Newsletter Blogs

Be Kind
September 7, 2017 at 2:20 pm

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…

Back It Up: The 3-2-1 Data Backup Strategy
September 6, 2017 at 11:25 am

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…

CATastrophe
September 5, 2017 at 2:38 pm

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…

6 Apparel Looks Trending for Fall
August 30, 2017 at 9:51 am

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…

View Everything on One Screen
August 25, 2017 at 10:10 am

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…

If You Want Better Answers, Ask Better Questions
August 24, 2017 at 2:39 pm

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…

Better Uses of Video
August 22, 2017 at 12:11 pm

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…

Buy The Shrimp Farm: The Power of Negative Selling
August 21, 2017 at 10:10 am

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…

Customizing Quickbooks for Promotional Products Distributors
August 11, 2017 at 1:21 pm

Question: Are there any reports in QuickBooks that are designed specifically for the ad specialty industry? Answer: Unfortunately, there are no ad-specialty-specific reports, but all of the reports on QuickBooks can be customized. And some have been put to good use by distributors. If you have loaded QuickBooks Premier specifying the Manufacturing and Wholesale Edition,…

Innovate!
August 10, 2017 at 2:12 pm

Stand out, be different, be fearless, innovate! The four things above are just one of my 10 secrets of successful people. That’s right. They stand out because they are not afraid to be different and are willing to innovate. Particularly in a business where we sell the same stuff from the same suppliers to the…