CablesAndKits Blog

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Archives for July 2020

CEO Daily Update – 7.31.2020

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The Need for Rest | Inspect the Inputs | Goggles? | Prayer Requests

Happy Friday!  

Woot Woot! I am going to do some sleeping, some rib cooking, some TV watching, and ……. well, what I mean to say is I am going to do whatever my wife tells me we are doing. Ha! I still have my laptop finishing touches to do, which shouldn’t take long, but I do hope to do all the things mentioned above this weekend. I have learned that the longer and harder I work my brain (and body), the more I need to be intentional about rest and recovery.  

I am my best when I am not worn down, and if I go too far it takes much longer to recover. True story – I got so worn down from work once (perhaps about 8-10 years ago) that my wife and I went on a beach vacation for two weeks and the ENTIRE time we were there I never turned the TV on, and we went hardly anywhere –  I just laid on the couch staring at the ceiling or sat on the porch watching the ocean. For two weeks. I was that bad off. I let myself get way too far gone from being too overworked.  

Since then I have learned that I tend to work in sprints. I will go really really hard for a few months, and then either need a vacation, or a season of going much slower. It’s near super human when I am sprinting but I have to recharge. What I seem to be experiencing now, at age 41 (soon to be 42), are batteries that don’t seem to be charging back up as fast as they used to.  Maybe “When you get my age” is really a thing – haha.  

Inspect the inputs:  

Over time we have tried to build leading indicators and funnels to understand and predict outcomes. Instead of looking at invoicing, which is “staring out the back of the bus”, we look at booked revenue, preceded by a list of other things that begin at activities and actions (like Google Adwords impressions) all the way through site traffic, conversion rate, cart abandonment, etc. It’s scientific, it removes a lot of guessing, and it’s real time. In fact, we have charts that show average site traffic by hour over the last several weeks compared to actual site traffic by hour TODAY. We can tell throughout the day if an hour is off (up or down).  

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CEO Daily Updates – 7.30.2020

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Moving to a new computer |Clorox Wipes in Stock | A prayer request

Happy Thursday!  

We are a mere one day away from the glorious weekend! Do you have anything interesting planned?  

My new Macbook Pro: Moving to a new computer 

I bought a new Macbook Pro last week to replace the one I had. It was having some funky issues and I DO NOT play when it comes to my computer having issues. I will allow a tad bit of troubleshooting but if that doesn’t solve the issue completely, I am buying a new one. I do not ever reformat the one I have … I buy a new one, get completely up and running, and then format and sell the old one, or pass is to someone else in the company that is due for a refresh.  

I have learned the hard way that when you format the computer you are using you are just asking for trouble. I have had issues that kept me down for a couple days, I have lost data because I didn’t remember everything I needed to move over, etc. Then you are without a computer “until”. Nope. I buy the new one, start getting things working on it as I have time, and when I am completely done, I give myself several days or a week to make sure I don’t realize something I am missing from the old one before I wipe it.  

During this switch over it took me two days to realize I didn’t move my email signatures over from the old Outlook to the new one. You would think that using Office365 would cause those to move automatically, but alas, the work is mine. I have 11 email accounts each with their own signature. Fortunately my old machine isn’t wiped yet. 😉  

My last Macbook Pro was the 13″ and I really loved it. Small, powerful, and super portable. This time, I was on the fence but at the suggestion of my IT guy I went for the 16″. It is more powerful than the new 13″ and of course has a bigger screen. I was nervous when it was on the way – I really didn’t know if I would like the bigger screen / bigger form factor. I was a little shocked when I opened the screen but in just a short while I was thinking “OMG – this is amazing”. It removes any desire I might have had for using a monitor, and it fits in my same laptop bag so the only thing that changed was the weight. And I am not joking – I had a book that stayed in my bag that I never read. I removed it and now the bag is back to what I am used to.  

I didn’t intend to do a 16″ Macbook Pro product review in this email but it sorta feels like I did – ha!  

[Read more…] about CEO Daily Updates – 7.30.2020

CEO Daily Updates – 7.29.2020

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An analogy of Financial Reports | KN95 Masks on Sale | COVID-19 News Updates

Happy Wednesday! (Huuuuu……. Huuuuuuuuuuummm…) 

During our weekly leadership meeting, Gary (our Chief Administrative Steward) was giving the leadership team a refresher / class on financial statements (P&L, Balance Sheet, Cash Flow Statement). In an effort to help with some understanding I jumped in with an analogy that I personally really liked (it came to me in the moment), and I thought I would share it with you.  

