Almost every small to medium sized has focused a great deal of energy lately on just staying in business. Recessions, layoffs and health care seem to dominate every discussion. However, things are changing. Smart companies are rebuilding and upgrading their work forces with the wealth of talent that is currently available. So how do you [...]

I work in a small town in Montana that has struggled for years to solve the problem of “economic development.” It seems like everyone wants to talk about the issue as if it is something you can magically solve with more meetings, focus groups or quasi-governmental agencies. I disagree. It is the jobs, stupid. Create [...]

While we print and mail a ton of postcards for our customers, we typically don’t get to see the results our customers generate from their marketing efforts. So it was especially good to hear back from one of our local print customers – The Community Closet – about a campaign they recently ran.
 But first, a [...]

I knew I was in trouble when Janell, a member of PFL’s fun team (more on this later), approached me to ask a favor. I quickly and foolishly agreed to be one of five judges in PFL’s soup cookoff last Thursday.
You must understand that I don’t have a very refined sense of taste. In fact, [...]

Doug Fletcher found fly fishing, or more appropriately, fly fishing found him. And it changed his life’s direction.
In 1996 he and his wife left Atlanta, a high paying job, security and a safe career path for Montana, blue ribbon trout streams, mountains and a large measure of uncertainty. The momentum behind this big move was [...]

Ok, so I’ll label myself biased right off the bat, but when an idea is great, you just have to get the word out.
The point of the $700 billion dollar bailout was to ease the pressure on the banks and free them up to extend credit to Small to Medium Businesses (SMBs) in order to keep our [...]

The team asked me to do an occasional post on the Print Soup blog. I told them that as the president of PFL, I’m a generalist, not a specialist, and that others know more about design, printing technology, and even Montana recreation (nice assignment, Tim!) than I do. So they told me to write about [...]

Given recent developments, I would remiss if I didn’t lay down my thoughts on the current state of the economy. There is enough blame to go around, no matter where you fall within the political spectrum. The very real credit market connection between Wall Street and Main Street will affect Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs). [...]