Excerpt from “Characters”. Character 14: Janitor

by | Jul 18, 2022 | Articles and excerpts

Unfortunately for this company, a benchmark for screen printing ink manufacturers had been established in my mind months before when I attended a similar meeting at an ink factory near Atlanta. The contrast couldn’t have been starker. There were no ink stains on the carpet in the reception area, and the brightly lit conference room with its highly polished table and black leather boardroom chairs resembled that of a high-end law firm or a Fortune 500 head office. Everything about the company spoke of professionalism and quality. And it should come as no surprise that as time went by, I found the quality of their products and business style matched my favourable impression of their premises.

Back in Toronto, as you might have anticipated, the meeting did not go well. Their products lacked quality and their business conduct lacked finesse as much as their premises lacked a janitor. Any possibility of our doing business together perished right there in that janitor-free zone.

 

Trimming bureaucracy — a chainsaw doesn’t cut it

Trimming bureaucracy — a chainsaw doesn’t cut it

The assumption that any bureaucracy, particularly government bureaucracies, are wasteful and inefficient, is not new. It’s been around for at least my lifetime and probably a lot longer than that. And it’s reinforced anecdotally almost daily. Based on the...

Who are we really saving? The planet or ourselves?

Who are we really saving? The planet or ourselves?

A well-known author, journalist, and marketing consultant who focuses on marketing communication strategies for the printing industries and who often writes on sustainability in the textile industry, recently published an article about whether we’re really serious...

Mental health and your business strategy

Mental health and your business strategy

The full title to a recent Shopify article is "Why Mental Health Is Essential to Your Business Strategy." I'm pleased to see an organization as influential as Shopify highlighting this issue. I addressed it in the context of our industry in my book, Characters Who Can...

Customers in perspective

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Mahatma Gandhi apparently had something to say about customers, though I for one would never have guessed that he had any interest in business generally or customers specifically, at all. He was much better known for being an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist,...

Coffee shop meeting . . . A funny story with a warning.

Coffee shop meeting . . . A funny story with a warning.

I met with a friend recently in the local village coffee shop. At the next table were three people discussing a proposed gift store. They were so excited by the ideas they were coming up with that they seemed to forget that everyone else within earshot could hear...

Please just go away!

Please just go away!

I recently had a discussion with a small business owner about a difficult customer. The situation had arrived at a point where the customer was no longer worth the stress they were causing. In situations like this, and given that it’s impossible to tease your personal...

B-o-o-k is not a four-letter word

B-o-o-k is not a four-letter word

Given the aversion to reading that owners and executives of businesses of all sizes apparently have, you'd think that b-o-o-k were a four-letter word. In this context it isn't. And nor is i-d-e-a. And it is from books that ideas come. So if you don't like reading...

The productivity of solitude

The productivity of solitude

I’m an introvert. However, I didn’t fully appreciate what introversion is until I read Susan Cain’s, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking. Cain explains introversion as a preference for a quiet, more minimally stimulating environment. This...

Securing future sales with thoughtfulness

Securing future sales with thoughtfulness

This is not the first time I've written about how small acts of thoughtfulness can secure a future sale, and it won't be the last because it's such a simple yet powerful concept. It bears revisiting. Regularly. As I have so often written, small acts of thoughtfulness...

“Characters” — Reviews from around the world

“Characters” — Reviews from around the world

Here are reviews to be found on the back cover of Characters Who Can Make Or Break Your Small Business : "There is such an incredible wealth of wisdom in this book - and it's possible to just dip into a chapter (character) at a time. I loved the conversational,...

Disasters happen. Be prepared for the claim process!

Disasters happen. Be prepared for the claim process!

Twice I've had to file insurance claims after major disruptive events—once after the revolution in Iran and once after the 2013 flood in Calgary—with the result that I know whereof I speak when I say, "Be prepared!" You can expect a claim process to be tedious, time...

What is your focus figure?

What is your focus figure?

Think about your car’s dashboard. Depending on the model and the age of the car, the dashboard will have a varying number of dials, gauges, and digital readouts. They all tell you something about the performance of the vehicle (and sometimes a whole lot of other...

A small business and a plate of cookies.

A small business and a plate of cookies.

(First posted in 2017 and subsequently published by Soundview Magazine. Now repeated because the message is timeless and warrants revisiting). I was recently dismayed to discover that my favourite art supply store was no longer offering free cookies. My first stop in...

Excerpt from “Characters”. Character 1: Partner

Excerpt from “Characters”. Character 1: Partner

Picture yourself in a cottage in the woods. The sound of the lake lapping the sandy shore drifts in through the screen door on the warm, loamy forest air. A chipmunk scurries about on the wooden deck and beyond that, a solitary fisherman sits in a small aluminum...

