by: Geoff Ficke

The greatest Greek philosopher, Aristotle, is widely studied and discussed to this very day for his keen observations on the human condition. For almost 2400-years Aristotle’s numerous writings, philosophical tracts and pithy comments on men and their relations toward each other and their environment have been dissected for the many layers of meaning that can be conjured from attempting to decipher his reasoning and logic. He enchants us still.

I find that many of Aristotle’s most used, famous quotes are amazingly relevant in our current time. One of my favorite quotes from Aristotle that enjoys particular resonance to the 21st century is the following: “A whole is that which has a beginning, middle, and an end”. Simple, no! Clearly understandable! And yet, not put into practice or followed to a successful conclusion nearly often enough.

For entrepreneurs the process of starting a new enterprise can be daunting. There is an initial idea or concept. Research and due diligence are undertaken to verify the viability of the product or service. A Business Plan is written. Assembly of raw materials, sources of supply and manufacture are defined. Costs, sales models, marketing strategies and branding are created to support the product launch. Finally the project is presented to decision makers, the target customer. Sales commence. This is a brief outline of the beginning, middle and end of a product development cycle, much as described in Aristotle’s generalized quote.

Unfortunately the “end” portion of completing the circle of the whole is too often never realized. People, most of us, tend to procrastinate. We rationalize inactivity. We can justify our tardiness in not completing projects with a parcel of excuses. In my marketing and consumer product development consulting business we see and hear an unending stream of these “enterprise killers” every single day.

A task is not worth undertaking unless there is laser-like focus on seeing the task through to the “end”. We might not succeed in the marketplace with the finished work product the job pursues, but unless we finish the effort we will never learn what the outcome might really be. For many people there is a visceral preference for not receiving a firm verdict on their work. Some are afraid to succeed. Many are just afraid. The excuse not to finalize a project and put that work to the test of the marketplace is always vexing to me.

Successful entrepreneurs find ways to overcome all obstacles and finish and launch their projects. They possess an innate courage. They always complete the whole, conjuring the beginning, working to assemble the middle and planning, sighting and accomplishing the “end”. These high achievers are separated from the dreamers who never quite get all the way into the game by an inner-drive to finish every job they start.

by: Geoff Ficke

In 2007 a film documentary on extreme skiing was introduced to the public at the Tribeca Film Festival. The movie, “Steep….Without Risk There is No Adventure” is a stunning homage to daredevil, pioneering athletes who test themselves in ways that defy logic as exercised by more timid, placid souls. Risking one’s life in pursuit of bigger, meaner, steeper, ever more remote mountain challenges and attacking these seemingly insurmountable obstacles on a pair of boards strapped to the feet is an amazing display of courage, recklessness and fortitude that is rarely seen in today’s play it safe society.

The movie tracks the birth and growth of extreme skiing as the world’s most challenging sport. In 1971, Bill Briggs successfully skied down Wyoming’s Grand Teton Mountain, from peak to the foot of the famous, jagged rock. This is credited as the birth of extreme skiing. At the time it was considered a near impossibility to conquer Grand Teton on ski’s, owing to the sheer drops, thin snow cover and rock crevices that had not only never been skied, but were not well charted.

Brigg’s is interviewed in Steep and famously stated, “If there is no risk, there is no adventure”. His accomplishment, and his aversion to country club, resort skiing, opened the eyes of a whole generation of swashbuckling ski entrepreneurs who began to seek out the most daring and dangerous mountains and glaciers to conquer. Many of these devotees of Bill Briggs, the pioneers of extreme skiing are interviewed and filmed in death defying runs down some of the planets most difficult mountain terrain. The photography is breathtaking, the sight of a tiny speck of humanity taking on the ever changing face of these dangerous mountains is humbling and the athleticism, strength and courage that these exceedingly brave men, and women, display is awe inspiring.

I recently saw Steep again. My first viewing left me sapped by what I had witnessed as an amazing athletic feat performed against overwhelming odds. There was no great financial incentive involved. These extreme skiers were challenging themselves in the greatest, most perfect possible way, by placing their most precious commodity, their lives at risk.

My second viewing reinforced all that I took away from my 2007 theatre introduction to the film, but I left with something else this time. These brave athletes were actually exponentially increasing their adventure by equally enhancing their risk, by facing potential death or serious physical harm in full pursuit of the greatest possible reward they could achieve. The possibility of failure is a large part of what motivates this type of risk taking and makes the achievement of success even more satisfying.

