So what is the big deal of the Lotto getting to $650 million? It’s not enough to win $300 million? The chances of winning are about the same as getting not one, but two holes-in-one in an 18 hole round. I have yet to get one and I have yet to get a Royal Flush playing Texas Holdem. Yes, we had to buy a few tickets to join the party or as one person told me, “To get a foot in the door.” I learned that for best odds, pick your own numbers. Good luck to all!

No doubt if you won the Lotto you would not pick up a penny if you saw one on the ground. But would you anyway? Chances are no. Now if Canada has its way, its residents won’t have to worry about the dilemma anymore as it wants to ban the penny much like other countries have. They state it cost them $.016 to produce a penny and they lose over $10 million a year. But if they won the Lotto. . .

Best Buy is getting crushed by amazon.com and other online retailers. They are closing 50 stores and most likely many more in the future. This is a bad sign for big box retailers as Best Buy is one of the best run retailers in the world. If they can’t make it, who is going to be left, Starbucks and Five Guys? It seems consumers no longer need a physical store to buy electronics and other gear or perhaps only to “shop” and then order online while at the store. It’s an interesting phase we are now in.

CVS found out the hard way just like Best Buy did a few years ago that breaking into the beauty market is not so easy. They have decided to shutter their 360 concept after testing it with 25 stores. ULTA is the grand prize winner and will continue to dominate the landscape. Their stock is pushing $100.

Good to see Michigan’s unemployment under 9% and the auto companies doing well. But hopefully everyone has learned their lesson and Michigan diversifies and education picks up its pace.

Are you loving the new Timeline homepage on Facebook? Not!

black 15in1 launches its refill size of Miracle Hair Treatment next month by popular request.

Beauty Buzz will be all the buzz come October. Beauty Buzz is all about beauty and will feature some great names in the business. Jay Towers will be the emcee and Ambassador magazine will cover the event top to bottom. Look for more information coming up. The event is Sunday, October 7 at the Motor City Casino Hotel.

Speaking of events, we are holding the greatest salon equipment and furniture sale in history. In fact, virtually every item in our showroom will be for sale and/or auction. If you need a new styling chair or to outfit a new salon, this is the event you have been waiting for. Monday, May 14 at the Pavillion. The fun starts at 8AM.

Of all the companies that offer TV, Internet and Phone, ATT’s U-verse ranks at the bottom. There is not another company with such poor customer service to go along with poor performing products. When Comcast looks good, you know how bad is bad.

Happy Friday!

There were no phone calls.

There were no texts.

There were no emails.

There were no high fives.

There were no bragging rights.

There was no longer a need to look forward to the weekend’s games.

Losing sucks.

There was silence. Dreadful silence.

There was no watching the TV after the game ended. One more word from the announcers would have put you over the edge.

There was no celebratory drink.

There was no need to think about New Orleans.

There were no winning bets.

Losing sucks.

But hey, the Spartans weren’t even ranked to start the season and no one expected them to win the Big 10, win the Big 10 Championship and make it to the Sweet 16.

In fact, we went further than a lot of teams such as Duke, Michigan, Georgetown and many others.

In fact, it was a great season. And Spartans are still proud of the accomplishments.

But hey, losing still sucks.

Happy Friday!

80 and sunny, not just today but all week. Broken records all over the place and it’s only March. Totally amazing but what will June-August be like?

Education continues to be the linchpin for those wanting to get ahead. The mantra, “Never stop learning” is more important today than ever before. This past Monday we had nearly 100 hairdressers in for the Kemon OMBRE workshop led by Eric Lindsey and the Kemon Coaches Team. OMBRE is a French technique that is very hot on the runway right now for coloring hair starting dark at the roots and lightening it gradually through to the ends. Everyone loved the class and it will be a hit at salons.

OMBRE CLASS AT THE ACADEMY                                                      ERIC LINDSEY ANSWERING QUESTIONS

Speaking of very cool, black 15in1 was featured in the NY TImes last Thursday and is in the current issue of People Style Watch. It made it’s debut in Quebec last week and will hit Toronto next weekend. Be sure to checkout the new Facebook Timeline page at Facebook/black15in1. As an FYI, all Facebook pages will move to Timeline by April 1.

We are very excited to be on the ground floor of American Cancer Society’s new Choose You program. tng worldwide will be the Presenting Sponsor for the inaugural luncheon kick-off May 11 at Knollwood Country Club in West Bloomfield. Choose You is focused on women and cancer prevention with a strong focus on health, diet and wellness but just as important, for women to understand it’s their time to focus on themselves. This will be a huge program for us and ACS and we look forward to bringing it salons throughout the USA.

We were thrilled to sell more than 50,000 bottles of Shellac in February. But then Apple announced it sold more than 3 million iPads on its opening weekend. . .at $500 a pop, that is more than $1.5 BILLION in sales. Can you imagine?

