Internet Marketing Is Not Rocket Science!

My older son Ashkan who turned 22 in November is a certified search engine optimization expert. He just finished writing a book called "Internet Marketing Is Not Rocket Science". He sells this e-book online for $19.95. This eBook is designed to create awareness and introduce the many new, different, and innovative ways of marketing anything online.

When he has time, Ashkan helps me at my rug gallery. He loves to learn more about rugs. He identifies himself to my customers as a third generation rug man. The web site he has designed for our rug company provides me with many good contacts and Internet presence.

Khosrow Sobhe
www.RugIdea.com
310-770-9085

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all. I wish everyone peace, health, joy and success.

Khosrow Sobhe
www.RugIdea.com
310-770-9085

Antique Road Show Los Angeles

Few times a week, I encounter customers who do not know what kind of rug they have. Some of them ask if their rug is worth cleaning. Last week I went to a customers home who had an antique 12 x 17 Farahan Sarouk rug and she thought her rug was worth $1,000. I gave her a little information on this beautiful and magnificient rug. We cleaned and repaired the rug and took it back to her house and she and her husband appreciated the job very much.

Some of my colleagues instruct me not to give this kind of information to my customers and instead tell me to buy these rugs for a nominal fee and sell the rugs for a few times as much. This does not not tantalize me. I like to see the lights in my customes' eyes when I tell them their rug is worth $20,000 and not $1,000!

Khosrow Sobhe
www.RugIdea.com
310-770-9085

Christmas Is The Time For Giving

Recently, we have had few customers who came into our rug gallery with their kids. We made the kids happy with giving them toys. The kids were surprised why we gave them toys and dolls, but this is Christmass time and the time for giving and making people specially kids happy. It is an art to make people happy. We try to become artist in this regard. We're practicing.

Khosrow Sobhe

http://www.rugidea.com/

310-770-9085

Customers Do Not Pick up Cleaned Repaired Rugs

We only have few days left before 2008 ends. We have many cleaned and repaired rugs but the customers do not show up to pick them up. Why? They don't have time, money or need? Some of these rugs which are left for cleaning, repair, color bleeding, or water damage restorations should be delivered, but customers either do not answer when we call or say they will contact us later to fix the delivery time. We are closing the accounts for the end of the year and need the money for the services we have provided for these customers.

My repairman asked me why we do not charge storage fee if the customers do not pick up their rugs and I said we want these customers to be happy and cannot charge them extra for keeping their carpets in our rug store. We want their repeat business.

Khosrow Sobhe

http://www.rugidea.com/

310-770-9085

A Very Slow Day Selling a Persian Prayer Rug and a Runner

It was a very slow day today. We sold a 3' x 5' Persian prayer rug to a customer in the morning. late in the afternoon, a customer reluctantly bought a 2' x 8' runner for her hallway. Paying many bills, sending e-mails, making few phone calls was what I did today. You do not feel that Christmas will be coming in two weeks. You do not see people move to do Christmas shopping.

Khosrow Sobhe
www.RugIdea.com
310-770-9085

Repairing a Turkish Kilim in Los Angeles

We just finished repairing a damaged Turkish kilim. The foundation of this kilim was cotton. The photos show how nice it came out after the repair.

Khosrow Sobhe
www.RugIdea.com
310-770-9085

Santa Claus on Rug/Kilim, A Perfect Christmas/Holiday Gift Idea

Our weaver this time wanted to show us how artist she is. She made a photo of the Santa Claus and wove it on a kilim with his beard high lighted. This is for sale for $195 with free shipping in the U.S. continent. The size is 2' 7" x 4' 9". It is all wool.

Khosrow Sobhe
www.RugIdea.com
310-770-9085

Cosmetic Rug Repair: Making One Runner and a Small Rug Out of a Big Rug

In an earlier post, I mentioned that a customer had a big hand knotted Turkish rug. It was too big for her office, so she wanted us to make the rug smaller. She also wanted us to make a runner by attaching the two border. Here, you can see the rug before and after the cosmetic surgery!!

Khosrow Sobhe
www.RugIdea.com
310-770-9085

The Carpet Industry. How Big Is It Here in the U.S.?