First, the overview of the financial statements.  

In a business there are three primary financial statements used to monitor financial health and to inform decisions – the P&L, Balance Sheet, and Cash Flow Statement. You may or may not be familiar with these statements so I will, in my own words, explain what they tell you.  

The P&L (profit and loss) statement, or Income Statement, shows your income, cost of the goods or services you are selling (COGS), expenses, and profit (or loss). Income minus cost of goods equals your gross profit. It is from this gross profit that you can pay your expenses, and what’s left over is your net income. Taxes are a factor but they only show up on the P&L if you are a C corp. Otherwise, if you are an S Corp or LLC the taxes are the responsibility of the shareholders each year and therefore do not show up as an expense in the business.  

The Balance sheet shows the cash and assets of the business, as well as any liabilities – usually loans, but also the money you have booked as an expense but have not yet PAID. For instance, if you booked an expense for a vendor onto the P&L but have not yet sent the check, it shows up as a liability on the balance sheet in the “Accounts Payable” account. Glancing through the balance sheet you can see what cash you have in the bank, what people owe you (Accounts Receivable), what you owe as balances of loans and accounts payable, and also any “balance of value” of any fixed assets you purchased. For instance, if you bought a big ‘ol underwater basket weaving machine for $250,000 it is not (typically) able to be “expensed” on the P&L, and therefore shows up as an asset on the balance sheet. The IRS allows you to “depreciate” (write off) assets over a set amount of time, depending on the asset type, and to do that you transfer a piece of the value of that asset away from the balance sheet and onto the P&L. You are basically reducing the value of the asset and taking that reduction in value as an expense a little at a time. That one is maybe a little hard to wrap your head around without looking at it on paper.  

[Read more…] about CEO Daily Updates – 7.29.2020

CEO Daily Updates – 7.28.2020

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Latest Stimulus Bill | IT Project Management Tips | Today’s COVID-19 Updates

Happy Tuesday!  

So there is a new stimulus bill in the works and I just saw this article about it.  

Latest Corona Virus Stimulus Bill 

https://apple.news/AZCieL5H3S62G99ORswBtdA

I found this especially interesting:  

“On ending the additional $600 in unemployment benefits the federal government was supplying, Kudlow argued that the extra money was hurting small businesses from hiring workers. “We have had a flood of inquiries and phone calls and complaints that small stores and businesses, restaurants can’t hire people back,” he said. “They went too far. Maybe last March, it was necessary for that, but, really, there are consequences of people not returning to work.” Mnuchin earlier in the day on “Fox News Sunday” said it a little more bluntly: “I think workers and Americans understand the concept that you shouldn’t be paid more to stay home than to work.” Mnuchin said the new bill will provide additional unemployment benefits, but noted that it will be less than the payments issued under the CARES Act. He said some workers were collecting more than they earned on the job. As a result, when businesses were reopening some employees did not have an incentive to return to work.” 

At CK we tried to hire someone several weeks back that said “naa, I am making more (than the job paid) sitting at home”. I get that when all this went down they were moving fast and perhaps overlooked the possibility of these scenarios, but I am certainly glad they are fixing them. You could call it an ethical issue for someone to turn down a job because the unemployment check is more than what they could earn – but we just shouldn’t put people in the position to have to choose. That’s like laying $100 bills all over the office and having hidden cameras so you can fire anyone that touches one. Anyway, I am glad they are fixing it.  

I am also glad that there was money available for people during the beginning of all this when places like restaurants were closed completely. I am also VERY grateful that in our business almost everyone was able to work from home. Many businesses did not have that luxury. I remember when all this first started some restaurants trying to hang on by doing take out. I was going to every restaurant around my house daily trying to do my little part to keep them going, but it wasn’t anywhere near enough. For those reasons I am glad that this unemployment was available when it was. Most people were not working not out of their own choice, but because there just was no work to do. But now we must start reeling this back in.  

Your thoughts? How has this been a blessing to you or someone you know during this time?  

From Joe, our friendly Safety Supplies Product Marketer:

Carrying some sort of method of sanitation on your person at all times has become a norm. I’m not talking about only hand sanitizer either. Anything from eye glass cleaner, soap, deodorizers, household cleaners, face sprays and any other mixtures that are used daily. We have an array of bottles, including spray pens and personal size bottles, that are perfect for dispensing any liquids you throw their way! Check ’em out.  

