I watched about 30 seconds of the World Series yesterday. The announcers were talking about one of the Managers. He puts motivational sayings around the clubhouse to teach the players. One that caught my eye was this one from John Wooden that I never heard before: "Discipline yourself and others won't need to." What I find great about Wooden is that his best sayings apply to basketball but they don't. They apply to all of life. They don't just apply to athletes. They apply to all who are facing the human condition. Check out more John Wooden quotes at the link below.
http://www.sacredhoops.com/john_wooden_quotes/index.html
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Henry’s Model T
Most of us remember reading somewhere Henry Ford’s famous line, “the consumer can have any color cover he wants, as long as it’s black.” But you probably do not know that when the car was introduced in 1908, in addition to black you could also buy it in red, green, or blue. Black only became the standard when Henry Ford realized he could save costs by eliminating the other colors.
Ford created a standard that is with us to this day. Businesses either eliminate choice from us or give us a wide variety of choice. We usually have no choice in the color of Cabinet of a new HDTV. But look at the choices we have for an iPod Nano. Businesses pick a niche in which to market.
Printers, like your humble blogger, are generally in the choice business. We don’t dictate what the customer is going to get, the customer tells us what she wants. Virtually nothing we print looks exactly like any other thing we print. Sure, the paper size may stay the same, there are only a couple thousand fonts to choose from (two or three of these make up over 90% of everything printed in the U.S.), and layout typically follows some pattern. But inside those limits, the choices are endless.
For years I’ve tried to come up with a niche product. Something that I can produce that would almost be off the shelf. So far, no luck. It is been far easier for us to market Allegra Print & Imaging of Rolling Meadows like a standard print shop.
That is beginning to change though. Customers are pushing us to offer more services to them. At the same time we are looking to expand our service choices to stay ahead of them. We are starting to test the definition of what a print shop is. So far, it’s going well.
By the way, the Model T was introduced the same year my beloved Cubs last won the World Series.
Ford created a standard that is with us to this day. Businesses either eliminate choice from us or give us a wide variety of choice. We usually have no choice in the color of Cabinet of a new HDTV. But look at the choices we have for an iPod Nano. Businesses pick a niche in which to market.
Printers, like your humble blogger, are generally in the choice business. We don’t dictate what the customer is going to get, the customer tells us what she wants. Virtually nothing we print looks exactly like any other thing we print. Sure, the paper size may stay the same, there are only a couple thousand fonts to choose from (two or three of these make up over 90% of everything printed in the U.S.), and layout typically follows some pattern. But inside those limits, the choices are endless.
For years I’ve tried to come up with a niche product. Something that I can produce that would almost be off the shelf. So far, no luck. It is been far easier for us to market Allegra Print & Imaging of Rolling Meadows like a standard print shop.
That is beginning to change though. Customers are pushing us to offer more services to them. At the same time we are looking to expand our service choices to stay ahead of them. We are starting to test the definition of what a print shop is. So far, it’s going well.
By the way, the Model T was introduced the same year my beloved Cubs last won the World Series.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Voice Recognition
As an original Mac user (1984), this is a great time to be alive. Because of the growing popularity of the Mac platform, I get to see new stuff come out for the Mac almost every day. One of my favorite new toys is voice recognition software called MacSpeech. It is based on a very popular platform but the software was made specifically for the Mac.
I bought it primarily to help one of my daughters in middle school. After testing it myself, I can see broad applications for business use.
It is much faster than typing. However, it changes the way you put information into a computer. Using a keyboard has been part of my writing process since I was in college. I often tell people that getting my Mac in college raised my grades by one full letter. So this B- student became an A- student almost overnight.
An interesting change this brings is that the stream of consciousness ideas that you can speak will be put onto a page on your computer. You get to sort them out and edit later.
By the way, this blog entry was written using MacSpeech.
I bought it primarily to help one of my daughters in middle school. After testing it myself, I can see broad applications for business use.
It is much faster than typing. However, it changes the way you put information into a computer. Using a keyboard has been part of my writing process since I was in college. I often tell people that getting my Mac in college raised my grades by one full letter. So this B- student became an A- student almost overnight.
An interesting change this brings is that the stream of consciousness ideas that you can speak will be put onto a page on your computer. You get to sort them out and edit later.
By the way, this blog entry was written using MacSpeech.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Add This!
We have just added a new feature to our blog. You can now link to your favorite posts and share them with your friends on Facebook, StumbleUpon, de.li.cio.us, and many other social networks. Hover over the "bookmark" button at the bottom of each post to see all the options. So, return often and see what there is to share!
Friday, September 26, 2008
Bicycle Shop Bailout Plan Debated in Congress
This is a headline you won’t see anytime soon. Obviously the big story is the financial crisis hitting our country. But there is something to my headline. From one source, about 30% of bike shops in the U.S. have closed in the last 5 years.
I have not studied the problem facing these retailers. So I can’t go into detail on that here. But here is what I think. Bicycle shops are small businesses. Big industry, but small business. Nobody is watching out for small business owners. We are on our own. These shops are also spread out. There might be one or two shops in any town or neighborhood.
