Soho Sushi

By Bob Cox

The single greatest challenge for almost every start-up business is getting enough customers through the doors, especially in the first few months. At least that’s been my experience since I've been working as an advertising rep here in the greater Sacramento area over the past 23 years. I've met thousands of business owners that were more than willing to do whatever it took to generate enough revenue to keep their doors open.

Then, there are those exceptionally rare occasions when a new business actually encounters the opposite problem…too much business! The story I’m about to tell is real, and the names have not been changed to protect the innocent.

A kind-hearted and soft spoken man had enjoyed many years of success owning and operating a jewelry store in Stockton, CA when one day, out of the blue, he was approached by a friend who had an exciting business opportunity. His friend invited him to becomes partners with him in his new sushi restaurant in Rancho Cordova, CA. After long and careful consideration, Joe accepted his friend’s invitation. He was ready for a new and exciting challenge, so he closed the chapter on his jewelry business, moved north and went for it!

The man I’m referring to above is Joe Lee, and he is the proud owner of one of the hottest new restaurants in the greater Sacramento area: Soho Sushi in Rancho Cordova. I caught up with Joe the other day to learn more about his extraordinary business.

Q: Tell us about Soho Sushi.

A: We opened two years ago. I started with a partner and he left recently. I’m fairly new in this business but fortunately, I have a large staff of talented and experienced people. We offer good food and good service. We only serve fresh fish and we emphasize customer service by taking care of one customer at a time every day. I’m here seven days a week to make sure we stay committed to taking good care of our customers.

Q: What have been some of the biggest surprises and challenges of owning this restaurant?

A: When we first opened up, the response from the public was overwhelming. We did not expect the large volume of customers we got and we had trouble giving them all good service. The first six months was a bit of trial by error, but over the last year and a half, we have seen steady improvement with our service and our revenues. Right now, I’m still learning, but I’m committed to making sure that everything is clean and the quality of the food and service is excellent.

Q: Your restaurant is not only beautiful but remarkably clean. What’s your secret to keeping it looking brand new?

A: We all treat each day like we’re going to get a visit from the health inspector. That keeps us motivated every day to keep our restaurant exceptionally clean, from the front to the back.

Q: Has the speed of your service improved since you first opened?

A: Yes, we have a lot of business customers who come in at lunchtime and they have short breaks, some only 30 minutes. We have to serve them quickly and courteously so they can get back to work on time and will want to come back. Since we first opened, we have hired and trained a large staff, so now we’re always ready for the biggest rushes that come during lunch and dinner. We are committed to learning and we keep getting better and better. On those rare occasions we get a bad review on Yelp, we don’t get offended. Instead, we learn from all the feedback we get and use it to improve. Fortunately, we mostly get positive feedback from our customers.

Q: What separates your restaurant from other restaurants?

A: We have a very talented and popular sushi chef. We are committed to always improving and introducing new menu items so that our customers never get bored. We only use fresh fish and fresh ingredients, so the flavor is always the best.

Q: What are your most popular menu items?

A: Our customers love our sushi rolls, especially the Spicy Rhonda (Spicy masago and green onion topped with tuna, salmon, crab meat and jalapeno), Brandi’s Special (Green onion with salmon and spicy tuna on top), Moon’s Special (Deep-fried calamari, crab meat and avacado), Baked Salmon (Salmon, masago and green onion, unagi sauce on top), Sexy Tomoyo (Masago and green onion with salmon, yellowtail and crab meat on top), Tiger (Cooked shrimp, avacado, masago, green onion and special sauce on top) and Ninja King (Masago and green onion with crab meat and cooked shrimp on top). These are just a few of our most popular dishes. The flavor is always great because our sushi chef pays attention to every detail and we only serve fresh fish and fresh ingredients every day. We have very fast turnaround, so all our fish has to be fresh.

Q: What are some of the things you've done to train your employees to give faster and better service?

A: (Ewan Mac, Supervisor). I've been here over a year and this is a good place to work. I been responsibly for helping to train new employees. We make sure they all check up on all the customers and give them fast and friendly service.

