No. 5 May 2014

In a typical December, parcel carriers see their volumes peak mid-month. Last Christmas, however, more shoppers waited to the last-minute. Amazon Prime customers, for example, believed they had no reason to order early. In short, the December peak happened as forecast, but within this multi-week peak was a much bigger spike in activity concentrated in the last few days before Christmas that was just too big for UPS, in particular, to handle.

While all this was occurring, Amazon issued a congratulatory press release that lauded the fact that they had signed up 1 million Amazon Prime members in the third week of December and that demand was so great that it had to suspend enrollment.

But while delivery failures contributed to the profit hit, which the Amazon Prime program played a role in, the bigger hit comes from the Amazon Prime program itself.  Amazon Prime is a loss leader that enables Amazon to steal market share from traditional retailers.

Amazon’s 10-K demonstrated just how big a drag on profits this program really is. Supplemental information about outbound shipping results showed that for every $1 in shipping fees Amazon collected, they spent more than $2, for a total shipping loss of more than $3.5 billion.  That’s not pocket change.

Did you recently notice that the annual fee for Amazon Prime was increased?  Well, now you know why.

Have you ever heard about the “Zeignark effect”?  It’s named after a Russian psychiatrist who discovered that a waiter could remember incomplete orders more easily than those that were served and complete.  Further study showed that people are 90 percent more likely to remember tasks that are undone than those they completed. 

That makes some sense, but it also causes tremendous stress rather than pride of accomplishment.  There will always be work to be done, but stop and smell the roses – or the crocuses and daffodils – occasionally!   You’ll be glad you did!

In a recent Seth’s Blog, Seth Godin had this to say about money: “Money’s pretty new.  Before money, we traded.  My corn for your milk.  The trade enriches both of us and it’s simple.

‘Money, of course, makes a whole bunch of other transactions possible.  Maybe I don’t need your milk, but I can take your money and use it to buy something I do need, from someone else.  Very efficient, but also very abstract.”

As we ceased to trade, we moved all of our transactions to the abstract world of money.  And in this abstract world, “we’re constantly re-evaluating what money is worth.  Five dollars to buy a snack box on an airplane is worth something very different than $5 to buy a cup of coffee after a fancy meal, which is worth something different than $5 in the grocery store.  That’s because we get to pretend that the five dollars in each situation is worth a different amount.”

The value of that five dollars changes in our mind based on what and where we’re using it.

Godin’s conclusion is that “pricing based on cost makes no sense whatever, because cost is not abstract.  Pricing based on value does make sense because value is abstract.”  And that value changes in each situation, just like the value of $5 does for different products and where they are purchased.

My conclusion is: What we are willing to pay for something we want has no relationship to the actual cost of the item, but rather the value it has to us.  If that’s true or even partially true, how should that affect how we price what we sell in our own businesses?

A sales rep, an assistant and their manager are walking to lunch when they find an antique oil lamp.  They rub it, and a Genie comes out.  The Genie says, “I'll give each of you just one wish.”

“Me first!” says the assistant.  “I want to be in the Bahamas, driving a speedboat, without a care in the world.”  Poof!  She's gone.

“Me next!” says the sales rep.  “I want to be in Hawaii, relaxing on the beach with my personal masseuse, an endless supply of piña coladas and the love of my life.”  Poof!  He's gone.

“OK, you're up,” the Genie says to the manager.  The manager says, “I want those two back in the office after lunch.”

Moral:  Always let your boss have the first say.

No. 3 March 2014

Have you ever written an obituary for your company or brand?  I didn’t think so.  Continue reading to learn the reasons Denise Lee Yohn thinks you should.

In her recent Harvard Business Review (www.hbr.org) Blog, Yohn asked if your company or brand ceased to exist, would anyone care? She went on to ask, “Would journalists write headlines heralding your past achievements, or would their stories simply add you to a list of bygones? Would analysts express disappointment, or would they point to indicators that made your death predictable? Would employees wonder how it could have ended, or would they have known it was inevitable? Would customers mourn your passing, or would the demise of your brand go unnoticed?”

