Growing a business of any kind follows a similar series of events and priorities. These include hirings, launches, partnerships, and a whole lot of other decisions and investments. Growing a business is also time-consuming. Heck, prioritizing where you’ll be spending your dollars can feel like a full-time job in itself. We get it. As entrepreneurs,…
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Building community around your brand takes a concentrated effort, but lessons can be learned even from the building of communities we live and work in every day. “I have only one purpose, to serve the community. Everything else will follow through.” – Ralph T. Scurfield. The late Ralph T. Scurfield was truly ahead of his…
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As I wrote in our previous blog, a solid marketing strategy is the only way to properly focus your resources on achieving your business goals. Once you’ve developed a marketing strategy, there’s no need to feel like the canary in a coal mine when it comes time to implement. Marketing is a big investment into…
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Some things are better spread thin. Marmite comes to mind. Even those who love it (I stand bravely as one of those people) know a little goes a long way. But focus is not one of those things. Focus is more like ice if we’re picking abstract comparisons. You can build some incredible things with…
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Once upon a time (or “back in the day” if you prefer), outsourcing had a bad reputation. People associated it with negative identifiers like cheap, rushed, and disconnected. If those are the kinds of qualities you still think about when you think about outsourcing today, it’s time for an update. Outsourcing should be part of…
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Ten years ago, on September 15, 2011, Forward Level Marketing was born. To put it lightly, it’s been a crazy decade with some amazing highs. We’re proud to say that we made it to where we are today driven by the same purpose we started with: to move our people and our community forward. For…
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What can we learn about business adaptation from dead malls? The connection is even more clear than you might think. “I want to live in a mall where the temperature is always the same and people are nice.” – Kevin Meaney, Comedian I am obsessed with dead malls. What are dead malls, you ask? They’re…
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Customer retention, or customer loyalty, is one of the most important aspects of sustainable success. But it’s often overlooked. How to win customers and influence the ones you have “Customer satisfaction is worthless. Customer loyalty is priceless.” – Jeffrey Gitomer Having more customers is better than having less. More customers mean more sales. And more…
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I spent more than two decades in the entertainment industry, where I reported on new movies. The competition for audience dollars was fierce. Studios that spent $100M+ to make a film often invested an equal amount in marketing, advertising and promotional events. Sometimes the studios’ excessive spending was the stuff of legend. One of the…
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If you weren’t already aware of the benefits of diversifying your business revenue, the last year has made it abundantly clear. Depending on limited sources of revenue including individual products or services, major clients, or markets, leaves you vulnerable. If something impacts your main revenue driver and you don’t have revenue streams that can offset…
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What is authentic leadership? To start, let’s take a look at what Pete Carroll, Head Coach of the Seattle Seahawks, has to say about it: “It isn’t about the words you say. It’s about the energetic message you send.” Pete Carroll’s energy and passion for the game are infectious. You never see him get in…
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When Connor Curran decided to start his own clothing company, he had no idea where to begin. So he took out his laptop and Googled ‘How to start a T-shirt company,’ and watched a YouTube video. Soon after, Local Laundry was born. Since 2015, Connor has used his company to do more than just sell…
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Adam Thompson jumped in with both feet when he started Friday Sock Co. in 2015. He took his love of colourful footwear and turned it into a $1 million a year business with more than 400 retail partners in Canada and the United States. Adam’s mismatched sock designs run the gamut from bacon and eggs,…
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Photo by Bobby Owens Photography. We’ve hit the seven-month mark of navigating our businesses through a turbulent economic environment. If there were a metaphor for this ride we’ve been on, I’d imagine it to be a tough, snorting bull at the Stampede Rodeo, one that only the fiercest of bull riders would dare to ride…
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Launching a Digital Product Webinar Overview The world is in a state of rapid change and innovation is more important than ever. Business owners globally are finding new ways to bring in revenue and go from survival back to a state of growth. Many of these business owners are taking their products and services online,…
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