By now you've hopefully had a chance to browse around our newly redesigned, fantastically wonderful cool website (at least we think it is!). With the new website, we're able to provide more interactivity with all our visitors (did you see the RSS feeds and the Like buttons?), and we'll also be able to bring you great new content. Some of that new content comes in the form of our Business and Guest Blogs. We've partnered with some very savvy experts to provide you with their insights in display, finances, social media, marketing, retail and more. Check out the Business Blog under Grow Your Biz to keep on top of the newest tips and advice in different areas of business. And as we all know, we learn just as much from our peers as we do the experts. So under the Gift Industry section, you'll find our Guest Blogs. These blogs will be provided by some of your favorite vendors, other smart retailers, some of the industry reps that are really in the know, and more. One of those favorite vendors is VHC, Inc., and Ken Kline, CEO and co-owner, is one of our guest bloggers (thanks Ken!).

While Ken and I were discussing the ins and outs of the blog, we chatted a bit about the recent photo shoots that both of us had done. Ken had gotten new portraits taken and I had recently had new editor photos shot. We were amazed at how long the photo shoots took, and as Ken put it, "it sounds like a good riff for a blog post on how much time it takes to prepare seemingly simple things." Well, Ken, I took you up on that! In everyone's business there are so many things that seem like they might be rather simple but end up taking quite a long time. On one hand, they might take a long time because someone wasn't doing them right, but more often these tasks take a long time because people work hard at them and want to get them right. Everyone of us has a bit of a perfectionist inside. While we were putting together this website, we looked over every minute detail, double and triple checked links, compared pages, entered new content, learned an entirely new system and otherwise almost tore our hair out the past few weeks. But we think the result is stunning. And more importantly, we're proud of it. We're proud of the results even if it meant several nights of hardly any sleep and zombie-like staff members for a few days.

Simple things often are never simple. To truly make something unique or to get it exactly right, it takes dedication and passion. We at Smart Retailer want to bring you that dedication and passion in our new website, social media sites, newsletters and the upcoming premier issue of the newly redesigned magazine. And by giving you this, we're hoping it will inspire you all to dig down deep and reach for those stars. Like Ken says in his blog post, you have to dream, but I'll add that you also have to work hard. The two together is what makes a successful business owner.