United States and the carpet industry

I was browsing the Internet and I found some interesting statistics that I would like to share with you:

* In 2005, Carpet shipments totaled more than 2 billion square yards or roughly 19 billion square feet. The total amount was almost $14 billion at the factory level.
* 45 percent of the world’s carpet is produced by the United States.
* 85 % of the U.S. carpet is supplied by factories located in Dalton, Georgia.

These were the statistics that the Carpet and Rug Institute has gathered for wall to wall carpeting. I could not find any reliable statistics on hand knotted rugs, but based on my other findings from here and there, the sales volume of hand knotted rugs including tufted and area rugs might amount to $1 billion per year.

I would love to see the information and statistics other experts and scholars have gathered.

Khosrow Sobhe
www.RugIdea.com
310-770-9085

You Have to Compromise to Buy a Rug When You Have Limitations

"I don't want to spent a lot of money. I want a good quality rug with good material, desired size, with colors to match the interior design of my room and color combination of my furniture"!!

This is what I hear these days from many customers. Is it really possible to find such a rug? When you have money, size, color, design and many other limitations, lady, you have to compromise and lose something to buy your desired rugs. You only want to spend few hundred dollars and yet expect so much. That is not possible.

When these customers who do not want to spend a lot of money to buy a rug are directed towards area machine made rugs, they say what is the material of this rug and when they hear nylon or polypropylene, they ask for wool or another types of material. Is it possible to pay for a Volkswagen and get a Mercedes? Of course not. What do you say to these customers?

khosrow Sobhe
www.RugIdea.com
310-770-9085

Rug Pads and Giving a Round Rug as a Gift to a Customer

A lady who had bought few rugs earlier this week returned today with her friend, another nice lady looking for a small rug to match two of the small rugs she had bought before. She could not select the right piece and called her son and asked him to take photos of the rugs they had at home and e-mail the photos to her cell phone. This was done and she could finally select the piece which would match the other pieces at home. Thanks to technology which provided us the opportunity to sell rugs.

I asked her if she needed rug pads for the rugs she had bought and she said yes she needed the rug pads. She also bought a couple of rugs today. The bad part of the story was when she liked a round 3 x 3 rug and said she would expect us to give this round rug to her as a free gift without charging her!! I told her that I would give her a discount on this, but she did not accept and said I am your returning and repeat customer and I will continue to comeback to your store. To make her happy I agreed and gave her the rug. She left our store with a big smile on her face and said she would return again very soon. She also got several of my business cards to pass on to her friends who may need rugs.

Khosrow Sobhe
www.Rugidea.com
310-770-9085

Kilim Cleaning, Repair & Water damage Restoration in Los Angeles

In the past few days, we have done many kilim cleaning, repair and water damage restoration. Almost all those customers who have brought us these kilims have been in entertainment business, or have designers, musicians and somehow have had art appreciation.

Kilims are very decorative and can be used on the floor as floor covering, on the walls as wall hanging, on the bed as bed covers, on sofas, on tables and in many other places. The designs of kilims have gone under less changes based on the customers' tastes compared with rugs. therefore, kilims are more original and authentic than rugs.

Today, among other rugs, we received two kilims from two different customers. One was a 6 x 9 kilim for cleaning and repair. The other piece was a Varni kilim runner made with a combination of cotton and silk in Moghan area in Ardabil province in north west of Iran. The customer's dog had peed on this fine kilim which belonged to her friend and she wanted us to take care of the cleaning.

We were also busy with sale and doing some administrative jobs and paper work. I left work at 5:00 pm for home.

Khosrow Sobhe
www.RugIdea.com
310-770-9085

We Clean Your Area Rug, You Pay Us After Christmas

Before I close my rug store this afternoon, a lady walked in carrying an area rug for cleaning. I walked toward her and got the rug from her. It was an extremely dirty rug. It had a kind of Zebra design. I measured the rug and said it would cost her $125 to have it cleaned and she could pick it up in a week. She said $125 would be too much for her at this time and she prefers to bring the rug back after the Christmas. I said what if we clean the rug and she picks it up after the holidays. I did not want to lose her rug and her business. She agreed. After I issued her a receipt, I said if you need your rug for the Christmas, you can pick it up next week and pay us after the holiday season is over. She was so surprised and could not believe me and I told her I did really mean it. She left our store happily and said she would comeback soon after she pick up her rug to buy a hand made rug from us.

