Kim's Blog

2009 Predictions #1

Posted on March 12, 2009 at 10:00 AM

The hard thing about predicating is that you actually have to… wait for it…..predict. You have to take a risk.  Put yourself out there. Make bold statements and try to achieve them. So, am I ready to take a risk? Always!  I wouldn’t be an entrepreneur if I wasn’t. But it’s hard. Most people are not exactly looking to take risks right now. Most businesses are taking the safe route. Most conversations in the news are about saving, not spending. 
So clearly it’s not a good sign on my part if its March already and I haven’t made a prediction yet.  What’s holding me back? Well, working to maintain my core business is a primary goal. Maintaining a culture and staff morale when outside forces affect us every day and well….winter. For those of us in Chicago-like weather, March really feels like the “beginning” of the year. The snow, gloom, and cold do not make me feel motivated to change, well, anything.
But, my digital media manager, Laura, has sent me an email every day. Yes, everyday bugging me to predict. Telling me to make some decisions and get it down into a blog entry. Thanks: Laura!
I love writing, I really do but isn’t this one of those things we tend to drop? Well, not me boy.  I am committed to my predictions. So here is the first one for 2009:
Education is a general term. We will begin to see many companies educating their clientele.
If you are a company committed to your brand, then one of your main focuses should be on educating your clients. Whether you are an association or a retail business; whether you are a restaurateur or a fashion expert, people want to learn, they want to know more about you and what you stand for. So take this time to get your marketing message out there.  Take time to educate your clients on broad industry related topics. Spend the time to share information. This will be a great strategy for you in the long run.
Stay tuned for another prediction. Do you have a prediction?  A comment on my prediction?  I welcome your thoughts.

I Wish I Had A Crystal Ball Part 6

Posted on February 17, 2009 at 06:12 PM

In previous posts (see “I Wish I had a Crystal Ball [ Parts 1-5]” below), I talked about the difficulty of trying to make a 2009 sales forecast. Confident in my knowledge that my company’s commitment to quality was not going to change, I knew another certainty for Shakespeare Squared.
Technology is key. Not only do we talk about our latest gadgets here, but we also love to take on digital and multimedia projects. This is a personal passion of mine as I think technology can be utilized in so many different ways. It is also a solution. I might be giving away a trade secret here but our partnership with IBM in creating an automated platform for our entire business (from lead generation to final invoicing) has taken mundane, time consuming tasks and made them obsolete. We can know focus on what we love - education, people and content. 
Since we have a variety of clients, we here at Shakespeare Squared have to stay on top of the latest tools. Some are design and production, some are content management, and some are process tools. We even create our own tools. We have developed a leveling software tool, an automated content tool and others. Why?  Because technology and how we utilize it makes all the difference! I think most would agree that technology and how your company adapts to it will create a competitive edge moving forward.
In my mind, developing e-books and podcasts, webinars and digital online edutainment games are all great possibilities for our clients.  Maybe you need simple content such as a white paper, or a blog, or an e-newsletter. All of these tools are helpful in reaching your market, providing e-commerce opportunities and making your presence known globally.
So, since these are things I know, I decided to make my predictions based on this information. And guess what?  I was right. The first week of January broke open a slew of new projects and we are busier than ever. I am happy to report that even though times are tough, staying true to the vision I set may just be the answer. Stay tuned for my predictions about what the rest of 2009 will look like.

I Wish I had a Crystal Ball [Part 5]

Posted on February 11, 2009 at 03:22 PM

In previous posts (see “I Wish I had a Crystal Ball [Parts 1-4]” below), I talked about the difficulty of trying to make a 2009 sales forecast. Confident in my knowledge that my company’s commitment to quality was not going to change, I knew another certainty for Shakespeare Squared.
Our process is just as important as our content. Most people might think we focus so much on quality that how we get it done is an afterthought. Not true, as our editorial team solves our content challenges everyday while our project management and operations teams make sure we are being efficient, meeting deadlines and communicating continually with everyone involved. Oh yes—it’s all done while staying on budget. Our process has become a sense of pride and has allowed us to increase capacity, stabilize some of the more complicated projects, and raise our profitability all simultaneously.
The interesting thing to me is the evolution of process. When I watched my parents run their bakeries, I often wondered why it took so long for a policy or rule to be applied to a specific instance.  Why wasn’t it just there? Aren’t all rules in place at the beginning of something? What I witnessed much of the time was a reactive approach to boundaries. Making rules for rules sake was not a regular practice (and I can’t say I like to do that either).  Instead much of the time my parents were focused on the process of how products were made, developing new concepts and selling, selling, selling.
In the beginning at S2, we did not follow a model on how to build a business. We put processes in place as needed and when there was a quiet moment (Ok, there wasn’t really a quiet moment!) we would improve processes.  Of course, over time we would stretch our process a bit more than was comfortable in order to handle growth. In that time, our entire company participated in part of the process of ideas. We now have automation in our major departments to allow us to be more productive and have more time for creativity. We have built it custom and it’s able to handle any scenario we throw at it.
I now value the art of a great process almost as much as a great glass of Riesling!
Come back soon for part 6.

