The purple elephant is on the taller one standing on the right

Although we try not to accumulate too much ‘stuff’, like most folks, things do tend to pile up around our house. “Waste not – want not” was something I heard many times growing up and I use that as my rationalization for not tossing items that may have good use left in them.

As a technologist, I manage to accumulate PC’s and parts, some as I’ve upgraded, some have never been put to use, and others as I add or replace technology. Summer in the south has most certainly arrived, but I’m still doing a little ‘spring cleaning’ and felt the need to thin out some of my computer inventory. I expanded my cleaning frenzy just a bit and rounded up some items from friends and business associates as well.

In case you did not know, tossing almost anything with electronic components in the regular trash, especially silicon chips, is not a good thing for our environment. We try very hard to be a green company at Anna’s Gourmet Goodies, and I like to help out and pay it forward whenever I get the opportunity. Fortunately, Raleigh has the perfect solution for recycling working computers and peripherals – The Purple Elephant Computer Factory.

The Purple Elephant takes donated PC’s and components, refurbishes them, and distributes them to kids of all ages – primarily those that are economically disadvantaged, at-risk, or from military families with members in active service.

Their mission:

“To bridge the educational and rehabilitative needs of children, and adults, by placing computer technology directly into the home.”

So, I packed up the car with several PC’s, a monitor and peripherals and dropped them off this past Friday morning. They have an impressive, well organized facility and a very friendly and helpful staff. Anna’s Gourmet Goodies has donated to their silent auction in the past and it was a pleasure to offer up something other than gourmet cookies to help out this organization.

Doing something for someone else that you will never meet and expecting nothing in return, is truly one of life’s greatest gifts. Being somewhat of a ‘geek’ at heart, it is particularly exciting for me to think that somewhere, some child will have an opportunity to step up into the computer world that they may not have had without an organization like The Purple Elephant. It may open their eyes and ultimately, open doors for them in the future.

Today is Father’s Day. I’m not totally sure what Debbie and Anna have planned, but I’m hoping that I’ll be able to get a nap in some time during the day. We’ll spend some time as a family, enjoy a nice meal, and perhaps open a card or gift. But I’m counting my trip to see the Purple Elephant on Friday as one of my Father’s Day gifts this year. Like many fathers, we spend a lot of time trying to teach our children that we should be grateful for what we have, always seek ways to be of service to others, give back, and pay it forward. In a small way, I got the chance to ‘walk the talk’ on Friday – to visit the Purple Elephant, and hopefully, make some kids happy. Seeing my own daughter smile is my best Father’s Day gift, and knowing that I may help bring a smile to some other children, well, that’s like a cookie stuffed with extra chocolate chips, pretty sweet.

Read more:

The Purple Elephant Computer Factory
Learn how and where to your electronics

Our cookies made the troops in Afghanistan happy.

The postman delivered a priority mail box the other day. We receive a lot of shipments, but weren’t really expecting anything in this type of box. I recognized the name as one of our customers from the military. We sent his unit some of our gourmet cookies a few years ago and he wrote me one of the most moving thank you letters I have ever received.

I opened the box, and the first thing that came out was a United States Flag, folded in military fashion in the shape of a triangle. My heart stopped beating for what seemed like a minute. I’m used to seeing flags like this when someone has been killed in action. Did something happen to one of the soldiers under his command? To our customer?

Inside there was a folder, and in it a certificate and a letter, addressed to Anna’s Gourmet Goodies. The flag was presented to us as a thank you for support of the troops and the War on Terror and was actually flown over Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan. I felt a lump in my throat and my eyes swelled with tears of pride.

If you’ve been to our website lately, you might have noticed the tag line, “our cookies make people happy”. I’ve actually been using that for a few years now, after some deep thought as to what it is that we really do at Anna’s Gourmet Goodies. It might seem obvious that we bake cookies, but I believe that great businesses have something that goes beyond the simple transaction of supplying goods and services. You might call it a soul.

From the very beginning, I have always poured my heart and soul into everything we do. Every product – every cookie, painstakingly measured by hand. Whether we are shipping an order for a Fortune 100 company, a wedding or event, the local realtor or mortgage broker, or to a group of men and women that put their lives at risk in places most of us would never consider going, we do it the same every time.

I can’t help but think that those men and women who choose to serve our country in the armed forces are driven by a similar passion. They too, put their heart and soul into what they do. But unlike what we do at Anna’s Gourmet Goodies, baking cookies, they put their lives at risk, sometimes paying a price far greater than my aching feet or tired hands. And they do it over, and over again. To be of service to these folks is indeed an honor and a privilege.