Khosrow Sobhe
www.RugIdea.com

Rugs as Christmas Gifts in Los Angeles

It was Saturday today. We picked up four rugs from a customer's house for cleaning and repair. One of them was a very old and antique Sarouk from early 1900. It was 12 x 18 and almost in good condition. Another rug was an antique Farahan also nearly in good condition.

later in the day, we sold two small Afgan rugs to a lady who was looking for rugs to give to two of her friends as Christmas gifts. One rug was 2 x 4 ($95) and the larger one was 2 x 6 ($145). The foundation and the pile of these rugs were wool. The prices were very reasonable and affordable that she could not resist. It is not a bad idea to give small rugs as gifts with this kind of price.

I left for home at 5:00 pm.

Khosrow Sobhe
www.RugIdea.com
310-770-9085

The Black Friday Rug Tent Sale, Not Dark For Us!

We just concluded the statistics for our 3-day Rug Tent Sale. We were plus meaning that we covered our expenses and earned some money and financially it was a success for us. We sold a little bit of everything including area rugs, Persian and Oriental rugs. We also received rugs for cleaning and repair.

At this time, I do not know when we will repeat the tent sale again, but this first experience was a good one.

Khosrow Sobhe
www.RugIdea.com
310-770-9085

Rug Market In Los Angeles

After our successful Rug Tent Sale (Nov. 28-30, 2008), our market picked up a little bit and for the first two days of the week we sold several other area and hand knotted rugs. We also received few good rugs for cleaning and repair. But yesterday and the day before that we were not busy at all. Few customers came into our rug gallery, but they were not serious customers and did not know what they were looking for.

It is almost 3 weeks before Christmas and we should be awfully busy, but people are worried about their tomorrow and their future and even those who have money, are not mentally ready to spend!

Khosrow Sobhe
www.RugIdea.com
310-770-9085

Rug Blogs, RugMaster and My Post Number 300

It is Friday morning 6:15 am and I am writing my post number 300. Having a rug blog and posting real stories about my professional career has been a real joy for me during the past 14 months since I started this wonderful blog. Many readers from around the world have found my blog and have communicated with me.

I hope I will have enough true and interesting stories to make few posts every week on my blog.

Khosrow Sobhe
www.RugIdea.com
310-770-9085

Un-Standard Rug Pads

Few days ago, we went to a customers house to pick up two rugs for cleaning. The rugs were very old Karastan Kerman machine made area rugs. The rug pads were not the right kind and the standard pads suitable for hard wood floors. They had been spoiled over the years and were attached to the back of the rugs. The rugs were so dirty that made the back of our car dirty and full of filth, dust and dirt. here I am posting few photos. The rugs came out alright after the cleaning.

Khosrow Sobhe
www.LosAngelesRugCleaning.com
310-770-9085

A Busy Monday: The Rug Tent's After Math

Busy Monday: The Rug Tent Sale's After Math 

It was Monday today and I went to work at 8:30 am. We organized and divided several rugs and kilims which we had received during the past three days for cleaning and repair. Later in the day, two ladies walked into our rug store. They were looking for several rugs in different sizes and color combinations. They bought several pieces and at the end, I gave them few booklets, rug buying tips & secrets, rug vacuum cleaning tips, rug storage tips and etc. They left our shop happily. A lady who had bought three kilims from us yesterday, brought them back and exchanged them with a Senneh kilim with higher price and paid the difference. A couple also came in and bought a 5 x 8 area rug. They insisted in getting discount and I said our sale was ended last night. To make them happy, I gave them a little discount. 

I did not feel like staying late at work today and left for home at 6:00 pm.

Khosrow Sobhe 

www.RugIdea.com

310-770-9085

Rug Tent sale and Our Third Day, A Busy Day

It was Sunday today, the third and the final day of our Rug Tent Sale. It was the busiest day of the sale. We were busy from around the noon, up to 8:00 pm. I got home around 9:30 pm. We received several rugs and kilims for cleaning and repair. We also sold few area rugs and several other hand knotted Persian rugs and two tapestries. We sold few hand knotted Qashqai rugs made with hand spun wool and natural dye.

