I was going about my normal boating news searches this morning when I stumbled across an article written by a stock analyst who had recently visited a handful of stores along Chicago’s Michigan Avenue. Like many of us, he has kids, and after being gone for a week on business, he was headed to the Disney store to pick up some “missed you while I was gone” presents before traveling home. Read more >>
By Gary Druckenmiller, Jr., co-founder, TheOpenSea.com – Within the last few years, social marketing has become completely mainstream. Connecting our world like never before, it has become an incredible, vast network. With a reported 67 percent of the global online population now visiting ‘member communities,’ including social networks/blogs[1], it is no surprise that social media is proving to be a powerful business tool. Read more >>
Sunday night, I watched an episode of Undercover Boss, the new “reality TV show” that takes a company’s leader and puts them “undercover” on the front lines with the employees. The show featured Joe DePinto, the president and CEO of 7-Eleven, Inc., who spent a week disguised as “Danny,” a guy starring in a documentary on entry-level jobs. During this period, he spent time at several 7-Eleven stores and a factory, working alongside employees while investigating the challenges they faced and successes they accomplished. Read more >>
By Peter Granata, president, Granata Design and the Marine Design Resource Alliance — Ever notice how some leaders look at things individually rather than as a whole? They look at the numbers of the business but not the business overall. They focus on the problem, not what is causing the problem. They look at the way things have always been done in their industry but not the way other industries are accomplishing their goals. It’s called “not seeing the forest through the trees.” Read more >>
A week ago Thursday, I was running late for a seminar on unique profit centers at the International Marina & Boatyard Conference. When I slipped into my seat about 20 minutes into the 90-minute session, the presenters were talking about boat clubs, and while the discussion moved on to other topics as it wore on, it kept coming back to boat clubs. Not only did about a quarter of the audience of marina operators seem to have a boat club, most of the other three quarters wanted to learn their ins and outs. Read more >>
In a blog a few weeks back, I told you of my plans to read a new book — “Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us” by Daniel H. Pink. Well, right now, I’m in the middle of it, and given that its premise is surprising and suggests we should radically change the way we compensate employees, I thought I’d share it. Read more >>
By Chris Kourtakis, Owner, H20 Limos Marine Service — As the marine dealership community enters a new decade, it will be looking back on the worst year of business in at least the last 50. Looking forward, dealers and OEMs need to share more information so they can do more with less. Read more >>
Tags: Guest Blog, Marine Dealers
Gary B. Druckenmiller, Jr., TheOpenSea.com — Forget the introduction. No more hand-holding. There are default steps you should be taking right now to either dive-in or prep for the onslaught of social marketing in the months and years to come. Many of you are trying to avoid it. You can’t. It’s time to join the party. Here’s a quick hit-list … from start to finish. Read more >>
While I was a Brownie for a year or two in elementary school, it wasn’t my path to a love of the outdoors. I didn’t realize what an incredible impact Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts can have on kids until later in life. In my 20s, when I was dating my husband, I had a chance to attend quite a few Boy Scout ceremonies to cheer on his younger brother, Chad, who would eventually go on to achieve Eagle Scout. Over the years, I learned a lot about what was involved, from wilderness trips and fundraisers to the earning of patches of all colors, shapes and sizes. Most of all, I was impressed with how the program exposed kids to all kinds of experiences they wouldn’t otherwise have had. Read more >>
My husband and I have been married for more than 10 years, and despite the happy life we’ve created for our growing family, we still have problems. Take, for instance, our mail problem. Like most people out there, we get a ton of mail, most of it junk. And yet since I – the bill payer in the family – have yet to get with the times and pay my bills online, we also get important mail, like our mortgage and car payment coupons, as well as mail we enjoy, like the handful of magazines we subscribe to and a certain percentage of the catalogs we receive. Read more >>