This is the basis of all human achievement. People that play it safe are numerous, productive and ordinary. We need them, and plenty of them. However, they are not visionary, entrepreneurs, creators or engines of invention for business or society. Only risk takers propel advances that improve our lives and the world in which we live, and all risk takers are willing to face the possibility of failure.

We live in a time of economic uncertainty. A job for life, a common piece of the employment compact in past generations, is no longer tenable. And yet, we see politicians, unions and social activists continually chanting for artificial inducements to create jobs. This never works, but they keep on crying for something more to be tried; another “jobs bill’, or shovel ready project. The avoidance of risk is exactly what dooms this type of social engineering.

Innovation creates economic opportunity. In order for there to be innovation, we need to get the government out of the way and allow for the reality that if you try to succeed, you might fail. This is life. Artificially propping up everyone with a safety net will only sap creativity and hamstring risk taking.

The extreme skiers portrayed so gloriously in the movie Steep are actually more than great, courageous athletes. They are role models for living life to the fullest, getting into the game, entrepreneurial greatness and pushing personal limits. Fewer and fewer of us are willing to participate fully in the great game of life. Risk is a tonic for the lethargy and torpor that so many people’s lives have become. As Bill Briggs so aptly stated, “If there is no risk, there is no adventure”.

by: Geoff Ficke

Prospective clients often present my marketing and product development consulting firm completed Business Plans as they attempt to elicit interest in their projects. Invariably the assumptions that their sales, income and profit projections describe are unrealistic. I am then asked how to best assemble believable, supportable numbers that will excite, not scare off investors, venture capital or partners.

A Business Plan is simply a document that describes a commercial opportunity and quantifies, qualifies and narrates details of the offering. The exercise of writing a Business Plan sounds fairly mundane and easily accomplished. It is not. I have rarely read a Business Plan submitted by a novice that was worth spending more than a minute or two contemplating.

The Harvard Business Review in a recent article mentioned use of the “4 P’s” for Potential when projecting budgets, sales and profits. This is a simple, easily understood template for aspiring entrepreneurs to consider utilizing. The “4 P’s” of Potential are Population, Penetration, Placement and Purchase Frequency. The “4 P’s of Marketing that are essential to customizing a brand and marketing strategy are; Product, Price, Placement, and Promotion.

The “4 P’s” of Potential, if accurately researched, detailed and confirmed are invaluable in supplying investors with assumptive numbers that will withstand intense scrutiny.

Consider:

Population

What is the real size of the actual population that would be interested in potentially buying your product? If you were marketing a snack cracker, it could be the whole population of a country. Most of us eat snack crackers at some time.
If you have a Pet Product, specifically a dog snack treat, the market is confined to the 77.5 million dog owners in the United States. If it is a cat snack food the market reach is a bit larger, approximately 94 Million licensed cat owners.

Placement

Now that you know the size of the consumer population base that can potentially purchase your product how do you surmise market Placement? Let’s assume that you want to introduce a cosmetic product and it will be moderately priced (Price = one of the “4 P’s” of Marketing). Your research indicates that there are approximately 75, 000 stores in the United States that carry competitive mid-priced brands such as Oil of Olay skin care, Maybelline and Cover Girl cosmetics or Revlon perfumes. As a small beauty product brand or start-up you will not achieve deep Placement in early stages of existence, certainly not big box distribution until the brand shows sales traction on a local or regional level. If you gain Placement in 1.5% of the discovered universe of 75,000 outlets in Year 1, you would achieve distribution in 1,125-doors. As the brand develops in year 2, Placement can be expected to easily grow to 2.5% or 1,875-doors, year 3, etc.

Penetration

How much of the Population will you penetrate with purchase of your product?
There are 17 million licensed hunters in the United States. If your exciting new camouflage, stealth hunting boot was able to gain 1% Penetration of this class in the first full year of sales, you would sell 170,000 units.

Purchase Frequency

A consumable product (food, drink, vitamin, cosmetic, household cleaner, etc.) has a much more frequent usage and repurchase rate than a dog leash, a hunting boot or other hard goods. Another term for Purchase Frequency that is often used is Sales Turnover. A Gourmet Meat Marinade might turn inventory levels three times in a year in a specialty store. A popular priced, higher volume marinade might turnover 10 times in a national supermarket outlet. Purchase Frequency is determined by utility of the product, daily or occasional use, price, packaging size and geography. A sun care product will turn over monthly in warm weather markets, only seasonally in colder weather climes.