We all got tired today, but since the sale was a success, it was OK. Our customers were also very happy to find good deals.

Khosrow Sobhe
www.RugTentSale.com
310-770-9085

Rug Tent Sale in Los Angeles 2nd Day

It was Saturday today and the second day of our Rug Tent Sale. It wasn't that bad. We sold several pieces of hand knotted and area rugs. I do not know why in many instances several customers come in at the same time and this makes it difficult for us to serve all of them. This was the case in a couple of times today.

Anyway, it is almost 9:30 pm and I am going home but thought to post a brief report on this relatively busy second day of our rug tent sale.

Khosrow Sobhe
www.RugTentSale.com
310-770-9085

Rug Tent Sale and a Relatively Busy Day

It was Friday November 28, 2008 today so called the "Black Friday". I went to work at 7:00 am today and at 7:30 Pedro and his worker showed up and sat up our tent. Then we took several samples from our inventory to the tent which was in our parking probably 30 feet away from our store. It was relatively a busy day. We received several rugs and kilims for cleaning and repair. Few customers also bought hand knotted kilims and area and hand knotted rugs. We sold two European new tapestries. The sale was not extra ordinary, but at the same token it wasn't bad either. This was only our first day, and we still have two more days to go. Usually our Saturdays are busier than our Fridays. So we're hopeful to have a better day tomorrow.

Khosrow Sobhe
www.RugTentSale.com
310-770-9085

Thanksgiving and Our Rug Tent Sale Preparation

It was the Thanksgiving day here in the U.S. yesterday, Thursday November 27th, 2008. We were at work in our rug gallery getting prepared for our big rug tent sale event. I went to work at 9:00 am and stayed up until 3:00 pm. It was a quite day. I had to prepare few signs, price tags and some last minutes jobs.

Around 4:30 my family and I went to a friends home to celebrate and observe the beautiful Thanksgiving to appreciate what we have and do not regret for the things we do not have. There was a big roasted turkey and lots of good Persian food, deser and meeting several good friends. Ali and his wife Shahla, the hosts had prepared everything to make sure all the 20 guests were enjoying the festivity and the party. We chatted and had a real nice time there. Everybody enjoyed the party.

My birthday was a week ago, and the host's birthday and the couple of other birthdays were two days ago. Ali & Shahla had made a beautiful and delicious birthday home-made fruit cake for all of us.

We returned home around 11:00 pm. I went to bed around 12:00 midnight to get ready for the big tent we would have on Friday, Nov, 28, 2008.

Khosrow Sobhe
www.RugTentSale.com
310-770-9085

Rug Tent Sale

We will be having a huge Rug Tent Sale from Friday Nov. 28 (The Black Friday) through Sunday Nov. 30, 2008. During the past few days, we have been busy getting prepared for this event. Almost all of our rugs will be on 30% off sale and select items will have 50% off and these are the more expensive items to encourage the customers to buy them to provide us with more cash. This is going to be a very exciting rug sale in Los Angeles with live rug weaving workshop and live rug repair show to educate our customers.

We have printed postcards, and mailed hundreds of them. Many of these postcards will be hand delivered this afternoon in our neighborhood. We have sent thousands of e-mails and I have promoted this event in several meetings that I have lately attended.

Tomorrow Thursday is the Thanksgiving day here in the United States. Our rug store will be open from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm and we will take care of the last minutes jobs and preparation. Pedro, the guy who takes care of our tent will be on our parking lot at 7:30 am to install the big tent.

Later in the day on Thursday, we will attend a Thanksgiving party in a friend's home to meet with several friends who will attend this beautiful event from San Diego and Orange County. We celebrate all the good events if we can no matter where they come from and which one belongs to whom. Life is too short and we cannot afford not to celebrate. Don't you agree?