Excerpt from “Characters”. Character 2: Banker

Excerpt from “Characters”. Character 2: Banker

If you’ve not yet experienced business banking, you might be wondering whether it’s an exaggeration to suggest that bankers and small business owners dwell in different worlds. Be assured, it’s not. Bankers live in a nine-to-five bureaucratic world of policies and...

Excerpt from “Characters”. Character 3: Accountant

The vexing issue of discounting Any accountant in public practice can tell you about small business owners who make decisions on everyday business matters influenced more by what everyone else is doing rather than by the impact the decision will have on their...

Excerpt from “Characters”. Character 4: Lawyer

Excerpt from “Characters”. Character 4: Lawyer

On the day of the hearing David and I were seated in awkward silence in a courtroom awaiting the judge’s arrival. The judge entered, introduced herself, settled down behind an elevated bench and stared down at us over the top of reading glasses perched on the tip of...

Excerpt from “Characters”. Character 5: Financier

"This Wednesdays's Lotto 6/49 jackpot is twelve million dollars. What would you do with Twelve million dollars?" asks a smarmy male voice. An animated female voice replies, "Maybe I'll open my own business . . ." I reach for the car radio's Off button. Sheer nonsense....

Excerpt from “Characters”. Character 6: Family Member

Excerpt from “Characters”. Character 6: Family Member

One hesitates to write about a family member in the way one hesitates to prod a bear with a pointed stick—neither is going to like it and both will let you know this in no uncertain terms. Family-member business relationships are common in the small-business...

Excerpt from “Characters”. Character 7: Significant Other

Excerpt from “Characters”. Character 7: Significant Other

"Have a great day. I hope that meeting doesn't drag on too long this afternoon, but if it does don't sweat it. Just let me know and I'll delay putting dinner into the oven. Oh, and where's your laundry slip? I'll pick it up for you on my way home from work." The front...

Excerpt from “Characters”. Character 8: Director

Excerpt from “Characters”. Character 8: Director

Only a tiny minority of small businesses appoint outside directors, but pinning down a number is difficult. Business literature largely ignores the topic, and even sources such as the Canadian Federation of Independent Business and Statistics Canada -- which can...

Excerpt from ‘Characters”. Character 9: Mentor

Excerpt from ‘Characters”. Character 9: Mentor

A mentor’s three essential qualities The first two of three essential qualities a small business mentor must have are obvious: knowledge and experience. They’re so obvious we don’t need to explore them here. The third is not so obvious, but it’s certainly essential....

Excerpt from “Characters”. Character 10: Business Author

What if a stranger suddenly popped up out of nowhere and made you an offer almost too good to be true? "I can share a ton of wisdom and experience you can use to improve your business in every respect. I can promise you big ideas, small ideas, exciting ideas—stuff...

Excerpt from “Characters”. Character 11: Landlord

Excerpt from “Characters”. Character 11: Landlord

When the time comes to negotiate or renew a lease, not all landlords will approach it with the take-it-or-leave-it attitude Graham and Andrea experienced. Much depends upon circumstances such as prevailing vacancy rates in the area and the general economic outlook,...

Excerpt from “Characters”. Character 12: Insurance Broker

Excerpt from “Characters”. Character 12: Insurance Broker

Usually the broker’s service doesn’t cost you a penny—he or she is remunerated by the insurance company with whom your business is placed. But therein lies a potential conflict of interest and further reason to select carefully. You want to trust that your broker will...

Excerpt from “Characters”. Character 15: Neighbour

Excerpt from “Characters”. Character 15: Neighbour

The degree to which this type of business neighbour can be detrimental ranges from merely irritating to seriously destructive. Such neighbours could break your small business if, in a worst-case scenario, by their presence or behavior, they discouraged customers from...

Excerpt from “Characters”. Character 16: Burglar

Excerpt from “Characters”. Character 16: Burglar

This character is a regrettable reality with whom a small business owner is bound to cross paths—in some cases, repeatedly. I’ve chosen the burglar to represent an entire class of characters with the same objective in mind: ill-gotten gain at the expense of a small...

Excerpt from “Characters”. Character 17: Employee

When you hear former small business owners say that this is the character they miss the least, what they’re really saying is that employee management is not a walk in the park. Employees are idiosyncratic creatures, and when we pour all those idiosyncrasies into a...

