The Story Behind Gift Retailers ConnectionA Tale of David and Goliath
We've all experienced it in our local communities. The mega corporate giants coming into town as local independent businesses are forced to close their doors until all we have left are the main streets that look like every other main street in every other city across the country.
Once the second issue of our magazine was out, I received a notice, by email and certified mail, from Entrepreneur Magazine saying that we were violating their trademark by using the common everyday word "entrepreneur". At first, I was indignant. How could anyone "own" an everyday word. Does Reader's Digest own the word "digest"? Does Sports Illustrated own the word "sports"? And on and on. And why would a mega-company that supposedly encourages new business be concerned or afraid of a small niche magazine? Acceptance followed indignation. Our government and economy is based on large businesses. Even a small business is considered a company that has as many as 500 employees. What most of us, as independent small businesses, are called is a micro-business. Like most micro-businesses, we don't have deep pockets to fight the Goliaths of the business world. I'm no David. I don't have a pocketful of small stones or even a slingshot. And I have neither the time, the energy, the money, nor the interest to take on Goliath. So the only option was to change the name of our magazine. My philosophy is that when you're handed a bucketful of lemons, you turn them into lemonade. And that is what Pam, Sandee, and I decided to do. We have had requests from some of you to develop a forum to go along with the magazine. One that is open to everyone and easy to use, even for the novice computer user. We decided that since we have to change the website to reflect the new name that was chosen, we should go ahead and create not only a forum but a community just for the gift community. The new name of the magazine is Gift Retailers Connection and Connecting is what this new website is all about. The magazine will still come out bi-monthly. The only change will be the name. The next issue will be available July 1st. It will continue to evolve and will be available by subscription. The community that we have created is open to anyone involved in the gift industry and that includes those of you who are vendors. It is FREE to join and easy to use. You can access it from this website at Community. Joining the community and taking the time to create your Member Page is valuable to you and your own search engine optimization. It provides an additional way for the search engines, as well as potential customers, to find you and to see photos of what you have to offer. It also provides links to your own website. Where else will you get all that without paying a dime? An easy to use forum is what was most requested and we've tried to provide that for you at Gift Retailers Connection forum. It will evolve into what you want it to be. Sharing is what connecting is all about. You can read it without ever posting but you will fail to receive its full benefit unless you share. As I write this, the categories are set up but it is empty. It's now up to you to make it valuable to you. Since Gift Retailers Connection Magazine is bi-monthly, we will be filling in during the rest of the time with posts on a blog whenever we stumble across something that we feel will be valuable to you. This concept is not new. How many of us have missed several days checking in on our Facebook page only to discover that all the many posts that have been made have scrolled on down and are no longer visible because there are so many friends from so many walks of life posting? There are other communities for the gift basket industry and we encourage you to continue using them as they meet your needs. Since I am well aware that time for connecting is limited by those of you who are successful in your business, my own GiftRetailersNetwork website will evolve into this one and will be discontinued in a few weeks. Note that this is not the GIFTBASKETNETWORK directory website that will be closed. That site is very valuable to your SEO and is not being closed down. We are creating the opportunity for you. Make it YOURS!
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It
happens, too, on the internet. The mega giants feel
threatened by the smaller independents. We saw this in our
own industry when Harry and David threatened the gift basket
companies with lawsuits if they used the word "Tower" on their
websites. Well, Goliath is on the rampage again and our
magazine is one of their targets.