Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Busy Bees


We've not been slacking during the holiday period but have just signed up a Canadian company who make an exciting 7-in-one 20MSa/s 2MHz scope adapter. And it runs Open Source software on Windows/Mac/Linux systems - does Bode plots while-you-wait! You'll have to look at www.syscompdesign.com for tech details till we can get it in our webshop, but we have them in stock now at only $179.99. Every engineer should have one!

Friday, December 19, 2008

*Twas the month before Christmas*

*When all through our land,*

*No person was praying*

*Nor taking a stand.*

*The PC Police had now taken away,*

*The true meaning of Christmas - but no-one could say.*

*The children were told by their schools not to sing*

*About Shepherds and Wise Men and Angels and things.*

*It might hurt some feelings, the teachers would say*

* December 25th is just ' Holiday '.*

*Yet shoppers were ready with cash, checks and credit*

*Pushing folks to the floor just to find gifts of merit!*

*CDs from Madonna, an X BOX, and an I-pod*

*And something was changing - yes, something quite odd! *

*Retailers advertised Ramadan, Kwanzaa*

*In hopes to sell books by Al Franken & Fonda.*

*As Target was hanging its trees upside down*

* At Lowe's the word Christmas - would nowhere be found.*

*At K-Mart and Staples and Penny's and Sears*

*You wouldn’t hear “Christmas” in anyone’s ears.*

*Inclusive, and Sensitive, and Di-ver-si-ty*

*Are words that are used to discourage me.*

*Now Daschle, Now Darden, Now Sharpton, Wolf Blitzen*

*On Boxer, on Rather, on Kerry, on Clinton!*

*From the top of the Senate, there arose such a clatter*

*”Eliminate Christmas, in all public matter!*

*And we spoke not a word, as they took back the space*

* Forbidden to speak of salvation and grace*

*The true Gift of Christmas was exchanged and discarded*

*The Season’s reason had been disregarded.*

*So as you enjoy 'Winter Break' by your Tree'*

*Sipping your Starbucks, just listen to me. *

*Choose your words carefully, choose what you say*

*Shout MERRY CHRISTMAS ,

And not Seasons Greetings !*

And make someone’s day!

Please, join all together and wish those you meet

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Remember the Reason for the Christmas Season!

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Where did Christmas go?

It seems that it's not the sentiment but the value of a gift has taken over. One of our suppliers sent me this advice to illustrate:

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1370868150/bctid3130509001

We just sent out a newsletter to our customers, featuring the words "Merry Christmas" and received a few compliments that we weren't bowing to political correctness. I don't approve of rewriting history...

Have a great time with your family if you can...


Thursday, November 27, 2008

Attitude of Gratitude

Today is the U.S. Thanksgiving Holiday. Besides too much food and the strange occupation of watching hours of football (why is it football if you pick the ball up?), this is a reminder and an opportunity to put our daily grind on hold to give thanks (to Whom?) for the blessings we experience. And to recognize people who make a difference in our lives. And at Saelig I acknowledge the One Who makes us truly “happy, prosperous, and blessed”.

So this reminds me to say in this space:

Thank You to all our faithful customers.

Thank You to for my employees, who have shared with me that working here is the best job with the best atmosphere they've ever had.

Thank You for the suppliers of the quality products we sell.

The E-Myth website www.e-myth.org suggests that:

when you deliver your product or service "on time, every time exactly as promised" you create a customer experience that can turn a one-time customer into a life-long advocate. In short, you've nurtured a customer's gratitude ...” - that's one way of thanking customers: deliver quality products on-time, with friendly and helpful personal support.

This month's Reader's Digest had an article about someone who said Hi to literally everyone he met for a whole month. It made an amazing, positive difference in his world.

Maybe a great New Year Resolution would be to live in an Attitude of Gratitude....

Thank You!

