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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is Available:
ISBN 9781119802648 (Hardback)
ISBN 9781119802655 (ePDF)
ISBN 9781119802662 (ePub)
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To my fellow Deluxers, for always having the grit and perseverance to put customers first, helping small businesses succeed, for more than 100 years.
To my beautiful wife, Jean Ann. You have always been my rock and my inspiration, my partner, my best friend, and you have always encouraged me to strive-to help others succeed. Thank you.
To my amazing children, Will, Matt, and Katie, who put up with a dedicated businessman and committed community leader as a father.
To my parents and in-laws, Tom & Lori McCarthy and Ron & Mary Ann Hood, teachers and small businesspeople, who taught me about faith, integrity, the dignity of labor, the importance of hard work, and perseverance—to always believe in yourself, and to never, ever give up.
Introduction
IN TAKING ON this endeavor, I thought a lot about W.R. Hotchkiss, who himself was an entrepreneur and small-business owner. Today I have the privilege to be the president and CEO of Deluxe, the company he founded in 1915. Mr. Hotchkiss created many new products and tried to start numerous businesses until he landed on a product that worked—the checkbook.
He took a $300 small-business loan and went door-to-door with his invention, selling the checkbook to businesses, banks—anyone who needed this new payment system—the same thing other small-business owners have done over the years with their inventions and ideas.
Mr. Hotchkiss took his product to the masses and, in doing so, found an audience and created the original payments company. From there, he improved the check and the checkbook, created other business forms, and built a company that was innovative and responsive. He did what any small-business owner would do: he learned and developed and grew his skills and his business.
Now to be clear, this book isn't about becoming the next Elon Musk or the next W.R. Hotchkiss. This book is about being a better small-businessperson, about taking what we have learned at Deluxe after more than 100 years serving small businesses and putting it together into tools, techniques, and tips to help businesses grow and thrive. It is about helping you learn and develop and grow your businesses, too.
Believe me, I know being a small-business owner is no small task. It takes a Herculean effort just to keep the doors open each day. And I mean it when I use that word: small-business owners are heroes. You employ millions of people. You keep commerce moving in your small town, community, or large city. You innovate and create. You inspire. Being a small-business owner is heroic, and our communities—locally and nationally—depend on you.
I believe strongly in how businesses, no matter the size, impact their communities. One of the things we talk about a lot at Deluxe is that we champion businesses so their communities can thrive. When people ask me what that means, I tell them our goal—and frankly it should be everyone's goal—is that businesses, no matter where they are located, have the help and resources they need to thrive so their communities can thrive.
The best way I can explain it is through an example from the reality TV show Deluxe produces called Small Business Revolution. Throughout this book, I share examples not only from the many customers we have helped in the past 100-plus years, but from the first five years of the series itself. Our concept is simple: we pick one small town or community to receive a $500,000 makeover from Deluxe, and we help six businesses and the community with business advice and physical makeovers.
In the first year in Wabash, Indiana, as we worked with the town, one business owner shared with us that he didn't see the point of what we were doing. He said the only businesses benefiting were those featured on the show. Yet a few weeks after his comments, his landscape business was hired by the city to build a new park on an empty lot downtown. Our team, in working with the community of Wabash, asked what needs the town had for aesthetic improvement. One was to improve this one corner where a burned building used to stand. So, Deluxe provided the funds, helped create the look, and then hired this small-business owner to bring the vision to life.
This small-business owner was able to build this beautiful park and pay his workers and himself, who in turn invested those dollars in other small businesses, and the cycle continued. He changed his tune when he saw that every dollar that goes into a small business—no matter where it comes from—in turn, cycles through the community in so many different ways. The small-business ecosystem sustains itself with each new dollar that comes in. Only when business succeeds are there funds for roads, schools, parks, health care, and more. In this way business is the core of a community's success.
That's why this book exists. After more than 100 years helping small businesses, we have