Here is a simple formula that can be used to divine the Potential Size of a market for a product using the “4 P’s” during Year 1 of distribution:

Placement = 2% of 100,000 stores = 2000 placements

Population of Women Age 35 to 60 for an Anti-aging Skin Care Treatment
USA only = 55,000, 000

Penetration of potential buying Population
.001% of 55,000,000 = 55,000

Purchase Frequency = 3 Sales Turns per each full year of sales

Assuming a regimen (example only) of $40 X 55,000 consumers X 3 Repurchases and the above indicates that achievement of these 4 P’s of Potential would generate $6.6 million in sales.

This does not reflect new product extensions, international distribution or other variables. If the “4 P’s” of Potential are fully, deeply and diligently vetted, this number, while still an assumption is much more realistic and believable to the most difficult audience on earth: the cynical investor. This is the best to qualify, quantify and narrate the assumptions that are the cornerstone of any Business Plan.

by: Geoff Ficke

Many years ago, I was required to read a modern translation of Sun Tzu’s classic text on warfare, “The Art of War” for a college course on Ancient History. I completed the read, took the test, passed the course, and promptly filed old Sun Tzu in the catacomb of my mind. I thought I was done with war theory and strategy.

As the years have gone by, and I have worked as a consumer product sales manager, product developer and marketing strategist for over four decades, I find that I use many of the military lessons that Sun Tzu taught in 600 B.C. and which are still studied at West Point and in military schools to this day. The lessons are simple, timeless and convert almost exactly for use as marketing commandments. I even refer regularly to my old dog-eared student copy of “the Art of War” for inspiration.

War and marketing have many similarities. Warfare is all about the successful control of ground. Marketing is all about the successful control of in-store (or media) ground: shelf space, location, display.

In warfare Sun Tzu stressed the importance of controlling the high ground. From a position of height, an army can look down on their enemy, target fire, hold ground with fewer soldiers and maintain cover while the enemy must expose themselves to come forward.

Robert E. Lee was arguably the greatest field commander ever produced in the United States (well, George Patton fans might argue this point). Lee performed remarkably in the Civil War with less manpower, less armaments and horrible logistic support. And yet, General Lee, a student of Sun Tzu, forgot the crucial importance of not fighting unless an army controlled the high ground as his Confederate force was routed at Gettysburg and the trajectory of the bloody conflict was irredeemably altered.

In marketing the high ground is taken when you offer a service or product that is honest in performance, presents value, offers new, exciting features and benefits and motivates consumers to choose your item and not the competitions. Do not be fooled, the craft of marketing and selling consumer products is a form of warfare. There is only so much shelf space in even the largest big box retail store. Advertising vehicles are limited by time (television, radio spots), space (newspaper, magazine ads), cost and frequency. The competition is always seeking to take the high ground and advance on your market share.

Sun Tzu said, “The winning general knows what is required for victory and then attacks. The losing general attacks; then seeks victory”. The same is true in marketing a business service or consumer product. A business plan, customized marketing strategy, Unique Selling Proposition and sales plan for successfully achieving distribution is essential to success. All too often, the over-confident or novice marketer attempts to penetrate a sales channel without conducting the proper due diligence and laying a groundwork that will support a campaign.

“Use the resources of others to your advantage”, is another theorem that Sun Tzu espoused. This is the basis of guerrilla warfare. It is equally applicable to guerrilla marketing.

“The winning general must think like a cobra”, wrote Sun Tzu. Cobras are fast, nimble, agile, ferocious and cunning. General Dwight Eisenhower is a perfect example of a military leader thinking and acting as a cobra. For the invasion of Normandy, D-Day, June 6, 1944 the Allied Commander continually feinted, used General Patton’s movements as a ruse, oversold false landing spots, and used deceit to confuse the Nazi’s about the date, place and strength of the landing force they would confront.