Khosrow Sobhe
www.RugTentSale.com
310-770-9085

A Busy Sunday With Rug Cleaning and Repair and One Rug Sale

It was Sunday yesterday and we were at work from 9:00 am till 9:00 pm! We were supposed to pick up two rugs for cleaning from a neighboring town, some 25 miles away from our rug gallery. My helper did not show up on time and while it was getting really late, one of his friends Noah went to the restaurant next door to drop off something. I asked Noah to see if he was free and could help me and he said yes. I called the customer and let her know that we would be a little bit late and she said it would be fine. We picked up two very old area rugs for cleaning.

During the day, at least five different customers walked in separately but none bought any rug. Only one repeat customer who is in love with Persian rugs came in and bought a hand knotted Persian rug to give it to his friend as a gift. It was a rare 5 x 8 rug in black background made in Toyserkan in Iran. It is very rare to have Persian carpets in black except for two towns which make them, Nahavand, and Toyserkan, two small towns in the vicinity of the famous city of Hamedan which make small rugs of up to 5 x 8 in black. There are a couple of other towns such as Malayer and Nanadj which also made a limited number of rugs with black background.

Since we will have a rug tent sale at the end of this week with up to 50% off, we were busy setting up the store and organizing the racks up to 9:00 pm last night. I do not know why I was not tired at all when I got home!! It maybe because of the excitement of the tent sale and its adventure!!

Khosrow Sobhe
www.RugIdea.com
www.LosAngelesRugCleaning.com
www.RugTentSale.com
310-770-9085

Making a Runner and a Smaller Rug Out of a Big Rug

A Cosmetic Rug Repair!!

A customer who had a hand knotted wool on wool 9 x 12 Turkish carpet wanted us to cut the rug and make it smaller into a 6 x 9 rug and a 3 x 12 runner. We did this but while we were trying to attach the two cut borders of the rug to make a nice runner, we realized that one border was 6 inches longer than the other border and it was not possible to sew and attach these two pieces together. What we did was to cut 6 inches from the longer border to make the sizes of the two borders the same. The pictures show our cosmetic rug repair and restoration. What do you think? How do you grade our repair job on the scale of 1-10?Scale of 1 is for very poor and unacceptable job and ten stands for outstanding repair job. I like to hear from you.

Khosrow Sobhe
www.RugIdea.com
www.LosAngelesRugCleaning.com
www.RugTentSale.com
310-770-9085

Customers From Simi Valley and Irvine For Rug Cleaning

It was Saturday today and a repeat customer who was on her way from Simi Valley, a city roughly 45 miles north west of Los Angeles heading our store to pick up her cleaned rug called and said she had forgotten to take her checkbook with her. I said its OK; you can mail me the check later in your convenience. They came in an hour with the whole family of five. They liked the cleaning of the rug and bought one 8-foot long runner and a 3-foot diameter round rug.

Another repeat customer from the city of Irvine roughly 50 miles east of Los Angeles came in to pick up her rug which was left with us for cleaning. She also needed a 3 x 5 and a 5 x 7 hand knotted rug but said she would come back next week with her husband.

I did some paper work and printed some labels for the postcards of our Tent Rug Sale. I went home around 6:00 pm.

Khosrow Sobhe
www.RugIdea.com
www.LosAngelesRugCleaning.com
www.RugTentSale.com
310-770-9085

A Rug Cleaning and Repair Job

It was Saturday today and we had appointment with a customer at 10:00 am to deliver his three rugs which were cleaned and repaired. One of the rugs was very big and super heavy a 12' by 19' Indian rug with a very high pile. There were four of us, but still could not easily take the rug to the bedroom on the second floor. The gentleman and his wife were so happy with our service and the quality of our rug cleaning and the repair that he gave some tip to one of our workers. This means a lot when I see our customers' happiness. They had a beautiful big house on a hill in a gated residential complex. They had many other rugs for cleaning and repair and the gentleman said they would call us after the holidays and after their parties.

Khosrow Sobhe
www.RugIdea.com
www.LosAngelesRugCleaning
www.RugTentSale.com

Area Rug and A Half a Million Dollar Ferrari!

Area Rug and A Half a Million Dollar Ferrari!

A beautiful half a million dollar Ferrari stopped in our parking lot and blocked the way to our store. A young man got off and came into our store and we thought he would buy one of our Persian silk rugs. He said you have a $99 area rug on a rack in front of your store; what other colors do you have in this price range?!