Thursday, November 6, 2008

USB Made Simple

I spend a lot of time searching for new products to bring to USA, and readers of this blog can sometimes get a heads-up on what's coming to our product line-up. We've found a supplier of high-quality, excellent value USB bus analyzers and generators: MQP Electronics based in UK. Their products are easy to use and are well priced - see www.mqp.com. We should have them in stock in a week or two.

On their website is a useful document for getting to grips with USB protocol "USB Made Simple". Take a look at http://www.usbmadesimple.co.uk/

Friday, October 31, 2008

ESC Boston Show

Our supplier Quantum Research (now part of Atmel) was showing on a 42" LCD - in 3D graphics - how their new area array sensing technology can detect multiple fingers on a touch screen, and indicate touch intensity too. Samples are now available and production quantities will be available in Q1 2009. They also showed a cute Quantum-laden toy dinosaur with multiple hidden touch sensors, programmed to respond like a pet.

Microsoft was making a big deal of .NET and had three of our fast-selling GHI boards proudly on display (see http://www.saelig.com/miva/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=FF017&Category_Code=)

elektor magazine (well-known and highly-regarded in Europe) is trying to establish itself in USA and is using Audio Engineering staff in NH to accomplish that. They'll be sending us 500 magazines to distribute – let me know if you’d like one free – this is a one-of-a-kind magazine with articles from their European staff of top-notch engineers. (http://www.elektor.com/)

Speaking of magazines, I spoke with Circuit Cellar staff - Tom Cantrell's EmbedRF article will appear in February edition due to others in pipeline.

It was good bumping into to quite a few of our customers as well as suppliers at ESC, but I wonder if the show days are over. ESC Boston was slated to get about 3000 attendees. Quantum staff told me that they were just at the Maker Fair in California, which brought in 50,000 visitors, with 5,000 people going through the Quantum booth.

I wonder how many share my opinion about shows being less relevant now.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

It's the "Reell" Thing!

A business – or any other organization for that matter - as it evolves, becomes like its leader(s) or founder(s), sharing their characteristics, preferences, and foibles. In growing Saelig, I’ve looked at other companies from time to time for ideas, but not found too much inspiration – there’s too much emphasis on growing at the expense of the individual. So I was encouraged to see the philosophies of a Minnesota company, where friend of mine works – Reell Precision Manufacturing Corporation (see www.reell.com – and pronounced “Ray-el”). Located in St. Paul, Minnesota, this is a remarkable organization because Reell’s values are the core of the identity of the company.

Reell’s founders wanted to build a company that viewed success as more than return on investment. They wanted to provide exceptional products and services to customers while creating a work environment that fostered a balanced life for its co-workers. They named the company "Reell" (ray-EL'); a German word meaning honest, trustworthy and good, to reflect these values.

Reell is founded on the belief that life's highest purpose is for each person to fulfill his or her true potential. To this end, Reell is committed to providing an environment that supports and encourages the development and advancement of each coworker. Reell offers training, experience and career opportunities to help coworkers achieve their goals, provides excellent benefits (including premier medical, dental and adoption plans), educational reimbursement, holiday and personal time off, short-term and long-term disability, an employee assistance program, flex-benefit deduction, a 401(k) plan and an Employee Stock Ownership Plan.

They believe that it is not striving to compete with each other or other companies but the pursuit of excellence to be better persons that leads to success. Their Company Statement acknowledges that “the potential of persons to be all they can be is within each one, waiting to be expressed.” It is not about someone (a supervisor, a boss) driving others towards excellence but about “free[ing] each other to grow and express the excellence that is within all persons.” (www.reell.com/about.htm)

The Vision, Mission, Declaration of Belief and the Direction Statement at Reell are summed up in four short, practical principles that help everyone in the organization to make decisions “consistent with God’s purposes for creation according to [each person’s] individual understanding":
1) Do what is right: We are committed to do what is right, even when it does not seem to be profitable, expedient, or conventional.
2) Do our best: In our understanding of excellence we embrace a commitment to continuous improvement in everything we do. It is our commitment to encourage, teach, equip, and free each other to do and become all that we were intended to be.
3) Treat others as we would like to be treated
4) Seek Inspirational Wisdom


These seem like good principles on which to build a growing company!

