Early on in building my distributorship to $20 million (I sold that business in the early ’90s to focus on our franchise model), I realized there were only four activities that would make me wealthy. Today at Proforma we call these the 4 Pillars of Success. Earn new customers. Sell more to current customers. Hire…
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Question: How do I upgrade from QuickBooks Pro to Premier? Answer: QuickBooks makes it easy to upgrade from Pro to Premier. First, download Premier; then back up your QuickBooks company file. Print out your balance sheet and income statement on the accrual basis. When you are ready to upgrade, go to “File,” “Open” or “Restore…
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The Dalai Lama has said, “Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.” Kindness can be a guiding principle that will always provide you with the right choices. When faced with a difficult decision, ask yourself, “What would a kind person do?” A few years ago, life served up major crisis after major crisis into…
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As families begin to grasp the devastation to their homes and losses from Hurricane Harvey, one more loss is likely to be felt: Important files and photos are lost forever for many people. Backing up files is critical for home and business purposes, but is often overlooked. Backing up files used to be difficult but…
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Back in the days of building my own distributorship, I worked hard to secure an appointment with a large prospect in town. It took almost two years of diligent calling and following up, but I finally got an initial appointment. I was very excited about the opportunity. I did a great deal of work to…
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I’ll be the first to admit it—I love the fall. From pumpkin spice everything to cozy sweaters, there’s nothing better than autumn’s chilly arrival. As you know, the change in seasons also means a change in what’s trending for apparel. These days, promotional apparel trends tend to fall closely behind runway trends, and I wanted…
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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…
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Learn to ask the right questions to the right people at the right time. One of the worst things we can do is to ask ourselves the wrong questions. Instead of asking yourself, “Why can’t I lose weight?” Ask yourself, “What can I do today to live a more healthy life?” Instead of asking yourself, “Why…
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Video is more than an opportunity to go viral. In fact, video is almost always better used to support existing efforts, as going viral is akin to winning the lottery. One of my favorite industry “fun” videos remains the Gap Stick video created by the very talented Jeff Anderton, who is now with SnugZ USA. Jeff…
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When we first started franchising Proforma in the late 1980s, most people in our industry scoffed at our business model. So, we reached out to people outside our industry to start building our franchise concept. In the late 1980s, there was no internet! So we relied on advertising in business publications and attending “own your…
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