Customer Service, Client Building & Follow - Up The Issue: Small-business owners–and anyone else who enjoys a good sandwich–need a place like “Shelly Deli.” This sandwich shop in a convenience store by the bay in Safety Harbor, Florida makes the best “Cubans” and ... Read more

THE MARKETING REVOLUTION IS HERE I’m a dinosaur, pushing 60 years of age.  I grew up in an age when marketing meant bending, twisting, shouting, cajoling, sex-appealing, manipulating, and pleading to get people to BUY!  BUY!  BUY!  It was a one-way message:  from the seller to the would- ... Read more

A Conversation with Nicholas L. Gregory Responding to a 1979 Stanford Research Institute survey, 37,000 affluent individuals said they were frustrated with too many financial services companies with too many poorly trained high-pressure sales reps pushing too many prepackaged products. ... Read more

Curious which are the worst airline pilots?  (Korean.)  Ever wonder why some musicians are wanna-bes and others are superstars?  (Ten thousand hours.)  Or why the majority of National Hockey League players are born in January or February? (Age cut-off dates when they were children.)  Do you k ... Read more

This is one of those books, The E-Myth Revisited ,  that you almost love to hate.    You hate it because the author, Michael E. Gerber, has a smarmy I’m-right-you’re-wrong attitude about him.  (His examples tend to be stories about borderline stupid business owners who he sets straigh ... Read more

I’ll get to the title in a minute.  First, I must start by saying that I love to hit the flooring running hard every day in the quest for business.  I also love to end the day exhausted, spent, without anything left to give.  Family and friends have told me there’s only one thing worse than ... Read more

If it’s the little things that count, here’s one big little thing: I’ve noticed that, of the many successful business people I’ve met over the years, perhaps half of them keep a little notebook in their shirt pockets.  Tell them something of interest or when they think of a potentially good ... Read more

I know.  I know.  The customer is king.  But for a moment, consider two things:   Your customers have a need for your product.  They will buy it somewhere, either from you or from a competitor. They will buy it from you if you can demonstrate not that you’re great, but that you’re bett ... Read more

  You don’t “stand” your business. You don’t “walk” your business. You “run” your business! Ready?  Set? Go!         –    John R. Ingrisano                The Freestyle Entrepreneur   ... Read the full po ... Read more

I love to work hard.   In my opinion, there’s nothing more demanding or thrilling that getting out every day and taking on the enormous challenges of running a business.  Some days I slay the dragons; some days I come home smoked and char-broiled.  That’s half the fun.    But I ... Read more