Hi everybody!

Here is an important announcement I wanted to share with you. I have a cool new mobile website service available free for you to use for your printing firm. The free mobile website is stylish, but elegantly simple. It is available to all printers, whether or not you are a customer of mine.

I urge you to please take advantage of this free offer to help your printing firm reach the growing smart phone market.

You can learn more about this free offer and see the mobile website by visiting this link from your computer:

www.WebsitesForPrinters.com/gomobile.iml

Or you can see a demo of how it looks from your smart phone here:

FreeMobi.MarketingIdeasForPrinters.com

There is no cost for this special offer; it’s totally free. No tricks. No gimmicks. No gotchas. It’s a gift to the printing industry from me and your friends at my company, MarketingIdeasForPrinters.com.

Happy Selling!

Mike Stevens

Jon Simpson of Simpsons Printing in Rapid City, South Dakota, is a third-generation printer who sees a bright future for his company. A few months ago, Jon sent me a clever mailer that starts out 5-1/2 x 5-1/2, then unfolds like a map, until it reaches its full dimensions of 11 x 22. Each panel of the mailer contains more information about the company and its services, compelling the recipient to keep unfolding. It’s really quite ingenious and has earned Jon my latest Golden Ink Knife Award.

Recently, I had the opportunity to interview Jon and ask him some questions about his printing firm, his background, his management style, and more. Jon’s a fascinating guy and very down to earth. For example, before joining the family printing business, Jon worked at a few other jobs, because he felt it was “important to work for a few other people before you work for yourself.”

Simpsons Printing has a beautiful facility, and it is spotlessly clean and very organized. It’s a great example of how a printing firm can look as beautiful as any store at the local shopping mall. Simpsons is a “local” printer that has a 40-year history of adapting to changing markets and changing times.

To read my full interview with Jon Simpson and see some photos of his staff and facilities, click here.

Last spring, I read a short article in Time magazine about how the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) had suggested that air traffic controllers be allowed to take short naps during their workday in order to remain more alert while on the job.

The NTSB based its recommendation on a 1995 NASA study that found a “26-minute nap improved performance 34% and alertness 54%.” I found this article very interesting because over the last few months I’ve been dealing with some personal sleep deprivation issues. My company is very close to launching a new collection of websites for the printing industry, and I have been heavily involved in the development process since January 1st. Since then, I have worked 80 hours or more most weeks, and I sometimes feel very tired. The thought of taking a short, 26-minute nap that would improve my performance and alertness was very appealing to me.

But there was just one problem: I’ve never been able to take naps successfully. On the one hand, when I tried to take a nap in the past, I would usually wake up an hour or two later and feel so groggy that it would take me hours to recover. On the other hand, I’d often find myself feeling guilty just thinking about taking a nap because in my mind naps were something for slackers, senior citizens, or little kids. Real men don’t take naps.

However, the information I learned about the 26-minute NASA power nap was very convincing, and it’s hard to argue with findings presented by such an esteemed group of scientists. So I decided to give it a try.

I have to admit I felt a little silly closing my office door and laying down on the tiny little two-person couch in the corner. I programmed a little hand-held digital timer for exactly 26 minutes, put my phone on “do not disturb,” closed the blinds (and my eyes), and fell asleep almost immediately. The next thing I remember was that little digital timer beeping on my desk. It went by so fast I could hardly believe that 26 minutes had transpired. But the good news was that I woke up feeling fresh and wide awake. I did not feel feel groggy or sluggish. In fact, I did feel more alert and energetic over the next few hours.

It inspired me to try napping again the next time I found myself feeling a little tired while sitting at my desk.

Well, to make a long story short, over the last 4 or 5 weeks, I have taken numerous 26-minute naps. Never a minute more or a minute less. Guess what? It works. Almost every time I’ve taken a nap, I find myself noticeably more attentive and creative afterward. Because I was always such an anti-nap person, I still find it hard to believe I’m doing it. Today, I’m suggesting you try it the next time you find yourself feeling a little sleepy or de-energized during your workday.

