It’s important to recognize that these decisions, often masked as "business decisions," are made by people. When we say it’s a "business decision," we give individuals an excuse to not have to personally own their actions. With this specific client example, it's the people there, some of whom are good people, but they fall victim to bad culture that stems from poor leadership at the very top of the company.

Let’s say a given task may take a beginner 6 hours to complete, a 10-year expert may be able to complete that same task in 1 hour at an even higher level of quality.

Which one is more valuable?

While partnerships between vendors and agencies are often talked about as being beneficial collaborations designed to create better client experiences, the reality is that many of these partnerships are toxic, driven by hidden financial motives that ultimately prove detrimental to the clients they are supposed to be serving.

As we exited the grips of the COVID-19 pandemic, many brands were more than ready to return to pre-pandemic levels of in-store purchases. However, this desire for “the way things used to be” potentially overlooks a critical reality — and that is that the pandemic served as a sort of accelerator of a trend that existed before we ever heard of this COVID-19 thing.

The health of a business's culture and the well-being of its employees depend on the values and actions of its leaders and team members. A company that creates a toxic culture or makes decisions that harm its employees, is doing so because the individuals in power allow it to happen.

At 33 Sticks, we're all about people—real, breathing humans, not corporate NPCs. We value honesty and transparency. RFPs? They're the antithesis of everything we stand for. Enough's Enough!

In the world of online content, there's a common message that goes something like this: "Take my course and you'll have 10,000 newsletter subscribers in 90 days." It feels tempting, especially after you have struggled so hard to build any sort of momentum, but in my experience, these promises are far from reality.

So, how can we fix this? It's simple, really. Start by doing your homework. Research the person you're reaching out to. Understand their work, their passions, and their challenges. Then, craft your email with this in mind. Make it personal. Show genuine interest. Be respectful of their time. Remember, you're reaching out to a human, not a faceless email address.

For the last 18 years, one of my primary goals has been building new business, be it for my past two employers and now for my own company, 33 Sticks. Over those 18 years, one thing has become very clear, i tend to take a very non-traditional approach to building companies, to managing teams, and to acquiring new business.

It's not business, it's personal. In the business world, relationships are everything. They shape how we work, influence our experiences, and, in many cases, determine our success. But what happens when those relationships are put to the test?

Managers seem to get caught up in things like timesheets and quarterly goals and corporate process and OKRs and you get the picture. Don’t get me wrong, those things can be valuable but it’s the little things that happen everyday, like managing out of pocket, that have lasting impacts on employees and ultimately make the employee, the manager, and the organization as a whole so much more successful.