I read the Hunger Games and I will leave it to Scholastic: They know how to publish great kids books (Harry Potter books among others), now they need to learn to make money doing so. The book has created a worldwide sensation and I can see why after reading it. Is there any better age group than 12-18 to focus on right now?

MSU is hot and most likely going to the Final Four once again. Too bad about Michigan and Duke losing in the first round. OUCH!

Gas at over $4 a gallon isn’t making headlines like when gas hit $3 a gallon a couple years back. Perhaps we are used to higher gas prices and know most other countries are paying a whole lot more. And with all the warm weather, refineries are having a tough time making enough gasoline as it is.

I listened to Jimmy Buffett’s rendition of the Rolling Stones song, “You Can’t Always Have What You Want” and it was sensational live. But what was really good was his added line at the end, “As long as you have everything that you need.”

OPI’s new Nail App’s are very cool and could be the next “Crackle.” They come in lots of patterns and last up to 2 weeks, best applied with UV top coat. Now in stock!

Love the longer days and nights, hate the GEESE! Isn’t there anything we can do with them???

Happy Wednesday!

Memo: Set up a 21” roller bag kiosk outside McCormick in 2013 and sell bags for $29. Recommended inventory: 1000

Memo: Make them blue and put the MO logo on them and sell for $39 with a bottle of oil included

I was eager to attend the 2012 ABS show and we were very close to taking a booth but production wasn’t done in time so I came as an attendee. Although I wore a sport coat, I donned jeans, T-Shirt and thought I would fit right in. But I forget to bring a 21” roller bag. But as you read, that will be corrected next year.

Memo: Set up 50 wood tables without carpeting, signage and so forth to sell close-outs

I always wondered what the best method of selling the stuff suppliers won’t take back. Forget about discounting at stores or online, both Salon Centric and Cosmoprof are much smarter and found the holy water: Tons of floor space right on the convention floor. So attendees had not one, but two cavernous areas this time to drag their 21” roller bags and stock up on goods at discounts up to 90% which proves that people will buy anything at the right price. Too bad for me, I didn’t have a roller bag and I arrived a bit too late. The good stuff was already gone.

Memo: Get to the swap meet early on Saturday next year

Memo: Bring 3 pairs of ear plugs

Lucky for me, I only had to be on the show floor for a few hours. I felt so bad for those that had to be there all 3 days. The noise levels were over legal limits and in one instance, it seems FHI was outdoing TIGI and then TIGI was outdoing FHI. I thought I was attending the ABS, not the ABC (America’s Beauty Concert). The one thing Canada has over America shows is they don’t do loud music. They do education, talking and learning instead. What a concept.

Memo: Bring a great booth and stand out.

The great booths at ABS were few indeed. And that is too bad since great booths are pivotal to one’s overall experience. And with the aisles being too small for the number of people, learning, watching and even hearing what was said was near impossible. I understand that small aisles make the show look busier and lessens the cost of exhibit space but when you sell so many tickets, you really do need to accommodate the ticket goer. Aquage once again had the best overall booth and stage presentation. In fact, there was no one close to being second. TIGI had a massive area but I will say “no comment” to it. All the L’Oreal brands were conspicuously absent and odds on favorite to dominate the ISSE show this November. I did not see Paul Mitchell which was surprising. The P&G group had a nice presence and spent a nice amount on decorations.

Memo: No need to bring shopping bags.

Once again, the busiest booth and must see both was Moroccanoil. They have the system down to a science and understand that having a huge stage with blasting music is not the key to success at a trade show. More show producers and suppliers need to adhere to this marketing style. And I will note that I think virtually everyone was walking around with a MO shopping bag and NO, they did not have MO staff handing them out outside the show entrance.

Memo: The industry is starving for a quality show without the BS, jewelry and handbag flea marketers and blasting music

The show itself was well organized. Registration and friendliness of staff was excellent. Badges were easy to get. Badge holders were readily available. Directories were everywhere. Food quality was good and prices OK. It is obvious the organization putting on the show knows what to do and how to do it. The question then becomes can they truly be America’s Beauty Show by taking the next steps and bring integrity, learning and emphasis on professional beauty products to the show. They must reduce the decibel levels even if it means losing a couple companies. They must enforce booth quality and ideally, take the close-out centers off the main floor and do like what they did with the skin care area. In fact, move the skin care area back to the show floor and put the close-out areas in its space. There are many other things they can do and I know Paul Dykstra, if anyone, can do it. But does he have the b___ to pull it off? The ISSE show will be interesting held in November at Rosemont. Right now, ABS still has a huge advantage, but we saw what happened to Motorola when they too had the huge advantage.

Memo: Support one show moving forward, which will it be?

Happy Wednesday!