The charity that I have selected for this November is the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation. The Toys for Tots Foundation collects new toys during the end of the year and distributes them as gifts for needy children during Christmas.

“The mission of the U. S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots Program is to collect new, unwrapped toys during October, November and December each year, and distribute those toys as Christmas gifts to needy children in the community in which the campaign is conducted.” – Toys for Tots Mission

“The primary goal of Toys for Tots is to deliver, through a new toy at Christmas, a message of hope to less fortunate youngsters that will assist them in becoming responsible, productive, patriotic citizens.” – Toys for Tots Goal

The Toys for Tots Foundation does great work during the holidays to provide a little happiness and glimmer of hope to those children who are less fortunate. A brand new toy can go a long way for a child as a happy memory and hope. It can also be an important part to the development of the child socially and physically depending on the aspects of the toy.

As a company we are putting a brand new Porter Cable Buffer up for auction on Ebay with 100% of the proceeds going to the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation. This is a nice little charitable donation that we are doing for the holidays and a way for our customers to get involved, knowing that all proceeds will be donated.

Locally, schools in my area are doing “Stuff the Bus for Toys for Tots” drives, where they try to fill a bus full of new toys. This is fun little way to promote Toys for Tots and I’m going to have to stop by one of the locations at some point to donate a toy.

Year after year the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation makes a difference to needy children, find out how you can help Toys for Tots this holiday season.

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Happy Thanksgiving to all! Enjoy this day of thanks with friends and family and be thankful for what you have.

My thanks for ‘09:

• I will always be gracious for my health
• I’m thankful for great friends and family all around me
• Many thanks to a great business team that is Pure Adapt, Inc.
• I’m very thankful for my parents continued support
• Thanks to all the charities that I’ve wrote about this year for all the great work they do
• Again a special thanks to all the people of the armed forces past and present for preserving the freedom that is the United States of America
• I’m thankful for an economy that has turned around relatively quickly even though it seems like it’s been forever since the lowest lows.
• And thanks to you the reader

Have a great Thanksgiving!

M.Li

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Just in time for the holidays is My-Wish-List.com. Create your own wish list online and share it with your friends and family via email, Facebook, and Twitter.

Simply enter your name and the gifts you desire most then click “Create Wish List Now”. All done, your wish list is created with your personal permanent link to share with friends and family. No registration is necessary, create unlimited lists and it’s completely free.

Once your wish list is created, you and your friends and family can check Amazon and Ebay for the gifts to making shopping easy.

This was a fun little side project where I got to better my programming skills slightly. A little help from Adam and his programming expertise it’s up and ready for the holidays.

It’ll be interesting to see if this catches on with it’s easy sharing capability. If one person shares their wish list with their friends and family then one of them likes it and does the same it could get viral.

Create your own wish now! Happy Holidays!

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The holidays are upon us and it’s time to kick the holiday marketing into full throttle.

Earlier this month I already noticed companies getting into the holiday spirit through newsletters and mailings. I recently reviewed our holiday marketing plan and tactics at the end of October and was surprised that it’s been a full 2 months since I put the plan together because I wrote “Happy Holidays in August” at the end of it. Time has passed with the swiftness and it’s time for implementation.

We have already started some of our holiday promotions with free ground shipping for US orders over $150 at Detailed Image. I designed a nice little header for our holiday free shipping promo (see below). This is a nice subtle way to transition into the holidays and feature our shipping promo.

We really kick things off today when we start our “Shop Early and Save Big” event. The primary goal of this sale is to get the customer shopping for the holidays a little bit early.

Competition starts to heat up with sales everywhere and inbox real estate is ever so more important as Thanksgiving nears.  We’re ready to get this holiday party started. I think we have a great plan heading forward and can’t wait to implement everything. As December comes near I’m also very excited to implement a little more festivity into the site design.

