Please don’t take your family, fitness or freedom for granted. We rarely have a sense of the value of these things until we lose them and then, it might be too late.
I intentionally surround myself with people that embody the qualities that I would like to be known for. I try to ensure that they hold me to a higher standard than I hold myself. I can’t say for sure how much of my personal success can be attributed to this philosophy, but I believe it would be significant.
It’s so easy to focus on the obstacles or negative factors in our lives. Overcoming those challenges is how we will get to the next level, right? While that may be true, it can have a significant impact on your mindset and disposition. I have found tremendous value in stepping back to appreciate all of the things that are positive and potentially being taken for granted in my life. As an American even my darkest days pale in comparison to what others experience living in impoverished nations across the globe. It’s amazing how negative one can get even with all of our basic needs accounted for.
As you navigate your way through life, please don’t be like “most people.” Instead: Seek first to understand, then to be understood.
There was a time in my life where I would have considered myself a perfectionist and, at the time, I was proud of it. I wouldn’t let anything out into the world without double and triple checking it. While this ensured that the quality was always top notch, it was stifling in terms of the amount of work I could produce. Take, for instance, this blog post. If I had let myself to continue to wrestle with the questions I outlined above who knows when I would have gotten around to actually posting something. With that being said, I hope you will forgive me if this post isn’t perfect. Someday, with any luck, you will appreciate the fact that it exists at all!
Sharing my personal goals with the world is an exercise in vulnerability with the intent being accountability. Care to join me? Let’s take some risks, get out of our comfort zone and make 2019 a year to remember!
If pub crawls aren't your thing, you could have gone on a lemonade crawl Aug. 25 in Cottage Grove.
Ten lemonade stands sprang up throughout Cottage Grove, the first city in Minnesota to host a youth education and empowerment program called Lemonade Day.
The integration of Rocks into my business via EOS®, and the corresponding increase in focus for my entire team, has been nothing short of transformational.
However, as the years have progressed I frequently find myself frustrated with some of the typical “best practices”.
Chris Carey is the CEO of Modern Automotive Performance founded in 2006 and located in Cottage Grove, Minnesota.
In 2011, at age 22, Carey had grown his online retailer to the Inc. 500 list of the fastest growing privately held companies in America at #403. Last year, Modern Automotive Performance exceeded $15M revenue, a 35% increase YoY.
Chris Carey, president of Modern Automotive Performance in Cottage Grove, Minn., eliminated group health coverage in 2014 in an effort to rein in costs. “This made a dramatic impact on our culture, as employees felt they were missing out on a benefit that was standard in other organizations,” he said. The online auto-parts retailer and manufacturer backtracked last year and now pays 50% of the premiums for its 38 employees.
In this interview at the 5th annual Entrepreneurs Rally, we talk with Chris Carey, the owner of Modern Automotive Performance — a Cottage Grove headquartered e-commerce firm with ~11m+ in annual revenues and 36 employees.
The generation that grew up on computers, video games and smart phones is busy at work creating the next wave of startups and new business endeavors of all sorts.
One of my goals is to be featured in a renowned Minnesota business publication's annual list of '100 Best Companies to Work For.' Prior recipients of this award have reported a significant improvement in regards to both their recruiting and retention efforts.
We reward our employees for demonstrating our core values. We distribute 'points to award' once a month, which enables our employees to recognize each other's efforts. Points can then redeem rewards via a customizable catalog which includes goods, gift cards, and even charitable donations.
My employees are heard through our private Facebook group. I use it to share positive feedback from customers and poll employees for new product ideas. They also have the opportunity to reply or even start new topics of their choice. My employees are frequently using it in their personal lives and are already familiar with the interface. Therefore, it seems to yield more interaction in comparison to an enterprise-only solution we had tried in the past. Plus, it's completely free!
My greatest weakness would have to be my subconscious desire to be liked by everyone. In hindsight, staffing my business with family and friends compounded the problem. Leading a team of 36 people, I have to make difficult decisions, and they become exponentially tougher when I worry about whether the parties involved will like me when the dust settles.