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Brand Aid


Checking out other blogs and emails, I saw this on marketingprofs.com and it got me thinking how Saelig features in these topics (maybe you should do the same?):

Brand Aid

Clarify your position. "The first step to building brand equity is to define your positioning," - the single thing your company stands for to your customers".

We like to be known for bringing unique OEM products to the attention of our customers (principally American engineers) - with excellent technical support and ethical business practices. To our vendors, we like to be known as part of their home team, with extremely effective market-creating abilities.

Tell your story. Give your position an external expression through your best corporate stories—an insight that led to the company's inception, the extraordinary measures you took to satisfy a customer or how your big breakthrough happened.

Saelig was created by an engineer for engineers - but we need to do a better job of telling the stories of how we frequently go "the extra mile" for our customers.

Bring it to life. "Make sure that the way your company looks and feels to the outside world matches that truth," he says.

We have to make sure that we operate with our customers' interests in mind at all times, while also satisfying our suppliers' needs.

Build the brand. You can make an impression before your customer ever initiates a transaction. O'Toole cites a naming consultancy called Igor that publishes at its Web site a free 100-page guide on its methodology.

We've had some nice feedback from engineers who like our innovative newsletters and interesting product mix. We trust that we're becoming known as a company that wants to make our customers "happy, prosperous and blessed".

The Po!nt: "These are practices you don't need a billion dollar marketing budget to emulate - you can start today."

Could we be doing more to build our image? Sure, but I'm encouraged when we get emails, or comments at shows, from customers who've followed our progress from the early days of 1988 when we just sold one product - a Forth-based controller board.

Friday, August 22, 2008

The Power of Forgiveness

I saw this on Inc.com and thought it might be worth repeating as a good general business principle:

The Power of Forgiveness Posted by Clint Greenleaf at 5:14 PM

http://blog.inc.com/by-the-book/2008/08/the_power_of_forgiveness.html#comments

"I recently received a phone call from Tony Alessandra, the author of The Platinum Rule. Tony is a hall of fame professional speaker, a bestselling author, and is close friends with many of my friends. The first time we met was over the phone, when he called to let me know that I had quoted his book without his permission. Yikes. I own a publishing company -- I should know better.

A bit of history. In 2000, I wrote a book called A Gentleman’s Guide to Etiquette. The book was published by Adams Media in Boston, and it was a moderate success. Since the book went out of print in 2005, I have reacquired the rights and plan to republish the book on my own next year. Anyway, in the book I mentioned “The Platinum Rule,” which is a smarter take on the Golden Rule. While the Golden Rule has us treating others how we want to be treated, “The Platinum Rule” gets us past our own ego and taste and has us “do unto others as they would have you do unto them.” It’s a brilliant concept that works.

So, Tony calls me and says that I’ve made a mistake. But the way that Tony told me about it was wonderful. He started by introducing himself and saying that he needed some of my help. He was aware of my book and that it made no mention of him or his book, website, etc. He then asked me how we could best solve this error.

Now let’s be clear -- I’m in the wrong here. No question. Tony had a ton of options at his disposal. He could have sent a harsh letter or had a lawyer send a harsher letter. He could have called and shouted at me. But his choice was not to cause drama and stress, but to find a winning solution. He was sure that there was a way we could fix this omission without too much trouble.

After a few minutes of discussing our options, we came to the conclusion that since the book was out of print, and that I wasn’t currently promoting the book, we didn’t have many options. I admitted my fault and Tony was very forgiving. That Tony was content with that was incredible -- I made a mistake and he was willing to let it go. And his great attitude made it that much easier for me to find a way to make it right. That day, I decided to re-release the book and give him the credit he deserves in the new printing. I think he’ll find out about my plan when he reads this. Thanks, Tony, for being so understanding.

