In today’s corporate world there is a pattern going around where companies feel they have to compete on price, at all costs or they will fail. In other words, they race to the bottom of pricing to get the business without realizing it devalues what the client thinks of their service or product.

Develop your product and your service to be different (and better) than the other guys and create a message about your product or service, that is the reason a client should choose you and your company. Why – Because when you refuse to price what you do inexpensively or even possibly cheap, you stop having competitors and start having imitators. Then you become a standout in your field of service or product, and other companies will want to copy you.

The story of Yeti is the perfect example. Two brothers, Roy (28 yrs old) and Ryan (32 yrs old) invented the Yeti cooler in 2006. At the time the best of the best coolers on the market were the Igloo and Coleman coolers which were both sold for about $30 at Walmart. The brothers were professional hunters and fishermen and those coolers kept breaking. It made them mad one day and they created a much better cooler that would hold up the demands of professional users. The problem was, they needed to sell it for 10x what the Igloo and Coleman were selling for. $300

No retailer (Walmart, Sears, etc.) would stock their $300 cooler because they were told no one would buy them. Undeterred, they went directly to the end user. The fishing guides, hunters, sports companies etc. They created almost a cult following for their Yeti coolers. Today, every retailer wants their product in their store and Igloo and Coleman have tried to copy the success of Yeti and failed. The brothers took the company public in 2018 with a valuation of $1.7 billion and today the company is worth $3.1 Billion.

All because they refused to race to the bottom and compete at the low price of the competitors. They created a better product and the market responded. Whatever it is you do, don’t devalue yourself and your service just because someone else did. Stand tall and tell the customer why you, your service and your product are the best choice. KT

There are a growing number of people in business that respond to calls, voice messages and email by simply ignoring the sender, thinking that if you just ignore it, the sender will get the message.

Unfortunately, the message they get by this action is not favorable toward you.

Just for the record, I am not talking about the roofer who calls wanting to put a new roof on your house or the guy who wants you to buy precious metals and many calls like that. I am talking about legitimate calls or messages pertaining to real business.

One of the most successful people I knew was Carl D Silver in Fredericksburg VA. Carl was probably one of the top three most wealthy people in Virginia. He was old school where manners mattered. His modus operandi (I had to look it up to) is short for how he does business and he returned every call before the end of every day. Now his staff would try to pawn you off to someone else but if you just wanted to leave a message with Carl. They were obligated to leave him that message.

You could wind your watch because before 5pm eastern, he would return every call. That’s called class. These goobers today were told somewhere along the way that its better business to just ignore the person.

So, if you do this in your business. Please stop. It makes people not like you and I have never met a person who is so important that they don’t need anyone else. The bible says what you sow you will reap. The non-bible version, says that you get what you give or what goes around comes around.

Either way, if you treat everyone with respect you will receive respect in return. There you have for the Keith Thompson etiquette of the day. Ha. KT

This blog is a touch longer than I usually write so apologies in advance.

There is a slogan that has been around for many years. You see it printed on shirts, hats, bumper stickers, and signs:

“Stand for the Flag and Kneel for the Cross.”

Pretty straightforward, right? To me, it certainly is.

I am old school when it comes to my love and pride for America. I served in the United States Navy for five years right out of high school. I was fortunate that I was never placed in harm’s way. My entire five years of service were spent on U.S. soil, so I would never compare my service to the sacrifice of those who faced an enemy on a battlefield.

But serving gave me a deep appreciation for this country, its flag, and those who sacrificed everything to defend what that flag represents.

I am the guy who stands for the American flag. I am the guy who places his hand over his heart when the National Anthem is played. And I am also the guy who is willing to humble himself and kneel before the Cross.

Somewhere along the way, however, something seems to have changed. There are those today who choose to kneel for the flag and the National Anthem while having little interest in humbling themselves before the Cross. I am not exactly sure when that shift happened, but I know this: it saddens me.

America is not a perfect country. It never has been, and it never will be. We have made mistakes, endured divisions, and faced dark chapters in our history. But America is also a country where people have the freedom to speak their minds, worship—or not worship—as they choose, protest their government, criticize their leaders, and even condemn the country itself without fear of being imprisoned simply for expressing those beliefs.

That freedom was not free.

It was purchased at an almost unimaginable price.

Hundreds of thousands of young American men and women have died on battlefields around the world defending the freedoms we enjoy today. Many of them never came home. They never married the person they loved. They never raised their children, built their careers, watched their grandchildren grow up, or enjoyed the long life that so many of us take for granted.

