I'm a little behind on my email right now… OK, I'm very behind on my email. After going to three gift shows back-to-back it was easy to lapse, even with so much time sitting on planes and trains. I almost hate to admit it, but I have 400 unread emails in my bin.

Every day this past week I've promised myself, "Today is the day I'm going to get caught up."

Yesterday I mentioned my situation to a colleague over lunch and she chuckled and said, "You can always file for email bankruptcy." I laughed, but she was serious!

To file email bankruptcy, she said, you send an email to everyone in your address book and tell them you've gotten so far behind that you're cleaning out all your email, and ask them to resend anything urgent.

I feel confident that I can get caught up in the next few days, but I'm glad to know there's a viable solution if this ever happens again!

The verdict is in (unofficially) that the January Atlanta Gift Show was overwhelmingly successful for 99% of the exhibitors who we interviewed during, and after, the show.

Steve Rose, marketing coordinator for burton + Burton said, "Traffic in the halls may have looked like it was down, but we had over 30 reps writing orders at one time, and still had some who were waiting in line for the available sales rep! The show was non-stop for us."

Among the many companies we chatted with, Tom Zimmerman, VP of Sales & Marketing for Two's Company, also told us that the show was very successful for them, and that sales were up this year in comparison to last year.

And here's more! Yesterday I received survey results from a non-profit organization, the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. The institute recently concluded a survey of roughly 1,000 retailers in the gift sectors. These retailers were in cities with active "Buy Local" campaigns and the survey found that many retailers reported strong holiday sales. Also, 82% of survey respondents said that the fact that their businesses were independently owned mattered to most of their customers.

How does all this upbeat news square with the more sobering reports from Wall Street? It's simple: independent gift and home furnishing stores are finding new messages that work. They are playing up their strengths, superior service and a merchandise mix not found in mass merchandise stores and urging customers to buy local. There are opportunities out there for every shop owner; you just have to figure out how to tap into it.

I love bags of all types: purses, lunch sacks, shopping satchels, etc. (What woman doesn't?)

So when I saw this article in the New York Times this weekend, Never Mind What’s in Them, Bags Are the Fashion, I thought, of course they are… everyone knows that!

I love when I get cute bags from stores to hold my purchases, and I always reuse them (to pack my lunch or give a gift), so it's no surprise that retailers are starting to spend more time and money on their shopping bags. Having someone reuse your shopping bag for days on end is great marketing.. and it's cheap!

One of my favorite bags to reuse is from a little shop called Cake. The bag is just your typical brown bag, but it has twisted rope handles and adorable designs. It's perfect for putting a small housewarming gift in.

Do any of you put any extra time or money into the bags you give away?

I've long thought that a forum would be excellent for the gift industry. There are so many retailers and manufacturers and visual merchandisers out there, I thought a forum would be a great way to bring everyone together.

So for the past few weeks, we've been setting up the GIFT SHOP Retail Forum. We've added categories we thought were pertinent: the ins and outs of running a gift shop, trade show discussions, e-commerce, what should a retailer sell and more.

We're launching today, so hopefully I'll now have more time to blog!

Come on by. (Through March '08 we're giving away one iPod Nano per month… register on the forum and you'll be entered to win!)

Click here to go to the GIFT SHOP forum now!

Taken from the summit of Wildcat Ski Resort of Mt. Washington around 11AM today.

Whenever I get ready to go on vacation, I always have second thoughts. "Maybe I shouldn't leave the office… maybe I should bring everything with me that needs to get done so I can work on it while I'm gone," etc.

Today, on our third day away, I'm slipping into vacation mode. As I sit gazing at the huge mountain before me, I realize that time out of the office enables me to clear my head.

I haven't touched my briefcase (packed to the hilt with things to be done), but instead have used this time to focus on the "big" picture. Where do I want (my company) to be in five years, are we on track with our marketing objectives for 2007 and what new initiatives can we try that we haven't before.

Technically, yes, I'm still working, but this kind of working is actually relaxing, and it's something I never have time for in the office, when deadlines are looming.

I hope that you'll be able to take a break this summer to get away from the office, clear your head and think of where you're going in the future.

I'm on vacation in North Conway, NH, and aside from trail runs and alpine sliding, I stopped by to visit some of the adorable gift shops in the downtown area. For one thing, I love to shop (surprise, surprise!) and for another, I enjoy being able to hand out our magazines personally (which is a great idea for any entrepreneur… think of vacations as a chance to get out there, visit new shops and show off what you make/sell).

In one shop, I happened to meet the store owner and we ended up having a very interesting conversation about how she chooses vendors. While design was at the top of her list, equally important was the vendors' commitment to keeping their lines out of mass merchandise stores. She said that many vendors she had worked with in the past promise that they won't sell to discount or chain stores, but then end up creating an almost identical line with a different name to sell there, so she drops their line.

I have talked to many vendors who have told me that they need the revenue of the mass merchandiser. But maybe there is a way for them to stay loyal to the independent gift store owner and still make their numbers. If the industry wants to help gift shop owners thrive I believe this process needs to start on the vendor level. What do you think?

According to the National Retail Federation, 34.5 million consumers (in the US) will buy patriotic-themed merchandise leading up to the Fourth of July. Many local and national retailers are counting on Independence Day to spark their July sales, while others have said that the holiday doesn't have a huge impact on their business. And based on the survey, almost 89 percent of consumers say they'll celebrate the holiday, and 57.9 percent say high gas prices won't affect how much they spend.

I personally love decorating and celebrating the Fourth of July. I've always loved it because I enjoy the fact that we celebrate in the warm summer months (what can I say, I like the heat), and I love the red, white and blue motif.

I hope you're able to sell lots of Americana and Fourth of July products this year. I've already stocked up, but I'd love to know: what's your best-selling product for the Fourth of July?

Last week, as I sat flipping through channels, searching for something entertaining to watch, I saw a TV Show that caught my eye. 20/20's In Touch was doing a piece titled "The Lucky Ones: Is It Serendipity or Smarts?" (You can find it here if I've piqued your interest.)

I thought the gist of the show was going to be that some people truly have more luck than others, through forces out of their control. However, it ended up that the "lucky" ones tended to believe in themselves and what they could accomplish. In the end, the main premise was that if you believe in yourself, there are no limits to what you can do.

I've found myself thinking quite a bit about the segment ever since. It just further illustrates what I have always thought, you can turn your dreams into reality if you believe in yourself.

Yesterday was opening day of SPREE West (in sunny San Jose, CA), our expo for the cart and kiosk industry. Fortunately, I'm feeling much better, especially since I love being out of the office at a show, seeing new products, networking with friends and meeting new people.

We have several companies launching new products at our show… and I'll be debuting a few of my favorite product finds in the next couple of days. It's been so exciting to hear how the entrepreneurs came up with their idea, found a way to get the product manufactured and saw their dreams realized when it came out in the market.

Stay tuned!

I'll probably take a day or two off from posting because my aunt is in the hospital. I received a phone call last week from my uncle asking if I could change my plans to see her based on a change in her condition.

Even though I'm busy at work, I know I can head down there on a weekday without a problem… matter of fact, it's one of the best parts of being self-employed.

Family's always first for me, and being able to only worry about my business a little (what self-employed person doesn't?) when I'm needed elsewhere makes me glad I'm an entrepreneur.