No. 4 April 2010

As I write this column on Friday, March 19, the sun is out and the temperature is expected to reach 70 degrees.  The beautiful weather is forecast to continue right through this early spring weekend.  The nice weather really makes it hard to stay focused on work.  I keep looking out the window wishing I was outside.  Anybody in a business related to the outdoor power equipment industry knows the feeling you get when the weather begins turning away from winter and closer to spring.  It makes your pulse race a little quicker!  It makes you smile!  You know “our time” is coming.  Spring has just about “sprung!”

Dealers and service centers have already purchased more parts and accessories for the 2010 spring season than they did last year by this time.  Most appear to have had a successful 2009, even as consumers continued not to have much to feel good about.  Our good year in 2009 reflected the generally good year our dealers and service centers had.  And we’re optimistic about 2010.  I hope you are too!

Speaking of “hope,” in Greek mythology there is a story about Pandora, who opened her fabled box and let out all evils except for hope.  The Greeks considered hope to be an evil like any other.  But soon humanity discovered that without hope to offset their troubles, the world was filled with despair. So Pandora let out hope as well. In the myth, hope was more potent than any of the other major evils.

In modern times, we consider hope to be anything but evil. It's what gets many of us through our worst days.  Lingering unemployment, foreclosure, dwindling retirement funds, businesses folding — any of these could make a person lose hope.

Fortunately, Pandora recognized the relevance of hope — an element that is critical to our very existence. In the current business climate, hope is what keeps us from throwing in the towel. I'm a realist, but I'm also an optimist. And while hope and optimism are not exactly the same, they are intrinsically linked.

I recently read that:  “All of life’s problems can be solved with two things—duct tape and WD40. If it doesn’t move and it should, you need WD40.  If it moves and it shouldn’t, you need duct tape.”  Give it try some time when nothing else seems to work.

The Outdoor Power Equipment and Engine Service Association (OPEESA) recently held their annual members meeting out in “toasty” Arizona on February 28 to March 3.  I suspect a lot of your suppliers -  whether OEM’s or distributors - attended the meeting.

Todd Teske, the CEO of Briggs & Stratton talked about the state of the OPE industry.” The returning and very popular economist Brian Beaulieu provided solid information about the current economy and what’s coming next.  Steve McClatchy discussed the “Business of You” and how to gain balance between your business and personal lives.  Industry speakers like Todd Teske and business and economic speakers like Brian Beaulieu made the meeting very worthwhile and fulfilling to attend..

I know when we get our dealers and service centers together for various types of meetings, they discover that they get their best ideas and take-aways from other attendees. Likewise, when we attend an association meeting like OPEESA’s, we take away just as many ideas and learnings from other attendees as we do from the speakers.  So the next time you don’t “feel like” attending a meeting, remember there is always a lot of value in being with and learning from people who face the same opportunities and problems you do.

You don’t need a dictionary to understand a title Robert Schuller’s inspirational book, Tough Times Never Last, But Tough People Do.

Caterina Fake is the co-founder of the photo-sharing Web site Flickr.  And she hates meetings.  When she use to have to hold a meeting, this is how she structured it:  “There would be an agenda distributed before the meeting.  Everybody would stand.  At the beginning of the meeting, everybody would drink 16 ounces of water.  We would discuss everything on the agenda, make all the decisions that needed to be made, and the meeting would be over when the first person had to go to the bathroom.”   Following her meeting rules, I believe we would have a lot of short meetings in my company or we would hold them in a bathroom!

No. 3 March 2010

The Outdoor Power Equipment Institure (OPEI) says the industry produced 779,640 snow throwers in 2009.  Don’t you wish you had a few left on your floor to sell today?  On the other hand, I heard that older units are being repaired “like never before.”  The entire OPE industry is wearing one large smile.

Harvey MacKay says that sometimes when a problem is presented, “the best thing you can do is ask each person on your team to suggest the worst possible idea to address the problem.”  He believes that these “bad ideas enable employees to see problems in a different way and can often spur very good solutions.”  I’m very tempted to try this unusual method and see what results we get.

Normally at this time of year we’d be seeing some early flowers popping up.  If the snow would ever go away, maybe we’d be seeing some right now!  Just keep repeating “Spring is just around the corner.”

Forty seven percent of Baby Boomers report maintaining a profile on a social web site in 2009, which was up 15 percent from 2008.  From 2007 to 2008, there was only a 1-percent increase in Baby Boomers maintaining a social Website profile.  Of that 47 percent of Baby Boomers maintaining a social web site in 2009, 73 percent maintain a Facebook profile, while 13 percent have taken a liking to Twitter.  What was surprising was that only 13 percent of Boomers identified themselves as active LinkedIn users.  Given their place in the professional world, one would think that Baby Boomers would have beenmore active on this professional site.

I will admit that I do maintain personal and business Facebook page and a LinkedIn page.  Facebook can be overwhelming if you let it, so don’t let it.  While some users end-up wasting their time and mine, it is a good way to find out what friends you do not see on a regular basis are doing with their lives.  Give it a try, even if just out of curiosity. 

I do recommend LinkedIn as an excellent business resource for any business person.  Go to the site and search on someone you know and admire in our industry.  You’ll be surprised at what you find and can learn on this Web Site.

Marshall Goldsmith, the author of “The Best Coaching Advice You Will Ever Get,” has a friend who had the opportunity to talk with old people who were facing death and ask them what advice they would have had for themselves in their earlier life.  Their answers were filled with wisdom. 

“One recurring theme was to take the time to reflect on life and find happiness and meaning now.  A frequent comment from old people runs along the lines of: ‘I got so wrapped up in looking at what I didn’t have that I missed what I did have.  I had almost everything.  I wish I had taken more time to appreciate it.’”

“A second theme from old folks was friends and family.  You may work for a wonderful company and believe that your contribution is very important.  But when you are 95 and you look around your death bed, very few of your fellow employees will be waving goodbye!  Your friends and family will probably be the only people who care.”

“A third recurring theme was to follow your dreams.  Older people who tried to achieve their dreams were happier with their lives.  None of us will ever achieve all of our dreams.  If we do, we will just make up new ones!  If we go for it, we can at least say at the end, ‘I tried!’ instead of ‘Why didn’t I at least try?’”