and, by the way, what we need do is light up the place, get some music, paint a mural on the wall, etc. etc.” I ended up being ROUNDLY criticized for my action, not so much for bringing in a radio, but for not accepting the value of the work that was being done then. In my camp director mindset, I basically fouled up that entire contract with Global Wulfsberg and a year later it was gone.

Another thing I did that precipitated the end of that contract was this: I came home one night after I’d been in town for about three months and read a headline in our local paper that said, “Prescott City Council to Endorse Palo Verde Nuclear Power Plant.” Essentially, APS had a little resolution/proclamation they were circulating throughout Arizona, just to get support from the various cities. I went down to the city council meeting and made some public comments against that proclamation. The mayor kind of scolded me from the podium, but another town father ended up making a motion that the matter be tabled.

The next day, the big headline in the paper was: “Rehab Director Pans Nuclear Power Plant and APS.” Right then, a truck pulls up, and the GM of Global Wulfsberg comes into my office and says, “You know, Mr. Newman, some the businesses on the Global board disagree with you and we want nothing to do with anything you have anything to do with.”

Then, Bill _____ (yes, the same guy who walked in here last week), said to me, “You know, contracts have dropped, quality has dropped, delivery time has dropped” and then he basically just stomps out of the building.

At our next board meeting, two members said, “Look, this Bill _____ guy has to go, right now.” I said to them, “Look, here’s what happened, here’s what I did and what I’m going to do about it.” I pretty much felt like that was the end for me, but within three months Bill ____ was gone and somehow I was still around.

So when Bill showed up in town last week, he was going around asking what had happened to the Rehab Center. Finally someone over at Sharlot Hall Museum told him, “No, it’s called YEI! now–those kids are so nice! They come over and wash our windows and yada yada,” and gave him directions.

After missing me the first time he stopped in, Bill comes by the next day. I got the chance to say to him, “I am sorry that I didn’t figure it out sooner. You’re a father, you’re a coach, you know” … it was neat … “you know that when you teach, the lesson doesn’t often land for ten or fifteen years. Today we’re rootin’ – tootin’ – salutin’ productive and I’m just so sorry I didn’t figure it out. I KNOW what you put into that Global job and I know I goofed it up and I’m sorry.”

Then HE said to me, “Thank you for taking such good care of what we worked so hard to build. It’s obvious that what you’ve done here — there’s no way we could have accomplished that much.” Wow.

Another mistake I have made is in keeping people around longer than I should; in the earlier years, I am sure I allowed people to take advantage of me because they saw me as the nice guy. I am a very slow burn, and I hate the idea of ending someone’s employment because I always want to believe that “I can change you and you’re gonna come around.” But, I know this has been hard for the organization.

I really believe in my heart that a friendship doesn’t overcast my responsibilities to the organization. It’s been very helpful in the aftermath of some difficult staff decisions to be able to clearly recognize that FIRST comes the comfort and safety of the YEI! guys, NEXT comes the obligation to the organization, ensuring that it survives, and LAST is the relationship with staff. I love the staff, but I can now easily look someone in the eye and say something like, “This is starting to sound like a former co-worker of yours.”

ktcosmos: You have a boatload of talents: on top of being an award-winning executive director of an established successful NPO, you’re a local celebrity. You’re an actor, public speaker, comedian, musician, a river guide and an athlete. What fuels those pursuits?

B. Newman: Well, advocate means to speak for, and I can speak for what some of our people’s lives would have been if not for this organization. There are many in this town who’ve done far more for handicapped people that I ever have. I’m just the clerk and cheerleader. But, could I do as much if I were a senator or congressman, or working for some state agency instead? I don’t think so.

So, you could say that I am branded, and I know that. A former board member was actually very critical of my appearances at other organization’s events but I always believe that everything I do, every appearance I make, benefits YEI! If I cohost Arizona Morning, or cover Steve Blair’s radio show, perform at Coyote Joe’s, Olsen’s Grain Ad, it’s then all about YEI!

ktcosmos: How are you able to combine all those activities and make it all work?

