Popular Articles

Sweet marketing music

Tanner Montague came to town from Seattle having never owned his own music venue before. He’s a musician himself, so he has a pretty good sense of good music, but he also wandered into a crowded music scene filled with concert venues large and small.But the owner of Green Room thinks he found a void in the market. It’s lacking, he says, in places serving between 200 and 500 people, a sweet spot he thinks could be a draw for both some national acts not quite big enough yet for arena gigs and local acts looking for a launching pad.“I felt that size would do well in the city to offer more options,” he says. “My goal was to A, bring another option for national acts but then, B, have a great spot for local bands to start.”Right or wrong, something seems to be working, he says. He’s got a full calendar of concerts booked out several months. How did he, as a newcomer to the market in an industry filled with competition, get the attention of the local concertgoer?

read more
by Andrew Tellijohn
February - March 2010

Related Article

Going green must start at company's top

Read more

20+10

Upswing Leadership
Series:

952.400.0198
info@sharpupswing.com
www.sharpupswing.com

Bottom line must
be everyone’s focus,
not just accountant’s

by Beth Ewen

“IN THIS NEW economy, there are no staff jobs. Everyone has to be responsible for profit,” says Michael Miller, founder of the Twin Cities firm Miller Ventures LLC.

He presented a talk called “Surviving and Thriving in Harsh Economic Times” last fall, as the quarterly offering of the UpSwing Leadership Series, presented by Sharp Upswing in Edina.

Make the marketing manager accountable for profits, Miller urges, with goals that are specific and measurable. Do the same for each of your employees, linking every person’s job with the goal of increasing income.

If anyone protests, look carefully, Miller says, relating an example when he was building one of his companies. “I thought it made sense to step out and bring someone in to professionally run the business. After a few months I heard screams from the gallery and thought we were way off course. I say to him, we’re off course. He started in with the excuses.

“Here’s the million-dollar lesson: Trust but verify. If someone is defensive and doesn’t want to be held accountable, they should go someplace else,” Miller believes.