As printers, we often find ourselves dealing with sleep deprivation because of the long hours of work we put in to hit deadlines for our customers. Perhaps you’ll find, like I did, that a 26-minute nap is not only good for astronauts… it’s good for printers, too!

Here’s a link to the online version of the Time magazine article I mentioned earlier:
Air Traffic Controllers: Let Them Nap

From time to time, I present one of my Golden Ink Knife Awards to a printer who shares a great marketing idea with the rest of us.

Today, it’s time to give a Golden Ink Knife Award to Mark Cordes, who owns Cordes Printing and Norman’s Printery, an amazing letterpress shop located in Eastern New Jersey.

I’ve always been a fan of letterpress. A while ago, I was googling “letterpress” one Saturday afternoon and just visiting different letterpress websites. You know how it goes. You visit 15 or 20 sites, and they all look kind of the same, but then you click on the next site and discover something really excellent. Well, that’s exactly what happened to me. I stumbled onto Norman’s Printery’s letterpress blog and discovered their amazing photo collection of letterpress printing. It finally dawned on me that I knew these guys. The owner, Mark Cordes, has been a printer-friend and acquaintance for over 15 years. I knew Mark did letterpress, but I had no idea what a craftsman/artist he and his coworkers really are. They do beautiful work. Visit their Flickr stream to see dozens of great photo samples of their letterpress work.

In this blog post, you’ll also find an interview of Mark Cordes. I would encourage you to take a few minutes to read it. Mark says some very thought-provoking things, and I get the impression that we could all learn a lot from him.

I’ll also point out that Mark has a letterpress product he sells to other printers that might be useful for you and your printing firm. He’s come up with an innovative way for just about anybody to make pocket folders using a color copier and just a little bit of hand labor. His pocket folder product is called DigiFolder, and here’s the link if you’re interested.

There’s actually a lot of links, a good interview, and a photo tour of Cordes Printing in this blog post. It would be easy to spend a lot of time here, so I’m posting this on a Friday to make it a little easier for you to set this aside and look at it this weekend when you have more time. There’s definitely a lot of good stuff here that I really think you will enjoy reading and seeing.

So, congratulations, Mark Cordes. You are the latest winner of the Golden Ink Knife Award!

Read my interview with Mark Cordes.

Here’s a great way to increase your visibility. It’s called Gravatar marketing.

What is a Gravatar?

A Gravatar is a globally recognized image (avatar) that sits next to the comments you make on many popular blogs or group forums. If you don’t have a Gravatar, a more generic image will often accompany the comments you make instead. Thinking back, have you ever noticed how easy it is to skip over the comments of someone who doesn’t use a Gravatar? Well, that’s the purpose of this article. I would like to urge each of you to take just a few minutes to create your own Gravatar. It’s free, easy to do, and is something that will have a positive impact on your image and brand.

What’s considered a Gravatar image?

Most people use a headshot, while others use a logo, illustration, or some other image. I think it’s smart to use a photo of yourself, and here’s why…

1. Using a headshot lets other readers know who they’re talking to. It gives your comments a more personal touch, rather than seeming like generic thoughts from an anonymous person.

2. Personal images build trust. It’s not about vanity or ego; it’s about T-R-U-S-T. We all like to know who we’re dealing with. It’s as true online as it is offline. Using a headshot is an easy way to build a reputation and strengthen your brand.

3. Many people think visually. How many times have you heard someone say they can’t remember the names of streets if you ask them for directions, but they could give you landmarks? That’s because many people are “visual thinkers.” When you use a photo of yourself as a Gravatar, it helps build a visual connection between your image, your name, and your content.

How do I get a Gravatar?

1. Gravatars are free. All you have to do is sign up for one at http://en.gravatar.com. If you have a WordPress blog, you’ll be prompted to enter your WordPress username and password to get started. Otherwise, you’ll be asked to enter an email address. You’ll then receive instructions by email for completing the registration process.

2. Once you’ve created your account, the Gravatar website will allow you to upload an image and crop it however you see fit. The crop box is square in shape (and must remain square), but it can be resized to remove whitespace.