Q: Any big plans for the future?

A: Yes, hopefully we’d like to expand. Of course, it’s very important to have enough of the right people. The people here are just like my family. I don’t feel like the boss when I’m around here. We’re just like one big family.

Editor’s notes: For more information about Soho Sushi, visit their restaurant at 3101 Zinfandel Dr. #124 in Rancho Cordova, browse their website at www.sohosushisac.com or call (916) 853-1100.

Live Your Dream . . . Not Someone Else's

By Bob Cox

Last month, while delivering magazines to one of my clients, I asked him how he was doing. He chuckled lightheartedly and responded “I’m living the dream”. His good friend chimed in “Yeah, but who’s dream is it”? We all three enjoyed a good laugh as I bolted through the door and onto the next delivery.

After an entire day of delivering and soul searching, I asked myself if I had been living my dream for the past several years. The honest answer was a resounding NO! I had failed to share my primary motivation for starting Go For It Magazine with my clients. Why? Because I enlisted two close companions, fear and self doubt, to protect me from the danger of being rejected by the people I have a great respect for: entrepreneurs.

For over six years, I had been telling my clients that our magazine was created to give local businesses an affordable way to advertise during the Great Recession. While that statement was 100% true, it was not the primary reason I created the only freely distributed self-improvement magazine for our community. I started Go For It Magazine because I knew what it was like to live my dream, what it was like to live someone else's and the startling difference between the two!

After six and a half years of long hours attending school and working late nights doing janitorial work, I accomplished my goal and earned a four year degree in marketing from Sac State. I finally figured out what I wanted to do: Work for a large advertising agency in Los Angeles. I had always been fascinated by human behavior, so working on major ad campaigns would give me the opportunity to unleash my creative imagination while trying to figure out what motivates people to buy the stuff they buy.

Immediately after graduating, I wrote a strong resume and mailed it to every ad agency in L.A. Days turned into weeks as the phone mocked me in silent protest while the bills continued to roll in. The financial pressure became unbearable, so I set my dream aside, took the first job offer and then spent the next four years in a prison without bars: Retail management.

Now, don’t get me wrong. Retail is a wonderful profession, it just didn't happen to be my life’s calling. I did my best to make the most of my new career, but I felt the life force draining out of me with each passing day. Just when I thought I couldn't sink any lower, the store manager pulled my aside one day and said, “Bob, I don’t think you’re cut out for retail”. I thought, “Great, now I can’t even succeed at something I don’t even care about”!

Fortunately, everything changed one sunny Saturday afternoon when my parents eagerly gave me a price guide on baseball cards. I thought, “That’s nice, my parents have finally lost their minds and think I’m still 10 years old. I guess they can’t they see that I’m grown man, standing here in their used book store with my wife, my son and a migraine the size of Dodger Stadium”! After several months, I opened the magazine and was shocked to discover that I had thousands of dollars worth of cards in an old shoe box. I became so inspired, I started an investment guide on baseball card collecting, calling on hundreds of card shops all across the country, asking them to advertise in our magazine. The last time I felt that excited was when I was a 10 year old kid opening up baseball card packs!

While that venture didn't pan out financially, it opened the doors to an amazing opportunity when I got a job in advertising sales. From the second I went out with one of the advertising reps, I was hooked! At the end of each work day, I had plenty of energy left over to enjoy real quality time with the people I loved. Every morning, I woke up early and invested in myself, reading messages that inspired me to improve every facet of my personal and professional life. Within three years, my earnings nearly doubled, I was loving life and living the dream…my dream!

If you’re currently living your dream, please email your story to us so we can share it with all our readers and encourage everyone to go for it!

Look your best with Dental Implants

By Dr. Andrade & Dr. Montalvo

Did you know that holding onto your pearly whites can keep you looking young? Just look at the illustration to see how losing your teeth can make you look much older. This is due to the fact that your teeth hold up your lips and chin. When teeth are missing, the chin drops down and the lips start to curl inward. When teeth are missing from the jaw, the jaw bone begins to “waste” away. This means that the more teeth you can hold onto, the more bone will be kept in the jaw. So, if you are missing teeth, you may still be able to replace them without loosing any further bone. This revolutionary way of keeping your bone intact is called the dental implant.

