Impromptu

"It's March," she said languidly with a sigh, resting herchin in the palm of her right hand. She gazed from her high-rise window over thesticky smog that hovered on the Phoenix horizon. "Nothing interesting everhappens in March."

All right, so perhaps I'm being a tad dramatic, but in a sense, it's true.Between Super Bowl and Memorial Day lies a veritable wasteland of insipidity. Ifyou were fortunate enough to dodge the commercialism of February's horrificlovefest, you can now wait on St. Patrick's Day. But if you celebrate theholiday in due form, you likely won't remember much of it except the cabbagethat repeats on you for several days afterward and, somewhere along the line,singing an Irish bar tune with people whose names have escaped you. If youobserve, Easter could be noteworthy--eating lots of chocolate and marshmallowbunnies and popping the buttons on our pants. Now that's excitement.

Inlight of this scarcity, we should all be grateful the SSA chose an excellentsite for its Spring Conference and Tradeshow this month--a city with some realintrigue and character. New Orleans! Being an ardent Anne Rice fan, I'mparticularly thrilled at the opportunity to tour the landmarks illustrated inher novels: Lafayette Cemetery, Café du Monde, the house on First Street andChesnut. I've heard, too, about a positively spellbinding Voodoo tour, guided bya true-to-life Voodoo priestess and culminating at the grave of Marie Laveau.

I've said nothing, yet, of this month's issue. This is for no lack ofenthusiasm, I assure you, but sometimes you just have to stray from the path.Frequently, in this missive, I talk about profit-building and innovation,industry trends and tactics. I could easily continue that course, as thefollowing articles address all those things. But the overall point--of thisrambling and this issue--is simply this: Do something different. Do somethingnew in your business this year. Maybe you'll add truck rentals to your list ofofferings or launch a phone center to answer incoming calls. Perhaps you'llstart a self-storage hotline or direct-mail program. Whatever it is, do it soonand be smart about it. You'll find plenty of great ideas right here in thesepages.

Life's too short for us to be bored--or boring for that matter. Here'shoping your March is anything but.

Wishing you whimsy,

Teri L. Lanza
Editor
[email protected]

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