So, when you have an opportunity to call someone on a mistake, remember Tony’s method. He didn’t pound his chest and tell me how great he is -- he worked with me to find a good solution. Now I’m spending my time telling everyone how great he is. If you can do the same when you’re right, you’ll probably find that people will bend over backwards to do right by you."

Reminds me of Mat. 6:12-14



Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Favorite entrepreneurial sites

I'm sure all small business owners have sites and magazines that inspire them to greater things.

Here are some of mine:

Magazines: Inc. FastCompany Entrepreneur

Sites: www.inc.com www.fastcompany.com www.entrepreneur.com http://entrepreneurs.about.com/od/beyondstartup/u/manageandgrow.htm
http://www.toolkit.com/
http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/
http://www.dondebelak.com/
http://www.ben-means-business.com/

And a daily email that makes me think is "Sparkling Gems From the Greek" (www.renner.org)

Monday, July 28, 2008

Do newsletters work?


Lots of companies use regular email communications with their existing customers to let them know about new stuff happening, and we do the same. We've found readership has gone up since offering a prize. Marketing books tell you that it seems everyone listens to WII-FM - "what's in it for me?" - so we try to make the information useful and rewarding! With our May newsletter - celebrating our 20th Anniversary - we gave away a $200 GPS logger to one lucky customer. This month we gave our customers a chance to win a radio-controlled Multidirectional Plane – it cuts through the clouds in thrilling 10-minute runs! The foam-construction plane features stylish details and a twin motor design, and includes controller/charger and rechargeable LiPo battery. It uses six AA batteries (also included) for the hand-held controller. If you didn't get our newletter email, write to us at info@saelig.com with "Newsletter Please" in the subject line and we'll send you the details.

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Feedback

At least somebody is reading my blog - thanks "B"!!

"Alan........I love your humor. Add the following to the list....

"There are 10 kinds of people in the world......those who understand binary and those who don't"

Thanks to B. W.
Mars Graphic Services

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Very Punny

Where would we be without work being fun? Bored.

The Internet has brought us many things both positive and negative. On the plus side, a plethera of good, clean jokes:

-- I wondered why the baseball was getting bigger. Then it hit me.
-- Police were called to a day care where a three-year-old was resisting a rest.
-- Did you hear about the guy whose whole left side was cut off? He's all right now.
-- To write with a broken pencil is pointless.
-- The short fortune teller who escaped from prison was a small medium at large.
-- When the smog lifts in Los Angeles, U.C.L.A.
-- The professor discovered that her theory of earthquakes was on shaky ground.
-- The dead batteries were given out free of charge.
-- A dentist and a manicurist fought tooth and nail.
-- A bicycle can't stand alone; it is two tired.
-- A will is a dead giveaway.
-- A backward poet writes inverse.
-- A chicken crossing the road: poultry in motion.
-- With her marriage she got a new name and a dress.
-- A grenade fell onto a kitchen floor in France, resulted in linoleum blownapart.
-- A calendar's days are numbered.
-- A boiled egg is hard to beat.
-- If you jump off a Paris bridge, you are in Seine.
-- When she saw her first strands of gray hair, she thought she'd dye.
-- Bakers trade bread recipes on a knead to know basis

Friday, July 11, 2008

Free "Word of Mouth" Book

A blog I respect and regularly read is by John Jantsch of
Duct Tape Marketing (http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/).

This month he's offering great advice on how to
create
word of mouth as an experiment for how to create word of
mouth - the best form of advertising. Dave Balter, creator
of BuzzAgent, wrote a book called The Word of
Mouth Manual: Volume II, price it at $45 on Amazon,
but it is available as a free copy by download.

http://www.bzzagent.com/downloads/wom2.jsp?src=duct_tape_marketing

The book is a valuable explanation of the art of word of
mouth with helpful examples.

Go get your copy to help in selling your products
- and thanks for reading my blog!