3. After cropping your photo, you will be asked to pick a rating for your Gravatar. The ratings line up with those used for movies (G, PG, R, etc.). The system allows blog owners to select a maximum rating for the images that will appear on their websites, so I’d recommend a rating of “G.” That way, your Gravatar will appear on all blogs that use the Gravatar system.

4. With your account in place, your Gravatar will now appear when you comment on a blog that incorporates the Gravatar system (like this one). Just make sure you use the same email address you registered on Gravatar.com, so the system knows who you are. You can link additional email addresses to the same Gravatar account by logging in at http://en.gravatar.com and following the instructions.

That’s it. It really is easy to do and will immediately improve your image as a tech-savvy marketer.

I’d like to share something that has really meant a lot to me.

This week marks the 150th anniversary of the first battle at Bull Run during the American Civil War. It was the bloodiest battle fought on American soil up to that point. One of the soldiers, Major Sullivan Ballou, sensed he would not survive the impending battle and wrote a love letter to his wife and two small sons. The letter is heartbreaking, romantic, and inspirational. I have a degree in American literature, and along the way I’ve read many books by our greatest authors, yet nothing I have ever read is as well-written as this young soldier’s letter. It is hard to read his letter without becoming emotional. His touching words still speak much to us today.

I sincerely hope you’ll be able to take a few minutes out of your busy day to listen to a reading of the letter on the video link provided below. The narrator is John Chancellor, the late NBC news anchor. His narration was part of the epic Ken Burns film, The Civil War.

Today, July 29th, is the actual date of the 150th anniversary that Major Sullivan Ballou died as a result of injuries suffered on the battlefield.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3F5RT0_K5M

I just recently returned from a two-week family vacation. This year, for the first time since I’ve been a business owner, I didn’t check in to see “how things were going” every day while I was gone.

During the 23 years I owned my printing firm, I had this little vacation ritual — at one o’clock every day, no matter where I was or what I was doing, I would always stop everything and call the office. I’m telling you, I’ve always been the kind of guy who doesn’t like to miss a deadline, so it didn’t make any difference if I was canoeing down some remote river — because if it was one o’clock, I’d make sure I quit paddling long enough to call the office. I’ve also been guilty of checking my e-mails regularly while on vacation. It didn’t take me long to discover that Verizon makes these little portable wifi gizmos that allow you to use your laptop computer just about anywhere. It really comes in handy if you’re in some backwoods place like Yellowstone Park. It gives you something “productive” to do while you’re waiting for Old Faithful to do its thing.

I think a lot of printers do the same thing. Have you ever been at a big printing industry event or trade show and noticed how many printers immediately start dialing on their cell phone as soon as the seminar they’re attending is over?

Do you have a hard time disconnecting from work when you’re on vacation?

Well… as I’ve gone along in my life, I’ve come to appreciate the quiet moments of solitude more and more. Earlier this year, I announced to my family that our upcoming family vacation would be free of all digital devices and that I would not spend any time calling the office during our vacation. Have you ever tried this? What happened to me was pretty interesting. If it’s been years since you’ve taken a totally disconnected vacation, let me tell you what you can expect.

• The first two days were excruciatingly nerve-racking, not knowing what was going on at work.
• On the third day, being totally disconnected from work started to feel pretty relaxing.
• By the fourth day, a part of my brain evidently shut down because I started to go three or four consecutive hours without even thinking about work.
• At the end of our two-week vacation, I found myself hardly ever wondering about work at all… and I thoroughly enjoyed the events of each day, without being preoccupied.

We all know we should take a vacation from time-to-time and shouldn’t feel anxious or guilty worrying about our business while we’re gone, but many of us feel anxious and guilty anyway. The printing business can be very intense because of all the constant performance pressures — not to mention troublesome computers, deadlines, employees, or the concerns we all feel about the future. As printers, all the stuff we have to deal with can cause us to get pretty uptight.

This year, my two-week family vacation turned out to be one of the best things I’ve done lately. You see, I have a good life and much to be grateful for, but needed to slow down a little bit. Reconnecting with yourself — and your family — is always a good thing. My two-week vacation was just enough of a timeout for me to make a few minor, mid-course corrections to improve my life a little. I got in the habit of going to bed just a little earlier each day, I started to ride my bike again, and I realized that when I emptied my head of some of the “clutter” that fills it during a normal workday, I was able to come up with some fresh new ideas that I would’ve never thought of otherwise. Ironically, my vacation helped my business.

