A single ounce. In 2018, Delta Airlines made one simple change to their business that saved millions of dollars per year. As you can imagine, the cost of jet fuel is one of the biggest drivers in an airline’s ability to make money. Someone in the organization took a creative approach to reducing costs by…
Be masterful. Acquiring a competitor is a master chess move. It’s like adding an entire chapter to your business story in a single stroke of the pen. It allows you to quickly increase market share, gain access to an established customer base, and streamline overlapping operations for better efficiency. Plus, the knowledge and resources of your…
It’s the Chick-fil-A way. A very common way for a brick-and-mortar business to mature is to own the land it sits on. When a business is well rooted, you can really control your destiny (and save $$$) by buying real estate. It’s also a great way to retire, when the time is right: sell the…
When was the last time? I recall seeing a study a few years ago about how you can change your mood, anxiety levels, and blood pressure simply by standing within 10 feet of a tree for a few minutes every day. My reaction? Uh, yeah. I do it all the time. But I have realized…
I’m gettin’ too old for this. My favorite example of rethinking your entire business is a shed business that I learned about. The owner of the business had been building sheds for years and decided to get out of the day-to-day of construction life. The shed builder had years of knowledge, experience, and business tools…
Don’t be jelly. As a creative professional, I have heard it my entire career. “Oh that’s neat, I wish I was creative like you”. Professional artists have hijacked the term. Even if you don’t see yourself as “a creative” (noun), you are absolutely creative (adjective). I have come to learn that everybody is made in…
It’s almost too simple. In the early 2000’s, Prince was a household favorite despite not having published a hit album of new music in over a decade. In 2004, however, Prince released an album called Musicology which became his best-selling album in quite some time, with over half a million sales in the first 5 weeks. This…
Athens, Greece. Summer of 2004. The Olympic Games are in full swing. Matthew Emmons is now one of the most prolific marksmen in American shooting sports, but at the time it was his first chance at Olympic glory. It was the men’s 50m rifle three-position final, and Emmons had a glaring lead. All he had…
A quick win can generate momentum. Don’t take my word for it, it’s called “science”… According to the Harvard Business Review, There is a human response called “Completion Bias”, where we gain mental momentum by completing tasks. When you have a big project at hand, you might tackle a small task right off the bat just…
Imagine, if you will, a funnel that you would use to fill a gas can. Or a pour-over coffee. Or a mason jar. (greetings, fellow pickler) It’s wide at the top to easily capture liquid, and then it guides that liquid into a tighter space as it goes down. A simple, genius device… what did we…