During my time with Solar Gard, the company and its dealers endured all the changes resulting from two ownership changes. When I started we were Solar Gard International – we soon became MSC Specialty Films and a few years later we were acquired by Bekaert. During my eight years as the marketing director for Solar [...]
I recently splurged and bought a new car. I guess I needed to do my part for the economy—at least that was one of many purchase justifications to myself. Over the years, I’ve bought quite a number of cars and trucks—actually it’s a ridiculous number and I must admit to you all that I’m an [...]
I recently installed some film on a friend’s townhouse over by the beach. It all started when she mentioned that she was taking a few days of vacation to sew custom slip covers for fabric-covered chairs in her dining room—a room that faces west and takes direct Florida sunlight from mid-day until sunset. When she [...]
Have you ever heard the phrase “begin as you mean to go on?” While it may sound like something your parents once said to you, it’s just as true in business as it is in your personal life. Especially in today’s tough economy, having passion for your work, a good marketing strategy and a positive [...]
As the baseball season winds down, I’ve been watching quite a few Tampa Bay Rays games and of course all the TV commercials that come along for the ride. Recently I’ve noticed that our local electric company has been running a series of TV spots about window film – needless to say they got my [...]
I was thinking about a subject for this blog edition when I received a call from a prospective client who owns an established Martial Arts academy. During our assessment interview, I jotted down a few notes specific to the status of his business. After the call, I noticed that I had drawn multiple thick circles [...]
To some degree, we all need to reinvent ourselves to survive in today’s economic climate. This means making adjustments to how we perform or in some cases doing something completely different.
I started my career as a franchised dealer of a large automotive aftermarket company. At that time, we were the industry segment leader, mostly because our dealer network was strong and in sync with the parent – sharing a common goal to succeed. Looking back, a key to my success was directly tied to my [...]
Sometimes it seems to be part of the American character, is to chase the latest and greatest. Personally I think it’s not exclusively American but rather simply human nature. Everyone wants to be part of the “latest-greatest” and each of us has our own definition of what it is. For example, I have my eye [...]
Recently a prospective client asked me to perform an assessment of his small business. I’m sure what he wanted to hear was that the economy was terrible and that he needed just to ‘hunker down’ and stay the course to survive until things got better. However, I pride myself in telling clients what they need [...]