If you detail or are interested in detailing please take advantage of our Big Sale. Today through the 11/16/2009 11:59 PM EST save 20% at DetailedImage.com with coupon code EARLY09 and receive free shipping on orders over $150 (some restrictions apply).

Happy Pre-Holidays!

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The Zappos tour was quite an experience and totally worth it. It was a fun and inspiring learning experience. Here is a recap of my tour at Zappos.

Everyone involved in the tour was a pleasure to meet right from the get go. Zappos offers complimentary shuttle service to and from Zappos headquarters and we were picked up in the Zappos Escalade.

In the lobby displays the pair of shoes that started it all. When Nick Swinmurn was unsuccessful in finding a pair of shoes in store and online it lead to the start of Zappos.com.

The Zappos name tag ball named Lucille of the many people who’ve taken the tour.

Our first look into the offices and to the right you can get a glimpse of our guide Heaven, yes her name is Heaven.

A live sales map of products being purchased throughout the US.  In another part of the office they also had about four big screens with live web analytics, which was crazy to watch.

Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh’s office.  Zappos has an open office policy and employees can basically see anyone they want.

The rest of the tour included visiting various departments throughout the building.

In the  fraud department we had the opportunity to speak to one of the employees there and learn how they dealt with fraudulent charges and charge backs.  We have had our share of charge backs and fraud and it was great to see how Zappos prevents the situation from happening.

In the HR department we learned about their recruiting process and how they offer a buy out of $2000 to potential employees after they finish training to weed out those that don’t really want to work there. The recruiting department also spoke about the importance fitting into the culture and Zappos’ core values.

Zappo Core Values

1. Deliver WOW Through Service
2. Embrace and Drive Change
3. Create Fun and A Little Weirdness
4. Be Adventurous, Creative, and Open-Minded
5. Pursue Growth and Learning
6. Build Open and Honest Relationships With Communication
7. Build a Positive Team and Family Spirit
8. Do More With Less
9. Be Passionate and Determined
10. Be Humble

Throughout the tour you can see the unique culture that Zappos has built and how much it stresses the importance of customer service.  The work environment is a fun and inviting one where everyone knows everyone. While I was there, I’m pretty sure I was almost hit by a Nerf gun lol. Even though the atmosphere may seem lax, employees are hard at work and take responsibility for what needs to be done.

The tour rounded up with a visit to Dr. Vik’s office, where I got sit on the throne where at Zappos I’m royalty. Dr. Vik is the resident coach at Zappos who helps employees be successful in personal and business matters so that they can perform at high levels and provide excellence in service.  Zappos really takes care of their people and it really shows through as you make your way through the offices.

The tour ended back in the lobby where everyone received a Zappos Culture Book and a complimentary book  from the Zappos library.  The books are there to inspire the “Power of Service” and I’m pretty sure that they said Tony Hsieh has read all the books there.

Thanks to everyone at Zappos for the amazing tour.  Special thanks to Renna, our guide Heaven, the Mayor, Pam, Dr. Vik and anyone else I may have forgotten for the great tour.

11/10/2009 Comments (0)

I wrote about going to the SEMA Show earlier and while I’m out there I will also be visiting Zappos Headquarters. I have an exciting day ahead of me tomorrow with the SEMA Show and Zappos tour.

Zappos is a very unique e-commerce company that has built a culture with happiness as a key. CEO Tony Hsieh has created fascinating and successful culture over at Zappos. After reading a great article in Inc. Magazine about Tony Hsieh it was hard to pass on the opportunity visit their headquarters.

The tour is free and they even offer complimentary shuttle services to their office. It took me a while to find information on the tour but after a bit of searching I finally found a contact form specifically for the tour or I think you can email them from what I read from other people’s visits there. They recommend you make a reservation 48 hours in advance so you could set up a tour on the fly if you’re out in Vegas.

I’m looking forward to seeing a successful e-commerce company at work and hopefully learn a few things. This is going to be a great experience and I look forward to writing about my adventures in Vegas.

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