I dont know about any one else but my desk has tons of different items scattered all over the place. I wanted to introduce you to my latest find this week and it is the promotional multi-function "Desk Buddy Highlighter". This is one of my favorite items and it is great for keeping my desk tidier. My desk buddy has 4 neon highlighters, a retractable brush for cleaning the key board and a computer screen cleaner. Not to mention, the desk buddy looks alot like two of my co-workers, what do you think?  :-)

My wife and I just got back from a mini vacation to Lake Tahoe, CA.  We went snowboarding at Heavenly Mountian.  It was a great time even with the lack of snow.  The " Tahoe " sun was out all 4 days.  A suntan was the last thing I was thinking about when I went snowboarding, so I was not prepared.  As lunch time rolled around.. I took a look at myself in the mirror and realized I was going to be in for a world of hurt.  I headed directly to the shop and picked up some promotional sunblock.  They were cool they were branded with the mountain logo and cool image of a snowboarder and they had a sport clip so I could clip it to my board bag and never be without it.  and of course I paid a premium being @ 10,000 feet.  The good news is they even threw in some promotional candy to help heal the pain of the sunburn.

One of my best friends during work here at Motivators is my pen! I use my pen throughout the day and it is very important that it can write well and it must be blue ink. My favorite one that glides while writing at the gel pens. They are just so much easier to use than your ordinary click pens and your writing is much more legible (or so I think). Even though no one sees the notes I take or the scribbles I make, it makes me feel good to know that I use blue ink. Especially when I don't have to try to write and the pen just does everything for me. Makes me feel all that better. 

I am a huge sports fan and love football and baseball.  The bleak few months after the Super Bowl are especially boring for me.  I don't watch too many t.v. shows and the cold weather makes it difficult to go to any outdoor establishments. I try to dabble a little in basketball and hockey but  it does not do much for me.  Thankfully, I have recently discovered Words, Scramble and Hanging with Friends.  I put my promotional iPad case on my iPad and I was ready to roll.  I have to admit, at first I wasn't sold, but after a little while I was hooked. Think I can't handle 20 games at once? No big deal!  Give me my promotional water bottle and a comfy chair and I'm all set. Thank goodness for a worthy distraction until my Mets are finally back!

          Oh promotional adhesive pads, where would we be without you and your trusty side kick, the promotional pen? Both are a staple in anyone's home or office. They provide a valuable service, plus are an excellent promotional item.

          Post-It notes, you provide us the perfect opportunity to share important information. Your sticky background weathers many daily abuses, while holding on dearly to the document you were affixed to. You are the messenger of changes and alterations. You can deliver good news, or bad. You provide us with a chance to change and correct our ways. You are also there in a pinch, in a bind, and even when we need you on the fly. You provide a blank slate to brand a logo and provide contact information. You are a reminder for the forgetful, and a holder of important information. You and your trusty side kick, the promotional pen, go hand-in-hand...literally!

          However, what most people don't realize is that you are a canvas. You're a blank page waiting to be used. You are the beginning of something creative, and you can allow the imagination to run wild. You give the opportunity to people like my friends and co-workers, Kati and Nicole, to allow their creative juices to flow. Without you their work wouldn't be proudly displayed in my cubicle, or be seen below. Thank you ladies, it's greatly appreciated and very sweet.

          So Post-It notes and pens, you hold a special place in our hearts. You may be taken advantage of, and taken for granted. But you are never forgotten, and you will always be by our side.

My work here in prep requires a lot of computations and calculations. I’m not completely comfortable using the calculator installed on my computer because I don’t like the idea of changing screens every time I need to get the figures from my sheet.

Good thing I have my ever-reliable promotional calculator handy always. It has a big screen to make viewing easier, large buttons for my fat fingers that makes computing easy (sometimes I don't even have to look at the numbers!), and of course a more accurate result than doing the math in my head (I sometimes don’t trust my math).

My calculator also has a dual-power feature which automatically uses solar power when I’m in a bright room or outdoors. This saves battery which makes it a very eco-friendly device.

