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gas stations, hotels, restaurants and so on
open and stocked.
It is good to have products made in
the U.S., but you still have to ship to
Hawaii. And the manufacturing in
Hawaii depends on raw materials arriv-
ing on time. I was one of those who
could not wait for the strike to get set-
tled. No inventory, no supplies, no sales
and thus
no income
!
Kurt Pfister
Owner
Kurt’s Kustom Promotions
Ferndale, Michigan
UPIC: kahuna
Connecting With Peers At
The Top
The December 29 issue of
Promotional
Consultant Today
, “It’s Lonely At The
Top,” featured insights from entrepreneur
Phoebe Fung, proprietor of Vin Room, a
Calgary, Alberta-based wine bar, on the
often lonely role of a business leader, and
how to combat that isolation.
“Lonely at the Top” is a great topic.
There’s another solution I have found
very valuable, and it’s called a
“Presidents Forum.” In a Presidents
Forum, eight to 12 presidents—or
founders, partners, CEOs, etc.—of simi-
lar sized, non-competing companies get
together and become a committed, con-
fidential board of advisors for each
other, both in business and life issues.
My forum group was instrumental
through the formative years of
Proforma in seeing me through some
very difficult business and personal
issues. To this day, I remain very active
in such a forum here in Tampa and love
the experience.
Various organizations offer forum
experiences as part of their membership:
Young Entrepreneurs Organization
(YEO), Young Presidents Organization
(YPO), World Presidents Organization
(WPO) for old presidents, Vistage, the
C12 Group for Christians, and many
more. Most members of YPO/WPO/
YEO would say that the most valuable
part of their membership is their forum.
Gregory P. Muzzillo, Sr.
Founder
Proforma
Independence, Ohio
UPIC: PROFORMA
FEBRUARY 2015 •
PPB
• 9
Send feedback on articles in
PPB
or
opinions on industry issues to
JamesK@ppai.org.
Talk to almost anyone under the age of 35 … and ask them what they call promo
items internally. You will be shocked to see how common ‘swag’ is.
“
”