Yohn suggests an exercise for you to do that will help bring clarity to what people perceive is the “essence of your brand or business.” She says, “Think of your brand as though it were a person -- the type of person the brand would be if it came to life today and was executing all that the brand entails with consistent excellence.” Then, “pretend you are a reporter for a local newspaper who must write an obituary for this person, your brand, who just passed away today.”

Here are some questions she says you must answer in this obituary: “What was the person’s (brand’s) biggest accomplishment in life? What will it be remembered for? Who did the brand leave behind? What did the brand leave unaccomplished? Who will mourn or miss the brand, and why? What lessons can be learned from the brand’s life? What can be learned in the wake of its death? Now that the brand is gone, what will take its place?”

“Once you’ve completed the column,” says Yohn, “write a headline to capture the essence of the obituary -- that headline, in turn, often captures the essence of your brand.”

“How do you build the kind of brand that would be missed? How do you carve out such a distinctive position and create such a powerful emotional connection (with your customers)?” adds Yohn. “You drill down to the core of your existence to identify the essential enduring value of your brand -- and then you design and run your business to execute relentlessly on that core brand essence. When what you stand for is clearly expressed and delivered in everything you do, every day, you (will) make an indelible mark on people’s hearts and minds.”

Knowing what you, your business and your brand stand for and delivering that essence of excellence every day will touch your customers in a way that will bring them back to your business, time and time again.

Shane Parrish, in his excellent Farnam Street blog (www.farnamstreetblog.com), tells a story about “The Man Who Never Quit.” You may have heard it in the past, but it’s worth hearing again. It is an amazing story and true.

When he was 7 years old, this young boy’s family was forced out of their home and off their farm. Like other boys his age, he was expected to work to help support the family.

When he was 9, his mother died.

At the age of 22, the company he worked for went bankrupt, and he lost his job.

At 23, he ran for state legislature in a field of 13 candidates. He came in eighth.

At 24, he borrowed money to start a business with a friend. By the end of the year, the business failed. The local sheriff seized his possessions to pay off his debt. His partner soon died, penniless, and he assumed his partner’s share of debt as well. He spent the next several years of his life paying it off.

At 25, he ran for state legislature again. This time, he won.

At 26, he was engaged to be married. But his fiancée died before the wedding. The next year, he plunged into a depression and suffered a nervous breakdown.

At 29, he sought to become the speaker of the state legislature. He was defeated.

At 34, he campaigned for a U.S. congressional seat, representing his district. He lost.

At 35, he ran for Congress again. This time, he won. He went to Washington and did a good job.

At 39, when his term ended, he was out of a job again. There was a one-term-limit rule in his party.

At 40, he tried to get a job as commissioner of the General Land Office. He was rejected.

At 45, he campaigned for the U.S. Senate, representing his state. He lost by six electoral votes.

At 47, he was one of the contenders for the vice-presidential nomination at his party’s national convention. He lost.

At 49, he ran for the same U.S. Senate seat a second time. And for the second time, he lost.

Two years later, at the age of 51, after a lifetime of failure, disappointment and loss (and still relatively unknown outside of his home state of Illinois), Abraham Lincoln was elected the 16th president of the United States.

The next time you consider giving up when faced with setback, consider this story. Imagine how the world would be different today if Lincoln gave up after his first setback…or his second…or his 10th?

No. 2 February 2014

A dealer, who wishes to remain anonymous, recently sent me an email asking if a lot of dealers who are “aging out” of actively running their businesses look to “angels” to buy them out or do they just close up and sell off their assets, especially when one of their kids does not want to take over and continue the business.  He tells me he is the sole family survivor of a family lawnmower shop that went out of business primarily due to a major catastrophic act of nature, and he chose not to rebuild and reopen.  Now he’s not sure that was the right step for him to take.   He’s been talking to local and regional dealers in his area, and he says they are all asking him to buy them out.  Even the owners of the largest dealership in his area are “aging out” and their son, for whom they kept the business running and successful, has opted out of taking over, leaving his parents hoping they’ll find an “angel” to buy the business or be faced with selling their assets for what they can get.

