I don’t know about you, but for me, January always feels like a clean slate. The tree comes down, the last rush order has been delivered, and I can finally take a deep breath. I usually come out of Q4 with equal parts pride and exhaustion. Most decorators stare at a new calendar and think, “There must be a better way. How can I make this year smoother than the last?”
I believe the way to make it smoother and less hectic is to start with one simple idea. One clear promise.
Your business grows when you decide on the one promise you want customers to remember you for. Everything else becomes easier when that promise leads the way.
The start of the year is always filled with great trade shows, downtime to re-evaluate your equipment needs, and maybe some extra cash from a strong Q4. Our instinct is to want more. You go to the trade show, see all the amazing equipment, software, and services, and think, “If I had all that, business would be easy.”
Then the planning starts. You find a spot for the new machine. It shows up. Now you have to figure out how to get it inside your shop. You coordinate new electrical, schedule training and installation, and figure out the products and consumables you need to stock.
You fight a learning curve and have to create the SOPs and maintenance schedule. Very quickly, you feel more overwhelmed than you did before. You still have to get the new customers and orders to keep the machine running and pay for it.
That moment creates an opening for clarity. You cannot keep carrying the weight of every possible technique and every possible customer request. You need one promise that sets you free. This does not mean you should never invest in equipment, learn a new technique, or add new products. It means the order in which you make those decisions, and the clarity you have about why you make them, needs to come first.
Read this full article on Apparelist, a publication of PRINTING United Alliance, ASI’s strategic partner.
