Finally, Election Day 2012 is HERE!  I voted first thing this morning, before my dentist appointment.  Busy morning already here at NNEP, I know!  I wear my "I voted" sticker all day with pride every year - nerdy perhaps, but it means something important to me.

Are You Going to Vote Today?

I truly hope the answer is YES!!!  It is one of the most amazing privileges that comes with being a citizen of this great nation, and one that every US citizen over the age of 18 needs to take seriously.

As I was completing my ballot, it occurred to me that at times, I run my business in the same fashion I was filling out my ballot.  Let me explain what I mean.

On my ballot, I knew the answers to the "big questions," which bubble I wanted to to fill in for President/Vice President, Senator, Representative and specific state issues where I have a strong opinion.  But then I came down all the minor elections, the county engineer, the judges, the state board of education candidates.  They may feel like "minor" decisions to me, but I am sure they are not minor to the candidates!

On some of these decisions, quite honestly I have to admit that I had not done enough research.  So my choices were:

A) I could randomly vote and put John Q candidate in office, with no knowledge of who they are or why they were my candidate; or

B) I could abstain and not vote in that particular question on the ballot.  Either way, because of my lack of adequate preparation, I am giving up the right to complain about their actions once any candidate is in that office, since I did not vote.

On the drive to the dentist, it struck me -

How often do I make decisions about how I'm running my business the same way I just voted?

I don't have enough information to make an informed decision, so I either pick option 1 or option 2 and hope for the best.  In my case, maybe the decision is about the ways I am going to market our upcoming trade show, Embroidery Trade Show. I could run magazine ads in the industry trade publications. I could send out brochures in the mail.  I could send out postcards.  I could do telemarketing.  I could do an email campaign.  I could do all of that or I could do some of that.  They all cost money, and I have a finite amount of money to spend.  Maybe this is much like you and your business - how will you market it with the finite resources you have?

And that go me to thinking - it is MY responsibility to do a much better job before I "vote" in my business - before I spend money on decisions like how I am going to market NNEP and the NNEP trade shows, whom I am going to hire, what suppliers I am going to purchase from, what services I am going to pay for monthly or annually, even what jobs am I going to tackle next!

So I am challenging myself and Susan and Arch, the other founders of NNEP, to much more actively know WHY and HOW we want to vote in our business - how we want to spend our resources - time, money and efforts, to actively direct NNEP, rather than randomly make a decision based on the lack of time or information and hope it is for the best.

What decisions are you guessing blind about for your embroidery business or apparel decoration business?

Leave a comment below and maybe NNEP can help you find information that will make your decision-making more solid for your embroidery business, removing some of the randomness and putting you more solidly on the path to achieving your dream business.