A Tale of Two Mikes

I started my career in the graphics industry working at a small print shop in Canton, Ohio called Edwards Printing. I was a jack of all trades, doing everything from working in the bindery to making deliveries to customers. But I worked hard and constantly looked for opportunities to learn and make myself more valuable. Eventually one of our largest customers noticed, and offered me a job. That customer was Camelot Music.

Camelot was one of the biggest names in the music retailing business. I went to work in their creative department and thought I had it made. We had stores across the country, and business was booming. The biggest names in the music business came to our offices. I met Phil Collins, George Michael, Cyndi Lauper, The Judds, Clint Black, Celine Dion and countless other artists.

It was pretty cool. I was content in my little niche, and thought I’d be there forever, or at least for a long, long time. Of course, this was before the Internet. People still went to stores to buy music instead of sharing it online. We saw the cassette replace the 8-track, the CD replace vinyl albums, and DVDs replace VHS tapes. Gradually, chains like Camelot began losing business to the Walmarts, Borders and Best Buys of the world, who began to aggressively sell music and videos at a discount.

The ride came to an abrupt end for us in the mid-1990s. Camelot filed for bankruptcy, and was eventually sold. Many of us found ourselves on the outside looking in.

The story turns out okay—Dave Hess and I took our experience at Camelot and started Creative Source, which we operate to this day.

But as I look back, I realize there were two different Mikes in that story. One took a little job at a small mom-and-pop business and turned it into something much bigger and better. The other took something big, and was happy to just keep things the way they were.

One stood out. The other one blended in.

That’s why I talk so much about standing out, in business and in life. When I think about the big-name artists, agents, marketing executives and music promoters I rubbed shoulders with at Camelot, I just shake my head. Who knows what opportunities might have been out there for me, if I had done just a few things here and there that would have made me stand out?

Instead, I was comfortable with the status quo.

It’s a lesson I try not to forget. At Creative Source, we strive to stand out from the competition in everything we do. And we counsel our clients to do the same.

How about you? Are you letting opportunities pass you by? Or are you paying attention to detail and doing the little things that will get you noticed?

It’s all about standout performance. And it can mean the difference between success or failure, in business and in life.

MIKE BOYD is president of Creative Source,

a marketing solutions company in Canton, Ohio. Click here to visit them online.