Multiplication by Subtraction

Linda LaitalaBusiness, Employees, Management, Marketing, SalesLeave a Comment

It could happen to you.  A crucial member of your staff leaves.  You have a decision to make.  Do you replace or not? A company owner I recently talked to was faced with that complicated  decision.  Replacing the employee would have been the logical choice; it would have filled out the team and made customers feel better.  It would have

How do you make your “Vampire Decisions?”

Linda LaitalaBusiness, Employees, MarketingLeave a Comment

Linda here. Life is filled with decisions.  Some small: what am I going to have for breakfast?  Some more serious: what kind of car should I buy? Some decisions are profound and life changing: getting married, having children, entering the military or changing careers.  The decisions that change your life forever, are called vampire decisions.   

Are You Lucky or Are You Good?

Linda LaitalaBusiness, Employees, Management, Marketing, SalesLeave a Comment

  Dean Johnson, owner of Arcon Construction Company was my first boss when I moved to Mora.  The year I joined Arcon, he treated all the employees and spouses to a week on South Padre Island, to celebrate their best year ever.  I listened as Dean described growing his highway-heavy construction business from nothing to sales of over $30 million

Can A Superhero Out-Class A Princess?

Linda LaitalaBusiness, MarketingLeave a Comment

Linda here. It happened this year – Halloween superhero costumes outsold princess costumes the first time in 11 years! It’s about time.  Dressing up as a princess means little girls can wear a crown and a pretty dress, but in real-life princesses only wear crowns and gowns for very special occasions.  Most of the time they dress like real people,

“Life Is Amazing And No One Is Happy”

Linda LaitalaBusiness, MarketingLeave a Comment

We take for granted the advances that continue to make our lives easier:  We eat foods grown around the world, talk to friends who are thousands miles away, pay for lunch with a wave of our smart phones and our cars can parallel park themselves! Pretty amazing.

Have You Ordered Your Tesla?

Linda LaitalaBusiness, Marketing, SalesLeave a Comment

The Quartz Daily Brief (www.qz.com) is one of the first things I read every morning! This article by Steve LeVine made me think about visionaries, the people who draw us into their dreams and make us believe the impossible is possible.   

The End Is At hand! Are You Ready?

Linda LaitalaBusiness, Employees, MarketingLeave a Comment

Sounds ominous.  This is the time to wrap up 2015 and plan for 2016!  Have you been so busy dealing with the day to day activity of your business that you’ve given little consideration to the annual taxes, budget, goals, etc. for 2016?  Don’t feel like the Lone Ranger, many are in the same boat.   

Tomorrow Your Company Will Look Very Different

Linda LaitalaBusiness, Employees, MarketingLeave a Comment

Brian’s daughter, Carrie, teaches fourth grade in an inner city school in St. Paul.  In her class, twelve different languages and dialects are spoken.  (There are 125 different languages and dialects spoken in the St. Paul school system!)  Her students represent different races, religions and vastly different socio-economic backgrounds.  There are translators available and several students attend ESL (English as a