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A while back, I told you about how much I enjoyed my comfort zone, in contrast to my risk-taking husband, in a blog titled 7 Do’s and Don’ts for the Risk-Adverse Printer. These days, I’m still not riding kayaks off of cliffs or participating in family skydiving events like the one below; however, that doesn’t mean my comfort zone hasn’t been shrinking. Stepping out of a comfort zone will look different from one person or business to the next. For some, it could be as simple as one step in an unknown direction. For others, stepping out means the daily battle of fighting their way toward a goal they’ve been working on for years. Here are a few tips to keep in mind if you’re looking to step outside your comfort zone. Know Your Motivation To move outside of your comfort zone, you must first learn what it’ll take to motivate you there. After decades of overthinking, I’ve come to understand the number one thing that pushes me out of my comfort zone is not the adrenaline rush (a.k.a. absolute terror!) of jumping out of a perfectly good airplane. Rather, I am motivated to get uncomfortable if it means helping someone

Improvement is a concept akin to owning a print business or simply being human. We’re all geared toward ways to improve ourselves, improve processes, and become more efficient. Don’t believe me? Check out all of society’s recent advertisements, and you’ll see adjectives like “better,” “greater,” and just about every other “er” you can think of. While striving for improvement is a good thing, it’s our job as leaders to pursue improvement in a way that won’t burn out our teams or make them constantly feel the “burden of better.” How to Start: Start with One How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. A journey of 1,000 miles starts with a single step. You get the cliches. If you want to create a culture of improvement in a healthy and sustainable way, start with one. Pick one process, product, or customer interaction and start there. Creating an improvement culture doesn’t happen overnight. Cultures throughout the world are the product of generations. Stephen Covey stated it well: “To begin with the end in mind means to start with a clear understanding of your destination. It means to know where you’re going so that you better understand where you

About seven years ago, I shared a tip about one way I stay in vacation mode when I’m on vacation. It’s important to me to honor my family by not letting my attention drift back to work. Knowing that “checking my email just for a few moments” is a surefire way to get sucked back into work, I established a safeguard. I asked Rachel to read my email for me. That’s why I wrote about how Rachel, the Human Auto-Responder, Reads My Email at that time. And there’s the big, bold headline: I Don’t Like Auto-Responders A New Perspective It’s funny how time can change one’s perspective because today, I’m going to share a different tip on preventing emails from sucking you out of vacation and back into work. And guess what, this tip requires autoresponders!!! So what changed? Rachel changed! She’s no longer in a position to read all my emails. As the Director of Marketing at Marketing Ideas For Printers, her day simply doesn’t allow her the time required to be my email babysitter. In that same post, I said, I understand that not everyone has the luxury of having someone like Rachel available to respond to emails. Well, guess

Today’s print industry is facing a new challenge: reaching a generation raised in the digital age. Research shows that print remains a priority with many companies, with one-third of many corporations’ advertising budgets still dedicated to print materials. However, to remain a relevant and vibrant option in today’s marketing space, you and your team will need to find unique ways to bridge the generational gap and promote the benefits of your craft: print. Print is Still Relevant Though digital marketing has come to the forefront in recent years, print is still a viable medium. Our beloved print industry has continued to grow with many developments occurring alongside its digital peers. Still, to keep pace with cost-effective, creative digital marketing materials, the entire printing industry will need constant innovation and re-invention. Print is still relevant today, but original thinking, hard work, and consistent effort are required to keep it that way. What is the Next Generation of Print Buyers Looking For? Though print is adopting emergent technologies like automation, robotics, and augmented reality every day, we all know the word “print” is inadequate to express all the medium can accomplish. Print carries with it the idea of datedness to the next

At its core, marketing is about solving the pain points of your buyers. As Jonathan Lister of LinkedIn says, “As marketers, we should be changing the mantra from always be closing to always be helping.” Marketing genius can feel tricky and elusive to some, but it doesn’t have to be any more complicated than simply helping others make their lives easier. Below are three real-life examples of marketing genius I’ve recently experienced, marveled at, and learned from. 3 Displays of Marketing Genius in Real Life 1) Apple’s New Face ID Apple has been synonymous with “marketing genius” for a while now, but have you ever stopped to think why that is? One of the more recent reasons has been their ability to quickly see, adapt, and meet the needs of their users amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic came with many frustrations: online learning, shutdowns, vaccinations, etc. COVID also brought with it mask-wearing, and as every Apple user knows, it’s a real pain not to be able to open your phone with your face I.D. because you’re wearing a mask. So, Apple responded to the pain point. First, Apple began to meet this need with the iOS 14.5 upgrade,

