Archive for 2010

Three things to do over the holidays for a successful 2011

Last week I shared my predictions for things that are likely to happen in 2011. This week I want to switch to professor mode and give you some holiday homework—do these three things before 2011 to turn “ho-ho-ho” into “dough-dough-dough.” Create a business plan. I’ll say it bluntly: if you’re not doing a business plan… [...]

---

Trends to bank on for 2011

This time of year, people have a tendency to focus on the past, spending time looking back at the year that’s coming to a close. But I’ve always found it more useful to look ahead to the future. In that spirit, here are a few predictions for 2011:

---

A cautionary tale

The smell of change is in the air in the promotional products industry. If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you’ve heard me say a thousand times that the industry will change more quickly over the next five years than the previous 20, thanks to technology advancements and increasingly higher client expectations. Unfortunately for [...]

---

Our dysfunctional industry

When I speak to outsiders about the promotional products industry, I characterize it as a screwed-up $20 billion industry that is decentralized at every stage of the supply chain. Usually they look at me funny. Then I tell them that 98% of the distributors have sales of less than $3 million, and they look at [...]

---

Vote for Boundless

I love politics. Some might say a little too much. Most recently (to the dismay of both my wife and the Boundless HR team), my political banter has ramped up even more in anticipation of today’s midterm elections. Am I passionate about the subject? Absolutely. I want our country to retain both our position as [...]

---

What do you want to be when you grow up?

Yesterday I was asking my little girls, Ally (6) and Katie (3), what they want to be when they grow up. This is a game we play every so often—it’s my way of checking in and seeing if my parenting has any impact their perspective on life. Katie, my little firecracker, told me she wanted [...]

---

What’s going on in corporate America?

Over the last 120 days I’ve been speaking with business owners about what’s going on in corporate America. The questions we continue to discuss center around the economic climate, recovery or no recovery, inner workings of corporate America and overall gut feeling about the next 24 months. Chewing on all of these conversations, I wanted [...]

---

Light + soil + water = recipe for company culture

Right smack in the middle of Austin’s live music district, on the corner of 6th Street and Brazos, you’ll find the Boundless Network corporate headquarters. This spot has been our home for five years, during which time we’ve built a reputation for throwing some pretty great parties and events on our amazing third-floor patio. Starting [...]

---

Big fish story

This past weekend, I went to East Texas to go black bass fishing with my father. This is a regular trip we take for some R&R and to hunt for the monster bass. As someone prone to finding business analogies in everyday life, I of course started drawing parallels between fishing and professional success. I [...]

---

The Climb to #1

In sports or business, striving to be number one is important. One of my biggest frustrations is seeing how we’ve become so soft with our children, a society where everyone is a freaking winner. Real life doesn’t work that way. Much to my wife’s dismay, if you ask my 6-year-old about second place, she will [...]

---