I Wish I had a Crystal Ball [Part 4]

Posted on February 2, 2009 at 08:46 PM

In previous posts (see “I Wish I had a Crystal Ball [ Part 1-3]” below), I talked about the difficulty of trying to make a 2009 sales forecast. Confident in my knowledge that my company’s commitment to quality was not going to change, I knew another certainty for Shakespeare Squared.

We choose to take on a variety of projects rather than staying focused in one area. This allows us to make connections and to understand all aspects of quality content.  Because we work in education, trade publishing and with web companies (such as Howstuffworks.com), we find correlations in many different areas of work we concept. There is something satisfying about finding a thread from the latest trend in Differentiated Instruction to writing a white paper on multiple intelligences to producing a podcast for a company celebrating different management styles.  I think that’s why I enjoy reading Malcolm Gladwell. His books, Blink, The Tipping Point, and The Outliers often make correlations across industries, cultures and groups of people. In this line of thinking, I feel the variety in the projects we collaborate on makes us experts in content. My internal staff works with experts in a specific area or discipline and makes sure the information is of the quality we have come to expect. But understanding what quality content is and how to achieve it time and time again has gained us a strong reputation. I, also, think at this time in the economy, diversification (with focus of course) helps us stay busy- a good thing!

AEP Announces A Positive Change

Posted on January 30, 2009 at 02:15 PM

Victory for schools and children--House passes stimulus package with over $141 billion for education
Thank you to all of our members who called their representatives in support of The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The bill, which includes funds that could be spent on instructional materials, passed the House. However, despite President Obama’s pursuit of bipartisanship and his personal advocacy on behalf of the stimulus package with both Democrats and Republicans, all Republican Representatives voted against HR 1.
The Senate is now discussing its version of the legislation. AEP will continue to stay on top of the stimulus package and keep its members apprised of its progress. We will let you know when action is needed.
If you have any questions about AEP’s advocacy effort or would like to serve on the government relations committee, please contact Stacey Pusey at spusey@AEPweb.org or 856-241-7772.

Changing of the Guard

Posted on January 27, 2009 at 04:50 PM

Before posting more on I Wish I Had A Crystal Ball, I thought it important to discuss that Arne Duncan was confirmed today and Ron Huberman has been appointed in his place to head the Chicago Public Schools.

Huberman is new CPS chief
From the AP Newsroom
January 27 14:06:00, 2009
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(AP) — Chicago’s public school system has a new CEO.

Mayor Richard Daley has named Chicago Transit Authority President Ron Huberman as the new chief executive of the country’s third-biggest school district.
The 37-year-old takes over from Arne Duncan, who left to serve as secretary of education in the Obama administration.
Huberman has led the CTA since 2007. For the two year before that, he served as Daley’s chief of staff. Earlier, he was director of the city’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications.

Huberman has a bachelor’s degree in psychology and English from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. He has master’s degrees in business administration and social service administration from the University of Chicago.

Hmmm, I wonder if this will be a good appointment or if there will be problems. Another non-educator taking over the management of a large school district, what do you think?

I Wish I Had A Crystal Ball (Part 3)

Posted on January 22, 2009 at 11:37 AM

In my last two posts (see “I Wish I had a Crystal Ball [Parts 1 and 2]” below), I talked about the difficulty of trying to make a 2009 sales forecast. Confident in my knowledge that my company’s commitment to quality was not going to change, I knew another certainty for Shakespeare Squared.
We find and retain talent. Because I am focused on the culture I am building at S2, finding and retaining talent is a core ongoing effort. Since we are truly in the talent business, my team identified early on the type of talent we were looking for. As a result, we have hired and trained our editors and project managers along with our complete staff carefully. In return, we are surprised by the employee satisfaction rate - hence the Alfred P. Sloan Award in Workplace Flexibility in 2008 and being named one of the Best Places to Work in Illinois in 2008. Both of these awards are a result of employee satisfaction and the benefit packages we offer.
As many of us have learned the hard way, a great teacher does not automatically make an exceptional editor in the same way a PhD does not mean you have a grasp of the technical aspect of how to achieve clarity, focus and creativity in a small box annotated for ESL or DI students. So, it is important to make sure you are hiring the right mix of employee. Also since we are a family-friendly environment, children are around—a lot! We have a working parent’s office with a play room attached. Most staff members who have children bring them in from time to time. My own three children frequent the halls.  Employees embrace this as part of the culture we all embrace.
Company culture plays a huge role, from Freelance Appreciation Night to Wellness Programs and our Stress Management room (with a masseuse that come once a month. Seriously if you are a business owner, this is a cheap and effective benefit! As for a referral—Gail moves from business to business and performs daily miracles. Just ask and I’ll give you her information) my S2 employees are constantly coming up with ways to make our office special, different, better—and it shows.
Even in light of the down economy, when we had to perform some very difficult layoffs in order to adjust to the reality of our industry, I found my employees leaning on each other, coming forward with ways to save costs and even offering to sacrifice themselves for others. I will never forget October of 2008 because I learned that company culture is not just about the good times but truly about maintaining those core values through the hard times. I like to say that we built this company with integrity and had to dismantle parts of it in the same way. 
This talent, my staff and my family, have made Shakespeare Squared who it is, and I can’t imagine it any other way!
Check back next week for part 4.