Abonar's Blog

A Resource For Managers, Business Owners, & Entrepreneurs

  • We Just Need 2% Of The Market

    I don’t know how many times I’ve heard entrepreneurs say this or how many times I’ve read it in a business plan. It seems simple, right? How could the business not get such a small percentage of the market? And given that the market it huge, they’ll be doing 8 figures by their third year….

  • Air Canada Part 2: Customer Service on $200 Per Year

    On my earlier rant, I described how Air Canada made me choose between the right airport, wrong date and wrong airport, right date. I sent an email to their website to complain about how they handled the situation. Here is the email: From: Sean McAlpine Sent: 24/01/2011 11:52 AM Subject : Is San Diego the…

  • Conan vs Jay – How Not to Plan for Succession

    Bill Carter’s book The War for Late Night: When Leno Went Early and Television Went Crazy describes the wild ride NBC took when they tried to change hosts for the Tonight Show. The architect of the change came into it with the best interests of everybody involved, but in the end, everybody took a hit…

  • Air Canada – Why do we let our country’s name go on such a poor airline?

    Warning – rant enclosed! I just got back from a family vacation in San Diego. We spent a week going to the Zoo, Lego Land, Disneyland and Sea World. The experience was full of fun and we made a lot of great memories. This blog is about the trip there, and how our national airline…

  • Is a Consultant Worth $170,000?

    There was an interesting article in the New York Times about First Quality Music, which is owned by the Sullivan family and manufactures banjos, guitars, parts and accessories in Louisville, Kentucky. The company was having financial problems that had been intensified by the recent recession. One of the family members had read “Profits Aren’t Everything,…

  • Finding Your Ideal Client

    Are you sick and tired of dealing with disrespectful clients? Wouldn’t it be nice to have customers who value what you offer, pay on time, and do their part in the client/seller relationship? Well, according to John Jantsch, author of Duct Tape Marketing, “when you properly target your clients, you will discover that you no…

  • The Road to Hell is Paved With Good (Advice)

    Expert advice is a huge industry. Today, there is an endless supply of experts that promise to solve your problems in the most modern, elegant way possible. Many experts have their clients best interests at heart and work to solve their problems as they appear. Unfortunately, there are experts out there that view their clients…

  • When to Can Your Superstar

    I’ve seen many cases of this troubling problem. You have an employee that is excellent at his or her job, but is a nightmare to deal with. It’s easy to feel trapped by this situation. On one hand, you need your star for his high performance. On the other, his diva attitude is raising hell…