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

All I Need to Know about Business I Learned From My Poodle.

Well not quite, but it makes for a good title, doesn’t it?

Here are my thoughts, gathered from various sources and in no particular order:

1) Be a distinctive individual.
2)
Be relentlessly optimistic, completely present and entirely without falsehood.
3)
Ensure that what you see is definitely what you get.
4)
Be a great listener.
5)
Always put forth your best effort, and happily and breathlessly run until you can run no more.
6) Tug on your lead – push forward, don’t hold back.
7) Never hold a grudge, and always be willing to lick (be appreciative of) the hand that feeds you.
8) Seek out hidden opportunities even if they’re hard to get.
9) Don’t pace about worrying when the food will come or if it will be enough.
10) If the food is not there, ask for it! Communicate!
11) When loved ones come home, always run to greet them.
12) Take naps and stretch before rising.
13) Play daily.
14) Be loyal.
15) Get help from others to look your best.
16) Accept input from others to be your best.
17) Never pretend to be something you're not.
18) Eat with gusto and enthusiasm. Drink more water.
19) If what you want lies buried, dig until you find it.
20) When someone is having a bad day, be silent, sit close by and nuzzle them gently.
21) Spread affection.
22) Avoid biting when a simple growl will do.
23) Make new friends when you’re out. When you leave your yard, make it an adventure.
24) Bond with your pack.
25) On cold nights, curl up in front of a crackling fire.
26) When you're excited, speak up.
27) When you're happy, let everyone know.
28) Delight in the simple joy of a long walk.
29) Warn others if you see danger or problems.
30) Don't hesitate to throw up if something is definitely unacceptable.
31) Be faithful to – and trust in - your Master.

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

I know what LG means!


Saelig Company Inc. has been chosen to represent and market the range of world-beating ultracapacitors from LS Cable (Korea) who became independent in 2003 from the well-known Korean manufacturer LG Group, when ‘LG’ was changed to ‘LS’ (see http://www.saelig.com/pr/lscable.htm).


As you probably know, ultra-capacitors are next-generation core energy storage devices used for energy-efficient vehicles and industrial systems. They overcome both the low energy density of conventional capacitors and also the low output of secondary batteries. They can be used in a wide range of applications where batteries are inappropriate, since they have a wide operation range (-40degC to +70degC). And unlike batteries, ultra-capacitors have great long-term reliability and no maintenance issues.

One puzzle that was solved with our negotiations is that we now know what LG really stands for! Want to know? Write to me at feedback@saelig.com!

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Happy Birthday to US!


We are excited to announce that we’ve been finding great products for American engineers for 20 years now. Saelig Company was founded on April 28th, 1988, and we have grown from very humble beginnings (selling one controller board) to now representing more than 80 companies from around the world, each with unique product offerings. It has been said that 50% of new business don't survive even one year, so we are very grateful to all our customers who have contributed to both our success and our longevity. To celebrate our 20th Anniversary, this month’s Newsletter Prize is extra special! It’s a TrackStickPro - a GPS logger with a list price of $239! You’ll want to try for this one! Send an email to newsletter@saelig.com to enter.

And thank YOU! We hope you are (or are on the way to becoming) Happy, Prosperous, and Blessed. What benefit is it being prosperous without being blessed? (Pr. 22:1; Lk 9:25)

Thursday, April 17, 2008

ESC San Jose


Thanks to all who stopped by the WIZnet Stand at ESC - and your kind comments! We had a lot of interest in the new 5300 TCP/IP IC as well as non-WIZnet items too. And on another of our suppliers - Byte Paradigm - who were exhibiting their range of USB2.0-connected 'digital exerciser' boxes. Some lucky visitor won an iPod Touch, just by filling out a Byte Paradigm questionnaire.

Monday, April 14, 2008

Kudos

It's always rewarding to know some folks appreciate what you're doing! Here are some recent replies to our recent newsletter (send us an email at info@saelig.com to make sure you get the latest news of products we've found for you).

