TAS Case Study: Diversification Strategy Bill Connelly, owner of Connelly’s Specialty Crane Service, relies on a professional telephone answering service to help him and his small crew serve their unique clients. Connelly’s business specializes in small, maneuverable cranes that are widely used in the motion picture industry. “We only have a few staff members, so […]
Don’t Work Harder, Work Smarter Many years ago, as a first-time manager, I was green with much to learn. Management looked easy from the outside. I assured myself that, when given the opportunity to lead, I’d never make the same blunders I witnessed. Yes, I would direct my future staff with enlightenment, never forgetting the […]
Five Drawbacks to Weigh before You Pursue a Publishing Deal In my post “5 Reasons Why a Writer Should Go With a Traditional Publisher,” I gave five advantages of traditional publishing. Although these reasons are compelling, there are also some downsides of traditional publishing. Consider These Five Downsides of Traditional Publishing: 1. It Takes Longer […]
TAS Case Study Dale Meissner understands there’s nothing as important to his clients as the comfort of knowing his staff is available to serve them 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Dale owns a commercial HVAC company that serves hospitals, schools, apartment and condominium complexes, and shopping malls. “We have to be available […]
Be Fair with Your Staff I once led a service department that provided telephone customer support for specialized, high-tech equipment and software. We staffed our office during regular business hours, Monday through Friday. And we rotated handling on-call to cover emergency situations that arose in the evenings, on weekends, and on holidays. I sought to […]
Pursuing Equilibrium in Writing, Work, and Life Requires Intentionality Personally, when it comes to finding balance, it seems something is always slipping, with the areas of writing, work, and life being in a constant state of tension. Yes, there are times where I may go a couple of days keeping everything in balance, but one […]
Prolific Author Shares Insights from “Successful Author FAQs” in Candid Interview with Host Kat Caldwell Author Peter Lyle DeHaan was recently featured as a guest on the Pencils&Lipstick podcast, where he shared his experiences about writing and publishing with host Kat Caldwell. The wide-ranging conversation explored DeHaan’s journey as an author and delved into his […]
A TAS Case Study Sarah Plotkin, executive director of the Webber Community Children’s Center, spearheaded the development of a community coalition. The coalition, which included seven agencies from her county, is dedicated to the advancement of children’s health and wellbeing. Within six months of its formation, the coalition received a $650,000 federal grant. The purpose […]
React with Courage to the Unexpected My employer had just undergone a rightsizing effort to optimize our workforce and strengthen our financial situation. A result of this was that I now had two departments to manage instead of one. I also had twice the staff. I embraced this challenge with enthusiasm, implementing changes to merge […]
Why Learning to Write Better Matters More than Writing Faster For years my goal was to write faster, but I made no effort to write better. Though I did improve, my progress was gradual. When I got serious about improving as a writer, I had to force myself to slow down and be more deliberate. […]