Dean Atchison

Most people don't want to pursue excellence. That's ok. Do it anyway. You'll find your tribe along the path. The journey (& what you become along the way) is worth it. Let's all make it a great day!

Late-March on Lake Superior. Your Monday moment of zen, via former @NorthernNewsNow reporter Jeffrey McClure.

@Patrick_Reusse I see some Eddie Haskell in there.

What I still can’t figure out all these decades later is why such a high % of nuns at St. Gabe’s could dislike a cleancut young gentleman such as this?

Incredible that it was only 66 years from the first controlled, powered flight to landing on the Moon!

Let's elect people from the trades (plumbers, HVAC, electrical, etc.), skilled workers, small business owners & veterans.

@Lawyer4Deals 😆

@atchison_dean Dean please, I’m trying to decompress over here.

Have closed four deals in last seven business days = shave, oil change, gym, haircut. Might even check my personal email. Watch out world.

@MomAngtrades Need Stacy Keech doing the scary voice-over work.

I’m going to need CNBC to do us a solid and run a market in turmoil special

Let's lean into law & order again.

@ConnorAbene Square pegs. My first boss in banking said, life is just too short to do business with some people.

The moment we dropped toxic clients, everything changed. We'd been running ourselves ragged trying to please clients who demanded everything but valued nothing. You know the type: constant scope creep, "URGENT" emails, and the classic "Can you just make one small change?" (It's never small). After one brutal quarter, we made a decision that felt scary at the time: we fired our most difficult clients. The transformation was immediate: → Mondays no longer felt like a battle → Our team stopped burning out → Creative energy returned But the biggest surprise? In a matter of months, our revenue doubled. We stopped pouring time into people who drained us and reinvested that energy into clients who respected our process. We did better work, built stronger relationships, and landed bigger projects. Growth doesn’t always come from doing more. Sometimes it comes from letting go. Saying "no" to the wrong clients is what makes room to say "yes" to the right ones.

Leave it better than you found it.

Value Stream Mapping (VSM) is a tool used by lean manufacturing operators to visualize, analyze, and optimize the synchronized flow of materials and information (inputs) required to bring a product or service from a customer request to final delivery.

I was in graduate school with a guy named _____ Masters. Everyone just called him Dutch. 😏

This is awesome Opening Day in Cincinnati might just be the best thing going in sports

What if I told you there was a simple and crazy powerful way to resolve 99.3% of most customer service problems instantly? The other 0.7% of people are just nuts. Let’s focus on the 99.3% we can work with. It starts with this: There are only two choices in Customer Service: - This method requires some practice, but eventually, you, your employees, and your customers will love it. Here are those two choices: 1. It’s No Big Deal 2. It’s the End of The World! Each person can only choose ONE of these tokens in every customer service interaction. - It sounds nuts, but hear me out. It works! The choice you or your team makes all the difference to customer success. Jean-Louis Gassée was the head of Apple France when he shared his Two Tokens system of customer service. It goes like this: - There are only two tokens each time you interact with a customer to solve a problem. You can choose the “it’s no big deal” token or the “end of the world token.” The key to Two Tokens is this: Whichever token you select, the customer will choose the other. - If you or your employee chooses the “it’s no big deal” token, your customers will not be happy, and they will grab the “end of the world " token to prove to you how much trouble this is causing them. The solution? - You must always choose the end-of-the-world token to show compassion, empathy, and urgency to your customers. When you do so, they have no choice but to select the no-big-deal token. Here’s an example: - When I owned TechRestore, an electronics repair business, sometimes repairs took longer than expected. We learned quickly how critical our customer's laptops, tablets, and phones were to them, so we responded accordingly: - “We’re so sorry for this delay, and we know how important your device is to you. To make it right, we have a loaner device for you. Due to the inconvenience, I have also already issued a 20% instant discount for your repair.” This causes the customer to respond: “Well, it is inconvenient for sure, but I appreciate the loaner offer and the 20% refund. Hopefully, the parts will arrive tomorrow. Please keep me posted.” - Invert the response: “It’s really out of our control; the parts did not show up, and we are unsure when they will arrive. Maybe call back tomorrow for an update.” Causes this type of response from the customer: “Are you F’ing kidding me? You told me it would be done on the same day! I want a full refund, and I want my product back so I can take it to another company. You guys suck!” - Teach your team the Two Tokens system of customer service, and your customers will be happier and more loyal. They will also share with others how you solved a problem in a proactive manner. - If you found this post valuable, give me a follow @ShannonJean and repost this to help other business owners. Cheers to your success!

Bring back physical education. Monday through Friday.

President John F. Kennedy (1962), “There is nothing more unfortunate than to have soft, chubby, fat-looking children”

@MFG_SMB Lead, improve processes, build teams.

Manufacturing Twitter Role Call It’s time again, been posting this every 3 months since September 2025 If you want a feed full of manufacturing go though and connect with all the profiles that responded over the past 9 months Add yourself -> post what you do in < 5 words

The best operator I ever worked with never went to college. He could walk a plant floor and identify the bottleneck in 10 minutes. That skill is worth more than any MBA.

𝗦𝗔𝗟𝗘𝗦 hustle offends the lazy. Your joy from 𝗦𝗔𝗟𝗘𝗦 successes will offend the miserable.

“Ring of Fire” by Johnny Cash was recorded exactly 63 years ago today.