Authors Archives

It’s Good To Take A Breath and Appreciate Your World

Tom Coffin October 31, 2022 smartPRENEUR Blog Series

Do you pride yourself on being a work-aholic? Your typical day starts before the sun comes up. You didn’t sleep well last night because your mind was racing with thoughts; things to accomplish, goals to smash, phone calls to be made, designs to do. Do you often say “I can't, I'm too busy?” Busy for the sake of being busy ...

What is your plan for 2023

Tom Coffin October 3, 2022 smartPRENEUR Blog Series

This week starts the beginning of the fourth quarter and the end of 2022 or as I like to refer to it twenty-twenty-TOO. A lot has happened over the last couple of years that has made planning a challenge for some. Are you one that had trouble trying to figure out what results you could reasonably expect? Uncertain times they ...

What is The ROI of a Trade Show?

Tom Coffin August 29, 2022 smartPRENEUR Blog Series

If You Build it Will They Come? It’s been a few soft years for trade shows. It will be very interesting to see what the turn out is like at CEDIA Expo 2022 this year. Emerald Expositions, the owner of the CEDIA Expo trade show, seems poised to be successful at bringing most manufacturers back to what used to be ...

Brand Loyalty and the Myth of Three

Tom Coffin August 1, 2022 smartPRENEUR Blog Series

Freddie Mercury sang, “I want it all, I want it all, and I want it now.” Shakespeare said: a jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one. So how do these phrases relate to your business? Do you offer everything? Do you carry virtually every control system? How many brands of ...

If You Are Too Busy For Vacation, Something Is Wrong

Tom Coffin July 4, 2022 smartPRENEUR Blog Series

When was the last time you took a week away from your business? I mean really a week away. No phone calls. No emails. No worrying if the place would still be standing when you returned? Let me get a little closer to home. When was the last time you were home for dinner at a reasonable hour with your ...

Did You Buy a Job or Build a Career?

Tom Coffin May 30, 2022 smartPRENEUR Blog Series

What’s the difference between a career and a job you might ask. CAREER The brilliant minds at Merriam-Webster provide this definition of Career. A profession for which one trains and which is undertaken as a permanent calling. A field for or pursuit of consecutive progressive achievement especially in public, professional, or business life. JOB Now let’s see how the ...

I Would Die 4U

Tom Coffin May 2, 2022 smartPRENEUR Blog Series

I would die 4u. I’ll bet you’ve said that to friends or family at some point in your life. But would you really? I think most of us would say well, not literally. So what are we trying to communicate with this phrase? Commitment Committing to someone, something, a lifestyle, or in the case of many of you reading this, ...

What is Your WHY?

Tom Coffin April 4, 2022 smartPRENEUR Blog Series

What makes YOU tick? Before we delve into this existential discussion, I have to mention Simon Sinek, who wrote a really great book that I recommend that you read. It's called Start With Why. Now, he is not the first author to question why we do what we do. Kierkegaard, considered the first existentialist, wrote about it 250 years ago. ...

Size Isn’t Everything

Tom Coffin February 28, 2022 smartPRENEUR Blog Series

How Do You Define Success? What is success? What does it look like? Is success defined by the car you drive? Warren Buffet drives a 2014 Cadillac XTS not a Rolls Royce or a Lamborghini. Does the size and location of your house define success? Elon Musk the wealthiest person on the planet, at the time of this writing, just ...

Introducing the smartPRENEUR Blog 2022 and its Faculty

Tom Coffin January 31, 2022 smartPRENEUR Blog Series

Hello smartPRENEURS, We have some awesome learnings coming. For 2022/2023 we have new faculty members contributing to the smartPRENEUR Blog and the smartPRENEUR Podcast. Every Monday, starting today, we’ll release a new blog post. Each week will bring a different smartPRENEUR Faculty member’s insights based on their experience. Each Wednesday we will release the podcast version of the smartPRENEUR Faculty ...