A few years ago, Rick Warren’s book the ‘Purpose Driven Life’ spawned a new emphasis on the question human beings have been asking for thousands of years, “What is my purpose here on Earth?” Having read the book and taught a couple of classes on the subject, I’ve spent my share of time thinking about this very thing. I am fortunate enough to have had the opportunity to pursue many of my passions and to sometimes get a glimpse of what that purpose might be. Being of service to others and making people happy are certainly on the list.

After receiving the package, I downloaded and installed Google Earth. If you have not tried this application, I absolutely recommend you give it a drive. I measured a line from Wake Forest, NC to Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan and I come up with about 7,466 miles, more or less, as the crow flies. It’s a long way no matter how you measure it, but it is certainly a place that is closer to me now, than ever before. I am connected in a way that Google Earth, the Internet, email, social media, or any of these electronic pathways cannot match. Because I know that in this far off land where I may never set foot, a group of young men and women opened up a package, took a bite out of a cookie that we mixed, baked and packaged by hand, and for at least that moment, were happy. For Anna’s Gourmet Goodies, I’d have to say our mission was accomplished.

Social media is the new megaphone

Customer service, at both extremes, is like handing someone a megaphone for your business. As human beings, we love to tell stories about either the great service, or the poor service, we have received. Everything in the middle, that simply meets our expectations, seems to get lost in the flow.

I was sitting in a seminar recently listening to my good friend and social media expert, Chuck Hester, Communications Director at iContact, and I kept having these flashes in my head. I remembered back to my days at Moore High School when I would go to the basketball games and carry around this obnoxious, three foot long megaphone. It was loud to be sure, and while I’m certain that more than one player from the other side of the gym had ideas on how to silence the beast, it was very effective.

I started thinking about how social media has become the ‘new megaphone’ that can be used to cheer on our favorites to victory, or blast those we don’t care for with incredible force. In American history classes we learned about ‘The shot heard ‘round the world’. Social media takes a figurative concept and turns that into a literal reality. Anyone that has access to the Internet, can use that megaphone.

As we enter a new era of communications and empowerment of the consumer, customer service is visible, almost instantly, around the globe. While virtually every company on the planet proclaims ‘great customer service’ as their mission, we all know that for many organizations, this is lip service at best. As businesses, large and small have cut back and retrenched, customer service is one area that often suffers. This happens most frequently when the initial point of contact with your customer is overworked, under trained, unhappy, and not empowered to take care of the company’s largest asset, the paying customer.

At the seminar, they talked a little bit about ‘DellHell’ and how one customer was able to carry their service experience all the way to the national media with a simple recording. While I’m not motivated to go quite that far, I did have a similar experience recently, seeing polar opposites of the customer service experience on the same day.

After auditing our FedEx bill several weeks ago, we found several charges that were not appropriate, so I called and asked for a credit. They agreed to the refund and said it was taken care of. We pay our bill with a credit card, and I later found that they had charged me the full amount. When I called, I was told their system showed we were charged the amount after the credit, and that I could fax in a copy of my bill and they would cut me a refund check in six weeks or so. We’re a cookie company, not a bank, so I was not interested in loaning FedEx my money, interest free, for 45 days or more. So I disputed the charge, sent them the documentation, paid what I owe, and will let their accounting department figure it out. The rep I spoke with actually told me I should call back and check on the status of their mistake – right.

Later that afternoon, I was also balancing my expense account and noticed an additional room charge from Marriott for a recent trip to NYC. I called customer service and found there was some confusion regarding my reservation, and I was inadvertently billed for a room as a no-show. No problem – they refunded the charge that day. Outstanding!

So what’s my point? I did not get carried away and start posting and tweeting about my experience with either company. Maybe getting a dose of good and bad on the same day left me feeling satisfied. But this experience, combined with the social media seminar, has given me pause to think about this channel from a different perspective. As a consumer, I have powers that were not imaginable just a few short years ago. As a business owner, I want to make sure that everything we do at Anna’s Gourmet Goodies follows one simple philosophy – The Golden Rule. Treat customers, employees and vendors like you want to be treated. When you do that, almost everything else takes care of itself.

Whether you are a small business owner or a corporate executive, if you are not tuned in to the ‘customer facing’ part of your business and the potential impact of social media, you are driving with blinders on. The good news, according to the experts at the seminar, is that getting any feedback from customers is actually healthy for your business. Positive comments support your business and negative feedback gives you the opportunity to address issues and offer solutions that you may otherwise have missed. Rather that trying to build a large megaphone so that everyone can hear us, I’d much rather have thousands of satisfied customers shouting about the incredible cookies and over the top service they received from Anna’s Gourmet Goodies.

