Jim Blasingame

Business futurist, award-winning author, speaker and columnist

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The Age of the Customer

Small Business Survival Lessons From Jeff Foxworthy

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You’ve no doubt seen the classic Jeff Foxworthy act, the one where he says, for example, “If you have more than one car jacked up in your front yard, you might be a redneck.”

Just as Jeff got rich delivering this comedic routine, you can benefit from his cause-and-effect logic by applying it to your small business. Except unlike Foxworthy, it won’t be funny if you resemble too many of these one-liners. In fact, your business might not make it. Or as comedians say, you’ll bomb. [Continue Reading]

The New Regular: Prepare for Conflicts of Customer Expectations

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This is the 18th edition of my New Regular series that focuses on how the marketplace is changing in front of our eyes and what small businesses can do about it. Recently placed in the placebo group of a Covid-19 vaccine study, it’s not looking good for Normal.

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, only wizards and fairies had magic wands and customer expectations were easy to anticipate. Now, come back to the rude reality of post-pandemic 2020 and things here are different. 

Let me tell you a story that plays out across Main Street markets every day. This one takes place in Peoria.

A couple is driving through town when John says, “I’m hungry for pizza.” Sue agrees, “As long as it’s pepperoni.” What happens in the next 60 seconds is a dramatic example of the difference between doing business today compared to not that long ago – especially this year. 

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The New Regular: Claim this Powerful Pandemic Present

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This is the 17th edition of my New Regular series, devoted to helping your small business successfully navigate the uncharted, post-pandemic economy. When normal tried to pass as “new” on Twitter, the cancel culture came apart and the account was immediately suspended.

Protomarket was born 10,000 years ago when Og and Gog dropped their clubs and said, “Let’s stop fighting and do business.” At that same moment, something else was born that became the second most powerful human force: Trust. Only a mother’s love is more awesome. Everybody knows that.

Fast-forward to 2020 and trust is still the abiding nexus of every human interaction. Arky Ciancutti, M.D., my friend and co-author of “Built On Trust,” says, “We are a society in search of trust.”

In life, the expectation of trust is non-negotiable. Humans may be illogical about love, but we’re not confused about trust – we require it. 

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The New Regular: The Small Business Standup Act

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This is the 12th edition of my New Regular series, designed to help Main Street operators restart their business into the post-pandemic economy. Normal tested positive and has been quarantined indefinitely. 

Most comedians and all entrepreneurs write their own material for when they stand up in front of their respective audiences. Other than that, what does your small business have to do with a comedy act?

It’s true that even when operating a business is fun, it usually isn’t funny (except when we laugh at ourselves). But perhaps we can learn something from the simple truths that are foundational for all good comedy. And who better to model our simple truths after than Jeff Foxworthy and his one-liners.

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The New Regular: Your pre-pandemic paradigms are shifting

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This is the second column in my “New Regular” series (“normal” checked out in February). The focus is on how familiar, pre-pandemic customer relationships are likely to morph into less familiar post-pandemic customer behavior and expectations.

You’ll hear those twin-terms – pre- and post-pandemic – more and more, perhaps for the rest of your life. Like December 7, 1941, the date that lives in infamy as it marked a global generation, the events of 2020 will bisect memories and lives for decades.

In thinking of that pre/post bisect, another book comes to mind: Paradigms: The Business of Discovering the Future by my friend Joel Barker, one of the great futurists of our time. Joel didn’t invent the paradigm concept, but his landmark book and companion film reestablished it in our modern consciousness.

Barker: “A paradigm is a set of rules – written or unwritten – that establishes boundaries within which we learn how to be successful.”

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What politicians, small business and mice have in common

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As we stand here on the threshold of another national election year, it’s appropriate to turn to the legendary book by the late Dr. Spencer Johnson. Who Moved My Cheese? tells the story of four characters who ate only one thing: cheese.

Every day, all four characters went to a specific place in their world – a maze – where they found cheese. The first two were not picky about their cheese, nor where they found it – it was just food they found in a place. Then, one day – you guessed it – somebody moved their cheese. These two unfinicky fromage finders immediately began looking for the new place where cheese was being put.

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