Other than manual labor, sales is one of the toughest jobs. According to Hubspot and an analysis of 8,900 businesses, the average sales close rate is 19%. Nineteen percent! In baseball, a game of failure, a .190 average is abysmal….
Old Dog, New Tricks
Whoever came up with the saying, “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks” was full of bologna. You can teach an old dog new tricks. More to the point, you can learn a new skill and it doesn’t matter…
Broken Marketing
Broken marketing happens. A lot. I see it all the time. Businesses that have a broken piece of marketing — a Facebook page they can’t access because it was set up by a niece or friend who “knew social media,”…
Giving Advice
I like to give advice. I like to help others. In fact, the mission of Tinderbox Consulting is “to serve God by serving others.” But, I want to be transparent about something. I don’t give advice because I’m the smartest…
Activity Leads to Productivity
A friend of mind is starting out on his own. He’s launching a business for the first time in his life. I reached out to say “congrats” and “welcome to the club.” I let him know he can call me…
Bearded Integrity
I just shaved off my beard. In the grand scheme of things, seeing as how I’ve only had it since November 2016, this wasn’t a life changing decision. But, as far as recent memory goes, six months is a good…
Breaking the Habit
I forgot to wear a belt yesterday. Which was weird only because I wear a belt every day. The thing is, I didn’t notice until about halfway through the day. Up until that point, I didn’t notice at all. The…
Upgrades
This time of year always brings about a series of upgrades. Most people attempt to experience the upgrades by setting New Year’s Resolutions. And we all know why those don’t work out. There are two ways to go about “upgrading.” Don’t…
Lessons from Four Years of Tinderbox Consulting
It recently occurred to me that I’ve been running own company longer than any job I’ve ever had. The longest I was employed was 15 years ago. While attending college at Western Washington University, I worked in the computer maintenance…
What Would You Do For Your Business With $1,000?
Recently, Tinderbox responded to a request from the IgniteSpot Blog–a simple query about what we would do if we had $1,000 extra for business spending right now. Our response is featured on the blog! Take a look. It might even give…