Here is something I found rather shocking. A 2025 Enji study surveyed 245 U.S. small-business owners across 40 states and 13 industries.  https://www.enji.co/state-of-small-business-report-2025 Less than 25% had a documented Marketing Plan. Think about that for a moment. More than 75% may be running their businesses without a documented Marketing Plan. But there was another finding [...]

I was meeting with a client of mine, and we were discussing a new product line he was planning to introduce. It was an interesting conversation. The product line would be different from his current lines. The actual products had not yet been completely determined or created, and there was no real pricing concept behind [...]

The importance of Pieces In my second year, on one of my trips, I met with a new client and showed him a line of shower curtains.  That line became one of my best-selling lines, and it was born as a result of a new piece I had added: market research. I had started asking [...]

A business can start with a great idea, strong financial backing, and ambitious plans for growth. But an idea alone is not the foundation for a business concept. A business concept has to define who you want to become, where you are going, and how all the pieces of the business will fit together and [...]

Packaging Created the Promise.  Delivery Created Credibility.  Together, They Created Value. Packaging begins before you open your business. It begins with packaging you, your concept, your products and services, and the business you want to become. When I use the word packaging, I'm not referring to the box a product comes in. I'm referring to [...]

Most businesses don't lose customers because they neglect their products.  They lose them because, somewhere along the way, they forgot who they are. That may sound like a strange statement, but over the years I have watched businesses slowly drift away from the very concept that made them successful in the first place. It rarely [...]

This is the story of how a small export company laid the foundation for the business philosophy that has guided PPI's work for more than three decades.  When I started PPI, I wasn't thinking about creating a philosophy of business value. Like every entrepreneur starting a new company, I was trying to answer one simple [...]

Luxury hospitality towels play a critical role for hospitality groups, spas, resorts, and retail buyers. Selecting the right towels is not a simple purchasing decision, as it directly impacts guest experience, brand perception, operational efficiency, and long-term cost management. At first glance, many towels appear similar. They may look soft, feel thick, and present well [...]