Pete McDowell's Page

Thursday, February 11, 2010, 10:07am PST
Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle)
WSU survey: Half of Seattle businesses sell below cost
In an effort to stay in business, half of Seattle business executives said in a new survey that they’re selling their products below their costs. According to a survey by Washington State University and the Seattle Executives Association, in the last quarter, 70 percent of those sur

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Last Friday in the Seattle Times, a column written by Froma Harrop of the Providence (RI) Journal caught my eye. Its title: “Slobs and the American Civilization”.

The author pointed out the following-
Some observers suspect that a collapse in grooming and attention to dress has contributed to the decline in civility on our streets and in our politics. People don't care what they look like in public because they don't care about the public. They have little notion of, or intere

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All products are tangible- even the intangible products. Sooner or later everything has a tangible quality to it. Some products even have both intangible and tangible qualities that ultimately come back around as a tangible quality. Intangibles are incapable of being perceived by the sense of touch. Tangibles are discernable by touch, they are real or actual, rather than imaginary or visionary.
Here are two examples:
You’re selling accounting services which include tax advice and tax return prep… Continue

“Innovation is going to be more intense in 2010.” Jean-Laurent Poitou, Accenture LLC

Now, that is something I totally agree with and something we’ve been seeing. In spite of the recession, the amount of innovation that is happening right now in the marketplace is astounding. I see this especially in the various technology sectors but it’s happening elsewhere as well.

What does this mean for you? If you don’t think big, different and even radical then you won’t see the burst of creative energy… Continue

I subscribe to a number of blogs and e-newsletters. One of them is Frank Kern- really fun, smart and creative internet marketer. Sometimes, very irreverent- which I like. One of his segments was on the learning he received from Jim Rohn and Earl Shoaff, both wonderful men who are now deceased. Here’s what I picked up from Earl and Jim, via Frank: “What you earn is all that people are willing to pay you. It’s not what they pay. It’s just what they pay you. You don’t have to work on a company or a… Continue