In the early 1970’s, when I first joined this family-owned distributorship, I noticed right away that our dealer customers were “old” - appeared to be near retirement age.  Now my perspective was certainly influenced by the fact that I was in my mid-20’s, but nevertheless, I worried that our customer base was going to die-off in just a few years.  Many of those older dealer owners did retire, just like older business people do, and sold off their business assets to a multiplicity of other dealers or in a few cases, had a relative take over management.  “Angels” were very few and far between.  But new service dealers kept appearing, often “popping up” close to new concentrations of residential areas.  They saw a future and took a chance, often borrowing the start-up money from a bank rather than hoping for an “angel” backer.  When they were willing to go to the bank because they believed in themselves that much, I was motivated to help them succeed.

For a long time, I’ve thought that successful dealerships, especially those run by owners who had been re-investing in them for many years, were perfect for their kids to take over.  The investment in assets over the years meant that the son or daughter had a solid foundation that didn’t require a huge initial investment and could be paid for over time.  The business real estate might need sprucing up, but the inventory was typically paid for, as was the building and equipment.  The kids had a head-start, in many ways.

If the kids choose to do other things, then the owners have to find another successful dealer who was interested in a branch location, or an entrepreneur who wanted a successful business to buy, not someone else’s failure.  Otherwise, assets could be sold piecemeal to different businesses and owners.

Dealerships come and go, just like any other business.  I’ve read numerous articles on what makes one dealership successful and another one not.  Bob Clements can and will tell you in a day’s seminar how to be successful in an OPE sales and service operation.  The information is out there for the asking.  But at the end of the day, it still comes down to internal drive, planning and a desire to want to be successful.  It’s a challenge you can win, but no one ever said it would be easy.  What would you tell this sole survivor of a business that was washed away in a flood and who isn’t sure of what the right path is for him to take?  I would be very interested in your thoughts.  Please share them by dropping me an email.

"Bad habits are like a comfortable bed,” a pundit once noted, "easy to get into, but hard to get out of." Sticking with what's comfortable might be one of the deadliest habits of all.

In the bullfighting arena, expert matadors have long gained an edge by pinpointing a bull's comfort zone. Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina has studied this phenomenon. "In bullfighting there is a term called querencia. The querencia is the spot in the ring to which the bull returns," she explains. "Each bull has a different querencia, but as the bullfight continues, and the animal becomes more threatened, it returns more and more often to his spot. As he returns to his querencia, he becomes more predictable."

What are the consequences of predictability? "In the end," Fiorina says, "the matador is able to kill the bull because instead of trying something new, the bull returns to what is familiar (i.e. his comfort zone)."

Many businesses retreat to their comfort zones when challenged. A new form of competition emerges or threatening research undercuts a core product. This is bad news, and who wants to hear that?  "Bad news isn't wine," former Secretary of State Colin Powell once said. "It doesn't improve with age."  The key is how you take the bad news and what you do about it.  Just be sure you don’t keep doing the same thing over and over while expecting new and better results.

No. 1 January 2014

Anne Mulcahy, former Chairman and CEO of Xerox, recently shared this business advice, which I think you'll really enjoy:  “(1) Don’t waste precious time fretting about things over which you have no control.  (2) Delegate the easy stuff and hold on to those things that are challenging and difficult because that is how you grow.  (3)  Learn from the mistakes of others, because you can’t live long enough to make them all yourself.  (4) Get out of your office.  Henry Ford was once asked why he made a habit of visiting his executives when problems arose rather than inviting them to his own office.  ‘I go to them to save time,’ Ford explained, ‘and besides I’ve found I can leave their office a lot quicker than I can get them to leave mine.’”  And my favorite, (5) “Open you ears and close your mouth.  Remember, the only thing that can come out of your mouth is something you already know. Shut up and learn.”

Harvey Mackay tells this story about Anne Mulcahy when she was asked by Fortune Magazine what was the best advice she had ever received in business?  She said, “It occurred at a breakfast meeting in Dallas, to which she had invited a group of business leaders.” 

