The Business of Queendom: An opinion piece

Every Mostly every little girl dreams of the day when she will get to dress up like a princess and be queen for a day during her royal wedding. She imagines what it would be like to be waited on hand and foot by her loyal subjects. She fantasizes about the day her prince charming will whisk her away to a far off land and they'll live happily ever after.

Watching the Royal Wedding coverage got me to thinking: every one isn't fit to be a queen. Being a history buff, I've always known that typically when someone of status gets married it's normally for business or political or financial reasons. Way back when, families formed alliances with each other through the betrothal of their children, but they normally didn't marry just anyone off to their children. Typically it was the son that could help the family gain the most who got married to the most virginal and fairest daughter of marrying age.

Watching the Royal family closely, I've noticed that not everyone can handle the task and responsibility of being a future queen. It takes a dedicated and loyal woman to stand behind a man with that much power. A private woman to not be swindled by the paparazzi and media. It takes a woman who is smart enough to understand the business sense behind becoming a woman of royalty because if you notice, many of the women who married into royalty made their mark on the world one way or another. Whether it was through philanthropy, business, or the like, these women knew how to acquire their assets and put them to good use.

Unfortunately, the next statement goes against my neo-feminist beliefs but it also takes a very strong and understanding woman to love her husband's faults (i.e. love of women, bad decisions, scandalous behavior) and decide whether to work with him and the relationship or quit. I remember watching a documentary about the royal marriages and when they profiled the divorce of Diana and Charles, the Queen Mother said of Charles' affair "Well...men cheat." No, I don't believe in that statement, but if you look at it from a business prospective she has a point.

When you have a business deal, it is both unethical and not smart to quit the business at the first sign of trouble. That is the reason you sign contracts and go through so many legal red tape to even be able to conduct business....legally. As with a marriage, there is a reason you get a marriage license, it's a contract to be married to your mate. But, everyone is not fit to be in business otherwise everyone would have one. Just like the responsibility of being someone's princess or queen, everyone is not fit. You have to be a certain type of person, with a particular view, and a certain strength to carry that much weight.

Kate Middleton has a lot going for her as the future queen of England. From an outside point of view she is very demure, level-headed, strong, and opinionated without being obnoxious. Like Diana she appears to be approachable and amicable which will work in her favor when she decides to make her mark on the world. Although, she has centuries of tradition greeting her at Westminster Abbey, I think Kate Middleton is not only fully aware of her marriage to Prince William, but she will be able to accept it full on. The best thing about her is that she is the woman that HRH Prince William chose to marry. Being that they are marrying for love, Prince William will do a fabulous job of keeping her happy and maintaining the marriage.

**That's my opinion and no it doesn't reflect the opinions of my business, interns, employees, or affiliates.**

The Unemployed Entrepreneur

Customer Service: A personal experience

I live in Atlanta, Ga for those of you who are reading in another country or state. I went to a local sushi restaurant yesterday and was baffled by the horrible customer service that was presented to me. Here's the scenario:

Time: 5:05. The weather had made a freakish turn and it started to rain and thunder. Traffic started to get backed up. Business people and college students were beginning to pour into the restaurant. As I wait for my friends to arrive, I order my drink and am presented with the complimentary sushi plate they serve every Wednesday. THE POWER GOES OUT. All the patrons freak out as the kitchen closes down and the bar halts to a stand still. The restaurant manager is in a frenzy trying to find out what's going on later finding out that the entire block is without power. My server, with the worst attitude, starts to panic and make simple tasks harder for herself. The manager visits each table to tell us what has happened to the power and then disappears. Thinking we should leave, we prepare to pay but find ourselves confused as to how they will be able to scan the credit cards. The server, bad attitude in tow, comes to the table with a piece of paper, calculator, and pen to take down ALL of my information including my credit card number. To make a long story short, the power came back on and hour later and I promptly paid. Promising myself to always bring cash

I don't work in the restaurant business and I don't own a restaurant, but that situation really made me think about the blatant ignorance to good customer service on the part of the person in charge. First of all, as a server, the one thing you don't want to do is have a bad attitude and then expect to get a nice tip. Second of all in an emergency situation, you never want to see your client or customers see you sweat. It shows that you aren't properly prepared for the situation and you don't know how to control your emotions. But my discontent isn't with the server per se, it's with the manager. The person in charge who is supposed to ensure the employees are doing their jobs properly and the customers are well taken care of.

As a manager, CEO, or any other person in a high position, people look to you to ensure that emergencies are dealt with, problems are solved, and the experience is more than pleasurable. The fact that this manager disappeared in the middle of a black out and then had her server walk around, carelessly, with a piece of paper to take our credit card number and information in the day and age of IDENTITY THEFT tells me that she was ill-prepared for this kind of crisis.

Call me expectant of a favor, but I felt like the manager should have did the information gathering procedure herself, been a lot more accommodating, and comped at least everyone's drink.

This goes back to the post "What Business Are You Really In?"

"An industry begins with the customer and his or her needs, not with a patent, a raw material, or a selling skill."

When you put your customer high on the hierarchy, you will be wonderfully rewarded, however if you place the most importance on the product and pushing it to the public, you'll find yourself in a heap of problems.

That is why it's called CUSTOMER SERVICE...not product service.

Stepping off the soap box now...

The Unemployed [but Empowered and slightly annoyed] Entrepreneur