Business Focus Weekly
A publication focused on helping your business to grow and become more focused.
Professionals at Play
Owner: Geoff McLachlan

KW: Tell us about your business.
GM: We do speaking events, training, and coaching for organizations. We work with people from all walks of life, moving them from point A to point B as quickly as we can. I have spent 15 years as a professional speaker and 3 years as a professional coach.

KW: Who is your target customer?
GM: My target audience is smaller business owners and entrepreneurs who need to get that first 3, 6, 9, or 12 months under their belt. I love to help them find their target audience and use the DiSC profile tests to help them communicate well with others.

KW: What has been the greatest impact of COVID-19 on your business?
GM: I took an 85% reduction in revenue because speaking was my main revenue maker. Covid shut that down because I couldn’t meet with people in person. It was not conducive for an online experience.

KW: What are one or two actions you’ve taken to make a difference?
GM: I increased my coaching business by 300% and have very meaningful conversations with people – mainly by asking people what they wanted my help in, as opposed to just offering help to those that might not want it.

KW: What is a mistake you’ve made along the way that other people can learn from?
GM: I’ve tried to learn from as many people’s mistakes as I possibly can. Learning from mistakes is vital to growth – I’ve made a lot of mistakes financially: trusting in people I shouldn’t have without doing due diligence, and I’ve found I don’t have to be someone for everyone!


KW: What is inspiring to you today?
GM: What is inspiring to me is that I actually get to help others lead their best lives!

OFFER: Mention this newsletter and I will send you one of my e-books with 10 activities to make the office more fun!

Professionals at Play
Owner: Geoff McLachlan
509-869-4506
geoff@professionalsatplay.com
www.professionalsatplay.com

By Kendra Wiiest
West Coast Screen Printing and Embroidery
Owner: Tony Strand

KW: Tell us about your business.
TS: We are a wholesale business that started in 2007. We were originally a clothing store, but in 2013 we made the decision to transition from printing as a side of our business, to full-time printing for public screenprint and embroidery businesses. We focus mostly on commercial clients for company branding, and those that want to get their logo on clothing, hats, bags, and now masks.

KW: Who is your target customer?
TS: We have clients all over the world. A big portion of our business is the auto industry and dealers. We also serve the large car audio world, including a company in Brazil.

KW: What has been the greatest impact of COVID-19 on your business?
TS: The greatest impact is that people need masks, so they are coming to us for that. We print masks with logos, and we started as one of the few companies that did that.

KW: What are one or two actions you’ve taken to make a difference?
TS: What we’ve been able to do is access people more readily via email. Before, email marketing didn’t reach as many people. Follow-up responses are answered more often and quicker than before.

KW: What is a mistake you’ve made along the way that other people can learn from?
TS: Ultimately, probably the biggest mistake we made was in 2015: we went to a very large location and built it out to look like a department store. We had huge overhead, and it became the difference in losing money and breaking even. We had to make the decision to find a space that matched our size, and not worry about how we looked. We were trying to serve more of the retail side, when the commercial side was more of our niche market. Once we decreased overhead, that made a huge difference.

KW: What is inspiring to you today?
TS: The resiliency of Spokane businesses who have said we are going to make it through this regardless of restrictions. Even though some people haven’t been able to, it is inspiring to see the ones that have pushed through.

OFFER: Mention this newsletter and there are no art or set up fees on new screenprint customers

West Coast Screen Printing and Embroidery
Owner: Tony Strand
509-290-6111
nationalremarketing@gmail.com
www.wcscreens.com

By Kendra Wiiest
OfficeTECH USA
Interviewee: Julie Olsen

KW: Tell us about your business.
JO: We are a family-owned business founded in 1997 with offices in Alaska and Washington, selling office technology: xerox copiers and printers, and Epson wide-format printers… We pride ourselves on our knowledge of digital color printing, quality output and provide color printing systems for many small and large print shops. 

KW: Who is your target customer?
JO: We serve all markets and general businesses – small and large. We do a lot of business with the government, schools, healthcare, as well as shipping and packaging houses. We are excellent about ongoing support with software changes and upgrades. Follow-up is a crucial part of how we help with our customer’s needs.

KW: What has been the greatest impact of COVID-19 on your business?
JO: Switching many of our employees to remote work. We essentially have skeleton staff in the office, we have adapted to all the safety protocols and outfit the remote employees with the proper technology, including getting everyone up to speed on Zoom meetings.

KW: What are one or two actions you’ve taken to make a difference?
JO: Making more phone calls and adapting to online technology. We have also had to have the commitment to stay open. We want to accommodate employees that are concerned about coming into work, while still offering the same level of service to our clients.

KW: What is a mistake you’ve made along the way that other people can learn from?
JO: If you don’t make mistakes you’re probably not being experimental or bold enough. You need to closely monitor your decisions so that you can adjust quickly. I could go through a lot of mistakes we made in the past, but keeping a positive attitude and a backup plan is what has helped most.

KW: What is inspiring to you today?
JO: What's most inspiring to me today is being able to train young people and teach them the skills that will allow them to be successful and build their careers. Not only do I get to run a business, but I get to help people be successful in their lives.

OFFER: Mention this newsletter and we will provide a free office assessment.

OfficeTECH USA
Interviewee: Julie Olsen
509-755-8326
jo@officetechusa.com
www.Officetechusa.com

By Kendra Wiiest
PayneWest Insurance
Owner: Jon Mitchell

KW: Tell us about your business.
JM: PayneWest is one of the largest brokers in the Inland Northwest. I help people with their personal insurance: auto, home, and life, and have been doing so for 20 years. We have several partners we work with, which is nice, to help people with their personal insurance. We focus on the three C’s: Clients, colleagues, and community.

KW: Who is your target customer?
JM: The uneducated insurance consumer. I love the first-time home buyer, that doesn’t have any idea how insurance works. Also, young people who don’t have a lot of experience when it comes to insurance. I like to educate them on the best insurance they can choose for their lifestyle. I like to make sure I do everything I can to get the right coverage for them. They will be well taken care of.

KW: What has been the greatest impact of COVID-19 on your business?
JM: I’m an agent that for 20 years made house calls. The impact is that business is still good because people still need insurance. But not meeting every client in person has been harder for me. I want to meet all my clients but meeting them in person is not feasible. Most of the time we are taking care of everything over the phone.

KW: What are one or two actions you’ve taken to make a difference?
JM: Offering to go to their home versus me going to their office. I ask if they would like me to come by, and most of them like that. A silver lining from this is calling people during the day – since they are working from home, they answer the phone more often. That has alleviated some of the evening calls.


KW: What is a mistake you’ve made along the way that other people can learn from?
JM: Not taking every opportunity to cross-sell. That means offering everything that your company offers. There are times that I didn’t offer something, and then tragedy struck and if I had offered that coverage, they might have chosen it. They would have benefitted. I try to do as good as I can every week, even if they don’t take the service – at least I put it out there.

KW: What is inspiring to you today?
JM: I was born and raised in Spokane. I’m inspired by the community here, even during dark times. This time of year, people would be out and about, giving each other hugs and shaking hands. Every day when I drive to work, I visualize things getting better. I’m really excited about how resilient our community is and will be.

OFFER: Mention this newsletter and receive a free review of your current insurance coverage!

PayneWest Insurance
Owner: Jon Mitchell
509-755-9322
jmitchell@paynewest.com
www.paynewest.com/colleague/jon-mitchell/

By Kendra Wiiest
Current & Future Events
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