This past holiday season, with orders coming in fast and furious, I made a mistake when manually entering a credit card transaction for one of our customers, moving the decimal place to the right by a couple of digits. When she telephoned to let me know that “no box of cookies should cost that much”, we both laughed and I immediately credited her account not only for the mistake, but for the entire order. I was not about to tell her to “fax me a copy of the bill and we’ll send you a refund check in six weeks”. That would be really lousy customer service and certainly not the way I’d want to be treated by any company.

Sometimes it’s nice to give your competition a gift

No question about it, turning down business is hard, especially in today’s environment. The very idea might seem counter-intuitive. It’s taken a number of years, plenty of dollars, and a few clicks on my personal odometer to get to the point where I understand not only the necessity of doing this in certain cases, but the importance to the success of a business that saying ‘no’ can provide. Many entrepreneurs suffer from the disease of trying to do everything for anyone, instead of sticking to what they can do well for the right customer.

I know there are those out there who will disagree. ‘Any business is better than no business’, I’ve been told. Certainly fresh recruits into the ranks of business development, hungry to make their mark, will feed on any order like hungry sharks at the first scent of any blood. And I know a few seasoned business people and entrepreneurs that chase after anything that increases the balance in the checking account. And that is okay – for those folks. ‘Different strokes for different folks’, as Sly sings.

So why would I turn down an order – a nice recurring order? I actually owe the idea of ‘gifting customers to the competition’ to John Costigan, a sales training expert that I’ve followed for awhile. I did this because I’m looking at the big picture of how our resources are allocated at Anna’s Gourmet Goodies, and the type of customer we are most successful at serving. And I’ve also learned that everything has a cost associated with it. Most people understand the cost of hard goods, but forget about the cost of your time, opportunity costs, etc. We all get precisely 24 hours each day. No more, no less.

A few weeks ago, I signed up for a barter service. I was familiar with these organizations, and for some businesses, they are a natural fit. I had never tried them before, but like most entrepreneurs, I’m always looking for ways to find new customers.

The barter rep called me a few days ago with a ‘potential deal’ from a member of the exchange. I agreed to take a look to see if it would make sense to us. The potential client then called to ask questions and place her order. I could tell from her questions that this customer might not be a good fit for our business. The warning light began to flash.

After adding up what she expected to order, I decided to take a closer look at what this would actually mean for our business, and to call her back. Bartering can be great, but we know exactly what we are going to buy and there simply was not going to be a way for us to spend the ‘barter dollars’.

The net effect to our business would be to give away our product for free. I could do this in hopes of recouping my investment at some later date. The investment includes ‘hard costs’ like butter, flour and sugar, as well as our time and labor costs. Whether you give away time or materials, you are loaning out money. To be profitable, you need to make sure you receive a return on that investment.

Ultimately, I passed on the order. The customer let me know quickly that she was going to a competitive cookie company if we would not ‘barter’ with her. Their products are significantly more expensive than ours to begin with, so she’ll end up paying two to three times the amount for gifts from ‘my competitor’, getting far less for their money than they would from buying direct from us. I don’t know if my competitor is happy with the deal or not, but I’m happy to not have to figure out how to manage with another form of currency while serving a customer that may not be a good fit that is essentially, getting product for free.

We had another phone call recently from someone looking for gingerbread cookies and I happily referred them to another company. A few years ago a very high profile client asked if we would make them cookies in the shape of stars. I passed. Could I have filled both of these orders? Yes. Would they have been profitable? No.

Being successful in business requires, among many things: capital, time, creativity, persistence and discipline. Like all successful entrepreneurs, I have enjoyed my share of success and failure in each of these areas, and I am learning with each step I take. The balance between being flexible enough to adapt to your customer’s needs and driving yourself and your business into the weeds can be a challenge. Was this the right decision? Time will tell.

The point of this article is not to debate the merits of the barter business, but to raise questions about focusing in on, and serving, the right type of clients that fit your business. Do we want more clients at Anna’s Gourmet Goodies? Absolutely! Are we going to make cookies shaped like cartoon characters, start baking cakes or do catering? No.

I’ve read ‘The Power of Focus’ a couple of times and I continue to work towards keeping my life and business tuned into the right channels. I even called my oldest (albeit not chronologically) friend, former business partner and fellow entrepreneur, Jim Plappert from ACH Payment Solutions and asked if my thinking on this subject is in check. “Chris, I agree with you 1,000%. I’ve learned the hard way that one of the keys to business success is to find your ‘sweet spot’ and strive to excel at serving those customers”. As the owner of a gourmet cookie company, I don’t think I could have put it any better.