So, let me ask you… Are you going to take a vacation this summer?

I hope you do. It might just turn out to be one of the best things you can do to help your printing firm.

Oh… by the way… when I got back to the office, I walked in fully expecting most of my employees to come running up to me, saying something like, “I’m so glad you’re back, boss. Can you help resolve this problem, or can you help me fix this issue?” Instead, what I discovered was that since I wasn’t “available” to help fix the problems, they just went ahead and fixed problems themselves. In fact, I’m not even sure some of them noticed I’d been gone. Cool. What a great way to end a vacation.

… I knew I should have stayed one more week!

Some of you will think I’m crazy. Others will think I’m kidding.

I canceled my cell phone service.

I didn’t change to a different carrier. I canceled my service. I no longer use a cell phone.

Here’s a question for you to consider: Do you really need your cell phone? I know I’m treading on sacred ground here because we all “need” our cell phones, right? Well, maybe not. I personally have improved the quality of my life by eliminating my cell phone.

I earnestly began to think about the advantages and disadvantages of a cell phone during a time when I was feeling overloaded with work. I was working long days and would usually go home each evening with many uncompleted tasks still on my to do list. I kept trying to figure out how to slow things down so I could get caught up. I started to focus on interruptions. It seemed like I had a lot of interruptions throughout my day. As I focused on the source of those interruptions, I realized I was getting many, many cell phone calls throughout the day. The calls started early, continued during my lunch and dinner hour, and occurred well into the evening.

I soon arrived at a new conclusion about my “busy” life. I started to feel like I wasn’t too busy… I was too interrupted. Twenty-five years ago, when I began my printing career, if someone wanted to communicate with me, they could either call me, write me, or stop in to see me. When I think back to those days, it was relatively easy to manage interruptions. But today, technology has brought faxes, FedEx, voicemail, e-mail, cell phones, texting, Twitter, and Facebook to our lives. Of course, each of those technologies competes for our attention. As I reflected on the many interruptions I was getting every day, I decided to do the unthinkable… and give up my cell phone.

On New Year’s Eve, my wife Jenny and I shut off our cell phones and threw them into the wastebasket under our kitchen sink.

Guess what? The world didn’t stop… but amazingly, the 50 interruptions we each average every single week went away. They simply vanished. I’m not sure where those phone calls went, but they just went away.

Just think about that for a minute because I’m sure you (like me) really have convinced yourself that you need your cell phone. I quickly found that I didn’t need my cell phone at all. My business life didn’t suffer, my social life didn’t suffer, my kids still talk to me, and I’m just as close to my extended family as I’ve always been. The only difference is that I have almost 250 fewer interruptions every single month. Sounds pretty good, doesn’t it? How much additional income could you earn with that extra time?

Almost every printing executive I talk to tells me they’re “too busy.” I wonder if maybe part of their ‘busyness’ stems from their over-interrupted lifestyle.

Not having a cell phone has caused a few minor inconveniences, but the tranquility (and clearheaded thinking time) I have enjoyed without a cell phone has been stellar.

One of the saddest things I have to deal with is trying to help a printer who’s waited too long.

Most of you know I own a marketing services company for the printing industry. Every so often, a printer calls and tells me their sad story. Sales aren’t high enough. They’re low on cash. They can’t afford the latest technologies. Sometimes they’ve even lost a key employee or two. It’s very hard to help someone in that situation. By the time things get that bad, spending money on marketing may only contribute to the company’s already weak position because of the short-term reverse cash-flow effect that some marketing actions have. Some marketing actions will require a bigger investment than others, and some require a longer incubation period before providing a return. If you’re already struggling to make ends meet, you might not have the money to invest at that particular time. However, when you implement a marketing plan at the right time, it is an investment in your future, rather than an expense.

