February 5, 2012

Free Trade Isn’t Always Fair Trade

Free Trade and Fair Trade Global Policies

A few days ago, I wrote a five-part essay called How to Solve the Trade Deficit in response to a reader question about trade policy in the United States. The reader, Adam, responded on his blog.  Here is my followup to his commentary. I Would Love to Run Trade Surpluses But It Isn't Going to Happen If the United States were to run trade surpluses, as opposed to going trade neutral, we would be accused of mercantilism (rightly).  This would immediately cause our trade partners around … [Read more...]

You Can Tell I Grew Up in the Embroidery Industry …

My Color IQ Test Right Before Submission

Not only do I own Mount Olympus Awards and MOA Team Supply, but my parents own a company called Chenille Appeal, which is one of the nation's largest wholesale chenille businesses (they started it when I was in junior high and it has grown exponentially over the past 16+ years). Anyway, I was on MacRumors.com and browsing the Photoshop / Graphic Design boards and took a color IQ test that shows your ability to rank hues. I scored a perfect. So did Aaron! (That may explain our penchant for … [Read more...]

Breakfast of Tycoons by Carl Barks

Breakfast of Tycoons - Carl Barks Scrooge McDuck Art

We added Breakfast of Tycoons to the official Carl Barks collection at Mount Olympus Awards.  We've been selectively acquiring more and more of his stuff when the price is attractive and it just fits with all of the framed stock certificates and financial artwork. I've identified a few other pieces we are interesting in actively acquiring but only on our terms.  Most of the time, we have them reworked in far nicer frames, matting, etc.  I'll try and update a future post with what they look … [Read more...]

The Wholesale Varsity Jacket Award Catalogs Are Going to the Printers!

MOA Team Supply Wholesale Chenille and Wholesale Varsity Jacket Awards Catalog

MOA Team Supply, the wholesale varsity jacket award division of Mount Olympus Awards, has finally finished its catalog and after being proof-read, they will go to the printers for mass dispersion throughout the nation's school districts. We offer factory direct pricing, fast (if not the fastest) delivery in the industry at 2-3 weeks for most standard custom varsity award products, and low minimums.  The best part?  All (yes, 100%) of our custom chenille products such as varsity letters are … [Read more...]

Our Value Investing Research Process for Stocks

Analyzing Sonic Restaurant Investment Reports Regarding Share Buy Backs

A week or two ago, I wrote an article called Understanding Stock Repurchase Plans for About.com, a division of The New York Times, which discussed Sonic Restaurant and the massive stock buy back program that had taken place over the past few years. In it, I walked the readers through a lot of the math and explained that I had purchased a couple hundred shares to watch and monitor the stock through one of my companies, Mount Olympus Awards, LLC.  (I've since increased it to about 500 shares … [Read more...]

Snowstorm Hit During Our First Price War Making It Magical

View from the Balcony During Snow Storm

Remember the industry price war we decided to start?  As we were rolling out the wholesale business site and "flipping the switch" so to speak, a beautiful, huge snow storm hit and the images were great so I thought I'd post some of them here.     … [Read more...]

Within 12 Hours, We Declare War on the Letterman Jacket Industry

letterman jacket declare war Mount Olympus Awards

Last night, the shareholders of Mount Olympus Awards, LLC had a 4 or 5 hour scheduled meeting in a local office and solidified our plans for the business, which I discussed a few days ago (see Wholesale Chenille Letters, Patches, and Varsity Jacket Business Launching).  The end decision was we are going much farther than we originally anticipated after doing a DuPont Return on Equity analysis.  Far from being just ruthless on pricing, like I promised, we are about to drop a nuclear bomb on the … [Read more...]

Wholesale Chenille Letters, Patches, and Varsity Jacket Business Launching

Over the next month, we will be rolling out MOA Team Supply Version 2.0, which will switch to a wholesale pricing model on custom chenilles and varsity jackets. In many cases, we will be able to sell to schools, organizations, booster clubs, and other instiutions at prices below that what most American custom chenille factories can produce their merchandise! This is due to our extremely fine honed business model that allows us to operate with a fraction of the total capital investment and a cash conversion cycle that is self-funding!

A few months back, I told you that we were launching a new division of Mount Olympus Awards called MOA Team Supply.  I explained that we were going after an entirely new market, specifically athletic directors and schools that want to purchase wholesale chenille letters, chenille patches, and even wholesale varsity jackets.  We've finally got the business model in place and over the next month, we will be modifying the prices on the site to reflect the roll-out of our wholesale chenille … [Read more...]

The New Team Supply Business Launches This Week

MOA Team Supply Screenshot

There's some exciting news coming out of headquarters in the next few days regarding the expansion of our flagship custom apparel company.  We're going to aggressively go after a new market that has seen its primary players devastated by the credit crisis and, like any good American, we are going to use the situation to our advantage. We are working until about 4 in the morning to launch the new team supply business, which will be a division of Mount Olympus Awards ™, the successful … [Read more...]