Dental implants have changed the way we treat missing teeth. You no longer have to wear uncomfortable dentures or have your healthy teeth drilled to get a bridge. Both of these methods of replacing teeth do not maintain your bone and will eventually lead to the old looking face and smile.

So, keep yourself looking and feeling young with dental implants.

Making sense out of health care reform

By Randy Gutfeld

Health care reform is challenging.  Selecting the right health insurance for you and/or your business is one of the most important financial decisions you’ll make. With all the ongoing changes in the health care industry, you need more than just an insurance agent. Finding the right health insurance plan involves many tax  and other financial issues that must be dealt with as well.  This is where I can help you.  I have over 25 years of experience in the tax, insurance and financial industries serving the Sacramento area.  My cross section of services gives me an advantage over the competition, providing you the best solution.

Do You Own Your Business or Does Your Business Own You?

I have more than 20 years of experience working in the accounting and employee benefits departments of companies of all sizes and types. As a result, I understand the challenges of administering group health plans from a company's point of view. I’m able to effectively communicate with owners, staff members and insurance companies and can possibly alleviate some of the benefit duties employees now perform.

The best part is that since insurance companies already build the cost of a broker into your premium, os this service will come at no extra cost to you or your employees. In addition to making sure you are getting the best value for your health insurance dollar, I can also assist you with:

• Health care reform issues • New employee enrollment • Explanation of benefits • Change in employee status • COBRA administration • Billing and insurance company problems • Plan recertification • Other benefit duties currently performed by you or your employees/HR staff

You need someone on your side who is not just an ordinary broker, but a highly seasoned professional who can help you look at the big picture in order to save your company time and money. If you want to make sure you are receiving the best value for your health insurance dollar along with the best broker service available, call me today at (916) 487-4632 or e-mail rhg@gutfeld.com.

Getting the FAQ’s on the Crazy New World of Health Insurance

Question: I renewed my company health insurance policy four months ago and would like to change to another insurance carrier.  Am I obligated to stay with my current group plan until the next renewal?

Answer: When you renew your policy, your premium is guaranteed for the contract year. However, insurance plans generally have a cancellation clause in their contracts. If you are considering changing plans, it is important to read the terms of your current policy before you make any decisions. If you do decide to change carriers, get written confirmation from the new carrier before you terminate your current plan.   Call or e-mail our office at (916) 487-4632, rhg@gutfeld.com  if you have any questions.

Question:  I want to change the individual plan I purchased earlier this year.  What are my options?

Answer:  The next open enrollment for individual health insurance is November 15, 2014 to February 15, 2015.  There is also a special enrollment period (SEP) where if you have a qualifying event (e.g., gaining a dependent, marriage, divorce, losing group coverage, etc.), you can  obtain coverage outside the open enrollment period.

The New Wave of Water Bed Demand

By Bob Cox

While many people associate the waterbed with the free love era of the 1960’s, waterbeds have been around for millenniums. The earliest known form of a waterbed dates back over 3,000 years ago to Persia. Goatskins were filled with water and placed in the sun to absorb heat. Historians have speculated that the warmed goatskins were used either by the sick or by royalty.

In 1832, Scottish physician Dr. Neil Arnott invented the Arnott hydrostatic waterbed as a way to help reduce bedsores in patients. It consisted of light bedding placed on top of a rubberized canvas, which rested on a tub filled with bath water. In the late 1800’s, Sir James Paget revived Arnott's design to treat ulcers while Dr. William Hooper promoted the waterbed as a cure for rheumatism and arthritis. In 1883, Hooper had the foresight to patent his version of the waterbed, but was unable to regulate the temperature of the water, causing his waterbed to be a commercial failure.

