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The Accidental Entrepreneur
Jodi Berman never made an intentional career move. And her brother and his wife didn’t set out to start a company. Now, however, they’re partners in a multi-million dollar business. The “scary” part is that it’s the $6 billion Halloween industry, but that turns out to be the funny part, too.
It started with a hat in 1992. Jodi’s brother, Robert Berman, created the Original Rasta Tam. If you’re a skier, you might have seen them on the slopes. They’re the fake dreadlocks hats and originally he sold them off his head for $20. Six years later, Rasta Imposta introduced a collection of costumes to complement its signature line of hats. Today, this creative Halloween costume manufacturer based in Runnemede, NJ, boasts a catalogue with over 1000 items.
Read the full article...
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What do CEO’s Want? Our 2010 Growth Strategies Survey results are finally in!
Thank you again to all who participated in the 2010 Growth Strategies Survey and to those who attended our “Un-Marketing Event” on March 9th, “Creating An Awesome Experience” with Kevin Daum, author of Roar!, the soon-to-become a New York Times best-seller.
The number of participants this year - over 110 - eclipsed last year’s participant count by over 55% showing that the CEO Think Tank®/ Business Improvement community continues to grow. We also appreciate our participants’ willingness to share their numbers. Over 90% of survey participants shared summaries of their financial results with us, up from 82% in the first year that the survey ran (2007).
We’re seeing cautious optimism, a better eye towards the numbers and an increased pressure to use their time wisely - on the right things!
Read on to learn more...
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Creating Enduring Greatness... in Your Business and Your Life
If you haven’t had a chance to check them out, we think that the following two articles, from Success Magazine and Inc. respectively, will help you keep your perspective on life and business.
Jim Collins on Creating Enduring Greatness
His #1 rule for making it through the economic storm? “Luck favors the persistent, so you have to stay alive to be able to get lucky again. I’d make a plan to live. I really mean it. Sit down, right now, and say, ‘We’re going to make a plan to live, plan to survive. What are the things we need to do to make sure we come through this alive?’ ” he says. Click here to read more...
Meg Cadoux Hirshberg on Minding the Kids
The subject of children is fraught for many working parents, but company owners experience extra dimensions of guilt. It's one thing to expose yourself and your spouse to financial risk and instability, another to expose kids who have no voice in the matter. So how do you cope?
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Greetings!
Commitment and Change... those seem to be the themes as we get off of the ground in 2010. Commitment to doing the hard work of running an entrepreneurial venture and a willingness to change your perspective (and even your business model) to keep your venture on track - and successful.
We have a lot to share with you as we head into the second quarter of 2010. Stories about companies like Rasta Imposta, which has survived the economic downturn and is looking to continue capitalizing on their success, and articles about some of our favorite business people, Jim Collins, author of “How the Mighty Fall” and Meg Cadoux Hirshberg, columnist for Inc Magazine and wife to Gary Hirshberg, President and CEO of Stonyfield Yogurt. There’s also exciting news to report about our new alliance with the Mid-Atlantic Employers’ Association and the latest upcoming Rockefeller Habits Grads Program - and - the very intriguing results from our latest Growth Strategies Survey are in...
It’s all fabulous and informative stuff! So read on to learn more - about commitment, enduring greatness and how to keep you and your team growing and succeeding this year!
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Welcome to our newest Alliance Partners!
Mid-Atlantic Employers’ Association
Smart Business Magazine
 • Mid-Atlantic Employers’ Association (www.meainfo.org) We’re proud to announce that along with our sister company Business Improvement, LLC, we’ve partnered with the MEA to bring you the Rockefeller Habits Graduates Program.
To sign up for our complimentary Briefing on March 30th or our Sample Workshop on Monday, April 12th, see below!
The MEA, for those of you unfamiliar with them, has been the premier choice of employers for services focused on creating superior employer-employee relations for over a century. Since its inception in 1903, MEA has grown and expanded to provide solutions to the changing needs of over 700 member employers in the MidAtlantic region. Its primary mission is to provide high quality information, advice and services to employers in the areas of human resources management and operational effectiveness.
And, in conjunction with MEA, we’re excited to be offering the following introductions to the Rockefeller Habits Grads Program:
Mastering the Rockefeller Habits Briefing - Tuesday, March 30th from 3:00 to 4:30 at MEA and
Mastering the Rockefeller Habits Sample Workshop – Monday, April 12th from 8:00 to 11:00 at MEA
If you’re ready to take a serious look at yourself and your organization, now is the time. Find out what over 14,000 other businesses worldwide have realized - that Success isn’t a Fad, it’s a Business Lifestyle choice. Choose to become a Rockefeller Habits Graduate and reap the rewards! To find out more and hear from one of our Grads, click here.
• Smart Business Magazine, (www.sbnonline.com) We’ve also been introduced to the folks at Smart Business Magazine who helped us to publicize our March 9th, "Creating an Awesome Experience" Un-Marketing event last week. Smart Business is a fast-growing publisher of management journals in 19 markets across the country. The print and online component of Smart Business are meant to provide insight, advice and strategy to C-level executives of fast-growth, middle market and large companies. Filled with how-to success stories, award-winning national columnists and takes from industry experts, Smart Business provides the quick guide to leadership so many executives crave.
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And mark your Calendars for the following:
Our next “Un-Marketing” event - Dining with the CEO: with Philadelphia University President, Steve Spinelli
Join us Tuesday, June 8th from 5:30 to 8:30 for our next "Dining with the CEO" Dinner, sponsored by the law offices of Margaret McCausland. The featured speaker will be Stephen Spinelli, the President of Philadelphia University, whose roots lie in the world of entrepreneurship.
Steve Spinelli has spent the last fifteen years in academia but he'll be talking to us about his early career, as Co-Founder of Jiffy Lube International and Chairman and CEO of American Oil Change Corporation. He has an extensive background in entrepreneurship, global business, executive education and consulting. He has also written and co-written numerous books on entrepreneurship and other business topics, including most recently Entrepreneurship: The Engine of Growth (editor with Andrew Zackarakis) and Never Bet the Farm (with Anthony Iaquinto). Spinelli received his Ph.D. in Economics from The Management School, Imperial College, University of London, his M.B.A. from Babson College and his B.A. in Economics from McDaniel College.
We’ve got other events on the docket for 2010 as well! If you want additional information on any one of them, contact us at info@ceothinktank.com or 856-627-2773. Hope that you can join us for one - or all - of these exciting opportunities. And please tell - or bring - a friend!
As always, we welcome your thoughts and comments on this newsletter, or others at info@ceothinktank.com.
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