It’s not often we stop and think about what kinds of business lessons can be taught by Mother Nature. One of the most intriguing analogies for business growth and entrepreneurship, in my opinion, comes from the book “Grow Like a Lobster,” authored by Joshua Dick. Below are highlights from some of his key concepts –…
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Imagine this: You’ve spent months, even years, building a solid relationship with your clients, only to have them snatched away right under your nose. This nightmare scenario happens more often than you think in the world of promotional product reselling, especially when your apparel decorator plays both sides of the field. But what if the culprit behind your vanishing clients is, in fact, your current decorator?
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Ask the Accountant… Question: When I enter my credit card charges or bank entries, I don’t always know where to put them in QuickBooks. Do I have to wait until I know before entering them? Answer: QuickBooks has an expense account that allows you to “park” an entry until you can figure out where it…
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I love Dan Pena. He tells the unvarnished truth. He has a great short (30-second) speech that you are 2,000 cold calls from being a millionaire. He’s right. But the problem, as he so truthfully says, is that most people don’t want to be a peddler. Check it out: Yes, most buyers are happy…
Read MoreThere are two powerful elements that set successful businesses apart from the rest — exceptional customer service and clear communication.
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We have all postponed starting a new program or activity at times in our life. Whether it’s personal goals or business goals, committing to start sometime in the future is much easier than starting right now. Instead of saying: “One day I will lose weight.” “One day I will start working out.” “One day I…
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Are you familiar with the concept of Lifetime Customer Value (LCV)? If so, have you thought about it in terms of your own business? Have you ever thought about why LCV would even be important to understand or calculate? LCV is the value of the customer to your business over the lifetime of that relationship.…
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I have had the wonderful opportunity to personally get to know thousands of people in our industry. Truth is that most of them never became all they could be because of fear. Fear of making sales calls. Fear of learning new product lines. Fear of asking for referrals. Fear of introducing yourself at a networking…
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Ask the Accountant… Question: In QuickBooks Online, I have gotten used to the options on the left side of the screen that included things like Dashboard, Banking, Sales, and Expenses. Now an entirely different list of options is showing with things like “Get things done,” “Business Overview,” “Bookkeeping,” and “Commerce.” What happened? Answer: QBO offers…
Read MoreLet’s face it: Contracting decoration work to another company can be extremely frustrating. More than anything, the complete loss of control drives people nuts. When you have that order on your own production schedule, it feels safer and more like you control your destiny. But when you contract that order to another company, it can…
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