Bike or plane?

If you had to travel from Dallas to Chicago, what mode of transportation would you take?

1. Walk
2. Ride a bike
3. Drive
4. Fly
5. Private Plane

According to MapQuest the total distance from Dallas to Chicago is 969 miles.

*Walk – 10 miles/day, Bike – 100 miles/day, Drive – 20 miles/gallon, Fly – Direct flight on commercial, Private – Net Jets

There’s no wrong answer to this question (except maybe the walking thing). How you get from point A to point B is a personal decision based on your own preferences; the important thing is that you make it to point B somehow.

This is true of any journey, whether it’s to a distant city or to success in your business. In the promotional products industry there are different “modes of travel” you can take to get to your desired destination. Picking one involves weighing considerations like time, cost and comfort. Right now I think most of the industry is trying to ride their bikes to Chicago: they’re putting in a ton of sweat and getting a slow, difficult result.

If you’re a business owner or a sales professional in the promotional products industry, I’d say your “point B” would be to maximize your earning potential. If you’re relying on sweat equity to get you there—the business equivalent of a long-distance bike ride—you’re in for a hard trip. Speeding up that trip requires a change in your travel plans, and switching your mindset from “sweat equity” to “business leverage.” You’ll need to first maximize your time and secondly be strategic with your customer interactions.

The industry is full of 10-speed bikes. Distributors that operate as a bank, serving only to pay the suppliers, pay the commissions and provide a few limited resources, are the 10-speed bikes of the industry. My guess is that 95% of distributors would fall into this category. If you own or work for this kind of business, would you trade your bike in for a lifetime supply of plane tickets?

Our plane has seats available. Boundless has a model that is new for this industry—the equivalent of a plane ride. Last year during the worst recession in recent history, our planes flew about four times faster than the competing modes of transportation. Even more impressively, we’ve trained our own pilots to have their own fleet of private planes.

Flying has its benefits. In 2009 Boundless outpaced the industry by 65%. We grew our revenue by 40% while the rest of the industry was in decline. We’ve learned that investing in our platform—our plane—gets us there faster than pounding the pavement, and we’re helping all types of industry professionals get on board and leverage their way to business growth. Boundless continues to invest millions of dollars in technology, which directly impacts the earnings potential of those who fly with us.

Get a free trial flight. If you’re looking for a platform that can win a multi-million dollar RFP, service an international customer or provide you with an all-around smoother ride, give Boundless Airlines a test run. To find out more, e-mail me directly at jason.black@boundlessnetwork.com.

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