The Business Thrived Without Marketing for Years

Like a lot of owners, the family that built A.R.E. Manufacturing is feeling a little overwhelmed by marketing's many options, unsure where to begin and wary of wasting money.

Good Morning!

Here are today’s highlights:    

• President-elect Trump announces his day-one tariff plans.

• California’s farmers don’t really think Trump will deport their workers.

• Tell us on the 21 Hats Sounding Board how you handle exit interviews.

• “Keep spreading joy!” How one coffee shop went viral.

• How do you know it’s time to hire your first salesperson?

SCHEDULING NOTE

The Morning Report will return on Monday. Have a wonderful holiday!

THE 21 HATS PODCAST

This week, we bring you another Entrepreneurial Fish Bowl with Chris Hutchinson: The Fish Bowls are our virtual brainstorming sessions where we offer business owners the opportunity to pose a challenge they’re facing to a group of owners and entrepreneurs from the 21 Hats community. This time, our volunteers are Alvin Elbert, founder of A.R.E. Manufacturing, and his daughter Megan Perona, who explain that their company had its best year ever in 2022 but has seen business fall off since then. For 40 years, A.R.E. grew slowly but steadily on word of mouth.”

• More recently, the Elbert family has concluded that it’s time to do some real marketing. Like a lot of owners, though, they’re a little overwhelmed by the options, unsure where to begin, and wary of wasting money. They also happen to be going through a family ownership transition.

• The 21 Hats brainstormers begin by asking a lot of questions, including whether the owners have invested in search engine optimization, whether they’ve gone back to some of the customers they lost to China, and whether they’ve considered hiring a marketing agency.

• You can subscribe to the 21 Hats Podcast wherever you get podcasts.