Related Posts:

• August 24, 2009 -- Printex knows more than one way to skin the cat (3)
• July 13, 2009 -- It takes a dream, hard work and balls (2)
• July 6, 2009 -- As easy as 1-2-3 (2)
• July 2, 2009 -- Creating Work (3)

As my first review for this blog, I want to mention a local small company from Woburn, MA; Printex.  They have been providing my department with every single need for the last year or so.  Posters, notebooks, cd’s, marketing gifts, branded apparel and all those nice little trinkets that help me live without ever visiting the office supply store.  But that is not what I want to review.

After the person in our department in charge of these kind of activities left the company, the few of us left behind have been struggling to keep up with all the details left unfinished, and trying to figure out who is the right contact for each task; that’s where a company that knows how to sell (or skin the cat) comes into play.

Printex took things in their own hands, went far beyond what we were paying for, and delivered not only a quality product in a short amount of time, but with a minimal effort from us (the headless chickens)

That’s why I grant them with 5 out of 5 stars in the new Review Section of this Blog.

Printex ( 5 out of  5)

Quality: 5
Delivering: 5
Easy of Business: 5
Customer Service: 5

Related Posts:

• November 3, 2009 -- The Fun Theory (2)
• July 13, 2009 -- It takes a dream, hard work and balls (2)
• July 6, 2009 -- As easy as 1-2-3 (2)
• July 2, 2009 -- Creating Work (3)

Cavata Clothing Co. was born out of a dream of a really young entrepreneur, that once asked me: “What do you think of this idea?” to which I replied with my common saying of “you got nothing; so you got nothing to lose…”   Right out of College, starting Grad School and her first real job, she decided that she didn’t only wanted to run her own business, but she was going to have fun at it, and give back to the community.

They make trendy T-shirts that encourage music and art for people of all ages.  As part of their marketing campaign and company mission they give 10% of their revenue to music and art programs around the State of Massachusetts, as they in their website: “Creating A Voice About The Arts…one tee at a time!”

I encourage you to go and take a look at their products, but mostly to take a look at your dream or idea and ask yourself: “What do i have to lose?” If anything you will gain the experience you will never gain at your 9-5 job.

Kudos to Cavata Clothing Company and this young busy entrepeneur; another company that started as a what if, and its still on business doing well and growing.  Visit Cavata at www.CavataClothing.com

Related Posts:

• November 3, 2009 -- The Fun Theory (2)
• August 24, 2009 -- Printex knows more than one way to skin the cat (3)
• July 6, 2009 -- As easy as 1-2-3 (2)
• July 2, 2009 -- Creating Work (3)

This weekend I had the misfortune of breaking the rear glass of my Mustang Convertible (yes, I’m bragging), and spent some time this morning trying to find someone to replace it.  It ended up being almost an adventure to find someone who seemed at least willing to do the work.  From voice mails, to angry operators that obviously didn’t know that the Mustang was made by Ford, it seemed like I would have to wait almost a week and a few trips to adjacent towns to have the damn glass replaced.  That until my brother shared some of his experience with me and steered my search into the right direction.

JN Phillips website has an easy to fill out form that was followed by a call immediately; the conversation was literally shorter than 2 minutes:

“Hi Mr. AAA, this is BOB from JN Phillips.  Would Wednesday morning be ok for you?

“Sounds good”

“Alright Mr. AAA, we will call you when we get there, have a good day.”

THAT WAS IT!  I couldn’t believe it.  At this point I cant review on their  quality of work, but so far this customer is already impressed and will keep them in mind whenever I or others need some glass replacement.  Kudos to this company and others like it, that engage in such great practices.  I sure will keep it in mind in my future business and marketing ideas.

Hope you all do the same.

Related Posts:

• November 3, 2009 -- The Fun Theory (2)
• August 24, 2009 -- Printex knows more than one way to skin the cat (3)
• August 21, 2009 -- Tweeting and Posting all the Way to Unemployment (6)
• July 13, 2009 -- It takes a dream, hard work and balls (2)

My first job out of college was at a software company where I was a Marketing Associate. I started in this position literally one day after graduating college, so to say I was green is almost an understatement. Sure, I had completed plenty of internships while in college, but even though I worked really hard at those internships at most they were a 20 hour a week job and I had specific tasks assigned to me.

At this new job I had a short list of core responsibilities, and I would complete my daily tasks by lunch time each day. I would spend the rest of the day bored and I would often ask for more responsibility or more things to do.

I ultimately left this job because I wanted a position that would allow me to be more creative and that would offer more responsibility. Looking back I realize it wasn’t the company that needed to change it was me. Instead of sitting around waiting for more work, I would have been more successful creating my own projects. In fact, as I move along in my career I find that the best jobs out there offer this kind of opportunity.  Unless you are a heart surgeon or some sort of stock broker there will be times in any job that you find yourself without a lot on your plate. Use this time as an opportunity to develop project that you find interesting and that will benefit the company in some way. Not only will you be more satisfied in your career, you’ll be seen someone with initiative and drive.

Some of my best ideas have come to me when I am sitting around at work with not much to do. Instead of checking Facebook surfing other sites, I try to “create work” for myself. I can honestly say it works, and it does impress your boss when you knock on their office door and say “I have an idea”. Of course you can’t just have the beginnings of an idea, you have to have a well thought out project with goals, objectives, benefits and a plan on how you will execute the project.  Try creating work for yourself when you have little or nothing to do, and watch your career bloom. I’m also willing to bet that if your organization needs to “down size” at some point they are less likely to cut the person who comes up with creative and beneficial projects on their own.