If your sales are strong, please don’t stop marketing. If your sales are “okay,” please resist the temptation to cut back on your marketing in an attempt to add a little more cash to the bottom line. If your sales are a little slow, I would urge you to cautiously begin increasing your marketing efforts slowly. You need a marketing plan that will begin to take your company forward, even if you can only afford to do a little bit at a time. There are a lot of marketing actions you can choose to follow that do not require large outlays of cash.

Don’t wait too long. I urge you not to wait. Stop procrastinating. There are plenty of good financial opportunities in the printing industry, and those printers who are making the right choices with their marketing efforts continue to achieve positive results. Where is your current marketing plan taking you?

Now’s the time to fix the next five years.

Everything you need is within reach.

About six months ago, I posted a blog article about what I call “the world’s best collection letter.”

This collection letter is totally amazing. As business owners, we all occasionally must deal with a customer who won’t pay us. The world’s best collection letter is a very hard-nosed, “last resort” technique I have personally used when all else fails. It’s kind of like dropping a bomb on the past-due payer. In case you missed my original blog post that explained all the details and content of the world’s best collection letter, it’s included again at the end of this blog post.

I wanted to revisit the idea because it seems like I’m hearing more and more printers describing how they’re having difficulty collecting on large past due amounts. If you’re in a situation where a customer owes you a lot of money and has been unresponsive, the world’s best collection letter might be your solution.

I recently received an email from Eric Pearson, a printer in Eugene, Oregon, who had great success using the world’s best collection letter. Here is his e-mail. I thought you might like to hear another printer’s comments about the world’s best collection letter in his own words:

Last summer a long-time newsletter account of ours sold to a new owner. The new owner printed two or three issues before we realized he was behind. We cut him off. He paid part of his bill with a bad check to get his third issue processed. Then he went electronic with the thing.

Despite our best efforts, including a menacing letter from one of our attorneys, he didn’t pay, and we decided, “What the heck? Let’s give ‘The World’s Best Collection Letter’ a try. The account is long-gone anyway.” We gave him 30 days before 1099ing him. We had half the balance within the 30 days and the balance within the ensuing three weeks.

All told, Mr. Stevens, you helped us collect $3075 and change that was otherwise lost. Can we send you over a couple of bottles of fine, fine Oregon wine??

If you’d like to use the world’s best collection letter at your printing firm, here’s the original post…

The world’s best collection letter

 
If you have a customer with a very long-overdue bill, here is a little known way to collect it: Tell your customer that you plan to write off your tax-deductible loss and report your customer’s gain to the IRS. When you do this, the amount you write off becomes income for the debtor. You must file a 1099A form if the debt is secured, but you may also file on an unsecured debt. Then, send a copy of the 1099A form and the letter shown below to your client and allow them 30 days for payment. In many cases, your worst debts will get settled quickly, because most people don’t want the IRS poking around in their old tax returns.

Here’s what I call “the world’s best collection letter”…

(click here to view downloadable text for this letter)

In 23 years, I used this letter six different times. The results from using this letter were remarkable. I collected from five of the six late payers that I mailed it to, and the total amount collected was over $22,650. Only one late payer continued to do business with me, but I figured I didn’t lose much because they weren’t paying me anyway.

In August of this year, I shared this collection letter with a printer friend named Yvonne. She emailed me this comment about a customer who owed her a lot of money: “Guess what? Thanks to the deadbeat letter, the deadbeat paid within 24 hours of receiving it — the debt was $2000 and over a year old. I am ecstatic!”

I wouldn’t suggest using this letter unless you have pretty much given up hope on a large past-due debt. If you send this letter, you should also realize in advance, that you are probably ending a relationship with this customer. Losing the customer at this point probably isn’t a bad thing anyway, because in most cases when a customer gets seriously past due, they will stop buying printing from you anyway.

One last thing, and I hope you understand this. I always encourage you to use any of the information in Gutenblog in your marketing materials. However, from time to time I’ll share an idea — like this one — that is so good I would highly recommend that you not share it with all of your customers. I share “the world’s best collection letter” with you, but respectfully ask that you not share it with others. Let’s keep this great collection letter idea “in the family.”