Mackay continued, “One of them, a plainspoken, self-made, streetwise guy, came up to Mulcahy and said: ‘When everything gets really complicated and you feel overwhelmed, think about it this way.  You gotta do three things.  First get the cow out of the ditch.  Second, find out how the cow got into the ditch.  Third, make sure you do whatever it takes so the cow doesn’t go back into the ditch again.’”   If you break that thought process down, it covers just about any situation you can think of.  Think about it.

We all admire elite athletes, for many different reasons.  Dr. David Yukelson from Penn State University recently published a list of key characteristics associated with mentally tough elite athletes.  The attributes Dr. Yukelson describes also work well for business people, no matter what business they are in.  Yukelson's four attributes are:

•         "Self-Belief - Having an unshakable belief in one's ability to achieve competitive goals.
•         Motivated - Having an insatiable desire and internalized motivation to succeed.
•         Focused - Remain fully focused on the task at hand in the face of distraction.
•         Composed/Handle Pressure - Ability to regain psychological control and thrive on pressure."

These are not easy attributes for anyone to attain.  That's why not everyone is an elite athlete.  But a little practice on your part will help you be better prepared to take on the challenges that constantly arise in your own business.

There is a poem called The Victor about mind over matter (i.e. mental toughness), often attributed to C.W. Longenecker.  What does “mental toughness” mean?  Harvey MacKay defines it as: "conditioning your mind to think confidently and being able to overcome frustration."  Some people believe that mental conditioning is as important as physical conditioning.  We've all seen a team "rise to the occasion" and win a game that no one gave them a chance of winning.  We point to our forehead and say it was "mind over matter."  A win that came about because one team believed more than the other that they could win the game.  And they did.  So can you.  But only if you believe.    C.W. Longenecker’s poem The Victor follows:

If you think you are beaten, you are. 

If you think you dare not, you don’t.
If you like to win but think you can’t, it’s almost a cinch you won’t.

If you think you’ll lose, you’re lost.
For out in the world we find success begins with a fellow’s will.
It’s all in the state of mind.

If you think you’re outclassed, you are.
You’ve got to think high to rise.
You’ve got to be sure of yourself before you ever can win the prize.

Life’s battles don’t always go to the stronger or faster man,
But sooner or later, the man who wins
Is the man who thinks he can!

No. 10 October 2013

Karl Pillemer is a gerontologist (someone who studies older people) who, in his work, kept meeting older people – many of whom had lost loved ones, been through tremendous difficulties, and had serious health problems – who nevertheless were happy, fulfilled, and deeply enjoying life. He found himself asking, “What’s that all about?” As he looked through existing research, he found that study after study validated the fact that older people – in their 70s, 80s and beyond – are actually happier than younger people. Pillemer thought that perhaps older people knew things about living a happy, healthy, fulfilling life that younger people didn’t, so he decided to find out what that practical wisdom was. He interviewed 1,000 seniors and asked them, “What is the most important lesson you want to pass along to the young?” From his interviews came his book, 30 Lessons for Living: Tried and True Advice from the Wisest Americans.

Here are a few of his findings about some of life's lessons that older people have learned during their long lives:  “…one lesson stood out; a lesson that older people knew about because of where they stand on life’s road – but that younger people could benefit from learning about. It was a lesson that almost all expressed. And they did it vehemently.

“What they wanted younger people to know is this: life is short. The older the respondent, the more likely they are to say that life passes by in what seems like an instant. They say this, not to depress younger people, but to get them to be more aware and selective about how they use their time. Older people practice what psychologists call ‘socioemotional selectivity’ – because their time is limited, they make careful decisions about how to use their time. Some implications of this insight are to say things now to people you care about, whether it is expressing gratitude or love; asking forgiveness or getting information; spending the maximum amount of time with children or grandchildren; and savoring daily pleasures instead of waiting for ‘big-ticket items’ to make you happy.

“The other piece of advice that comes from this idea that life is much shorter than you realize: Take a chance. People in their 70s, 80s, 90s and beyond endorse taking risks when you’re young, contrary to a stereotype that elders are conservative. Their message to young people starting out is ‘Go for it!’ They say that you are much more likely to regret what you didn’t do than what you did. As one 80-year-old said, ‘Unless you have a compelling reason to say no, always say yes to opportunities.’

