Steve and I have always prided ourselves on trusting our gut instinct when it comes to people. This approach may not be scientific, but our gut instinct served us well in our military careers. It also served us in our roles as police officers. And it’s helped us onboard high-quality team members to grow a […]
Read More… from What Does a Successful Franchisee Look Like?
We’ve all heard the common adage associated with Murphy’s Law, which states: “Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.” This has never been truer than in the event planning business. In fact, with over 3000 events each year, Steve and I have become so adept at dealing with Murphy that when he shows up […]
For our first ten years in business together, my business partner, Steve, played the primary role in interviewing talent. But when it came to retaining talent, and especially with the launch of our EventPrep franchises, my background in recruiting and sales really came into play. Going back to my days working as a recruiter for […]
Read More… from “Enabling Them to Become”: Help Your Employees Become Their Best Selves
Not everything in life goes as planned. In some cases, a single unplanned event can change the entire trajectory of your life in an instant. In case you haven’t noticed, COVID-19 is one of those unplanned events. And it didn’t just change the trajectory of a few lives, or even millions of lives. This virus […]
Read More… from What Will Corporate Event Planning Look Like in The Post-COVID Era?
As Steve and I often say, there are two facts about a business’s culture: 1) It will define itself either by default or by design, and 2) it is created at the top and cascades downward. And the key to designing a business culture that results in the most productivity, the best service for your […]
Read More… from Why Putting Your Employees First is Good for Business
Picture how many jewelry stores are in a five mile radius of wherever you are at this very moment. There’s at least a handful in every mall. There are a couple in the strip plazas along the way to the mall. Dozens and dozens of jewelry stores, both boutique and chain stores, as far as […]
Read More… from Creating Perceived Value: How Tiffany’s, Starbucks, and Harley-Davidson Thrive
The success of a small business ultimately comes down to making money. The customer, however, has all kinds of needs, and not one of them involves paying you money. So how do you unlock an opportunity to make money by satisfying someone’s need if they aren’t willing to pay you? Convince the customer of a […]
Read More… from What Real Estate and Event Planning Have in Common
Steve and I know a thing or two about Solopreneurship. We know the stress and struggles, the ups and downs, the long days…and even longer nights. In the early days, we set up many different kinds of businesses, including a not-for-profit that helped kids with after school programs. For us, those were practice runs, the […]
Read More… from The Key to Solopreneurship: Operating as a Company of One (or Two)
For me and Steve, franchisees aren’t numbers. Each franchisee is like family. That’s why people are leaving our competitors in droves to work with us. In fact, we recently had the COO of one of our biggest competitors call and say, “We’re not too concerned about you stealing our customers, we’re more worried about our people […]
Read More… from Franchisee: How To Be In Business For Yourself, But Not By Yourself
Is approaching event planning as a franchisee for EventPrep®, a home-based, forward-thinking, full-service event planning and management company, too good to be true? What exactly makes a franchisee successful? Steve and I have actually developed a systematic way to go about penetrating the marketplace and ensuring our franchisees have every opportunity to reach the level […]