December 11, 2013 / in General Information / by Jason Terry
Post written by Jason Terry, Entrepreneur | Social Coach | Web Developer | Scuba Instructor | Guitar Player | Cruise Traveler | Lego Collector
Every once in a while, I sit down to write our weekly blog post with WAY too many things on my mind. When this happens, I pick the top few items and go with it!
It’s time for the Blue Gurus EOY review and planning session. Mic and I get together and talk about what worked and what didn’t. It’s a great time to refocus on what is most important to the business moving forward in 2014.
This year, we are kicking the meeting off on Friday with lunch at what has quickly become our our favorite restaurant and satellite office… SUSHI TRAIN at Sakura on 75th and Nieman.
Last year, the most important thing that came out of our planning meeting was that we needed to focus on blogging retainers. We had seen so many clients struggling to keep their stories flowing week after week, and we knew we could help them make a real difference in their business in both revenue and company culture.
In 2013, that goal has proven to be a game changer. It’s a recurring revenue model for Blue Gurus and allows us to really partner with our clients, invest in them, build stronger relationships, and make a real difference.
How do you handle year end reviews and goal planning for next year? Any great tips? My best tip is to write the goals down. It’s weird how much more likely I am to achieve a goal when I’ve written it down.
Branding and marketing strategies fascinate me. I love commercials that make me laugh out loud… especially the KMart commercial about “shipping your pants.” And I’m always thinking about new business ideas. You know, that thing that just makes sense and you think someone else MUST have already created it? On to the new product idea…
If you’re like me, you help yourself remember things you need to do by putting them by the door. That way, when you’re walking out of your house, you see it and remember you need to do something. (Or maybe that’s a sign that I have a crappy memory.) Regardless, if you stack things by your door like I do, wouldn’t it be nice to have a SYSTEM for those physical reminders instead?
My most recent product idea is a little rope thingy with a card holder that you can put on doorknobs called Forget Me Knots. Oh yeah, I came up with that name all on my own. :)
You would put pre-printed cards into the holder or just write your own. Things like, “leave the alarm off for the cleaning people.” or “feed the pets.” or “take out the trash.” You get the idea.
If anybody wants to run with this, please give me a 10% royalty for the intellectual property!
I buy a lot of our business dress shirts from Lands End and then have Olathe T-Shirt and Trophy embroider them. They do a great job for a reasonable price. The end result is that Mic and I look more professional because we have shirts with the logos on them.
We’ve been talking about the fact that we needed a cold weather jacket or coat that had the logo on it as well. I just bought a couple of the Lands End Squall Parkas when they were on super sale over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. They look and feel great. I just dropped them off at Olathe T-Shirt and Trophy and can’t wait to get them back.
If you consider doing this for your business, it’s a pretty straight forward process. You will need to get them a high resolution version of your logo (.eps version for you graphics design people) and then they will do a test sew out.
Make sure that they use enough stitches so your logo looks really clean. I asked them to add more stitches to our design before approving it and the second round was much nicer than the first attempt. And now that they have the digital file created that their sewing machines need, I can take pretty much anything in to have embroidered. Even a blue swimsuit. (Yes, I really did that.)
That about wraps it up for me….
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I contacted Blue Gurus for assistance in developing my company's website and to discuss social media strategies.
He finished in just a few hours what I was struggling to do for weeks - and he made it fun for my whole team to participate in the design and creation process! I can't say enough positive things about working with Jason. Five Stars+!
Todd Searls
President and Founder, Praesidio Healthcare Consulting
Those forget me knots would have been EXACTLY what i needed this morning. I always have to TAPE (yuck) a note to the door handle to the garage on the day the cleaning people are coming.