Connecting the dots of life and business

A few years ago, the dry cleaners I choose to patronize caught fire. Most of the fire was confined to the neighboring business, but there was massive water (from the firefighter’s efforts) and smoke damage to VIP Cleaners’ contents. Those items included several of my dress shirts. Today when you walk inside you can’t find [...]

Yesterday, I attended the local chamber‘s structured networking event. I reference the format because it wasn’t your average social/business gathering. Instead, we had 20 minutes at a table with six attendees and a facilitator to discuss three business topics. We completed this cycle two more times, so I chatted with 15 attendees and three facilitators [...]

Two quick stories that reminded me the importance of pushing when appropriate with different methods. First, my friend who owns a growing business and I were discussing how some employees easily accept “No” for answer. He referenced his struggles with a specific employee who either gave up too easily or was just getting pushed around [...]

It’s been a week since I returned from SXSW and this picture by Jim Storer pretty much sums it up (sans Kevin’s grinning). While I feel much more rested, I do miss the daily interaction with so many great people. Already looking forward to next year.

I recently ordered a couple clothing items from Zappos that didn’t quite fit. No biggie. I called their customer service line and immediately talked to a human being who changed my order to other items, emailed me the new receipt and a printable return label (i.e. – free shipping on my return). In my haste [...]

Many people attend conferences to grow their business and at SXSW it seems folks try REALLY hard to get noticed. Everyone references Twitter’s explosion in 2007, but I also remember Colin and Rob from Viddler as a 2007 memorable company. Their approach was pretty simple… they both wore Viddler t-shirts every day (I assume it [...]