false 2009-03-06T15:30:16-08:00 <p>You don&#39;t have to believe in magic to make business wishes come true, but it can help.&nbsp; In 2003, I opened a gift store on a sweet little corner in south Minneapolis that&#39;s about inspiration, encouragement, and fun.&nbsp; It&#39;s called Fairy Godmother.</p><p>My staff and I wear ballgowns (thrift store prom dresses) and we welcome everyone with a plate of ginger cookies and &quot;Are you looking for anything special today?&quot;&nbsp; We&#39;re known for kindness and fun and we have a community of devoted customers who help make magic.</p><p>Over the years, I&#39;ve learned you have to continually build on a strong foundation to ensure your business survives during tough times, and thrives in good ones.&nbsp; Be good at what you do and be committed to good business practices, even if those parts aren&#39;t your favorite.</p><p><strong>And be more than a store.&nbsp;</strong> Work with neighboring businesses and go to business association meetings for support; everyone can get isolated and lonely with a small business.</p><p>We donate $20 gift cards to every charity and school that asks.&nbsp; One person will win but hundreds see we are supporting their favorite organizations too.</p><p>I love to write, so I wrote a sample column about inspiration and fun and approached the editor of our community paper.&nbsp; Now I write a regular column.&nbsp; Last year, I wrote about neighborhood graffiti punks.&nbsp; A week later my shop was hit with threatening graffiti and I called the local TV stations.&nbsp; They covered it because it was news; we were more than a gift store...but you have to toot your own horn because reporters can&#39;t be everywhere.</p><p>And people like to be a part of a success story, so tell your friends, neighbors, and customers about your vision and goals.&nbsp; You never know h ow they might help.&nbsp; One rainy morning I was behind the counter talking with a friend about how to get a story in the Faith &amp; Values section of our major daily paper.&nbsp; One customer came in.&nbsp; After I greeted and &quot;cookied&quot; her, she browsed as my friend and I brainstormed.&nbsp; When the customer came up with her selections, she looked up at me and softly said, &quot;I&#39;m a reporter with the paper.&quot;&nbsp; I said, &quot;Ah, you write for Faith &amp; Values?&quot;&nbsp; &quot;Yes,&quot; she said.&nbsp; Three months later, the paper did a full page article about Fairy Godmother.</p><p>So talk about what you do, what you offer, and what you need to be more successful. It will let you keep doing what you love, and do it profitably.&nbsp; I plan on greeting customer in a ballgown, and waving a&nbsp; magic wand, for many years to come.</p> dZjlbEw_eqllvkab8P4pmk false true true 2009-06-06T14:46:13-07:00 0 true 0 false false false 1 Fairy godmothers wave wands and toot horns too! 2009-06-06T14:46:13-07:00 cpdyhmsRWqllvkab8P4pmk Fairygodmother 791 0 dY1Ghod6ZhRBWr3AL8abBw