I believe that whatever field you're in -- whether it's accounting, sales, IT, industrial, medical, graphics etc. -- numbers and computations are going to be part of what you do. Good thing Motivators has a variety of promotional calculators, available in many different sizes, which make adding and subtracting easier and a lot of fun!

Grocery shopping is one of the biggest budget eaters for everyone. We allot a big percentage of expenses for food and other home/kitchen needs. Here are some ways to stick to your grocery budget and prevent over-spending on not-so-important items and food.

1. Analyze the goods you normally consume on a weekly basis. Make a weekly groceries visit instead of a daily trip. This will help you save gasoline, time and energy. Mark your promotional calendars with your scheduled grocery activity.
2. Make a weekly food plan for the family. Set a specific budget per meal. Make sure it’ll be healthy and balanced with nutrients the whole family needs.
3. Always be ready with your pens and promotional notebooks. List all your grocery needs on a weekly plan.
   
   

   

4. When going to the grocery store, always bring your calculator. Compare prices of the items and see how much money you’ll be able to save.
   
   

   

5. Look up and down at the store's displayed items. More expensive products are normally placed at eye-level to easily be seen and reached by consumers. Cheaper priced items can be found either on the higher or lower part of the display cabinets.
6. Although going to purchase groceries can be a good bonding activity for the family, teach your kids not to pick up unnecessary goodies that can make you exceed your budget. Instead of buying chips and candies, buy them fruits which are healthier and more nutritious.
7. Save all your leftover change in coin banks. You’ll be surprised how much money you’ve collected once you completely fill them up!
   
   

Staying within your grocery budget can be tough, especially when you’re just starting, but as the weeks go by and you get the hang of it, you’ll soon realize how much you can save. The money you've saved can even be used to buy something special to reward yourself for a job well done.

This past Thursday January 26th, Ken, Laura, Samantha and myself attended the SAAGNY winter showcase 2012.  The plethora of trade show items were amazing.  Any promotional product you could think of was there.  Any item you may want imprinted they had on display.  It really makes you think about how many of these items you come in contact with every single day.  We all had a great time walking the show and are looking forward to selling many of these item to our customers!

The first thing I do when I get to work is cross out that day on my promotional wall calendar so I do not count this date for any means on any of my orders (and secretly to make sure I know which day and date it is). I feel like without my calendar I would be a big mess! No one understands my needs or helps me remember everything like my calendar does. I mark everything from birthdays, to meetings, to special events I need to attend, to the bills I need to pay. My calendar allows me to see everthing all layed out for the month so no need to miss a payment here or there. I thank you my promotional wall calendar for making me stay so organized.

While visiting my family, friends, and co-workers (of course!) in NY over the holidays and New Year, I spent some time at my Dads optical store in Great Neck. Without even realizing it, his store had promotional products everwhere! And I am not talking about the promotional mints that Motivators did for him either. I am talking about promotional items that were given to him from lens companies, frame companies, insurance companies and many more.

Two of the items caught my eye above the rest. The first was a branded basketweave ballpoint pen. The main reason this one stands out is simple. It is one of my favorite custom executive pens because of its weight and the weave design texture on the body of the pen. Of all the promotional pens in my custom imprinted bamboo stripe pen holder, this is by far the first one I grab. This works out well for Definity, a brand of progressive lenses, as my dad really likes the pen too! In the best case scenario, using the pen will remind my dad of their brand, and if suitable for the client, he will choose their brand of lenses.

The second promotional item that I encountered was a promotional non-adhesive note pad. New York Eye actually left a few notepads at his office and that was certainly to their benefit. I noticed that the first branded note pad on each table was one from New York Eye. Being that the promotional pad has many other brands on it, such as: Seventeen, Taka, Jubilee, Reality, Eddie Bauer and Coleman, to name a few, this must have been a joint sponsorship. One thing I really like about these branded non-adhesive pads, is that the imprint area is so large. The consumer has just about the entire product to customize which makes it really favorable for joint sponsorships and creating very affective brand awareness. How would you choose to customize your promotional notepad?