A BIG Dog is Just A LITTLE Dog Who
Wouldn't Stop Barking!"Just What Are the
"Dog Days of Summer"
and Why Did Terry McNeese
win the Contest!?
In last week's Big Dogs Bulletin we announced our "Dog Days of Summer" contest, designed to sorta kick off the Fall sales season which informally begins right after Labor Day when vacations are over and the kids are (thankfully!) back in school.
To win the $50.00 prize all you had to do was be the first Big Dog to answer the question.....
"Why are the last few weeks of August referred to as the 'Dog Days of Summer,' and what does this have to do with the Big Dogs program?"
Now, IN ADDITION to giving us the correct answer, we also threw in another little "qualifier." It takes about three hours to complete the emailing of the Bulletin, and we have Big Dogs affiliates in all 24 international time zones. So in order to make the contest fair and give everyone time to submit an entry, we also stated that ANY ENTRIES RECEIVED BEFORE 9:00 AM THE NEXT DAY WOULD BE DISQUALIFIED!
It amazes me how many of you just don't take the extra second or two to read the next sentence! As a result we had to disqualify over a hundred entries, many of which we started to receive even before the Bulletin had finished being emailed out! Bad doggies! BAD doggies!
First of all I want to thank the hundreds of you who submitted entries. Some entries were WAY off the mark. (i.e. "This is the time of the year when it's too hot and humid to work, so we should stop marketing completely until Fall.") But a lot of you folks really put some time and thought into your answers. In fact, MANY of you had the correct answer. I just wish we could have awarded a prize to every one of you who gave excellent, well thought out entries.
Anyway.....
.....the winner of the contest, whose CORRECT entry we received at exactly 9:00:01 AM, was submitted by Alpha Dog Terry McNeese. Terry, if you check your Paypal account you'll find you have fifty smakaroos in it from Big Dogs HQ.
And now for the correct answer.....
The "Dog Days of Summer" derives it's name from the ancient Romans.
We are all familiar with the constellations. These are the pictures of creatures and people that ancient peoples fancied they saw when they "connected the dots" of the stars in the night sky. Two of these constellations are Canis Minor (Latin for "minor dog," or "little dog") and Canis Major (Latin for "major dog," or - you guessed it! - "big dog").
The brightest star in Canis Major is a blue giant called Sirius, also called "the dog star." Now, not only is Sirius the brightest start in this constellation, it is also the very brightest star in the entire night sky.
Because of the tilt of the earth and it's changing position in it's yearly revolution around the sun, Sirius appears to get closer and closer to the sun as summer approaches. Finally, in late July, Sirius is "in conjunction" with the sun, and both heavenly bodies appear to rise and set together for a period of several weeks. The Romans named this period, from 20 days before conjunction to 20 days after conjunction the "Dog Days of Summer," in honor of Sirius (the Dog Star) and it's place in the constellation Canis Major.
So bright and outstanding is Sirius that the Romans actually believed that during this period of conjunction, it added it's own heat and light to that of the sun. They reasoned that this was why these few weeks were the hottest of the year.
Thus, the connection to the Big Dogs program becomes rather obvious. Canis Major International is the formal, legal name of the company which markets the Big Dogs program - named, naturally enough, after the constellation Canis Major. Just as Sirius is the brightest star in the sky, so too is the Big Dogs program the brightest "star" in the "sky" of the Internet.
Further, the end of the Dog Days of Summer, traditionally the SLOWEST marketing time of the year, mark the beginning of what we all look forward to - the period from September through November - one of the BEST marketing times of the year. With the end of the vacation season and with the return of the kids to school, people are starting to spend more time where they SHOULD be - in front of their computers! (LOL!) They are once again starting to knuckle down to serious matters and ACTIVELY SEEKING A GOOD BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY!
The end of the Dog Days of Summer marks the time when we should all be "kickin' the tires and lightin' the fires" in preparation for coming out of the "DOG" days and entering the "DOLLAR" days!
And finally.....
The mark of a genuine Big Dog is that he is his own master! He meets obstacles on his terms. Rather than allowing marketing conditions to dictate terms to him, the Big Dog dictates his own marketing conditions. Fewer prospects available? Fine! That must mean there are fewer marketers promoting, so the equation balances itself out. And this appears to hold true to a great extent. Our total sales figures for August were only about 3% less than June or July, and they were actually HIGHER than May!
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