[Read more…] about CEO Daily Updates – 7.28.2020

CEO Daily Update – 7.27.2020

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Doing the hard things first | Bargains on Deals Site | Shoe covers

Happy Monday!

Welcome to the beginning of a whole new week. I hope you had a good and restful / fun weekend with friends and family. As long/hard as I work all week I have really come to look forward to the weekends when I have two entire days to do things other than work on the business. There are certainly times (seasons) when I have to work all the time (like when we first started selling Safety Supplies) so I am very grateful for the season I am in right now where I don’t have to. I hope that you take the time to appreciate the season you are in – even when it is “the busy season”. I have found gratitude and gratefulness in the busy seasons knowing that there will come a time they will be over with, and the hard work will hopefully pay off.

“Do the hard things first” – Writing the above makes me think about one of my tendencies/preferences, and something I try to encourage others to adopt. Whenever I have the option to do something fun or enjoyable, or knock out something that needs to get done, I tend to “do the hard things first” and knock out the thing that needs to get done. There is something very motivating to me about the delayed gratification of doing something I enjoy AFTER I have done what needs to be done. If I need to take the trash to the road, but I want to watch TV – I will go ahead and take the trash to the road and think about what I want to watch while I am doing it (I have a looong driveway). When I get back, I can more fully enjoy watching TV without the guilt of knowing there is something that needs to get done. I’ll also tend to knock out a few other things while I am “in motion” like taking something to the car that needs to go to the office, etc. There are limits of course. There is ALWAYS something that “needs to get done” so you have to know where to draw the line. I think it’s easy to “feel” when you are facing the decision. Think about doing the hard things first for a while and see how that might change things for you.

Bargains to be had in the CK in the CK Deals site – Since the big inventory blowout sale has been over we have been able to use the Deals area of the site more purely for what it was originally intended for. As of this writing there are 11 items that are on sale and showing up in the deals area and we will have more coming soon. Be sure to go take a look and check it out often! A few things to note right now:

[Read more…] about CEO Daily Update – 7.27.2020

CEO Daily Update – 7.24.2020

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Happy Friday!

Several weeks ago a great friend of mine, Jason Montoya, interviewed me for his Inspirational People series. What a blast!

You can listen or watch. Here it is: https://www.jasonscottmontoya.com/inspiration/people/537-craig-haynie

We talk about my weight loss, Crohn’s disease diagnosis, and alternate paths and what causes outcomes in our lives. We talk about how COVID has forced people into thinking about doing things in ways different from what has been normal. At CK we had to learn how to work from home effectively – how we would run meetings via video, interact with external people, etc. Once we figured out how to make it work, we became more effective than we were before.

You’ll hear about my early childhood growing up poor and struggling in school, and my journey from the trailer park to becoming an entrepreneur to starting CablesAndKits, and beyond.

I talk about my Plan, Build, Run framework and how that is a part of how we are transforming CablesAndKits. After 13 years of $1M year over year growth we found ourselves plateaued for 5 years and came to realize that as Einstein said, “Problems cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created them”. Realizing that there are generally three distinct rhythm types needed in business was an eye-opener for us and realizing and navigating how to structure roles to leverage these rhythms has been the journey we have been on.
I talk about how the outcome is more important than the friction we encounter, and discovering where you want to go is a prerequisite to the conviction needed to get there. You have to have the will to overcome the obstacles that stand in your way.

We talk about how we ended up selling Safety Supplies and the importance of the entrepreneur being near the front edges of the business, not living in the middle, which turned out to be the reason we plateaued for 5 years.

We also discuss our three-pillar approach to building a business unit – Product, Marketing, and Channel, and how visibility and accountability results in sustainability.

And so much more! Give it a listen and give me your thoughts and feedback! I always love to hear from you.  

From Joe, our friendly Safety Supplies Product Marketer:

WOW! Yesterday I mentioned Lysol wipes are back on the site again and I didn’t think they’d last long, and they didn’t! By the time lunch rolled around we were sold out of every single Lysol wipe we had. Crazy! Don’t worry though, we have plenty of other Cleaning wipes that will get the job done as well as some other variations on the way!

[Read more…] about CEO Daily Update – 7.24.2020