Business Management - Productivity/Process Improvement

Seven Words You Can’t Say
June 30, 2014

I’ve heard the following seven words a time or two when visiting our franchise members: "We have never done it that way." It’s human nature to continue doing the things we believe will work rather than something that requires taking a risk...or something suggested by a staff member, a fellow shop owner or business advisor.

On-Demand is in Demand for Books
June 25, 2014

“On-demand” books offer the prospect of growing sales, revenues, and profits for both publishers and print service providers.

Leadership: Ordinary to Extraordinary
May 27, 2014

“People who are content with what they don’t know; happy to remain ignorant about what they don’t understand; complacent about what they haven’t analyzed; and comfortable living with problems they haven’t solved...such people cannot lead!”

The FORGETTING Curve
May 5, 2014

When you have implemented a complete, written operations manual—you are more than 90 percent of the way to conquering the problem and consequences of forgetting.

Truth is Greater Than Fiction
April 21, 2014

So, take the entertainment industry—PLEASE! But, seriously—let's look at some TRUTHS and also some of the FICTION or MYTHS about business. Before I begin, let me assure you, the point of this blog is not to off-handedly criticize the entertainment industry, but to make what I think you'll agree is a valid point.

Shrinking Your Way to Prosperity
April 15, 2014

I have said often that I think there is more fun and opportunity in this industry now than when I started in 1985; it’s just different. You have a big advantage in owning your own business and understanding this market. It simply takes action, hard work and the willingness to get some help and to think differently than in the past.

The Customer Complaint System
April 7, 2014

Misplaced something? It has always puzzled me that the Airlines, for example, will spend millions on systems to get lost luggage back to passengers—no matter where they are—yet, their rate of lost luggage is often so high, they seem to lack systems to address the problem of losing it in the FIRST place!

Alice in Wonder-Where-You're-Going Land
March 24, 2014

Owning a business is the opportunity of a lifetime! We've all seen the "rich" and "famous" doing it, right? But, like in Alice’s Wonderland, in the mythological and uncharted world of business, we can have an entrepreneurial attack and jump in with both feet—down the “rabbit hole” of owning our own business—only to find that nothing is quite what it’s supposed to be.