Waterbeds evolved from a novelty item into a viable commercial product with the invention of vinyl in the 1960’s. In 1968, San Francisco State University student Charles Prior Hall accidentally invented the waterbed while attempting to find stuffing for an experimental chair. Hall also invented a heater, liner and patch kit, transforming the waterbed into an enormous commercial success. By 1987, waterbed sales accounted for 22% of the mattress market. Ironically, Hall was unable to sufficiently defend his patents from other manufacturers and never reaped the full benefit of his invention.

Today’s waterbeds combine the medicinal benefits of pressure reduction and comfort with the highest standards of luxury. Most waterbeds are now sold on a regular frame and resemble ordinary spring and coil mattresses in their exterior appearance and size. Best of all, modern waterbeds offer sleepers the ability to control the temperature of the water without having to leave them in the sun.

I spoke to Pete Schiller, the owner of La Brie’s Sleep Center, to learn more about the history of waterbeds here in Sacramento and find out why more and more people are riding the new wave of sleeping on waterbeds. Here’s how our conversation went.

Q: How did La Brie’s Sleep Center get started?

A: Tom La Brie started the business back in 1972 and became a local celebrity while running commercials during the Late Night Comfort Show.

Q: Do you have a lot of competition here in Sacramento?

No, we’re the only store in Sacramento that carries waterbeds and one of a few in Northern California. We also have a nice selection of wall beds, air beds and specialty mattresses.

Q: What are some of the common misconceptions about waterbeds?

A: That they leak real easily. Also, people have expressed concern about the weight of a waterbed on their floor. They think they’re too heavy for their floor. Even today, I had a customer who would not put it on the second floor. In 1973, a law passed (senate bill 1645) to insure that any home built after that year requires enough floor strength to support the weight of a waterbed.

Q: I've heard that waterbeds are making a comeback, especially among seniors. What is driving this resurgence?

A: For a lot of people who had a waterbed in the past, that’s where most of our business is coming from. I just had a customer today who said, “You know, I had a waterbed for 5 years and I found another woman who asked me to get rid of it. So far, we've been through 5 mattresses in 5 years! I haven’t found one thing that we both like.” So, he’s going to bring her back in to show her some waterbeds. I don’t know how happy she is with each mattress they've bought, but that’s a lot of mattresses and he’s not buying cheap mattresses!

Q: What are the most common benefits of sleeping on a waterbed?

A: There is minimal pressure on your body when you lay on a waterbed. The customer I mentioned earlier complained that his shoulder and his side go to sleep on a standard mattress. As we get older, we become more susceptible to those kinds of problems. So, if you have pressure problems where your hip goes to sleep or your shoulder goes to sleep, it might still happen on a waterbed, but it lessens that pressure. That’s the biggest trend we’re seeing. It’s my older clientele that are now coming in and saying that they’re having trouble falling asleep. They’re buying waterbeds again because, for many people, that’s the only thing that has offered them relief.

Q: Are you getting feedback from your customers about their quality of sleep and overall comfort?

A: Yes, almost everybody! I had a lady with fibromyalgia who was in a support group and one of the members had recently bought a waterbed from us. My customer told her friend that was the only thing she got relief from. She told me that the doctors don’t really know what fibromyalgia is, and they don’t understand the level of pain people experience. After she purchased a waterbed from me, she said she still didn't sleep much more than 3 hours a night, but on a regular bed, she couldn't even sleep an hour. She said, “To you, that may not sound good. To me, it’s fantastic! I couldn't sleep at all in my other bed.” Even her husband chimed in, “Before we bought the waterbed, my wife was up all night, going from the bed, to the sofa, to the recliner, to the chair and back to bed. That used to be a nightly thing.”

Q: Do you recommend a waterbed for everybody?

A: No, they don’t work for everybody. Nothing works for everybody. But, if you have any pressure issues, typically a waterbed is going to be your solution.

Editor’s notes: For more information about La Brie’s Sleep Center, visit their website www.labries.com, their showroom at 1908 El Camino Ave., Sacramento, CA 95815 or call them at (916) 565-2541. 

Dental Fun Facts

Dental Fun Facts

Did you know…

That wisdom teeth were called such because they erupt when you’re older and wiser.