“Elders have also learned that happiness is a choice – not a passive condition dependent on external events, nor is it the result of our personalities. We can choose – in a conscious shift in outlook every day – optimism over pessimism, hope over despair.” We can take responsibility for our own happiness throughout our life. As I’ve said many times in this column: Life is about choices every minute of every day. We can choose to be happy, smile and uplift people, or we can choose to put people down and try to make them as unhappy as we are. It’s not your personality. It’s your choice!

We also know experience is very important in our work lives. Harold S. Geneen, the former CEO of AT&T, had this to say about business experience: “In the business world, everyone is paid in two coins: cash and experience. Take the experience first; the cash will come later.” Those are true words of wisdom.

Harvey Mackay tells a story about “a little boy spending his Saturday morning playing in his sandbox. He had cars and trucks, his plastic pail, and a shiny red shovel. In the process of creating roads and tunnels in the soft sand, he discovered a large rock in the middle of the sandbox.

“The boy dug around the rock, managing to dislodge it from the dirt. With a little bit of struggle, he pushed and nudged the large rock across the sandbox by using his feet. When the boy got the rock to the edge of the sandbox, he found that he couldn’t roll it up and over the wall of the sandbox. Every time he made some progress, the rock tipped and then fell back into the sandbox.

“Frustrated, he burst into tears. All this time, the boy’s father watched from his living room window. As the tears fell, a large shadow fell across the boy and the sandbox. It was his father. Gently but firmly, he said, ‘Son, why didn’t you use all the strength that you had available?’

“Defeated, the boy sobbed back, ‘But I did, Daddy, I did! I used all the strength that I had!’

“‘No, son,’ corrected the father kindly. ‘You didn’t use all the strength you had. You didn’t ask me.’ With that, the father reached down, picked up the rock, and removed it from the sandbox.

“Successful people rarely reach the top without a lot of help along the way. The ability – and willingness – to ask for help is one trait that really stands out among those who are truly committed to success.” Seeking help and advice, when you need it, will move you quicker down the highway of success.

No. 10 October 2012

Researchers at the Institute for Aging Research at Albert Einstein College of Medicine questioned 243 people age 100 or older. They found that centenarians tend to share certain personality traits (in addition to other factors, like genetics).

In general, these long-lived people are: “outgoing; positive-minded about other people; full of laughter, open with their emotions; conscientious and disciplined; and unlikely to obsess about anxieties or guilt.  The scientists point out that these characteristics don't necessarily represent a cause and effect relationship.”

They did notice, however, that in many cases the personality traits they observed weren't necessarily lifelong tendencies, but behaviors their subjects learned as they grew older.

Focusing on the good and not worrying about the negatives may have a very positive impact on your overall life expectancy.

Every problem does have a solution.  And sometimes those solutions turn out to be quite creative as the following story indicates:

A woman had traveled about six miles in a taxi when she discovered that she had left her wallet at home.  Realizing that she had a problem, she knew that she had to take some kind of action. So about a block short of her destination she leaned forward and told the driver:  "Stop at this hardware store. I need to buy a flashlight so I can look for the hundred dollar bill that I dropped back here."   When she came out of the hardware store, the taxi was gone.  And her “problem” was solved!

I recently returned from traveling overseas recently for a little more than three weeks with my wife.  Near the end of the trip, our small group was traveling through Estonia, ready to cross over into Russia to visit St. Petersburg for a few days.

Unlike the open and free border crossings between EU members Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, the crossing into Russia was met by gates and fences and a large passport control building.  We sat on our bus waiting for something to happen for about 20 minutes.  We were then instructed by the Russian border agents to remove our primary luggage from under the bus and take it into the building.  Each of us showed our passports to the single agent sitting in his passport control office.  Besides having to have a current passport, the agent was also checking to see if we each had our Russian Visa’s (the only visa needed on the entire trip.) 

Now comes the interesting part. The young lady who was our guide and translator for the entire three weeks was last in line. Once she was processed, the young Russian passport control agent asked her an enlightening question:  “Why are American’s always smiling when they have nothing to smile about?”  She responded that American’s are always happy, enjoy life, and they smile a lot naturally.

