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Why You Should Blog: Reasons for Print Industry Leaders

 Print Industry Leaders: Why You Should BlogHave you ever thought about why you should blog—or perhaps, why you should not?

The act of blogging must be much bigger than simply writing a blog. It must be part of a mission you are passionate about. Without that mission, blogging becomes drudgery.

If you have your eye on a goal and a blog is part of executing that goal, then it won’t just be about cranking out a blog. But the thought must be about working toward your mission.

In the same vein, blogging cannot be about just making money. That’s like saying the goal of a business is to make money. In my opinion, the goal of a business is to serve others. Without money a business cannot survive, but making money is not its ultimate goal or its purpose for being.

Similarly, we wouldn’t say the goal of life is to eat. We need to food to live, but that is not our purpose.

Find your purpose. Whether it’s serving and helping others or something else entirely, if blogging is part of how you accomplish your purpose then that’s why you should blog.

Keep that purpose in mind and blogging will be something you will want to do, as it takes you toward your purpose.

Here are a few less-commonly cited reasons why you should blog:

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Changing Leadership Styles in the Print Industry

Changing Leadership Styles in the Print IndustryLeadership styles are always evolving—changes have been especially notable in the past ten years.

It used to be that the most effective leadership style was “Command and Control.” This style was inspired by the way we led our troops in World War II. This method has continued to find favor right up to the present moment in the print industry.

However, this leadership style has given way to a more effective style we can label “Inspire and Engage.”

In a command and control environment, leaders decide to tell everyone what to do, and subordinates are expected follow orders.

On the other hand, leaders can choose an inspire and engage style. In this environment, we communicate to our team the vision, mission, values, milestones, and plans that will inspire them. Then we ask them to personally get engaged in helping the company to achieve those print industry goals.

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Improve Productivity in the Print Industry

Have you often thought about how to improve productivity in the print industry?

Of course you have.

If we want to get better at what we do we need to find ways to continuously improve productivity. There are probably many ways and ideas to get this done.

For the purposes of creating a method to continuously improve productivity, I have suggested a process for you to follow.

Decide on Your Goal

First, we have to identify what our goal is. Do we want to increase our print revenue by 10% this year or add 10 new customers that provide at least $10,000 in new revenue or something else?

Once we have decided on our goal then we can proceed to the next step. Read more

When Complexity Reigns … Stop, Simplify, Refocus

complex

Have you ever been overwhelmed by complexity or by having too many items on your project or to do list in the printing industry?

The feeling you get when you think you have to do it all can make your life seem very complex, and you know the next item added to your list just might drive you through the roof.

There is a way to regain that sense of clarity and simplicity that allows you to refocus your efforts.

Here is a process for regaining the level of simplicity that allows you to accomplish your most important goals:

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Lifelong Learning Drives Print Revenue

learning

Have you ever thought of the relationship between learning and print revenue for your business?

There is a strong correlation because your customers want to do business with experts in the print industry, not just order takers. Order taking is easy. But customers often want creative thinking and product/service knowledge.

How do you get there?

You commit yourself to a lifetime of learning. That commitment will drive print revenue.

Here are five ways to drive print revenue through lifelong learning:

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Goals: The Fewer The Better

goalsHave you ever felt like you had more goals on your list than you had time to accomplish?

I know I have and it took me awhile to realize that I have limited time compared to what I want to achieve.

Therefore, to make more progress more quickly I needed to have fewer goals not more goals.

Here are four reasons why fewer goals are better than more goals: Read more