So I’m happy to turn the oven off, enjoy a freshly baked, still warm, chocolate chip cookie and think about the other people that will be smiling today, tomorrow and next week because they are diving into a box of gourmet cookies we shipped to them. Now that’s what I call hitting our sweet spot.

Delivering cookies back to the folks that made the flour

I’m guessing that practically everyone you meet on the street these days is likely to echo the same response when asked about business in 2009. It was tough for lots of folks. And unless you are living on Wall Street, where tax payer funded bonuses will hit eight figures this year, you might be feeling a bit somber about 2010. I believe there is a better way to look back at last year.

Anna’s Gourmet Goodies finished our year with a healthy December. We did not quite reach the level of exuberance we saw in 2008, but we managed to find plenty to be thankful for during the season.

We visited our families in Kentucky for the Thanksgiving holiday, already feeling tired from filling early orders, and with more on the books for December than we have ever had before. We shared a wonderful meal at Debbie’s parent’s home, with more brothers, sisters, cousins and their children than I can count these days. There was a solid showing from four generations, enough to give even the gloomy minded a reason to find hope for the future, even on a cold Ohio Valley day.

We also visited, and feasted again, with my family in Georgetown. Smaller in numbers, but no less interesting. The following day, I had the chance to take my Aunt Lois, now pushing on towards 90, to lunch with my daughter Anna and my niece (also Anna). We didn’t set any land speed records getting to and from The Cracker Barrel, but it was a wonderful afternoon spent with three generations of family. A simple time, but one I’ll always remember.

We returned home safely to NC, tired from the trip, but eager to get the orders lined up and ready for the holiday rush. We bake everything to order, so orchestrating production and shipping during this time is always a challenging puzzle. Anna’s Gourmet Goodies runs an efficient operation, with a very reliable group of suppliers to make sure everything arrives when it should and keep production running smoothly. We planned for almost everything, except our main computer system that refused to start the day we returned.

My early training as a Boy Scout and years as a computer consultant has served me well in the cookie business. Our backup system worked flawlessly and a new computer was less than 24 hours in arriving to the office. Restoring all the files and programs required a few days and late nights, but I simply refused to see anything but orders going out, just as our customers expected them.

It’s not easy being thankful when the electronic brain behind your business decides to stop functioning right at the most critical time, but I promise you that I said my ‘thanks’. I was determined to be grateful. Grateful that the crash came long before we put the final touches on all the orders and queued them up for baking, and long before the run of shipping labels was due to stream out of the printer.

We were fortunate to have an entire family, the Ponsolles, work with us again this year. More than simply employees that show up to finish a task, they’ve been helping us almost as long as we’ve been making cookies. They know our customers. They understand how meticulous we are about everything. We are incredibly grateful to work with such dedicated and nice people.

By the second week in December, I felt like I was living the movie ‘Groundhog Day’. Wake up. Bake cookies. Ship packages. Sleep for a couple of hours. Repeat.

As the last shipping days approached, we watched our once large stock of flour shrink rapidly. We were almost at the point of not having enough ingredients to fill the orders, when the phone rang. It was June from Lindley Mills. She asked if we needed any flour. “Why yes, as a matter of fact we do!”

She also asked if they could get an order of our cookies for all the employees that work there. It was their holiday celebration and they wanted everyone to taste a product that comes from the fruits of their labor. I’ve taken orders of our cookies to Lindley Mills before, but this order seemed felt extra special.

I love going to the mill to pick up our order. I suppose I could find a distributor that will deliver it for me and save the few hours it takes to ride out there, but it is more that simply an ingredient we buy. It’s a chance to take a ride out in the country. To see more cows and goats, than cars. To spend some quiet time. To talk with my daughter Anna. It is a chance to do business with a company that has been operating in the same location since 1755 (not a typo). And yes, Joe Lindley runs the place.

I don’t know all the secrets involved in operating a business that’s been around for 255 years, but I do know one thing – it is a company that I want to do business with. These are the types of people that I want to continue to associate with in 2010 and beyond. We get wonderful feedback from customers about our cookies, but this felt like one of the highest compliments we’ve ever received. I was humbled and grateful.

We shipped our last holiday order on Tuesday before Christmas, just as requested by the customer. I finished up with just enough time to take my place in line with the other husbands and dads, looking to find that special something that will help remind those closest to us that we are indeed grateful for all we have been given. I found everything I was looking for and was treated to some of the best customer service I’ve ever had.