We discovered that Russians in particular, and Lithuanians, Latvians, and Estonians young and old alike only smile when they have something to smile about.  Throughout the trip, we realized how much the three Baltic countries and the Russian people suffered under Czarist Russia control, German control during WWII, and Soviet Union control after WWII.  Smiling was a hard thing to do for decades as hundreds of thousands of citizens were killed by the Germans and later the KGB or deported to Siberia. 

Say a prayer tonight for the souls of these brave people killed in the Baltic countries and Russia since 1919, and for the relatively peaceful lives we have lived in this great country we call the United States of America.  We are so lucky to be living here untouched by many of the cruel realities of the world.

Curtis Carlson, founder of the Carlson Companies, spent his life building great businesses. When asked what personal qualities contributed to the building of his successful empire, Curt responded, "I think my success is the result of my ability to see and to imagine how things could be.  I'm not distracted by how things are."  Don’t let “how things are today” keep you from improving and growing your business for success tomorrow.

Having a goal and the vision of what it will take to reach it are important attributes for any business owner or manager.  Share the goal and the vision with your team.  You want them to buy into the dream and to be as excited as you are about being successful and reaching your business goals.  The power of a group of people all focused on reaching the same goal is amazing.  I truly believe anything becomes possible.  Try it and see for yourself.

No. 9 September 2011

What a crazy year 2011 has been.  But I suppose that makes it normal.  When I see an uptick in outdoor power equipment parts and accessory sales, or I see or read about a substantial rain storm somewhere, and start feeling positive, I know I can count on a television or radio, economic or political newscast to make me feel “blue” again.

But wait a minute. Enough complaining.  What about all the good things happening to us and our businesses? Can’t we focus on that for a while instead of the negative? Take a pen and write down five positive things about a family member, a terrific employee (or something “neat” that happened at your business) or a friend who is always there for you. We focus so much on what is not good in our lives that we tend to ignore all the good things going on around us.

I truly believe that every morning when we wake up, we get to choose what kind of person we will be that day (i.e. How we will approach life). Will we see the glass half full or half empty? Will we choose to be unhappy and grumpy, or will we choose to be positive and upbeat? Our decision affects everyone around us and influences how they face their own challenges and opportunities.

I made a decision many, many years ago that I would not let unhappy people make me unhappy too.Unhappy people go through life trying to make everyone around them as miserable as they are. You and I can be foils to that type of person who receives pleasure from making us miserable. Don’t let them. Focus on the good and positive. Ignore their complaining and ranting. I suppose we might say, “Ruin their day” by smiling, being positive, and focusing on making the good things happening around you even better. It’s simple. And it works.

Although I wasn’t a close friend, I did get to spend some one-on-one time over the years with Jay Peck, president of Subaru Industrial Power Products, usually at dinner or in a business meeting. After a brief battle with cancer, Jay passed away on August 10. It’s never easy to lose a family member or business acquaintance so quickly and unexpectedly, especially someone you admired and respected. Jay’s family, his friends and his industry will miss him greatly.

Want to be a better person, boss, employer, dad, mother or friend, and seem composed and smarter too? Of course you do. So try doing some of these things: Do one thing at a time. Know the problem.  Learn to listen. Learn to ask questions. Distinguish sense from nonsense. Accept change as inevitable. Admit mistakes. Say it simple. Be calm. And don’t forget to smile, smile, and smile some more. Just do it.

Did you see where Google bought the phone manufacturing arm of Motorola for $12.5 billion? That’s certainly not “chump change,” is it? The Motorola division it actually bought is called Motorola Mobility. But some people are suggesting that it be called “Googorola.” Seems only appropriate, doesn’t it?

You may have a lot of passion about making your business a success. But you have to remember passion is not the key to business success. Building a successful business requires a lot more than just passion.  Passion gives you the energy and drive to get you through the challenges you face every day. But then it takes commitment and dedication to reach the next level.