They gave up their tomorrows so that we could have ours.

That is something worth remembering.

I told my Sunday School class a few weeks ago that the first time I walked into Arlington National Cemetery was one of the most profound experiences of my life.

Arlington National Cemetery is difficult to describe until you have stood there and looked across those seemingly endless rows of white headstones. More than 400,000 people are buried there. But even that number is difficult for the human mind to comprehend.

Think about 400,000 graves this way.

Imagine placing a cross beside a highway every 20 feet—one after another after another—representing 400,000 lives. That line would stretch for more than 1,500 miles. Driving 70 miles per hour without stopping, it would take roughly 22 hours to reach the final cross.

For 22 straight hours, you would pass cross after cross after cross.

And behind every one would be a name. A life. A family. A story. A sacrifice. That my dear friends is the price of freedom.

So when the National Anthem begins to play at a ballpark, a ceremony, or anywhere else, something still happens to me. Even after all these years, my eyes sting just a little.

I think about that flag. I think about my five years wearing the uniform of the United States Navy. I think about Arlington. And most importantly, I think about those who wore that uniform and never came home.

People are free to make their own choices about what they do when that flag is raised. That freedom itself is part of what America represents.

But I can promise you what I will do.

When the Stars and Stripes are raised and The Star-Spangled Banner begins to play, regardless of what anyone else around me chooses to do, I will be the guy standing—with my hand over my heart and a little tear in my eye.

And when I stand before the Cross, I will gladly kneel.

Stand for the Flag.
Kneel for the Cross.
Never forget the sacrifice behind either one. KT

Margin is the space between two things.

Think about driving down the interstate. Margin is the space you leave between your car and the car in front of you. That space gives you room to react if something unexpected happens.

In personal finances, margin is what you have left after you have paid all your obligations. It is the cushion between what you earn and what you spend. It is the spread, the gap—the margin.

The concept of margin can apply to almost every area of our lives.

Let’s say you are a runner who is capable of running 10 miles, but today you take it easy and run only 5. You had the ability to run another 5 miles, but you chose not to use everything you had. That unused capacity is margin.

You may be asking, “Keith, what are you talking about?”

I’m talking about finances, work, time, health, relationships, and almost every other area of life.

Too often, we stretch ourselves right to the limit. We fill every minute of our schedules. We take on as much debt as we can afford. We accept more work than we can reasonably handle. Sometimes we even push our bodies and health to the breaking point.

There is something worth noticing in the story of creation. God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh. God certainly did not rest because He was exhausted. The seventh day established a rhythm of rest. You might say the seventh day was margin.

Hopefully, you are not living at the very edge of everything you can handle.

Leave some margin between your workload and your life. After you pay your financial obligations, try to leave something over as a cushion. In your relationships, leave enough time to truly be present with your family rather than simply fitting them into an already crowded schedule.

Don’t live every day at the absolute limit of your time, energy, finances, or strength. Leave some room to breathe. Leave room for the unexpected. Leave room to enjoy the people God has placed in your life.

And most importantly, leave some margin in your schedule to spend time with the Creator of the universe. After all, He is the One who created you, and He knows better than anyone how much you can handle.

Some of the best moments we experience in life happen when there is no deadline to meet, no appointment to make, and nowhere else we have to be. Sometimes the space we are so quick to fill is exactly the space we need most.

Life is better when we leave a little margin. KT

We have a little 4.8lbs squirrel that is supposed to be a Yorkie dog. She is temperamental, rumbustious, and does four things very well. Eat, poop, pee and love us. She does that last one, really well.

When she looks at me, she thinks I am a better man than I may actually be. Her love is unconditional and is similar in nature to the way God loves me. There are very few loves in our lives that are truly unconditional. The love of a parent for their child is one example, but this side of heaven, there are very few unconditional loves in our life, except for your dog. Maybe that is why dog is God spelled backward.

They forgive our failures, and they love us instead of our faults and are always happy to see us when we come home. They never have bad days, they never get their feelings hurt, they never lash out in anger, and they are always ready for some scratching and loving.

See, I think God created all the animals of the world and saved the dog for last, so he could create one animal that craves and needs the attention and love of a human. That is a dog.

So, the next time your dog looks at you with those understanding and forgiving eyes of love, why don’t we try to live up to their expectations and be the person our dog thinks we are. KT