I’ve never been great with New Year’s Resolutions, but I did spend time trying to get my mental and physical house in order before we kick off another calendar year. Included on my list are:

To focus squarely on what I want to see for my family, my businesses and my friends in 2010.

To, as Dr. Wayne Dyer says, ‘Sell my cleverness and purchase bewilderment’.

To surround myself with people that are moving forward towards something more than simply making up for any lack of accumulation.

To be in a state of ‘gratitude’ at all times.

If you’ve found your way to this site, my hope is that you have enjoyed the past few minutes and will leave with an idea or inspirational thought that might help you see 2009 from a different perspective and look for something better in 2010. And, if you are looking to surround yourself with people and companies that are moving forward in a positive manner, then I hope you’ll take a minute to visit AnnasGourmetGoodies.com. We make great cookies, to be certain, but we’re really in the business of making people happy. And that is a pretty good resolution no matter what business you might be in.

Did you do your homework?

Someday, I hope that Anna will thank me. It’ll probably take her a while to understand, but the lessons and lectures on homework and discipline I seem to dole out on a regular basis will pay off for her in the future. Like any athlete that expects to reach the top of their sport, discipline and practice are not optional. Schoolwork and academics are no different.

I’m certainly not perfect in this area, but I have learned the value of research and preparation over the years. When I was working in the technology world, one of my associates used to always say, “It’s not enough to know the answer, you have to understand why”. I believe that you can apply this principle to many areas of business and life. Certainly it plays a role in baking our gourmet cookies, and I practice this philosophy in the business side of Anna’s Gourmet Goodies as well.

Baking is really about science and chemistry. Ultimately, you are trying to take moisture out of natural materials at a rate that allows all the ingredients to blend together just perfectly. I can throw together a sauté dish of veggies and meat for dinner with my eyes closed, but making a batch of 10,000 cookies where each one will come out precisely the same, requires research, diligence and doing your homework. Whether or not Anna will ever step behind the mixer and fire up the oven is yet to be seen, but I am still going to insist that she develop the muscle required to approach problems and opportunities logically, and do her research.

We apply the same principle to conducting business with our clients. It is not uncommon for us to receive an order with what appears to be an error in the shipping address. We could simply ship the product as ordered and let the chips fall where they may. Instead, we choose to do some basic research on the Internet first, before contacting the customer for clarification. Sure, it takes a little extra time to do this work, but in the end, it is one of the features of our service that differentiates us in the marketplace.

I do the same when contacting new prospects or vendors. Before I ever pick up the phone, I’ll do my homework to make sure that I have a basic understanding of the business I am calling. How easy was it to find them on the Internet? Is their website up to date with contact info? What about products and services – is it easy to find out what they do or sell? Is the owner or management team listed?

It is a habit I’ve developed that truly pays dividends when it comes to building long term relationships with clients. It helps us build our customer base, as well as selecting our suppliers, because we expect the same level of service and commitment from those companies that support our business, that we provide to our clients. Ultimately, we attract and retain customers and suppliers that are truly a pleasure to do business with. Life’s too short to have it any other way.

So if you and your company decide to send gifts from Anna’s Gourmet Goodies, you can rest assured that we’ll take some time to do our homework on your business. If there is something we can do to help, even if it has nothing to do with cookies, I’m happy to share our experience. And, if you are a supplier looking to work with Anna’s Gourmet Goodies, I’d recommend you at least visit our website and do a little research before you make that first call. If you think it’s not that important, just ask Anna how Dad feels about doing your homework.

Gourmet cookies – with a little attitude

One of the great things about our business is getting to work with some really cool companies to combine our cookies and gifts with their marketing and branding ideas. A long-time friend and customer, Mike Minogue from Dark Horse Creative always inspires me with his packaging ideas for holiday gifts featuring our cookies and brownies. So when Mike came up with his latest viral marketing idea, I was happy to jump on board.

Dark Horse created some temporary tattoos, sent them around the country to various people and had them take photos. When I saw the tattoo, I thought it might be a great fit for Anna’s Gourmet Goodies to get in on the action. They sent a supply of the tattoos and I setup this photo shoot with my daughter, and the business namesake, Anna.

We really had fun with it. To be sure, our cookies and brownies really are good, so why not display a little ‘attitude’. The picture has a timeless quality and it certainly drove home something that all fathers with daughters have to face – my little girl is growing up fast!

