I see the industry from many sides, both in my role as publisher of the PPAI-award winning FreePromoTips.com and as a distributor. My perspective is different from most, and that enables me to publish content that is of interest to our industry.
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Many people have big dreams and lofty goals. Big dreams and lofty goals are easy. But there is one key ingredient for big dreams and lofty goals to become reality: get started. No one ever accomplished anything without simply getting started. And sometimes the start of some very big things may be very simple.
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Four years ago, we brought our car into a neighborhood mechanic’s business. It looked pretty typical from the outside—two bays, cinder block building and a NAPA sign and display or two inside. Cliff, the owner, had just moved back to Michigan and had the entrepreneurial spirit.
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By now you have heard the fact that overall industry firms grew at 1 percent, while industry online firms grew at 33 percent. According to PPAI research, “The proportion of online sales compared to total sales in the industry increased by 4 percentage points from 13.6 percent in 2013 to 17.9 percent in 2014.” Wait, you have valuable relationships and great service, yet overall online firms are growing faster than traditional firms? Why is that?
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Question: I am starting out as an ad specialty distributor. Is it better to set up my books on a cash or accrual basis for tax purposes?
In building our PPAI-award winning FreePromoTips.com program into a valuable resource for the industry, we have always made a conscious effort to keep it out of the radar of the non-industry online community. This is a program with content that specifically is focused on the promotional marketing industry.
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You must remember this: Your customer is not buying a promotional product. They are buying the benefits that promotional products deliver. They are buying the thrill of sharing their company’s brand, image and stories with their audiences. They are buying a gift that will share their values and promises with people they want to have a deeper and stronger relationship with.
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Today, July 14, 2015, Microsoft officially ends support for Windows Server 2003. If you have one or more servers in your business, there is a very good chance you are running Windows Server 2003 somewhere.
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Question: When I’m not sure how to make an entry in QuickBooks, should I make a general journal entry?
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Some of you may recall the classic characters Goofus and Gallant from Highlights Magazine for Children. As you might guess, Goofus did things wrong … and Gallant, as the name implies, was gallant and did things right.