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Congratulations to Sam Miller for being selected as the Volunteer Firefighter of the Year in Lancaster, NY.

Sam is one of the newest additions to the Haley Marketing team. He serves as a Director of Marketing Education, helping to teach our clients more about how marketing can be used to improve sales productivity and reduce recruiting costs. 

Prior to joining Haley Marketing, Sam spent 20 years in the staffing industry, working in Southern California and Upstate New York.  He has had a highly successful career as an Account Executive, Recruiter and Branch Manager.  Sam is also a former Chairman’s award winner with Robert Half.

Way to go Sam, we are very proud of you!

It’s one of my favorite activities of the fall. Carving pumpkins! It is always fun to turn an ordinary pumpkin into a work of art. Here are a few of my favorite websites I go to for inspiration before I start carving!

• Pumpkin Way
  
• Martha Stewart Pumpkin Ideas
  
• Pumpkin Carving Patterns
  
• Pumpkin Lady
  

I hope you have a great Halloween! Enjoy!

I know I know, Jenn already did a post about my son but bear with me, I’m a proud new papa and I want to show off!

If you didn’t see Jenn’s post, Eli Henry Graczyk Faso was born on Saturday October 3rd at 4:39 PM.  He was 7 pounds 8 ounces at birth and has been growing nicely.  Mommy and baby have both been doing great, and fatherhood has been as exciting and enriching as everyone told me that it was going to be.

I want to thank everyone at Haley and my clients for all their support and well wishes in this joyous time for our family.

And now on to the good stuff, here’s a couple pictures of the little man.

Haley Marketing is happy to share some great news with you…

Congratulations go out to Matt and Adrienne the proud new parents of Eli Henry Graczyk Faso! Eli was born on Saturday, October 3 at 4:39 p.m. and weighed in at 7 lbs 8 oz!

Ok, I’ll admit it, I’m a 4th of July junkie.  I love this day more than my birthday, more than Christmas, yes even more than the first weekend of the college football season.

As a kid we always went to a family cottage and tried to cram as much fun as possible into one 12 hour span.  Baseball, golf, swimming, the beach, hot dogs, bandminton, the list goes on.  And as I’ve gotten older that hasn’t stopped.  I guess it’s just something about grilling meat, leisure sports, a few cold beers, and things blowing up that works for me. 

That last point especially, is the key to the holiday for me.  A 4th without fireworks is like Christmas without a tree–just wouldn’t feel right.

So I thought I would pass along a history of fireworks.  I hope that everyone has a fun filled and safe holiday!

The History of Fireworks

• The Chinese are credited with the invention of the first firework which was a bamboo case filled with explosives, although some say that India was where the first firecracker was made.
• The first recorded fireworks display was at the wedding of Henry VII in England in 1487.
• European royalty enjoyed fireworks so much that Elizabeth I appointed a “Fire Master of England”, James II knighted his firemaster and the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V dedicated a part of his army whose only function was to stage victory displays.
• Early settlers brought fireworks to our country. “Firings of black powder were used to celebrate holidays and impress the natives” (Wikipedia).
• By the time that the American Revolution took place, fireworks had already been established as playing a role in celebrating events and important occasions. This is why fireworks easily came to mind when America declared its independence.
• On July 4, 1776, we claimed our independence from Britain and the first official celebration of Independence Day (which included fireworks) occurred in 1777–before the Revolutionary War (1775-1783) was won.
• Fireworks were also displayed at George Washington’s inauguration in 1789.
• In the late 18th Century, politicians used fireworks to get people to attend their speeches.
• In 1892, over one million people celebrated the 400 year anniversary of Christopher Columbus discovering America in Brooklyn, NY.
• “Congress led the way for the encouragement of fireworks on the Fourth of July by authorizing a display on July 4, 1777, in Philadelphia, a year after the signing of the Declaration of Independence.” (Heintze)
• Over the next couple years, Fourth of July celebrations made their way to big cities such as Boston (1777), Worcester (1779), Charleston (1783) and more.

I actually had a client ask me if it was snowing in Buffalo today.  Which I was happy to respond that it is sunny and 80 here today.  I was even happier when my client told me that our weather was better than she was experiencing in Mississippi.  Ha!

I know we have the reputation that we are all living in igloos in Buffalo, but did you know that Buffalo has more sunny days per year than Orlando?  Don’t believe me?  http://www.buffalonews.com/home/story/545065.html  Ha, again!  Happiest place on earth my foot!

So it looks like summer has landed in Buffalo.  I know one of my favorite things to do in the summer is to open a bottle of wine and enjoy a nice dinner on my deck.  However, if you’re like most people and feel intimidated when you walk into the wine section of your local store, there is help available. 

***Caution Cheap Plug Coming!!*** 

My step-father writes a wine column for the TV show Ciao Italia at http://ciaoitalia.com/Wine.aspx.  He updates it each month with helpful tips, trends, and thoughts about wine.  Check it out the next time you’re looking for that perfect bottle for a perfect evening.

Check out these stats from David Searns’s first real hockey game last night: http://www.pointstreak.com/players/players-division-leaders.html?divisionid=18756&seasonid=4020.

I bet you didn’t even know David plays hockey, did you? That’s because he just started playing recently. See you really can teach an old dog new tricks! What have you always wanted to try? May David’s success be your inspiration!

Happy Friday!

Matt Faso, one of our Marketing Advisors, was recently featured in this Cornell University podcast about the differences between working for small and large companies.  Matt has some great experience on this topic, as he was worked both in small, entrepreneurial environments, as well as large multi-media conglomerates and Fortune 100 companies. 

As a Marketing Advisor with Haley Marketing, Matt’s role is to help our clients with the implementation of their relationship marketing campaigns. He’s kind of like a personal trainer dedicated to helping our clients “pump up” their sales and marketing results.  As a Cornell graduate with a degree in economics, and a seasoned marketing professional, Matt’s diverse background can be particularly useful to our clients in their efforts to recruit talent and advise their candidates on career direction.

Our team is extremely proud that Matt achieved this recognition, and we hope you will enjoy listening to his insights.  Please feel free to email Matt if you’d like to discuss any of the topics from this podcast.

Cornell’s eClips offer a great resource for free business information. For more free information for your firm, please be sure to take advantage of these resources from Haley Marketing:

• Marketing Best Practices Guide
• Staffing SEO Guide
• Idea Club Newsletter