What are your experiences with creating work for yourself?

Related Posts:

• June 18, 2009 -- How old ARE you? (1)
• November 3, 2009 -- The Fun Theory (2)
• August 24, 2009 -- Printex knows more than one way to skin the cat (3)
• July 22, 2009 -- What Revolutionary Road Taught Me about Work and Life (3)

I always thought that I was a special case, but recently a good friend got laid off after only a couple of weeks of being hired, and the little information I have, makes me think that it was under the same premise. I did OK at that job that I mention and left on my own to start my own firm, but I would have loved some guidance at the time, and in some part I feel responsible for not guiding my young friend this time, so here is some unsolicited advice on the subject:

• Never start by making ugly things pretty, those only impress yourself. (ex. Websites, Letterhead, etc.)
• You are not supposed to generate money, or so they told you in school, but the truth is that if you don’t bring some dough in some way, you will be gone soon.
• You are the sole Marketing Dept., bring business, and generate leads.  There are dozens of ways to generate leads, think cheap (there is a phone next to you, and you probably have an email account)
• “Act your age, not your shoe size.”
• Make an action plan with deadlines and make it public.
• Report your success (I hope you have some).
• Don’t look busy, make yourself busy. Learn as much as you can about the product/service and your company’s history.
• Educate yourself in the industry you are in, chances are you know nothing of selling tampons if you are a guy.
• Try to enjoy your time at you new job.
• Let your boss know that you know what you are doing (even if you don’t).
• Make sure to talk to everyone, let them know who you are and what your goals are.
• Make some friends; it will make lunch time more fun.
• As soon as you sit on that chair, start looking for a better job.

And there you have it, some unsolicited advice for the young and employed.  I wish you the best of luck.

Related Posts:

• November 3, 2009 -- The Fun Theory (2)
• September 2, 2009 -- What’s your 5-year PROFESSIONAL plan? (1)
• August 24, 2009 -- Printex knows more than one way to skin the cat (3)
• July 13, 2009 -- It takes a dream, hard work and balls (2)

Every once in a while (if not every week) you will receive a call from some random salesman that promises you a free lunch in exchange for your patience. I usually try to run, hide, camouflage, freeze myself alive –anything but answer my phone, just in order to stay away from salesmen. But those are crafty creatures, they go around you, wait in the dark and when you least expect it, they attack from behind and convince your boss (who is also trying to get rid of them) that YOU should listen to the presentation and of course a lunch.

This is how it usually goes: Its always one of the two; if it’s a man, it will be a short, balding, fat guy with a tie depriving his brain from oxygen, or on the other side (if it’s a woman), it will be a skinny lady, with a haircut that I’ve only seen before when 2 cats get in a.. – well, cat-fight. Between the excessive make-up, the Botox and the porcupine hairdo, it’s impossible to approximate their age, but they will let you know about how old their kids are and how much they like to play basketball, or paint, or some other skill that you can’t care less about.

They always show up with some younger co-worker, which looks smarter, wiser, and quieter. You know that’s the one you need to talk with (if any), but the salesman won’t let that happen. They have been trained that barking gets your attention, and he knows his presentation flawlessly. You won’t have time to talk, act, cough, clear your throat, or anything else other than breathing and let you’re A.D.D. take the best of you.

“How the hell she gets her hair to stay like that? Wow that’s got to take a lot of hair-spray. Is it me or it smells like baby powder in here? Wait, does she shave her face? I wonder if he can see his own weiner with that gut.” All these questions and more go through your mind while he or she ramble through a presentation, that will either lack of graphical help (pretty pie-chats) or have way too much of it.

“Great; I will take a deeper look at your proposal, consult with my colleagues and let you know…” You try to escape from the conference room and if possibly from lunch. Ha! Naïve, rookie mistake buddy; you will let him know, but not on your time. You will go to lunch and when you get back to your office, like an act of magic, you will find a new proposal in your email; “how, the hell he managed to send you a new proposal while having lunch with you? They are that crafty.

“Well at least I get to eat a good steak, or lobster if I want to.” Yes, but how much is your soul worth to you? You will be thinking that you will talk more business, hell, maybe he’ll repeat all you missed while wondering why would he wear a diagonal-stripes tie with a pinstripe shirt, but no; you will have an hour and a half of random small-talk. I hope you love small-talk, because I hate it. I don’t care for what you did last summer, or how cute your mom is. No, I don’t care to tell you the name of my cat, or her sleeping habits. “Oh, really, you like hazelnut coffee…” I DON”T CARE!!!!!

Lunch is always good and you finally get to escape from the salesperson grasp, finally free; WRONG! From that moment on, it will be a continuous harassment on his or her part, with phone calls and emails every single day. You would love to go to your boss and summarize everything she talked about, but you can’t remember; SHE HAD PORCUPINE HAIR!

Related Posts:

• February 16, 2010 -- Making Buying Impossible (1)
• November 3, 2009 -- The Fun Theory (2)
• August 24, 2009 -- Printex knows more than one way to skin the cat (3)
• July 13, 2009 -- It takes a dream, hard work and balls (2)