It takes 43 muscles to frown but only 17 to smile.

That ⅔ of people have less respect for a boss with bad breath.

Sharks lose teeth each week and may have over 20,000 teeth in their lifetime.

That 24% of people say they would share their toothbrush with their partner.

Dental Trivia

1. How many teeth does the average person have?

a. 20

b. 38

c. 32

2. What’s the first thing people notice when they meet someone?

a. Eyes

b. Smile

c. Hair

3. Tooth enamel is the hardest part of the human body even harder than bone?

True

False

4. No two humans have the same tongue imprint, not even twins.

True

False

5. The average person has how many taste buds?

a. 100

b. 1,000

c. 10,000

6. How many different types of bacteria are there in the human mouth?

a. 50

b. 200

c. 600

7. Which is the weakest sense?

a. Sight

b. Taste

c. Smell

d. Touch

8. How much time does the average person spend on brushing?

a. 10-30 sec

b. 40-70 sec

c. 2-3 min

9. The recommended amount of time to brush is?

a. 60-90 sec

b. 2-3min

c. 3-4 min

Answers:

1. c

2. b

3. True

4. True

5. c

6. c

7. b

8. b

9. b

Being a Good Leader of the Pack

By Bob Cox

Before I began watching Cesar Milan, a.k.a. “The Dog Whisperer”, I found myself feeling frustrated whenever I took my dog The Nut for a walk. Oftentimes, she would take off like a bottle rocket on the Fourth of July whenever she saw something she wanted to chase after. Let me tell you, when you have too many pounds of unbridled excitement burst forward without any obvious notice, there’s a tremendous amount of unwanted impact that happens on the other side of the leash. I suffered the consequences of severe shoulder strain while nearly being knocked off my feet on multiple occasions. My poor wife Diana fared even worse as she dislocated a shoulder from several of these Nutty encounters!

I pointed the finger at my dog for being the source of the problem. I reasoned that if she would just calm down whenever she saw a squirrel or cat; we could both enjoy a leisurely stroll through the neighborhood. What I learned from Cesar is that while I had pointed the finger at my dog, I had three fingers pointing back at me. In that moment of clarity, I realized that I was the true source of the problem. I was being a bad pack leader.

My transformation from being a bad pack leader to being a good pack leader began when I redefined the purpose of my walks with The Nut. In the past, I self-centeredly used these walks to either get lost in a sea of thoughts or mentally check out altogether while being oblivious to the external environment. When I made the decision to redefine the purpose of our walks, which was to help my dog and I enjoy our 20 minutes together by becoming an effective and respected pack leader, everything changed for the better.

The first step on our walk to achieve greater balance and joy began when I chose to tune in and pay attention to our surrounding environment while appreciating the beauty of the great outdoors. Once this shift occurred, oftentimes I would spot the potential target of pray before The Nut and swiftly avoid potential chaos by moving her gently to the opposite side of my body while maintaining our pace. On the few occasions when she saw a dastardly varmint, I quickly redirected her locked-down focus with either a quick touch to her body or tug on the leash. After two or three corrections, we were back on a positive path forward and I followed through by rewarding her with praise for a job well done.

For those of you who don’t own a dog, the principals of being a good pack leader can be practiced in any situation when your goal is to create a healthy relationship with another animal we like to call human beings. Would you like to be a better parent, spouse or co-worker? Great, that’s half the battle! The desire to improve is healthy because it can become a catalyst for positive and lasting change. The next step to resolving any conflict involves a wise and simple course of action. Be sure to take yourself off the autopilot of self-centered thinking and plug into the moment. When you do this, you change the agenda from “me” to “we”. Listen to your partner attentively and find out what they want from the relationship. When you do this, you set the bar of trust, respect and cooperation higher and your partner will feel more encouraged to reciprocate. Finally, if either you or your partner gets off track, don’t ignore the bad behavior and allow unspoken resentments to build up and fester. A quick correction, followed up with sincere praise insures a brighter path and a more peaceful walk for us all.