Successful marketers utilize as much secrecy, speed, agility and cunning as possible to outwit and out-hustle their competition. The cobra advantage is why new products continually penetrate large, established, often lethargic categories that are lead by sluggish, multi-national bureaucratic companies. In the beauty and cosmetic industry Bare Essentials and Philosophy has powered past many old line brands. Apple continually re-invents itself and energizes the technology sector. Jimmy Choo has become a generic label for the high-end footwear industry in the last decade. In 40 years WalMart has come to dominate and run off dozens of far older retail competitors. The Korean auto maker Hyundai has quickly become a top selling brand as price, quality and performance has provided the Company a keen Unique Selling Proposition.
“The Art of War” is still studied religiously to this day at military academies around the world. The reasons are simple: the lessons of successfully making war have not changed. Technology certainly has. Strategy and logistics, as described over 2600 years ago by Sun Tzu have not. The same applies to marketing. New distribution channels and technologies are created but the essential rules of marketing, and they parallel the rules of successfully making war, do not change. I recommend any serious aspiring marketer to pick up a copy of “The Art of War”, read it, and hold onto to it for career-long reference.

Press Release
For Immediate Release
June 5, 2010
Contact: Geoff Ficke
gficke@msn.com

Retains Services of International Consulting Firm Duquesa
Marketing to Manage Fall-2010 Introduction

Louisville, KY Tom Scanlan, President of Estate Products, Inc. announced today that his specialty home product manufacturing Company, Baron International, Inc., has engaged the services of Duquesa Marketing to manage the fall -2010 national retail store launch of AirStone™, a patent pending, green, novel faux stone technology.

“We field tested AirStone at the recent Louisville Home and Garden show”, said Mr. Scanlan. “Our expertise is in the manufacture and distribution of building supply products, not retail. We were blown away by the response from the attendees at the show, even though we realized that we needed retail marketing expertise to exponentially expand AirStone’s reach. We spoke to a number of possible consulting candidates and Duquesa Marketing was a perfect fit”.

“AirStone is a rarity in todays clutter of look-alike products”, said Geoff Ficke, President of Florence, KY based Duquesa Marketing. “This item really offers DIY’ers something to latch onto. Only a fraction of the weight of stone, made from largely recycled materials, AirStone can be installed by a novice and the product adds warmth and beauty to any wall. The product and installation system are a model of elegant simplicity and much more affordable than messy masonry stone work”.

Baron International, Inc. will announce pricing, launch dates and retail distribution later this summer. The Company is currently exploring international distribution opportunities. A full package of point of sale materials and display is being developed to support the rollout.

by: Geoff Ficke

In the 1970’s I enjoyed the great good fortune to begin my business career in the cosmetic industry. This was an electric time for the beauty industry with great entrepreneurs, amazing promotions, sizzling product launches and progressive retailers all combining to energize the business and drive unprecedented growth and excitement. As the decade unwound, I found myself in a fortunate place at a most fortunate moment: I became sales manager for Vidal Sassoon Hair Care Products. It was an invaluable learning experience.

Vidal Sassoon is the very definition of a “renaissance man”. Born into poverty in London during the depression, he apprenticed in the beauty salon of the famous Raymond of Mayfair. In 1948 he fought as a “sabra” in the Israeli war for independence. This experience triggered a lifelong devotion to philanthropy, education and activism that would benefit the Israeli nation and people everywhere and continues to this day.

The emergence of the 1960’s counter-culture, inspired in large part by the international popularity of the Beatles music and fashion, was a boon to Mr. Sassoon. His first salon on London’s Bond Street became a Mecca for hip, young trend setters seeking to replicate the bob-cut, geometric hair styles popularized by the “Fab Four” and perfected by Sassoon. Along with fashion designer Mary Quant, and Yardley Cosmetics, Vidal Sassoon became part of the beauty and style tour that accompanied Beatles concert tours. This greatly enhanced the consuming public’s awareness of the new techniques in hair design being crafted by this visionary talent.

The Vidal Sassoon salon concept was very different from the typical beauty salon of that time. The architecture, music, modernistic uniforms and styling techniques utilized in the “Sassoon Way” were standardized and taught in the new international chain of Vidal Sassoon Training Schools. The initial London salon was soon expanded into a vast group of Vida Sassoon upscale salons sprinkled around the globe. New York, Tokyo, Beverly Hills and Frankfurt were only a few of the cities that came to host Mr. Sassoon’s eponymous shops. These salons always occupied the best addresses, such as Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills and The Water Tower in Chicago.

