Company Blog
Never work a day in your life?
by Adam Zack — October 5, 2022

Love what you do, and you’ll achieve a sense of fulfillment and reward.
I came across the quote last week “If you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life.” Now I don’t know who said it, but at first I thought “What a crock of $#*!” Loving (or at least strongly liking) what you do is probably the most important thing in your work life. You need to like who you work with (but not all of them) and feel appreciated and have a sense of satisfaction with your work output. You need to look forward to coming to work, but sometimes you dread it. And that’s just fine. It’s normal. That’s why we have vacations and days off. But loving what you do so much that you “never work a day in your life”? I don’t know. Maybe if you were a professional billionaire. Or a rock star. But even rock stars have to really work to become what they are, and there are dozens of days of frustration and times when the “work” becomes too much. Not that I have personal experience being a rock star, but I’ve read plenty of books and articles about the lifestyle, and I know that they all don’t love it every single day. What I think is a more appropriate and realistic quote is: “Love what you do, and you’ll...
read moreThe Compliment
by Adam Zack — September 28, 2022

You’ll feel as good as it makes them feel.
Have you ever given someone a compliment, expressed love, verbalized appreciation or made another very positive comment to someone and they respond by looking at you funny, almost like you are speaking a foreign language, and they say something like “What? Are you drunk?” I was thinking about that the other day – not while drunk – and realized that when someone expresses disbelief or shock after you say something positive to them that it really means that you are not expressing enough how much you appreciate and love them. They may respond similarly with “OK, what do you want?”, viewing the compliment as a prelude to you asking for a favor. It’s the same thing, some people really only do say something nice when they want a favor. I put them squarely in the same camp as those people who never say anything positive. Their words are self-centered and the only “good” they see is what they have done. Sometimes it takes something jarring – like leaving your employment or breaking up with you – for you to say something complimentary. But then it’s too little, too late. Go out today and tell someone you love how much you love and appreciate them and why. It will make y...
read moreThe Vision, the Mission
by Adam Zack — September 21, 2022

“Remember why I got in the business”
I think a lot of people lose their focus on what their mission in life and in business is. I see plenty of homeless or just plain crazy people who are talking – or shouting – to themselves (or to some unseen entity who only they see) who have obviously lost any idea of what their mission in life once was, but that’s not what I’m talking about. Can you remember what your vision was when you started your business? Did you have a vision statement? How about your mission statement? Most likely it’s something that was intentional and thought out. It was developed and nuanced by a group of people that truly cared about creating a vision and mission for their business and did a great job of truly living by it. But time goes by fast, employees change jobs, retire and before you know it, the only one that knows the Mission statement is the dusty frame that displays it in some office or hallway or alcove. I know that’s been the case with me, so I’ve rededicated the efforts to revisit my vision, update it, share it and live it. Remember why we got in the business, when we were young and had the enthusiasm to conquer the world.
How do you handle an emergency?
by Adam Zack — September 14, 2022

“I gotta piss!”
Last week I was in Alaska. We were in a smallish raft with a group of other tourists, navigating our way down the Mendenhall River. The beauty of surrounding forest – millions and millions of trees, snow covered mountains, bald eagles nesting – put me in awe of just how beautiful nature is. We were sitting in the very front of the raft, past through some very tepid rapids, when suddenly from behind us this older man exclaims “I gotta piss!”. The guide, who was paddling and steering the raft, looked a little perplexed and told them man that we would be in our destination in about 20 minutes, and could he possibly “hold it”. After all, there are no rest stops or porta-pottys along the river, and besides that, there was no clear beach where we could just row in, let the man disembark and go into the forest to soil some unlucky tree. We continued on, and about 10 minutes later, the man says again “I gotta piss!”. I was thankful that we were in the front of the raft, in case he couldn’t hold it and piss started flowing down the bottom of the raft onto people’s shoes. Luckily, (I think – I didn’t look close) he held on until we landed on shore. It got me thinking about how great leaders ha...
read moreKing Richard
by Adam Zack — September 7, 2022

“A Killer Brownie can only come from Dorothy Lane Market.”
So what’s your nickname? I’ve know Reds over the years that obviously get their name from being a ginger. We’ve talked about Lazy Susan. My dad gave himself the nickname Ace because he was good at most things (but tennis wasn’t one of them). There’s been endless supplies of Shortys, Shiftys, Leftys, Stinkys and Smokys. They got their nicknames from a physical trait or behavior. There’s the obvious ones – Fred is Fredrick, Sam is Samuel, Matt is Matthew. Junior was anyone named after his father. It’s like saying the whole name became just too much work. And there are some that are a real stretch. How did Henry become Hank, John become Jack or Richard become Dick? And seriously, how did Dick become either a part of the male anatomy or a really mean and unpleasant person? No wonder there are no little kids nicknamed Dick anymore and the ones named Richard strictly stick to Rich or Rick. No one wants their kid to be a Dick. Foods you sell and love can differentiate themselves from their generic name by cementing a nickname that no competitor can copy. Seaside Market in Cardiff, CA has sold a million pounds of their marinated tri tip called Cardiff C...
read moreThe Therapist
by Adam Zack — August 31, 2022

“Nothing erases the past. There is repentance, there is atonement and there is forgiveness. That is all, but that is enough.”
A guy walks in to see a therapist. “Let’s talk about your childhood.” says the therapist. “Do I have to relive that again???” thinks the patient. Sound like the start to a promising joke, right? I have a best friend who is a psychologist. A great one. I also have friends that regularly seek therapy as a way to help navigate life and attain a happy, peaceful stability. One thing that seems to be a norm in psychology is the need for the psychologist to dig deep into the patient’s past, reliving and trying to ascertain just what prompted them to seek therapy in the first place. It always seemed to make sense to me. But yesterday, my friend who has sought therapy regularly for several years was explaining how much he loved his new therapist. She’s easy to talk to, has the ability to relate and laugh with him, and most importantly is working with him to focus on the future, helping lead him to a happier, more confident and comfortable life. You can revisit the past – mistakes, happiness, regrets and more, but you can never change it. You can only change the direction of your life trajec...
read moreKarma
by Adam Zack — August 24, 2022

Little decisions – right or wrong, good or bad – have consequences.
How can I be of service?
by Adam Zack — August 17, 2022

Fixing immediately implies that something’s broken.
Not Your Fans
by Adam Zack — August 10, 2022

I look at our customers as ardent fans.
More on Non-Verbal Communication
by Adam Zack — August 3, 2022

Your tone may not exactly convey what you are trying to say, but it says everything to who you are talking to.