Author Archive

The Four Phases Of A Distributorship

Starting a promotional products distributorship is a huge rush—the creative products, the endless number of customer opportunities, the substantial earnings opportunity and the fun of building a rewarding business. In my more than 10 years as an entrepreneur, I’ve had my share of ups and downs. Some of what I’ve learned I share here to [...]

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3 Tips to Grow by 300% in 24 Months

In life and in business there are several factors that separate those that win vs. “get by” vs. lose. In the promotional products industry, you can boil the list of reasons into a single word with three different scenarios. The vast majority of people selling in the promotional products industry are not selling to their [...]

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How will you communicate in 2014?

Someone in our management meeting last week said that “email is for old folks.” We all laughed, but then I realized the comment rang true on some level. Out of curiosity, I looked into my own communication habits, and I discovered that about 30% of my direct messages come from LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter. No [...]

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Exponential times

I ran across this video a while back, and I recently came back to it and was amazed by its message all over again. If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend checking it out. The video highlights some astounding statistics about the “exponential times” we live in, and I feel like this information is [...]

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Change your bait

In Texas we have a saying that goes, “if you’re not catching fish, you need to change your bait.” Now more than ever, this statement can be applied to the promotional products industry. In the spirit of fishing and bait, I wanted to share with you a “big fish story” about how one industry professional [...]

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The next generation

Throughout history, there have been only a few times when entire generations follow a different path than their predecessors in business.  In most cases the apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree–many approaches to business and sales strategies remained consistent over long periods of time. Right now is one of those rare moments. The [...]

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Fun with whiteboards

We recently finished work on one of my favorite projects we’ve done in a while: building a new website that specifically showcases the Boundless difference for industry professionals. We created the video below as part of this project–it was fun to film because I love whiteboards (and have awesome drawing skills, as you can see [...]

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Takeaways from Vegas

I love Vegas, and I’m not ashamed to admit it. It’s perfect for my personality. This year’s trip to Vegas for the PPAI show was another great experience: I worked hard, played hard and completed my own “Vegas trifecta.” Although I did end up paying for several months’ worth of “free drinks,” I was able [...]

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Vegas and change

“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.” Vegas is less than a week away. My question to you: are you going to approach this trade show the same as you have the last five years, or are [...]

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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… [...]

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