This visibility lead to the introduction of a line of hair care products principally sold in beauty salons. The professional products enjoyed great initial success, but Mr. Sassoon, and the executives that had been brought in to manage the rapid expansion of the Vidal Sassoon brand recognized a much larger opportunity: there was no consumer hair care line that offered a professional, designer provenance and Sassoon had the opportunity to seize this market space.

Always a visionary, the Vidal Sassoon Hair Care brand broke molds, yet resonated easily with consumers. Before the introduction of the Sassoon product line, hair care was a simple commodity business. Prell, Breck and Suave were the major brands of the day and their products were basically soapy cleansers for hair, inexpensive, elemental. Sassoon products differed in three major ways: they were packaged in solid color, starkly minimalist containers, they were marketed to be used in a 3-step regimen and they utilized a revolutionary high fashion branding statement. This was the first targeted, designer hair care program.

Rather than a simple hair cleaning product Vidal Sassoon pioneered cleansing, moisturizing and conditioning the hair follicle with three specific formulae. As the public responded ever more positively to this innovative system of hair care new, highly targeted, specifically marketed treatments and styling products were introduced. The sleek, understated packaging of the line in itself became a powerful generator of brand awareness for Vidal Sassoon Hair Care products.

Owing to the fame and legend that was attached to Mr. Sassoon, the Company did everything possible to link him and the products together as one in the public’s mind. Each commercial and print advertisement ended with the most famous beauty industry branding statement of the 1970’s and 1980’s, spoken by Vidal Sassoon, “We don’t look good, if you don’t look good”. American and worldwide product distribution channels became flush with demand for these hair care products that consumers everywhere were demanding.

Mr. Sassoon, and his actress wife Beverly Adams, became media darlings of that era. They appeared as regular guests on the most popular television talk shows of the time and gained a huge following for their views on healthy lifestyles. They co-authored several best-selling books on diet, exercise and beauty.

The demand for products that could leverage the solid gold name of Vidal Sassoon would soon lead to licensing. A number of very successful licensing contracts enabled manufacturers to brand styling tools, small electrics, hair ornaments and salon equipment with the Vidal Sassoon name. Many of these products sell successfully to this day.

As the brand and business interests of Vidal Sassoon expanded exponentially, the Company was regularly approached with offers to be purchased. This was a period when large, multi-national consumer product houses sought to build portfolios of brands across a spectrum of categories. Richardson-Vick Pharmaceuticals purchased the Vidal Sassoon Hair Care product business and they were subsequently absorbed into Proctor & Gamble.

Vidal Sassoon is recognized as one of the great beauty and fashion innovators of all time. He almost single handedly created the celebrity, fashion hair care treatment industry. From schools, to salons, to products, to licensing and as a media presence, Mr. Sassoon has pioneered the branding of himself, and his related products, as an intertwined, world- wide recognizable brand. He has been just as active and productive in the good works and causes he actively supports.

Press Release
For Immediate Release
Contact: Geoff Ficke
859-567-1609
gficke@msn.com

La Scentsationals™ Pillows to Debut in Exclusive Retail
Distribution in North American Market in Fall 2010

Florence, KY Geoff Ficke, President of award winning international marketing and product development firm Duquesa Marketing announced today that his Company has been retained by Moraga, CA based La Scentsationals™ Pillows to act as managing consultants for the fall 2010 retail launch of that design houses line or artisan crafted wellness pillows.

“Until we met Lisa Gillett I thought we had seen all there was to see in the aromatherapy and sensual wellness product category”, said Geoff Ficke, President of Duquesa Marketing.”Her La Scentsationals pillows are stunning examples of assembling a luxury product utilizing the finest, rarest components and assembling with old fashioned artisan craftsmanship and care”.

“I looked for a firm that could provide strength, creativity and experience across a range of competencies”, said Lisa Gillett, President and Creator of La Scentsational Pillows”. “Until I met Geoff and Nancy Ficke I was beginning to think my goal was too broad. But I kept at it and finally I was able to meet Duquesa Marketing and I knew I had found the best possible fit for me and my products”.

“We look forward to managing the sales, product development and packaging process and finally marketing the product to the higher end of the retail gift and specialty store trade”, said Nancy Ficke, General Manager of Duquesa Marketing. “Lisa is very creative and her passion is apparent in the workmanship and unique product benefits of La Scentsational pillows”.