Excerpt from “Characters”. Character 18: Company Pet

Excerpt from “Characters”. Character 18: Company Pet

Their first encounter set the tone for all subsequent visits. Ryley was woken from a deep sleep in the sunbeam by a sniffing noise and a rubber cup inches from his nose. The rubber cup instantly suffered the same fate as a veterinarian’s stethoscope that was...

Excerpt from “Characters”. Character 19: Company Clown

Excerpt from “Characters”. Character 19: Company Clown

Now, almost four hundred years later, we still discuss and study laughter, not so much to understand its impact on human health (it’s generally accepted to be beneficial), but to understand why it’s beneficial because neuroscientists still aren’t sure what happens in...

Excerpt from “Characters”. Character 21: Computer Tech

Excerpt from “Characters”. Character 21: Computer Tech

Your small business will generally have access to one of three computer technician resources, depending where you’re located—there may be exceptions in some countries and small towns. The choice lies between sole practitioners, companies consisting of a staff of...

Excerpt from “Characters”. Character 23: Supplier

The daily challenges most small business owners face are numerous and varied in a Jack-of-all-trades kind of way. One minute you’re resolving an irate customer’s problem and the next refereeing a difference of opinion between two employees. You’re the owner. You’re...

Excerpt from “Characters”. Character 24: Franchisor

Just as he's pondering whether he has what it takes to conquer this mountain, an apparition—one that could easily have been created by J.K. Rowling—appears and makes Mr. Wannabe a very tempting offer. The apparition says that for a small fee (nothing is for nothing...

Excerpt from “Characters”. Character 25: Customer

Excerpt from “Characters”. Character 25: Customer

It’s one of the business world’s most common mantras: “The customer is always right.” It’s also nonsense. The customer is not always right. Far from it. This slogan-turned-mantra was apparently popularized over one hundred years ago by renowned retailers such as Harry...

Excerpt from “Characters”. Character 26: Trucker

Excerpt from “Characters”. Character 26: Trucker

If the driver is a long-haul trucker, the tractor part of the rig will have a sleeper berth (living quarters) complete with bed, fridge, TV, air conditioner, microwave, and other home comforts. I once met a long-haul trucker whose sleeper berth included a bed for the...

Excerpt from “Characters”. Character 27: Courier

Excerpt from “Characters”. Character 27: Courier

I don’t think most small business owners give much thought to how a courier can impact the impression customers have of their business. I didn’t—until a customer made me. In the early days we used a courier company for local deliveries within about a 150-kilometre...

Excerpt from “Characters”. Character 28: Competitor

Excerpt from “Characters”. Character 28: Competitor

Let's return to our broad-brush definition of "competitor" and focus on this part of it: "a company in the same industry who offers a similar product or service." Interpreted too broadly, this can be misleading. Much depends on what we assume "same industry" and...

Excerpt from “Characters”. Character 30: Graphic Artist

Excerpt from “Characters”. Character 30: Graphic Artist

Small businesses face this choice when trying to promote themselves and their services and products—words or images or both? I’m suggesting that in many circumstances, images (or perhaps images accompanied by some wording) will do a much better job. This shouldn’t...

Excerpt from “Characters”. Character 32: Website Host

This character should be on every small-business owner's contact list. Regrettably, this isn't the case. Nowadays, the cost of setting up a presentable website can start at under a hundred dollars. Reliable hosting can cost as little as twenty dollars a month. In...

Excerpt from “Characters”. Character 34: Fishing Friend

Excerpt from “Characters”. Character 34: Fishing Friend

Harbouring regrets is unhealthy—I get that. But if I were allowed to harbour one regret, it would be that I didn’t routinely schedule whole days off from my business for recreation. That’s where the fishing friend comes in: a character who embodies a commitment to...

Excerpt from “Characters”. Character 36: Travel Agent

Excerpt from “Characters”. Character 36: Travel Agent

I can’t explain why I believed I had no time for an annual vacation, particularly in the earlier years, which are often the toughest in the life of a business. Ironically, it’s during this time that you most need the vacation you believe you can’t take. My problem...

Excerpt from “Characters”. Character 37: Graffiti Artist

Excerpt from “Characters”. Character 37: Graffiti Artist

A real-life graffiti artist’s writing on the wall is quite often profane and unworthy of attention. By contrast, our metaphorical graffiti artist’s writing on the wall is always worthy of your small business’s attention. Some messages warn of impending doom while...

Excerpt from “Characters”. Character 38: Acquirer

Excerpt from “Characters”. Character 38: Acquirer

Meet the character many small business owners have in mind from the day their business opens—the person who’s one day going to take it over and send them on their way with a bag of money. This is the acquirer. The only reason for shunning the acquirer would be an exit...