This year I've been doing public appearances around the world, from Japan through the U.S. and all around Europe promoting the slew of new products we've announced. The FlipCage, The PowerSnoot, the Lightsphere Collapsible, and my new book.
It is not overwhelming when Melissa is with me. Wherever we are, we are home. Today she went running in Hyde Park, London (and she says it's her favorite park ever, and I heartily agree). We've newly fallen in love with New York (we used to hate it) and London (I used to detest it, now I love it - I've been here four times in the last 12 months). I did a public appearance and we go sightseeing at night.
This tour is way more fun and way more activity than I ever had before. I have public appearances, then media interviews (for the book) in-store trainings for my distributors and larger stores. Business is all about relationships, and even though I only have 37 employees, the network of team members around the world who sell and merchandise my products has to be in the thousands.
One businessman had a 3 part question. He asked, what is crucial for a good business? 1) Marketing 2) Innovation and 3) Customers. Know what the answer was? 3! You can't have a business without customers!
So when it comes to running a number of businesses, when people ask how do you grow so big, how do you expand so much, the answer is customers. Especially satisfied customers.
Right now I am wondering why I am whipping up so much demand by showcasing my goods around the world. Our plastics factory is running 24/7, not keeping up and it's reminding me of the nightmare period of my life when I was running Pictage.
What keeps me going is seeing and meeting people who are enthusiastic about my products. Can you imagine what a great feeling that is?