Banks are big business. To some degree, banks are in the business business. They provide the gasoline for the economy. They are clearly more important than bike shops. Or corner bakeries. Or (gasp) print shops. So, banks and investment firms get government bailouts. Small business owners don’t get a “do-over.”
This is sad to me. As a small business owner I feel for these shop keepers. As a lifelong biker I am a sad customer. Bike shops and book stores are two of my favorite places to visit. Don’t get me started on book stores. They all but disappeared about 7 years ago.
I understand that the big banks need to be protected. They are too tied into our economy. However, I have not seen anything about consequences. Unless there is clear evidence of theft or fraud, I would not be happy seeing bankers put in jail. But having to pay back their ill gotten gains? Perhaps. But business survival has to make economic sense. Poorly managed businesses should fail or be bought out by smarter business people. Bike shops—the market is speaking. Investments banks—your time has come too. What do you think?
I have not studied the problem facing these retailers. So I can’t go into detail on that here. But here is what I think. Bicycle shops are small businesses. Big industry, but small business. Nobody is watching out for small business owners. We are on our own. These shops are also spread out. There might be one or two shops in any town or neighborhood.
Banks are big business. To some degree, banks are in the business business. They provide the gasoline for the economy. They are clearly more important than bike shops. Or corner bakeries. Or (gasp) print shops. So, banks and investment firms get government bailouts. Small business owners don’t get a “do-over.”
This is sad to me. As a small business owner I feel for these shop keepers. As a lifelong biker I am a sad customer. Bike shops and book stores are two of my favorite places to visit. Don’t get me started on book stores. They all but disappeared about 7 years ago.
I understand that the big banks need to be protected. They are too tied into our economy. However, I have not seen anything about consequences. Unless there is clear evidence of theft or fraud, I would not be happy seeing bankers put in jail. But having to pay back their ill gotten gains? Perhaps. But business survival has to make economic sense. Poorly managed businesses should fail or be bought out by smarter business people. Bike shops—the market is speaking. Investments banks—your time has come too. What do you think?
Thursday, September 25, 2008
End of the Line for Kinko’s
We recently heard about the end of Kinko’s. If you haven’t heard, FedEx, the current owner of Kinko’s has decided to change their name from FedEx Kinko’s to FedEx Office. They will be dropping Kinko’s entirely.
This is a huge change for the printing and copying industry. For many years this brand-name was synonymous with photocopying. It was almost as popular as the name Xerox. Because it sounded funny it was the punch line of many jokes and story lines in sitcoms. Now it’s just part of history.
As a printer I have mixed feelings about FedEx’s decision. Kinko’s has been a standard bearer in our market’s mind. While printers have not measured themselves to Kinko’s, some customers have. This has given us a good standard to follow to point out our strengths versus them. For instance, in Illinois copy shops like Kinko’s have to charge sales tax. Print shops do not. We are considered value added resellers. In my county, this saves my customers 10%.
Nevertheless, there is still power in brand names. Once I had a customer take a long walk across my parking lot to walk in and asked me if I knew where the closest Kinko’s was. When I asked him what he was looking for and he just said copies, I said that I could do them here. He seemed to be more than a little surprised. He explained that he needed to have Kinko’s copies made. When I told him that we had similar equipment and we can do everything that they could do, he was still not satisfied. He left explaining that Kinko’s copies are better because they’re from Kinko’s.
FedEx’s decision to change the name is a puzzling one. They bought the company because it had the best name in the industry. Now that they have written off about one third of the value of the venerable copy shop, they have decided to strip most of the rest of the value of their purchase away too. It’s sort of like buying a McDonald’s Happy Meal and throwing away the toy.
This is a huge change for the printing and copying industry. For many years this brand-name was synonymous with photocopying. It was almost as popular as the name Xerox. Because it sounded funny it was the punch line of many jokes and story lines in sitcoms. Now it’s just part of history.
As a printer I have mixed feelings about FedEx’s decision. Kinko’s has been a standard bearer in our market’s mind. While printers have not measured themselves to Kinko’s, some customers have. This has given us a good standard to follow to point out our strengths versus them. For instance, in Illinois copy shops like Kinko’s have to charge sales tax. Print shops do not. We are considered value added resellers. In my county, this saves my customers 10%.
Nevertheless, there is still power in brand names. Once I had a customer take a long walk across my parking lot to walk in and asked me if I knew where the closest Kinko’s was. When I asked him what he was looking for and he just said copies, I said that I could do them here. He seemed to be more than a little surprised. He explained that he needed to have Kinko’s copies made. When I told him that we had similar equipment and we can do everything that they could do, he was still not satisfied. He left explaining that Kinko’s copies are better because they’re from Kinko’s.
FedEx’s decision to change the name is a puzzling one. They bought the company because it had the best name in the industry. Now that they have written off about one third of the value of the venerable copy shop, they have decided to strip most of the rest of the value of their purchase away too. It’s sort of like buying a McDonald’s Happy Meal and throwing away the toy.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Hello World!
So, here is my introductory, welcome to my blog posting. Like many beginning bloggers we find it necessary to explain that we are blogging. Again, like most bloggers I hope to post witty, informative, and interesting information. I welcome your comments and questions.
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