Henry Dahlberg, a close friend of mine since I was 16, was watching me open the mail one day. He noticed my “process” was like this: “Oh great! Oh good! Wow! Oh great! Oh great! Oh no! Oh great! Oh no! Ohhhh! Oh Great!” Then, not right away, but a week or so later, he referred to me as an example of compartmentalization. It’s kind of a joke, but you know, if someone walks up to me when I am performing and says, “I’ve heard all about YEI! and I would like to work there.” I’ll answer, “That’s great, but that’s a different Brad.”

I also really like Steven Covey and the “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People,” and I try to re-listen to that while I’m on the Stairmaster at least once a year. One of the things he says is, “If you want to give yourself some free time, schedule yourself tight.” So, you know, on my way here I had a call from Patricia at the office reminding me, “Don’t forget, you have an appointment with Katie at 9:30.”

Too, I’m just a very lucky guy. I get a lot of goodies at work, and I remind myself of that every day.

ktcosmos: What about mentors? Heroes? Spirit Guides? Who made a difference in your life?

Henry’s ten years older than me, and has had a huge influence on me since I met him the summer I was 16 and he wa 26. That same summer I was re-introduced to my Uncle Tom Bradley, who was the same age as Henry. I got sent out to cowboy at his family’s horse farm on the east coast.

I had the benefit of a Jesuit education. If I had to pick one guy out of that experience, I’d pick the Vice-Principal, Father Hanley. A former marine. I remember him telling me, “You are a total loon. I don’t want to curb that enthusiasm, but I gotta redirect that behavior.”

ktcosmos: And you heard that?

B. Newman: I would say I’m STILL hearing it. Brophy College Prep Graduation. Ninety-three guys graduate. You know, Tom Rusing (an doctor in Prescott), Kevin Kapp (Superintendant of Prescott Unified Schools). I’m the only guy not enrolled in college already on the night of graduation. I’m also the student body president, the English and Drama award recipient, and the person who also served more detention time than any other student, there I am. Then I went off to the Jesuit Volunteer Corps.

Then there’s Speed Richardson. He’s the cowboy that liked to say, “Between Mary Newman and I, we raised every goddamned kid in goddamned Paradise Valley. And he did! Not only in horsemanship and cattle, but he was a real guy’s guy. You can see him in a lot of artwork depicted in my home and office. He was just the real deal. You know, you’re five years old and venturing off … the next place over from your house is his stables, which were a mile and a half away, all eight of us kids rode all day long, especially my sister Annie and me. For eighteen years. Everybody rode, but not everybody was totally absorbed by it the way I was.

So, Speed, Father Hanley, Henry, My Uncle Tom, The Easter Seals Guy, Dennis Allmon—we’re still in touch… that enthusiasm and humor of his was a big influence. These guys were all about 26 years old when I met them and they were just so hip! I mean, they listened to the Beatles. Or, actually, they’re not Beatles people, they’re Peter, Paul and Mary people—beatnik people. Little did I know that two months before I met Henry, a very good friend of his committed suicide. Henry told me thirty years later that “Martin closes the door and then you walk in.” Now, they were contemporaries, and I am the student to Henry’s master, but that’s it. A lot of very important influences.

ktcosmos: Thank you, Brad.

B. Newman: See ya, Katie.

Drumroll. Herewith, Loosely Speaking presents the first “Client Spotlight Blogalogue,” featuring Hazel Bowman (pictured at right), owner of Celebrations by Bowman and PrescottWeddings.com. In addition Hazel is an ordained minister.

Hazel and I have been collaborating on one thing or another for about ten years. We’ve served on boards together, and I had long admired her business skills before I ever had a chance to actually work for her. I enjoyed asking her questions about the inner workings of her business and hope they will benefit my readers as well.

ktcosmos: How does your business model differ today as compared to 6 years ago?

H. Bowman: PrescottWeddings.com was launched 6 years ago at a time web site development was in its toddler stage, if not infancy. Most companies didn’t have web sites – just email – and the majority of internet visitors were on dial-up. Pages had to be designed to download quickly for fear that the client’s computer would freeze.

My original vision was to create a series of templates that brides and grooms could choose from in order to create their own personalized wedding site, documenting their engagement, showers, wedding, and honeymoon. As an event planner specializing in weddings, this concept just seemed natural to me.

