In Service

The Companion Animal Market is a huge sector of the US economy and has an important impact to the Kansas City area. For 2009, it’s estimated that $45.4 billion will be spent on our pets in the U.S.

Think non-traditional retailers haven’t noticed the trends? Think again. Big name companies including Paul Mitchell, Omaha Steaks, Origins, Harley Davidson and Old Navy are now offering lines of pet products ranging from dog shampoo, pet attire, and name-brand toys to gourmet treats and food.

How About Stimulating Us?

What inspired him to try his hand at Presidential Advisor? He knew many of his small business customers nationwide were getting caught in the “triple squeeze of the new economy;” a steady decline of revenue as a result of fear, customers paying more slowly, “normal lines of credit” tightened due to banking issues. That’s a potential crisis as big as any hurricane and as destructive as any tornado.

 

 Andrew Field of PrintingForLess.com [26:28m]: Play Now | Play in Popup

Less is Much More

Andrew Field, CEO of Printing For Less.com knows all about remarkable customer experiences. They post them on the bulletin board for all their employees to see. And, I didn’t see any “yellowed” ones there.

Field launched Printing For Less (PFL) in 1996, though how he got started sounds a little “fishy.” He and a friend were in their waders, already in the river near the entrance to Yellowstone before his friend mentioned that he was losing his printing job. Knowing Field had a background in printing, he suggested Andrew open a printing shop. It didn’t take much thought (or market research) to jump in with both feet.

 

 Andrew Field of PrintingForLess.com [21:01m]: Play Now | Play in Popup

Former Sons of Birch have New Gig

What did David Scott and David Hollingsworth learn from their time at Birch that they have carried over to Avid?

“Not to give up control of your company, although we never really had that option at Birch. Birch was in the old world where you had to play the game by the same rules as the big guys. And so, we had to raise hundreds of millions of dollars to build the business. This time around we’ve been given the luxury of building the business by what David calls ‘golf course funding’ where we can get people locally to back the business but it’s still controlled by the two of us. And we can make the decisions about how it grows,” said Scott.

 

 David Scott & David Hollingsworth of Avid Communications [23:15m]: Play Now | Play in Popup