Month: May 2012

Sales can help make your business great. Or ruin your brand.

Recently I received a call from an 800-number. I won’t mention the company’s name out of professional courtesy. Here’s what happened, which motivated me to write this post… After the woman on the phone confirmed I was “Mr. Brawley,” she launched into a 90-second pitch that went from me receiving a book for free to […]

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Why use a fly rod when a net gets it done?

I love this quote from famous fly fisherman and fly fishing author John Gierach….. “If people don’t occasionally walk away from you shaking their heads, you’re doing something wrong.” From the reactions I often get from people after I tell them about having such a narrow focus with our business – I’ve decided I seem […]

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How Fudpucker’s used t-shirts, alligators, and 40 oz. drinks to create success

Chester Kroeger has owned Fudpucker’s for over 30 years. He started it out of a snack bar in a nightclub when he started selling a memorable t-shirt, and has grown the company to a nationally-known restaurant brand with locations in Destin, FL and Ft. Walton Beach, FL. and over 500 employees. Here’s how he did […]

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"Going viral" is not the objective…

Building something because you believe it will “go viral” is like going to Vegas because you think you can turn $50 into $1,000,000. Sure, it might happen, but the odds are infinitesimally small. Yet still, millions of people are working right now on a software, or an app, or a marketing campaign, or a product […]

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Pics from our vid shoot at The Meatball Shop…

Last week we filmed the third interview for our Restaurant Owners Uncorked video series at The Meatball Shop in NYC. I don’t even know where to start with how amazing everything about The Meatball Shop is. First of all, we visited all three locations, and everybody we interacted with was incredibly friendly and helpful. Every. […]

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Scratch your own itch: Chris Sommers

Just as Wes had the idea for Schedulefly from his experience creating schedules in restaurants, the ideas for most businesses come from people who have problems, or “itches,” and want to find a way to scratch them. Chris Sommers, owner of Pi Pizzeria in St. Louis, MO and Washington, D.C., recently decided to scratch his […]

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The basics are always useful

I’ve noticed something over the last 4 years as a Dad of 2 young boys – related to their toys – and I think it’s helping me with our business. And that’s this: The simpler the toy, the more it gets used. Period. Things like basic building blocks get used nearly every day. Play kitchens […]

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Star Wars and why we don’t partner with anybody…

A few years ago Wes and I went to the National Restaurant Association’s annual trade show in Chicago. We’ll never go again for these reasons. But while we were there, a very interesting thing happened. A guy we had never seen spent quite a bit of time hanging out at the booth directly across from […]

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Why we don’t exhibit at trade shows…

There are tons of people from tons (literally, I’m talking about thousands) of companies that sell to restaurants heading to Chicago today. They’ll spend the day setting up their booths at the National Restaurant Association trade show, and they’ll spend the next few days working very hard to convince restaurant people to buy their stuff, […]

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