The 4th of July is when we Americans celebrate our independence, our freedom. As you prepare your celebrations, let me encourage you to reflect on these two questions: Are you truly independent? Are you truly free? Most distributors with whom I speak don’t seem very independent. They seem to be bound by all of the…
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Your Failure Can Be the Key to Your Fortune
Failure is a part of success. Sometimes failure can be the key to your fortune. You may have heard the story of how an engineer at 3M was trying to invent a super strong adhesive, but came up with a super weak one instead. That weak adhesive he invented became the secret to 3M Post-it…
Read MoreThe $500 Million Company With No Headquarters
About 25 years ago, we purchased a great 30,000 square foot office building on a beautiful eight-acre campus. Soon after, I met with the signage company to finalize the wording for our sign. At first it seemed like a no brainer that the sign should read “Proforma Headquarters,” but that wording didn’t align with the…
Read MoreView Everything on One Screen
Question: Is there one screen in QuickBooks Premier where I can look at my open sales orders and invoices? Answer: Yes, QuickBooks has a feature called “Income Tracker” that does just that. Go to “Customers,” then “Income Tracker.” The dashboard shows a current accounting of various income segments. At the top, you will see totals…
Read MoreTurn Your Job Into a Business
In my last blog article, I discussed the fact that most distributors don’t really own a business, but rather, they own a job. The test to determine if you own your own business is if you can fly to Hawaii for three months and tell someone else where to send your check. The key words…
Read MoreWhat Do You Know About Buying Groups?
Question: What do you know about buying groups? Answer: There are variations of buying groups in our industry—from a couple of distributors banding together loosely to companies that offer other services and approaches. To answer this question fully, I went to Jamie Coggeshall, president of AIMastermind (AIM), a group that purely is a buying group.…
Read MoreBring Your Playbook
And just like that, many of my current team members and I have been together here at Print+Promo and Promo Marketing for more than a decade. We have grown up together in a sense, celebrating some of life’s major milestones. There have been marriages, babies and other “life stuff”—the good and the bad. I honestly…
Read More5 Management Lessons from My Favorite Sudoku App
A few years ago, I downloaded a free Sudoku app called Sudoku Joy. I had not played Sudoku before this app and I was not sure I would like Sudoku. In fact, I was pretty sure I would not like Sudoku. Turns out, I was wrong. I like Sudoku quite a bit, and this app…
Read MoreThe Law of Attraction: Who Do You Think You Are?
In my last article, I discussed the importance of gratitude. Today, I would like to talk about the two most powerful words in the English language. If I asked you, “Who are you?” your answer would start with two words: “I am.” I am. The two most powerful words in the English language. Don’t believe me?…
Read MoreDirector of Client Retention
Where’s your focus? It seems like all the glamour and excitement in sales and marketing focuses on account acquisition. Everyone loves the “rainmaker,” the professional who reels in the big fish and new, headliner clients. We spend our time, our resources and our money on carefully crafted marketing plans. We think through objectives, strategies and…
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