Not sure how we’ll use this photo and promo in our marketing, but I’m sure we’ll find a spot for it. If nothing else, perhaps it will spark an idea with someone wanting to combine our cookies with their marketing and branding program. Thinking out of the box and working with clients that have an edge in their marketing is something I absolutely love. It simply does not get much better than some of the work we’ve done with Dark Horse Creative. And, as those of you that have been around horse racing at all know, you should never underestimate a dark horse…

Learn more:

www.DarkHorseWins.com

Tattoo Fun
www.TattooFun.com

Want to know what we did for Dark Horse gifts? Visit our website and drop me an email.
www.AnnasGourmetGoodies.com

Have you ‘unplugged’ lately?

The last time I heard the challenge to ‘unplug’ from technology, it came from one of my favorite sales trainers, John Costigan. In one of his newsletters, he challenged readers to get off all email and cell phones for 24 hours. Sounds easy, but when you run a couple of businesses based on the Internet, it can be challenging.

Stepping back from your work is something that most everyone agrees is important, yet in actual practice many of us fail miserably when it comes to actually pulling the plug. It is simply too easy to check the iPhone or Blackberry for messages. You justify it by wanting to eliminate the ‘vacation penalty’ of having to clean out a mountain of emails or voice mails when you return.

I decided to take a weekend recently and unplug – totally. No checking voice mail, (I don’t have a phone with email), no laptop, and no TV. I’m fortunate that my extended family has a slice of paradise on the Pungo Creek in eastern North Carolina where there is a land phone line for emergencies, but the grip of the cell phone tower simply does not extend that far. I unplugged just after 3:00 p.m. on Friday afternoon and did not reconnect until returning home on Sunday afternoon, a full 48 hours without connectivity.

I admit that there were a couple of times when I was tempted just to call in quick and check for messages, but I fought the urge. The Hatteras Hammock by the water and the sailboat were perfect distractions. When I returned, I did have some emails and calls. But the good news is that there were some new customers and orders waiting, and nothing happened that I could not handle upon returning to work.

Here are some ideas and tips to help you unplug from your technology connections:

• Start small. Turn your cell phone off at a given time each day – say 7:00 p.m., especially if this is a business phone. Leave it home when going to places where you are not going to make calls, like church (how important is it really, that you answer a phone call during this hour?).
• Increase your time value. Return calls and emails to be sure, but start placing a higher value on your time. Stay away from ‘junk’ email and threads that steal your time.
• A Black Hole for time. Social media is great – but it can take ALL of your time, not just your spare time. Check out Deidre Hughey’s blog if you are interested in managing your social media connections for business in a smart way.
• Face your fear. If you are really scared of losing your business or your job because you fail to return a call or an email when you are supposed to be ‘offline’, then it is definitely time to step back and evaluate this fear. Remember, fear stands for False Evidence Appearing Real.
• Give yourself permission. It is okay to let down. Just as you cannot exercise your body 24×7, you cannot exercise your mind all the time either. Everyone needs some time away from the constant pull of work and responsibility, to rest and recharge your batteries.

I hope you find these tips helpful. I’ll be working hard to take my own advice and cut the cord more often. If you have any other ideas, please feel free to post comments and suggestions. I’ll try to look and approve them quickly, but I may not get to them right away. I’m sure you’ll understand if I’m off email now and again.

Watch where you are going

We’ve not had much snow lately in North Carolina, but last week we did see a pretty good dusting. Enough to allow me to take Anna over to the park for a short ride down the hill on a sledding tub. I don’t get on a sled much any more, and while I enjoyed the ride, it did bring back a vivid memory and a lesson from my younger days.

Now that my parents have both passed on to the next life, I can safely tell this story. Although I expect my mom knew what happened all along, as only mothers can. It was a painful life lesson about looking backwards when you should be focused on where you are going.

We did not have continuous snow cover in Kentucky, but when the ground was white, I was probably outside on a sled. One snowy afternoon when I was 15, my friend Wayne (who already had his driver’s license) and I planned a trip to George Rogers Clark Park for a little sledding. We picked up his girlfriend at the time and headed out to the park, bundled up and ready for some fast downhill action.

We met some folks at the park that were riding downhill on a car hood. Seemed like a cool idea at the time. It was wide and fast and totally out of control; the perfect draw for a couple of teenagers out for an afternoon of adventure.

I do remember thinking that my mom would most certainly not approve of me riding down the hill on the hood of a car. Partly because it was not safe with all the metal edges and mostly because she knew better – I did not. But the parents were not around, we were on an adventure and I hopped on for the ride.