Duquesa Marketing has been creating and marketing a wide range of consumer products for 40 years. The Company has extensive experience in all channels of distribution and international product placement.

Wall Street Journal Opinion Page May 22-23, 2010
by: Geoff Ficke

Frank Schuchat’s letter of May 18 excoriating Martin Feldstein’s gymnastic ability for supporting the George W. Bush tax cuts and decrying budget deficits shows a lack of understanding of basic economics.

According to OMB, Federal revenues in 2000 were 1.99 billion dollars. In 2008, after several years of the horrid, fully employed Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, Federal revenues hit a record 2.57 Billion dollars, a record. Economics 101: If you want more of an outcome (revenue in this case) penalize it (tax) less. Over and over tax cuts have been utilized to stimulate productive activities which benefit the economy and thus stimulate government revenues.

President Bush erred in not clamping down on a rapacious, wreckless Congress and putting the brakes on their spending. It is a lesson that our current President has not only not learned, but has worked mercilessly to exceed.

by: Geoff Ficke

In the 1980’s the Reagan Administration supported passage of the Simpson-Mazzoli Act as a way to, once and for all, to end the vexing cauldron of problems created by illegal immigration. Obviously Simpson-Mazzoli was not successful. In fact, the law, and it’s particularly fuzzy enforcement mechanisms only served to accelerate and fuel the problem.

Today we have a mess. Rational solutions are paralyzed by our politically cancerous left versus right cat fighting. Even reasoned discussions of potential solutions to a problem that all parties agree must be settled are reduced to sloganeering and name calling. Let me propose a simple set of solutions that could, really should, settle the matter to a high degree of satisfaction benefitting all sides in this crucial, heated debate.

We really have three sets of distinct interest groups involved: the illegal immigrants (mostly Hispanic and Mexican) and the Mexican government, the American business community that requires a massive supply of labor and the citizens of the United States who are being exposed to the costs and liabilities inherent in supporting public services for millions of people that have entered the country illegally and are forced to live in the shadows.

First let’s address the business community. Any employer that needs field workers, gardeners, restaurant workers, whatever, would have to advertise the positions in local print media two times, stating pay, benefits, location of employment and a description of labor to be performed. This will also prove or disprove the theory that Americans will not perform menial jobs.

If the positions are not filled with local, legal American job seekers, then the employer would have the option to address their labor requirements through a labor co-operative. This would NOT be a new government bureaucracy, but would be under the jurisdiction of the Dept. of Labor. Private staffing firms like Manpower, companies with experience in the field of matching employee and employer needs, would be contracted to act as clearing houses. They would staff offices along the Mexican border, and in countries such as El Salvador and Guatemala.

The employers would pay a small fee to the government for each person hired and to the contracted human resource, Manpower-type firms for their time, expenses, background checks and matching applicants to positions. The employer, by participating in such a labor co-operative, would no longer be committing a crime and risk serious fines and legal jeopardy that can occur when hiring illegal workers. The employer would provide the co-operative with an order for a specific number of workers, copies of the print advertisements run locally seeking American workers, clearly post pay, locations of employment, benefits, housing and the length of the work engagement. There would be time limits on service, not to exceed one year. After a minimum return period of three months to their home country, a foreign worker can re-sign for another tour of employment.

The employer would be required to handle any medical costs incurred by the co-operative provided worker and provide travel to, and from, the point of embarkation at the beginning and end of the contract. The employer would pay a significant fine if the worker does not return to the embarkation point, on time and sign-out on their way out of the country. A small tax would be withheld from the workers pay to support the program and it’s policing. A card dated and signed by the employer and the worker, and describing job particulars would be used for identification.

This would provide American farms and businesses a simple, affordable, easily negotiated system of filling labor needs.

Now let’s address the illegal immigrants and their government’s interests.
The first duty of any sovereign government is to protect their citizens. And yet, illegal immigrants are the targets of the most corrupt, dangerous and cynical forms of abuse enabled by the very governments that encourage this form of immigration from Latin America. Crooked police and border patrols shake down poor, frightened, confused travelers. Dangerously hopping trains in the night, co-mingling with drug couriers, rape, murder, robbery and kidnapping of illegal immigrants is widespread and tolerated.