Business success depends on practicing the fundamentals daily, keeping your eye on the goal, being willing to be coached, and maintaining a strong and committed work ethic. There are lots of passionate people in the world who never achieve their goals. Building a business is plain old hard work. And just like a great athlete, if you don’t have the discipline to get up and go after it every single day, then you’re not going to be successful. Do you have what it takes?

I found the following anonymous quote on the Internet and wanted to share it with you:

“Imagine there is a bank account that credits your account each morning with $86,400. It carries over no balance from day to day. What would you do? Draw out every cent, of course.

“Each of us has such a bank. Its name is time.

“Every morning, it credits you with 86,400 seconds. Every night, it writes off as lost, whatever of this you have failed to invest to a good purpose. It carries over no balance. It allows no overdraft.

“Each day, it opens a new account for you. Each night, it burns the remains of the day. If you fail to use the day’s deposits, the loss is yours. There is no drawing against ‘tomorrow.’ You must live in the present on today’s deposits. You must invest it so as to get from it the utmost in health, happiness and success.

“The clock is running. Make the most of today.”

No. 5 May 2010

Our grass is green and growing.  You know what that means don’t you?   Right!  It means spring is here and we’re being attacked by the curse of pollen, watery eyes, runny noses, sinus infections and headaches.  Nevertheless, I still love springtime!

Does the nice increase we’re seeing in our dealer’s early and large purchases of equipment and parts reflect their renewed optimism for 2010?  Or does it reflect their customers early season purchasing habits?  Let’s hope it’s both.

Remember the old saying “Nothing is new, it is just forgotten?”  As our government begins to try to control the price of health care, I remember back in 1973 when President Richard Nixon’s Cost of Living Council froze gasoline prices.  I suspect most of you don’t remember what happened next.  Let me remind you.

Consumers were ecstatic at the beginning. But very quickly they realized their choice was not between high price and low price gasoline; their choice was between gas and no gas.

Oil companies and their gas stations responded to the price freeze by curtailing supply, limited customers to half a tank’s purchase, shutting down early and closing on Sundays.  How well I remember waiting many different times in a line at a service station to purchase gas - a line that might have over 50 cars in it.  And it wasn’t unusual to wait in line for more than an hour.

The conclusion was that the cost in inefficiency and time lost was greater than any benefit derived from a regulated price.  Now I’m wondering what the unintended consequences of regulating health care pricing and costs will be on you and me?  Maybe our politicians in Washington need to be reminded, "Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it."  Let’s hope not this time.

April 1, 2010 was the eighteenth anniversary of the US Lawn Mower Racing Association.  Who would have ever guessed?

It comes as no surprise that one’s educational attainment typically has a direct impact on employment. 

The jobless rate for those workers with less than a high school diploma was 14.5 percent in March of 2010.  For those with a high school diploma, but no college, the rate was 10.8 percent.

For those workers with some college or an Associate’s degree, the jobless rate was 8.2 percent. For those with a Bachelor’s degree and higher, the average unemployment rate was 4.9 per cent.

I think those numbers speak for themselves.

Caterina Fake, the co-founder of the photo-sharing Web site Flickr, has banned meetings in her businesses.  How does she get things accomplished and provide direction without meetings. 

She says, “Interactions should be constant, not crammed into meetings once a week.  You just turn around in your chair and bounce an idea off one of the other 10 people in your office.  Keep the floor plan open so people can talk to each other.  And as the company gets bigger, keep dividing it into small and smaller groups.”  

I know I would vote to do away with meetings in my business, if I could.  But I can’t imagine not having a meeting when it was needed.  It’s the meetings we have when we don’t need one, that are worrisome and time wasters.

To my friends who enjoy a glass of wine each night… and to those who don’t and are always seen with a bottle of water in their hand, I share with you my favorite Ben Franklin quote, “In wine, there is wisdom, in beer, there is freedom, and in water there is bacteria.”  I think his words sum up my feelings very nicely!

Here are two anonymous quotes I really like about living life to its fullest.

The first says, “Don’t let your life slip through your fingers by living in the past or the future.  By living your life one day at a time, you live ALL the days of your life.”

And the other says, “Don’t take for granted the things closest to your heart.  Cling to them as if they were your life, for without them, life is meaningless.”

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!