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As many of you might already know, Stan Lee, co-creator of Spider-Man (along with Steve Ditko) recently turned 90 years-old. Spider-Man was introduced around 1962, which means Stan Lee himself was around 40 years-old when he created, or at least introduced to the world, one of the most commercially successful comic book heroes of our [...]
I can’t believe it, but I’m turning 37 years old this year. I’m one of those entrepreneurs bordering on ADD, so I stay pretty active, but I don’t exercise and I eat downright poorly. However, yesterday morning, I was meeting with my insurance agent reviewing numerous policies and we noticed my weight hasn’t changed since [...]
On the way into work this morning, I had to listen to Piggly Wiggly’s latest radio commercial and can honestly admit that I hate it. With the tagline “Local Since Forever,” I simply want to vomit at the notion that the Pig’s only selling point is the fact they’re local. Big Woop. I don’t want [...]
I recently read an article on TechVibes.com named “Four Common Startup Myths Budding Entrepreneurs Keep Falling For” and wanted to personalize each myth with my own experiences. Enjoy! MYTH ONE: IT’S A PIECE OF CAKE Basically, many of us envy the fast successes of Google, Groupon and Facebook. These companies can not and should not [...]
For awhile now, our print company has experimented with running Facebook ads. There’s a lot of gossip out there that Facebook ads don’t work. Before Facebook’s disappointing IPO, GM even announced they would no longer partake in Facebook advertising (until recently). The fact of the matter is this: Facebook ads do work. Here are a [...]
In the past I’ve discussed how to move your business online and 9 Things to Know Before Starting a Business, which are two articles that represent the primary reason I started this blog in the first place. We’ve successfully converted a small print shop into a more profitable online business, and I think my personal [...]
Many online print companies undervalue the effect of showing off print samples through photos and video. Research has proved that images and videos improve sales conversions, but I’m always surprised to see the many companies not using the endless platforms to demonstrate what a final product will look like. Sure, if you suck at taking [...]
In any job, any situation really, there are steps you can take to avoid the inevitable. From knowing what you are supposed to do, to being a fortune-teller by preparing for common issues, there are certainly ways to limit problems and increase your comfort level in your job and life.
Honestly, I’ve hired some shady individuals in the past and I’ve often considered doing more thorough background checks. There are various laws that impact the use of criminal records for employment purposes, including federal and state nondiscrimination and background screening laws. Below are some helpful guidelines for using criminal records for background screening purposes: EEO [...]
Like many of you out there, business owner or employee, satisfying customers is probably a top priority whether you work directly with customers or not. Quality control, speediness, following through, efficiency monitoring and almost everything thing else associated with daily operations is typically correlated with customer satisfaction. Our print company staff is extremely sensitive to [...]
Time constraints: Everyone has them, no one knows what to do with them. This past week I’ve been trying to figure out how best to deal with too much to do in too little time. So what do you do when you have 16 hours worth of stuff to do in 8 hours? I mean, [...]
Ever gone on vacation and stressed over work the entire time? Count me in as guilty as charged. Employers give employees vacation time and sick leave for a reason. So why the stress? I find it difficult to turn the work switch off. Whether I am at home working in my yard or on the [...]
As a graphic designer, I often wonder why the majority of our customers fight design fees. It can often feel like pulling teeth to get a customer to agree to pay for services ranging from editing copy to even creating an entire brochure from scratch. Personally, I have even run into conventional artists that refuse [...]
A long time ago in a galaxy far far away, we pondered why print companies (and small businesses) should play Foursquare. That was more than a year ago which means our small company has been playing Foursquare for two years now. During that time, we’ve had great successes with social marketing and Foursquare is a [...]
Over a year ago, I pushed our print company into the mobile arena by developing a separate website for mobile users, an emerging audience too large to ignore. My business partner couldn’t see the logic at that time for he only possessed a measly Blackberry, but I urged on and created the mobile website alone. [...]
A bit of background: I played guitar professionally for almost five years. I played shows 2-3 nights a week for many of those years. I learned how to make and keep industry contacts and how to self-promote. I became an advocate for my career and my band. As such, I distributed plenty of promotional materials [...]
It is no secret that a happy employee is more productive, committed and tends to show more pride in the company. Some studies even show people who were not just satisfied, but happy in their jobs proved to be healthier and even live longer. Happy employees benefit employers by reducing costs associated with training, turnover [...]
First I want to make a comment that everyone in business already knows; the customer is not always right. Let’s face facts, there are times when our customers are right and then there are times when they are simply trying to abuse you. This article does not deal with determining that; we are going to [...]
