Screen Printing - December 2017/January 2018 - 8

THE MARSHALL PLAN

SETTING YOUR
SIGHTS LOWER

Marshall Atkinson is the
professional services director for
InkSoft, coaching shop owners on
operational efficiency, continuous
improvement, workflow strategy,
business planning, employee
motivation and management,
and sustainability. Formerly an
independent consultant and
operations manager for a number
of large apparel decorating
businesses, Atkinson is a frequent
author and speaker at industry
events. He can be reached at
marshall@inksoft.com.

Attainable, short-term goals could be the
key to success for your business in 2018.
MARSHALL ATKINSON

t's the end of the year, and as things wind down, the
natural thing to do is to start thinking about next year.
Everyone does it; lots of people write about it. One article
after another will point out that you need to set lofty,
challenging, huge goals for your business. "Climb that
mountain!" (Not to sound hypocritical, but, um... maybe I've
been known to say that, too.)
So, how did setting those big goals work out for you this
past year? Or the year before? Are you any further along?
Rather than aiming for the moon, I'm going to suggest you
throw that approach right out the window. Instead, try being
"micro-ambitious" in developing your plan for 2018.
Why set your sights lower? The definition of ambition is
"the strong desire to do or achieve something, typically requiring determination and hard work." That already sounds scary.
No wonder that big idea of yours never got off the ground.
(Again.) Maybe you had big dreams, but they aren't being realized fast enough. You have a gigantic goal that you are always
talking about, but it never seems to get any closer to reality.
Being micro-ambitious, a concept popularized by comedian
Tim Minchin, might be a better way to go. Minchin describes
micro-ambition as the "passionate dedication to short-term
goals." That already sounds easier, doesn't it? (And I like easy.)
It gets down to pursuing the objectives that are right in front of
you with everything you have.
So instead of planning a big project that is going to take
all of 2018 to complete, maybe you should apply that same
dedication and passion to your daily work. First, that means
setting some short-term goals. And by short term, I mean
today. Let's say the micro-ambitious goal would be to start,
work on, and complete a small project every day. You've just
made yourself one percent better - a small improvement,
maybe, but those add up.
What might a company-wide commitment to micro-ambition
mean for your business? Let's take a look.

SALES
If your shop is like most, you wait for the phone to ring or an
order to drop in your lap. Sure, you might have some type of
outward sales effort, but it always can get better. The key is
to create opportunities rather than react to them.
So instead of waiting for business to come in, today you
are going to make 10 outbound calls. That's your short-term,
passionate goal. It will take maybe 30 minutes to an hour.
8

SCREENPRINTING

Five of these will come from your connections on social
media (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram - it doesn't
matter). Cull through those contacts and pick five people
who you've always wanted to talk to. You may even know
who they are before you get started. The other five will come
from that stack of business cards you have in your desk
drawer. You met these people somewhere - at the park, or
maybe at a networking event, who knows. You've probably
forgotten. The point is that today, your short-term, passionate
goal is to grab five of these cards and make the calls.
So that's 10 people you're going to reach out to. If you are
like most folks in sales, you might get something going with
two of these people. That's 20 percent. But you won't know
which two, so that's why you have to call 10.
For the sake of easy math, let's just say that each of the
two sales is $1000. That's $2000 for an effort of less than an
hour of your time. All you have to do is make the calls.

ART
You can also apply the concept of micro-ambition to your
creative team. Every artist I've ever met has an idea up their
sleeve that they'd like to try out. I'm sure the members of
your team have thoughts on things they'd like to try to design
in the back of their minds. They never find the time, and
that's your opportunity.
Commit to carving out that time. Tell them to start working
on that fantastic concept. Challenge them to use it for a new
client that sales just snagged. Or, maybe it can be the new shop
shirt. The trick is to help them get it out of their heads and
translated into an image that can be used to decorate a shirt.
If they can't think of anything, try this: Write about 50 to
100 words down on small slips of paper. Use some nouns like
dinosaur, skull, flower, or warrior. Add colors like red, green,
or black. Throw some funky production curveballs in there
too - glitter, metallic, rhinestones, high-density, puff, translucent, glow in the dark. Let them go wild. Whatever interests
your team or makes sense.
Now, mix all the slips in a hat or a bucket and pull three
to five out. Whatever combination results, tell the artists to
design that.

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Screen Printing - December 2017/January 2018