He looked at few rugs and left without buying anything. I said to my son who was with me at the store "Everything looks upside down these days. A homeless man buys a rug (read the story)and pays cash and a man with a $500,000 Ferrari asks for a $99-rug and doesn't buy anything!"

Khosrow Sobhe
www.RugIdea.com
www.LosAngelesRugCleaning.com
www.RugTentSale.com

Rug Tent Sale in Los Angeles

In a few days, we will have a huge rug tent sale in our huge parking lot on La Cienega Blvd. and Airdrome street here in Los Angeles. This rug event has made us busy for its preparation for the past few weeks. We will have 30% off on most of our Oriental, Persian and area rugs and carpets and 50% off on selected items. We need cash (who does not these days) and this maybe a way to raise cash while we may find new customers.

We will have live rug weaving and rug repair shows with tons of free literature on rug buying secrets, rug vacuum cleaning, rug storage and more. We have mailed postcards, sent e-mails and have promoted the event in person in many events and professional gatherings. We have also made an exclusive web site for this event to give the kind information which cannot be given in the postcards on on e-mails.

Khosrow Sobhe
www.RugIdea.com
www.LosAngelesRugCleaning.com
www.RugTentSale.com
310-770-9085

Water Damaged Rugs Appraisal

A customer who had a water pipe breakage in his house wanted me to do an appraisal job for 14 of his rugs which were water damaged. Since it was difficult for him to take all the rugs to our store, I made an appointment to see the rugs in his place in a neighboring town. One day after I made the appointment, I received a phone call from his insurance company asking about me and who I am. The gentleman said he would like find out more about me to see if I could be eligible to do the appraisal. I gave him the information he needed and said he could "Google" me to see how many entries would appear about me on his monitor. He called me back in 15 minutes and said I could keep my appointment.

I did the rug appraisal and issued individual certificate for each rug with all the technical details and the lost value for each piece.

Khosrow Sobhe
www.RugIdea.com
www.LosAngelesRugCleaning.com
310-770-9085

Artificial Belgian Silk Rugs

Today, we received a shipment of Artificial Belgian silk rugs and I was busy putting price tags on them. The sizes were 2 x 4, 2 x 5, 2 x 8, 3 x 5, 5 X 8, and 8 x 11. We will have a rug sale next week and we are getting ready for that, making sure that all our items have price tags. Tomorrow we will send our first e-mails out to potential customers. I will write more on our sales as we get closer to it.

It was a very slow Tuesday. I received several phone calls regarding an antique tapestry cleaning and repair, rug cleaning and repair, kilim stain removal and a customer who was looking for a very big 15 x 20 feet Persian silk rug.

Khosrow Sobhe
www.Rugidea.com
www.LosAngelesRugCleaning.com

My Birthday, No Rug Sale

It was my birthday today, Tuesday Nov. 18, 2008. Yesterday I was busy at work until 6:00 pm. We did not sell any rugs. We received few rugs for cleaning and repair for the Thanksgiving. I went to a meeting after work and got home by 9:00 pm. The lights were off and I thought my wife and two sons were out somewhere. When I walked into the living room, my wife, my sister in law and my two sons were waiting for me with candles lighting on a home-made cake singing happy birthday song in Farsi, the Persian language. I was surprised and punked!!!! Since my older son Ashkan would be at colleges tonight Tuesday up to 10:00 pm, and my sister in law would be at work until 11:00 pm, they had decided to hold my birthday last night.

We had cake, tea, fruit and of course gifts. I was surprised.

Khosrow Sobhe
www.RugIdea.com
www.LosAngelesRugCleaning.com
310-770-9085

A Very Slow Saturday With No Rug Sale and No Rug Cleaning or Rapir

It was Saturday today and very slow. Only few prospects called and asked for the cost of rug cleaning and repair. Nothing lead to getting a job. No one also bought any rug. We did some paper works.

Couple of customers picked up their cleaned rugs.



Khosrow Sobhe
www.RugIdea.com
www.LosAngelesRugCleaning.com
310-770-9085