Under a labor co-operative system these abuses would be virtually stopped. Job seekers could visit their town hall or a labor co-operative office and use a computer to apply and peruse job listings. They could review online, conduct a search of positions listed by job description and location and then apply. If for instance, a farmer in Earlington, KY is seeking 8 laborers for 9 months, the deal can be cut and travel organized without ever having to risk one’s life dodging snakes in Central American jungles or crossing bleak deserts and being dumped in an arroyo by extorting “coyotes”. The thousands of dollars in fees paid to the illegal human transporters would be far better utilized by the very poor who so desperately seek work in the United States.

Latin American governments, the very governments that do not recognize the rule of law, property rights and the importance of free markets, callously encourage illegal immigration. This black movement of their citizens acts as a pressure release valve on their societies. The billions of dollars in remittances that are returned to family back home by illegal immigrants to America serves as a lubricant to quieting social tensions and financially supporting populations locked in poverty and despair by the incompetence and corruption of the governments under which they must live.

Under a labor co-operative system these bureaucratic ogres would still enjoy the benefits of billions in annual remittances returning to their countries. Families could continue to subsist, albeit in grinding hopelessness and poverty. Government’s duty to protect its citizens would at least be celebrated a bit less cynically.

Finally, how would the American citizen benefit from an organized labor co-operative system? Labor would finally be organized, free to come for a set period of time, return home and pay a small tax to cover the minor cost of the services they would consume. This would over time lighten the burdens on social services, hospitals, police forces, school systems, local, state and the federal government. As long as immigrants commit a crime the first time they step foot into the country illegally there will be a parallel universe inside our society of crime, evasion and a lack of integration into society.

Cities would be safer. Businesses would be able to provide the goods and services that the society has come to expect. The millions of illegal immigrants currently here in the country would be able to participate in the labor co-operative system, but they would be granted no benefits beyond what any other applicant would receive. Anchor babies would no longer be given the rights of an American citizen.
Any employer who is caught employing illegal workers after the labor co-operative system is functional would be subject to exponentially larger fines and seizure of all business assets.

Finally, the border must be sealed. No country can survive the causal entry and exit of its border by millions of people at will. Our border is a particularly enticing target for illegal crossing because it separates a wealthy country with a too-generous welfare state, from a group of countries with dysfunctional economies where poverty is the rule, not the exception for the masses. Understandably, it is a magnet, but it is long past the time when we must close the border while responding to the needs of illegal immigrants to work, businesses to have employees to do manual labor and citizens to be relieved of the burden of supporting a stupefying drain on the public purse caused by this solvable problem.

Politicians seeking to curry favor with a new group of voters or see their populations rid of a mass of mostly young, hungry laborers seeking what they cannot provide, will not like this plan. They prefer to keep the issue and not find a solution. If the government will only allow a private enterprise solution, one where markets rule, not bureaucrats, we can finally settle these problems. It is time for a little common sense.

Press Release
For Immediate Release
Contact: Geoff Ficke
859-567-1609
gficke@msn.com

Artisan Crafted Wellness Pillows to Be Sold in Exclusive Limited Distribution Rollout

Moraga, CA Lisa Gillett, President of La Scentsationals Pillows announced today that her design firm has contracted with Dallas, TX based Kaston Group to create and produce store point of purchase display and fixtures for the fall 2010 retail launch of her firm’s products.

“My consulting partners, Duquesa Marketing and I reviewed a number of display houses work product”, said Ms. Gillett. “I was most impressed with Kaston Group and their vast experience in creating fixtures for fine department stores and high fashion product lines. They will be an excellent fit for La Scentsationals”.

“We have used Kaston Group many times before for fine quality luxury goods display programs”, said Nancy Ficke, General Manager of Duquesa Marketing. “They are an excellent vendor for a stunning, artisan crafted line like La Scentsationals that will be sold in limited distribution to only the finest retail stores”.

“Owing to the hand crafting and exotic materials and organics that make La Scentsationals so unique, we are excited to be able to craft a display that fits the character of these beautiful pillows”, said John Steger, President of Kaston Group. “Initial design renderings are themed on mating natural materials and visuals that reflect old world style and pride of work, the type we rarely see today”.

La Scentsationals is a design and concept atelier that specializes in creating and enhancing products with exotic raw materials and organically grown herbs. The Company plans to launch the La Scentsationals line of wellness/aromatherapy pillows in fall 2010.