Love the variety of unique products available from Saelig and the newsletter for up and coming products. More than once I have been able to come up with a solution for a problem using a product only found and available through Saelig. Great service.
JB -- Coleman Technologies, Inc.

--------------------------------

Thanks for the great newsletters! This helps us stay on top of our competitors and have a leading edge on new technology for our customers.

JM

---------------------------

Hey there,

I want to tell you that your products have always been unique and reliable. I'm glad you're doing what you're doing. Thanks.

Cal

============================================================

Now we have to try to stay humble ......... but proud of it.....

Drop by and see us on WIZnet's stand at ESC in San Jose this week.

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Good folks, bad folks

1) I'll have to turn 'comments' off - someone left a malware link in a comment box.

2) A kinder person shared a recent press release on digg for others to see - thank you:

http://digg.com/hardware/Saelig_introduces_tiny_uDRIVE_disk_memory_card/blog

Word-of-mouth really is the best advertising that money can't buy .......

3) I've discovered that there are two types of people: one comes into the room and you can tell they are thinking "Here I am am, how can I help?"; another comes in and thinks "What can I get from this?". In English terms, this is translated: "Here I am - where's my cup of tea?" or "I'm here - would you like a cup of tea?"

Which are you?

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Making a Difference


It's a challenge each day to make a positive difference in the world - even it it's just a kind word to the checkout clerk or mailman.

But here's a shameless plug for my wife who is using her fine art skills to raise the funds to dig a fresh-water well in Africa. She's trying to raise $4,800 in 2008 to dig a well for a village. In return, donors receive an original piece of oriental artwork. 100% of the donation goes to the well fund. Original greetings cards and bookmarks - $5 each; paintings 4x6"/5x7"/6x8" - $10/12/15 suggested donation.
Each painting is an original, painted on Japanese or Chinese Xian (shuen) ‘rice’ paper and mounted on art card. Each painting is then applied to colored mulberry paper and delivered to you ready for framing. Donate your tax-deductible gift at www.lifetoday.org/goto/carollowne

Make a difference today!


Monday, February 25, 2008

Attitude and long-itude

Seems to me that business success – or any success – is determined principally by one thing – your attitude to what is happening around you. Life is, after all, what happens while you’re making other plans. I clearly remember seeing the following on someone’s cubicle wall, which captured exactly what I thought:

ATTITUDE

by: Charles Swindoll (www.insightforliving.org)

The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life.

Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home.

The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude... I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it.

And so it is with you... we are in charge of our attitudes.

Thursday, February 7, 2008

Strategy

Ethical dilemmas are inevitable in business. How you deal with them reveals your principles. Some companies are just after your money, others realize that customers won't stay long with that attitude. Same with employees. My view is that we are all on the same team and all involved need to benefit from our transactions to make this all worthwhile - customers, vendors, employees. That's why our company name is so important to me - "happy, prosperous & blessed" needs to apply to the complete "food chain". Give customers good value, go the "extra mile" with support for them; give employees fair wages and good benefits with profit-sharing; represent vendors to your best ability.

Proverbs 22

1 A good name is more desirable than great riches;
to be esteemed is better than silver or gold.

Monday, January 14, 2008

Growing, growing ...

We are constantly looking for unique products to promote in USA. I flew to Charlotte NC on Saturday January 12th to meet with a new European vendor - they make unique dataloggers designed especially for vehicle manufacturers, with 1 - 8 channels of autoranging 16-bit monitoring of current consumption. Using 'smart' precision shunts, they can detect mA to kA continuously - perfect for measuring starting currents and stationary currents in vehicles for up to 700 hours. In fact, when this company showed the loggers to GM, they wouldn't let the devices go, saying we want this NOW - we'll send a PO soon! Used in Europe by VW, Audi, Mercedes, Daimler, we'll promote them in USA as soon as we have a signed agreement (soon!) Details later ...