It’s no secret that the printing industry has been feeling the increasing effects of the paper shortage crisis. This pain point has been popping up in conversations on online forums, phone calls and email connections with our printers, and even social media. Just this past week, we posted the following meme on our LinkedIn channel, and the comments that followed quickly turned to paper and the lack of it. So, what’s the deal? What do you think is causing this unprecedented paper supply issue? How is it affecting your business, and what are you doing to alleviate the issue for both your business and your clients? We asked a handful of our subscribers these questions to get their take on things. Check out the helpful information and tips they provided in their responses below. What is Causing the Paper Shortage Issues? Some quick research will show you that the paper crisis didn’t just suddenly appear; it’s been a long time coming. In Lou Caron’s article, “Paper Shortages: What’s Behind the Problem and What Can We Do?”, Caron attributes several factors that have led to the current state of the paper supply, including: The closure of North American paper mills and

Have you ever gone on a road trip without a plan? I’m talking no destination, no starting place, no clothes for any particular climate… really, no plan at all. The kind of road trip where you get in the car and start driving, figuring out which direction to head as you go. Unless you are a true “free spirit,” I imagine this would be pretty unusual. Yet more and more, I meet business owners with no idea where they’re heading with their business. Instead of having a plan, these business owners keep coming into the office and putting out fires, doing whatever they do every day, hoping for new orders and new customers to come in. Busy Vs. Productive: There’s a Difference If I’m being honest, and I am, this describes how my dad and I ran our business in the early days of Brandywine Printing. We were super busy all the time, but we weren’t always happy with the work we were doing. We didn’t realize that if we could just get organized, we would be able to accomplish more with less effort, and our “busyness” would be productive and, therefore, more profitable. But as the saying goes, “You

“Hey, you, look at me! Can’t you see how great I am? I am the best there is. You’d be a fool to work with anyone but me and my business, for we are THE BEST.” Ugh. Insert eye-roll here. Most people actively avoid those who exude an attitude like this. But, have you ever noticed that many business owners think it’s ok to market their business this way? They seem to miss the truth that messages like these, with their know-it-all attitudes, are cringe-worthy whether they come from the neighbor down the street or a business trying to market itself. Owning a business doesn’t give anyone an excuse to be an all-about-me marketer. No one likes a glory hog, and this includes your print buyers. Many companies fail to recognize that marketing actually works best as a supporting role. If you want your marketing to be effective, it needs to play the background, not take center stage. Every Story Has a Hero. Who’s Yours? In every story, there’s a hero and there’s a guide. Think about this: in The Lord of the Rings, Frodo had Gandalf. In The Hunger Games, Katniss had Haymitch. And, of course, in Star Wars,

I like talking to people to find out what makes them tick. Why? Because people are interesting. When you learn what motivates a person to get up in the morning, what brings them joy or makes them light up, you get to communicate on a whole different level than just simple conversation. This new level of communication is where connections are made, loyalties are formed, and relationships are built. And business is all about relationships. After all, it’s not what you know, it’s who you know, right? While it’s always good to know things, your wealth of knowledge shouldn’t come at the expense of getting to know people – especially the people you want to do business with. In his book, “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People,” Stephen Covey understood the heart behind business relationships when he said, “Seek first to understand and then to be understood.” When you connect with people at this level, they know you care about them more than just a transaction. Relationships Beat Transactions Every Time Transactions happen with institutions; relationships happen with people. There’s a misconception in the business world that the purpose of forming relationships is to sell something. This couldn’t be

Print owners are some of the toughest people on the planet. Get to know a few, and you’ll quickly find undaunted passion, unwavering integrity, time-tested grit, and a deep love for small business and their families. But as any entrepreneur knows, owning a business isn’t all sunshine and roses. There are times when the high highs are met with low lows, discontentment creeps in, and the motivation to keep going starts to dry up. Here are a handful of motivation killers you have most likely or will most likely face and what you can do to overcome them. 1. An Unhealthy Mindset First things first, your mindset is everything because your motivation battle begins and ends here. How you think about the world affects everything you do in it. Think about this: When your goal is to go on a diet, but you pass by that display case of donuts, your mind does two things. It sends you both a list of justifications as to why you deserve a donut and how one little donut won’t hurt you, and it reminds you of your diet goals. The fastest way to kill your motivation is to let that voice of justifications become

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