The three of us started off down the hill all facing in the right direction. Yes, it was fast and it was fun. Not too far into the ride, we hit a bump, tossing my other two passengers off and spinning me around so I continued down the hill backwards. I was looking back up at Wayne and remember him waving, laughing and yelling. I turned around to look where I was going and a split second later, I made contact with the tree.

It stopped me completely. Fortunately, I was wearing several layers of clothing and luckily I impacted the tree about two inches to the right of my spine, dead center in the largest muscle of my back. My head snapped back, but missed the tree. Had I landed a few inches the other way with my spine taking the impact, I probably would not have walked away and might not be writing this post as well.

They helped me back up the hill and slid me into the car. It felt like I had cracked something, but I was too scared to go to a doctor. Wayne dropped me off at my house and left quickly before anyone could ask where we had been. I went straight to my room, got in bed, and said my prayers for not ending up in the ER. I never said anything to Mom, but I’m sure she knew something not quite right.

I try to look back on these life events and see if I can learn something so I don’t have to go through that pain a second time. For me, I believe this was an example of the value of looking forward when you are going somewhere fast. Running a business, in today’s spiraling economic climate, reminds me of my sledding adventure and the importance of staying focused on where you are heading.

At Anna’s Gourmet Goodies, we try to do just that. We’ve introduced a new line of packaging with bright colors, are adding some new services for our business clients, and continue to look for ways where we can add value to our existing customers as well as new clients. Debbie and I are shaping some ideas for a new website that we hope to launch shortly. We’re moving forward fast, watching where we are going and not continually looking backwards.

In my other business, Master The Gap, we recently migrated our website to a new software platform, changed merchant processing systems, moved to a new email management system and added three new markets to our services. Two of us managed to pull all this together in a little over a week. And just to keep things interesting, my friend and business partner, Scott Andrews, was a featured speaker at four events at Traders Expo in New York, starting just two days after all this went live. It was a new experience for me in moving at light speed with no margin for error. We made a command decision to move forward and did not look back for one minute.

Don’t get me wrong – history is important. You have to know where you’ve come from to get a clear sense of where you are going. But, there is a time to look back and be reflective, and a time to look forward. When you are racing down a hill or running a business in a fast changing environment like we have today, you’d better stay focused on where you are headed or you just might hit a tree.

Riding into the new year.

I’m not great with New Year’s Resolutions, but I do like to be reflective this time of year and try to think about what I have learned, how I can improve, and whether or not I need to adjust my sails. Earlier this past summer, my wife and I went in for our every other year annual physical and it turned out to be a learning experience. While regular checkups are a good idea, we are incredibly healthy and just don’t make many visits to our friendly family doctor.

This year, our doctor suggested we include a new blood test from a local company, Liposcience. It’s called an NMR LipoProfile test. I have some family history of heart disease and this is a new way to look at one of the culprits, cholesterol. My first reaction was to pass on the test, especially given that my levels have always bordered on being too low – with my last check being somewhere in the 120 range. Not bad for someone that bakes cookies with butter for a living. (FYI – my grandparents ate fried pork, eggs, and biscuits with redeye gravy at LEAST once a day and lived to be 86 – go figure).

But our doctor is very well read and a great guy who is not into the latest ‘pharma fad’, so I opted to give them an extra vile of my blood to check. The theory behind this test is that it is not necessarily the level of cholesterol that really matters. But rather, it is the number and size of the lipoprotein particles that carry the cholesterol in my bloodstream that are the real determinate of whether or not I am at risk for developing plaque in my arteries.

He explained that the interior walls of the artery are not really solid, but have small pockets or holes that allow molecules to pass through. Their theory, and it seemed logical, is that if there are a large number of small particles carrying the cholesterol, they can easily become lodged in these openings, building up, and eventually leading to hardening of the arteries, blockage, and all the ugliness that comes along with stoppage of blood flow to the heart.

When Debbie went for her physical a few weeks later, she also opted for the test. We were anxious to get the results, given that her cholesterol level has always been on the high side, north of 200, long before we ever started the cookie business. Would the test results shed any new light on our health profiles?

I received my lab results back first and it was indeed a surprise and right in line with Doc’s thinking. My cholesterol, although very low (<150), was being carried in a high number of small particles, putting me in a higher risk category. I’m not sedentary, have been practicing yoga three times a week for the past 6 years and am well within my weight range. No pills or diets, just a life of moderation.

Debbie’s results came in shortly thereafter and sure enough, her cholesterol level was above ‘normal’. However, the LipoProfile showed her particles were fewer and very large, putting her in the lowest risk category. This is exactly the opposite of what traditional thinking might render.

