I owe the birth of The FruitGuys to the creative power of, well, desperation.It was 1997. My wife, Pia, and I had been married for a year and were living in a small one-bedroom apartment in San …
chris mittelstaedt
How to Resolve a Customer Crisis
(Reprinted from Chris Mittelstaedt’s column, "Eureka," on Inc.com.)Every business makes mistakes. What you do next is the difference between losing customers forever and gaining lifelong …
The Bank Scam That Hit My Business
Reprinted from Chris Mittelstaedt’s column Eureka on Inc.comFruitGuys founder Chris Mittelstaedt explains how hackers got into his company's bank account--and how not to let it happen to …
Is This Your Employees’ Idea of Service?
Reprinted from Chris Mittelstaedt’s column Eureka on Inc.comWhen an employee flipped off a key customer, this CEO realized his company had a culture problem. Here's how he fixed it.Many …
Getting (Big) Things Done
Reprinted from Chris Mittelstaedt’s column Eureka on Inc.comFor too long you've served as Chief Fire Extinguisher. It's time to step back and start working on building your business. Are you …
5 Employee Morale Killers
Reprinted from Chris Mittelstaedt’s column Eureka on Inc.comI discovered my first lesson in how not to motivate people at the bottom of a kitchen sink.In 1986, when I was 16 years old, my …