In early meetings with my technical advisors, however, I realized that a Prescott specific resource guide might better serve my clients, while allowing me to generate revenue through paid advertising. So … I filed the wedding templates idea away in my creative ideas folder, and took off in a new direction. In fact, about three years ago, I experienced a big shift in my perspective when I began thinking of the site as “the area’s premier wedding online magazine,” and that concept informs all my content planning today.

ktcosmos: Well, gosh, Hazel?! Did you have any anxiety about launching a web-based business when you yourself had no knowledge of how websites work?

H. Bowman: (laughing) Well, I should probably have had a lot of trepidation, but I just jumped in there and let my instincts inform me!

ktcosmos: Have any of your business decisions been driven by clients directly or indirectly?

H. Bowman: PrescottWeddings.com has a dual clientele market – each with their own expectations and demands and yet each dependant on the other. Visitors to the site attract advertisers to showcase their services, and the advertisers attract visitors in securing local servicers and suppliers. PWC has had to respond to the needs of both market groups, evolving in to being the area’s online wedding magazine for brides and grooms while providing updated technology to advertisers including audio and video.

ktcosmos: Can you share any key business hunches you followed through on that WORKED?

H. Bowman: It’s been said that you’re only as great as the people you surround yourself with. Though I had an initial concept, I also knew my limitations. I pulled together a great team of independent professionals and incorporated many of their ideas and suggestions. From the onset, PrescottWeddings.com was designed to be user-friendly, so that even the most inexperienced visitor could easily navigate the site. When archive statistics provided data on topics of most interest to brides and grooms, I assembled the same team to launch corresponding new pages, now among the most popular on the site.

ktcosmos: How about the flip side of that question?

H. Bowman: Two specifically stand out. I decided to run back-to-back articles regarding negotiating wedding contracts as well as household budgeting tips after the honeymoon. I thought brides and grooms would enjoy the practical advice. Traffic to the site plummeted and only regained momentum when PrescottWeddings.com resumed featured articles on reception themes, fashion trends, beauty hints, etc.

ktcosmos: With your diverse and interesting career background, what drew you to event planning and the wedding magazine businesses?

H. Bowman: When I was a vice president in charge of commercial lending for a Chicago bank, part of my responsibilities included “volunteering� on various boards of community organizations, including Goodwill Industries of Metropolitan Chicago and The Starlight Foundation of Chicago. Due to my expertise, I sat on numerous finance committees that oversaw fundraising activities. The 8 years I served with the Michael Jordan Foundation honed my event planning skills. It was when all 5 of my husband’s and my children walked down the aisle within 21 months of each other that I realized, though there were obvious distinctions, planning a wedding or a black-tie extravaganza held many similarities.

ktcosmos: Do you advocate formal business planning and goal setting, or is that more of a spontaneous or instinctual undertaking for you?

H. Bowman: It’s a mixture of both. Goals must be set or business objectives won’t be achieved. Simultaneously, goals must be realistic and business objectives open to change. For example, my initial sales goals were unrealistic. Very few companies back then were savvy to the power of online advertising.

Remember, PrescottWeddings.com was launched the same year Senator John McCain, running against then Governor George W. Bush, stood behind a podium that read McCain2000.org. People marveled at Sen. McCain’s originality in tapping in to the online generation.

Compare that to today when almost all advertisers promote their web site, whether the ad’s on television, radio, or print. The business objectives changed when PrescottWeddings.com evolved into being more than just a local resource guide but into a full-fledged online wedding magazine. Now the possibilities on how it can continue to grow and benefit brides planning their dream-come-true seem almost endless.

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Hazel can be reached via her website, PrescottWeddings.com.

With that in mind, I am initiating a periodic series of interviews with my peeps, my clients! Not everyone will want to be interviewed and laid out this way to public scrutiny, but that’s what’s going to happen in this blog in the coming months.

If the response is good, I’ll do the same thing with the contributors to the Loose Ends feature On the Mark, in which various authors (generally in business them selves) share insights of their own.

Watch Loosely Speaking for some focused conversation on what makes a business succeed!