If you’ve stayed with me this far, you must be wondering ‘What in the world does this have to do with business?’ As we just put to rest what will most likely be recorded as one of the most disastrous years for the economy in my lifetime, I’ve been thinking about what really lead us up to these seemingly unfathomable problems. After all, just a few years ago we were ticking along nicely, knowing that we are always prone to economic cycles, but not fearing death of the likes of American Home Mortgage, Lehman Brothers, Wachovia and others.

I’m thinking we might want to examine the patient from a new perspective, challenging the ‘traditional thinking’ of what causes these types of major problems. Perhaps we should be looking at the quantity of small, almost microscopic problems that have become so systemic in business today, as the real killer. Maybe these silent, almost imperceptible issues that go on every day in all types of operations are the catalyst that eventually leads to this type of economic myocardial infarction. Risk may very well come, not from the big problems that everyone sees and talks about, but rather from these smaller issues that embed themselves slowly over time, leading to serious and sometimes fatal consequences for a business.

I’m certain that virtually every one reading this post can recant stories from your workplace or other businesses, where issues were ignored, overlooked or just plain dismissed as not that important. It goes on everyday, in small and medium businesses and especially in the larger companies where operational and ethical problems are easy to hide.

Earlier this spring, Debbie and I strolled in to our local bank branch to refinance our home equity line of credit and lower the interest rate. We had not been in the branch much before and had never met the loan officer. We walked in, introduced ourselves, sat down, signed the paperwork that was already prepared, and re-indebted ourselves. When we finished the transaction, I asked the loan officer why she never asked for any ID. How did she know it was really us? We never provided any proof of ID, income, address, or anything. In our case, this was clearly a legitimate transaction, but I’m wondering how my times over the past years these transactions happened where perhaps things were not in order. At banks, at insurance companies, car manufacturers, technology companies – the list goes on and on.

Business now moves almost at the speed of thought, and it might be that very thing that has helped put us at risk for serious problems. By moving too quickly, businesses and ultimately the people that run them, ignore the details, allow decisions to be made that are not right, but easy to let go, and create what will ultimately be fatal outcomes for many institutions in our economy.

“So Doc, how do I fix this small molecule problem?” Fortunately, it was a fairly simple solution. I need more aerobic exercise and to increase my intake of omega-3 fats. So I’m back on the fish oil pills with a vengeance. And, while it has taken some effort to consistently roll out of bed and hop on the bike for my morning ride, it has given me a fresh perspective on life and business.

I’m afraid the solution for businesses and our economy might not be that simple. To begin with, you have to recognize the problem and I fear that our leaders, execs and many individuals are still too busy pointing fingers instead of getting to the root of the disease. Despite the wave of ‘change’ that has swept through our electoral offices this past November, I’m not convinced the bureaucrats understand the problem, the intricacies of running a business, or how to craft a real solution.

There is no simple fix, but here are a couple of ideas that might help:

• Embrace creative thought. If you have ever worked in, or created an environment where, creative thinking is squelched, then you’ve been in a business with carotid arteries. The flow of ideas is the lifeblood of business. Ask more questions. Eliminate ‘No’ as a first response. Put on a different pair of eyes. Avoid complacency. You never really know where the solution to a problem or the next million dollar idea is going to come from.

• Think it through. I have a copy of ‘Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff’ on my bookshelf and understand the pain of micro-management, but I believe it is critical to examine processes, decisions and actions in detail. Think through the ramifications. Small issues and problems can be cumulative and have catastrophic consequences. Take responsibility. Take time. And as Thomas Watson said, ‘THINK’.

• Do the right thing. Early this past fall, I went back to my alma mater, The Fuqua School of Business, to facilitate a day of reflection for the returning students on their summer work experience. The focus of the event was to talk about decision making and courage in the workplace. The courage to do the right thing in what professor Joe Leboeuf called, ‘moments that matter – when no one is looking’. Stop protecting your ego. Remember the Golden Rule. When you do the right thing consistently, you develop mental toughness and set a benchmark that helps keep your life, your career and your business healthy.

Focusing on small problems might be a hard sell for those who only look at the world from the thirty thousand foot level, but Doc has me sold. So I’ll be cycling down the road, swallowing a fish oil pill, and thinking about managing my life and my businesses so that I avoid what Fred Sanford comically referred to as ‘The Big One’. It might be too late for Lehman and many others, but there are plenty of businesses out there that might want to get a thorough physical, change perspective on sweating the details and come out for a ride.