The Gray Cat Blog
A growing library of practical business articles and insights created to help entrepreneurs, small business owners, franchisees, and multi-unit operators strengthen leadership, improve operations, drive growth, and build more profitable organizations.
One of the easiest traps for a leader to fall into is believing that reports, spreadsheets, meetings and dashboards tell you everything you need to know about your business.
They don’t.
I have alway...
As a multi-unit retail or franchise organization grows, one of the most important milestones is the formation of regional advertising cooperatives, or co-ops. Well-managed co-ops allow individual stor...
Fully immersing yourself into projects and becoming the a listener, enables an operational consultant to not only be accepted by the team, but be looked at for leadership.
In this podcast clip with G...
Business travel isn’t always glamorous. Long security lines, delayed flights, crowded terminals, and living out of a carry-on have become the norm. After recently passing the milestone of three millio...
Do I double the company? Â Do I expand my footprint?
In this podcast clip with David Zylstra, he asks what is the next level of growth for Gray Cat.
You might be surprised at my answer to this questi...
Gift cards have evolved from a holiday convenience into one of retail’s most effective revenue and customer acquisition tools. The U.S. gift card market is exceeded $230 billion in 2025, fueled by the...
In this brief podcast clip with David Zysltra, I talk about the art of business development.
It is one thing to have a great idea or skill, it's another thing to sell it.
One of the most valuable branding exercises I have facilitated with executive leadership teams is the Semantic Differential exercise. While the name sounds academic, the concept is surprisingly practi...
Having founded my company in 2004, there were many roles that I had in the corporate world that play heavily into what I do at Gray Cat.
In this podcast with Al Li, I walk him through that background...
Leaving the C-Suite in corporate America to launch a Management and Operational Consultancy takes a bit of guts.
In this podcast episode with Ilaina Sperling, I convey that launching Gray Cat was not...
Building relationships today - and in the past - takes a deliberate approach.
With a plethora of AI tools available, it is easy for "networkers" to get lazy by sending a bunch of non-authentic messag...
 “I am putting myself to the fullest possible use, which is all I think that any conscious entity can ever hope to do.” — HAL 9000, 2001: A Space Odyssey
Today’s business leaders have access to more ...
