Grow Your Business Through Successful Staffing

                Grow Your Business Through Successful Staffing

Todd Fishman and Hunter Brooks were childhood friends who attended the University of Washington before heading to corporate Manhattan for several years. The friends reconnected in New York, bonding over their love of great salad.

Yes, young men eating salad.

Salads are so trendy that in Manhattan the lines for gourmet salad bars stretch around the block. While waiting in one of these lines, the friends had their “Aha” moment. They looked at each other and said, “This would be killer in Seattle!”

A Quickly Budding Dream

Enter Evergreens healthy food chain, co-founded with their associate Ryan Suddendorf in 2013.

Over five years, Evergreens has seen 200% revenue growth each year, with six stores in Seattle and a projected 11 more by 2019. Evergreens caters and offers salads, wraps, and grain bowls while keeping food fun with names like “Dice-Dice Baby,” the “Cobbsby Show,” and an Asian mix called “Pear-ly Legal.”

While entertaining, Evergreens is rooted in a focused business strategy to ensure the start-up succeeds. Successful staffing has been fundamental as Evergreens has scaled for growth and shaped a positive culture to attract the very best team.

Infrastructure that Keeps Pace with Growth


People are the backbone of every company, and Suddendorf said staffing was lean in the early days.

Chaos abounded, with lines out the door and the three founders acting as the company’s only corporate employees.

“It was like changing the car tires on a moving car,” said Suddendorf. “There was no time to step back and establish a process and then try to teach it to everybody in the stores.”

“We were working in the business rather than on the business,” Fishman said. “We were very much in the weeds.”

In retrospect, the friends say they would have raised more money upfront and contracted consulting from restaurant specialists or professional staffing agencies. Simultaneously growing a business and a competent staff is like parenting: along with joy and new discoveries, each phase presents greater challenges.

To grow effectively, healthy businesses need to adopt staffing strategies that meet current needs but also anticipate the future. Since Evergreen’s early days, Brooks says great people have been key to scaling growth without sacrificing quality. The founders gave intense focus to its corporate team in 2015, bringing on a COO and aggressively hiring HR, business development, IT and accounting specialists shortly afterward.

“There's part art, part science to staffing the corporate team when your store count is growing,” said Brookes. “Sometimes you're going to be a little heavier on the corporate overhead, and sometimes you're going to be a little leaner.”

Attracting Engaged, Competent Employees


People are your company’s biggest asset, and engaged employees can give your business a huge advantage.

Finding and maintaining great staff requires a people-focused approach. As you develop short and long-term staffing goals, hiring should align with your business objectives.

Whether you want to expand certain sectors, launch new products, or grow online visibility, your hiring strategy should be totally in sync with these objectives. While you proactively work toward long-term objectives, temporary or contract staff may provide the essential support you need for specialized projects, seasonal rushes, or particular areas of expertise.

Evergreens strives to grow a brand that generates inbound applications versus actively recruiting staff. This means prioritizing a supportive, energizing work environment that includes above minimum wage pay, free employee meals for each shift, and $40 monthly bonuses for employees who lead healthy, active lifestyles.

Suddendorf says the company also makes a point of promoting employees to maximize unity and momentum:

 “About half our corporate team started in our stores.”
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Plug In to the Power of Personal Reflection

Plug In to the Power of Personal Reflection

Sometimes life is like a treadmill.

Occasionally you’re on a calm jog and the belt speed never outpaces your strides. Sometimes, you push yourself to the limit but find the challenge ideal. But in certain seasons, the treadmill is moving too fast to handle. You long to step back from the grind, but this seems like an impossible luxury.

It’s ok to press pause. It’s actually GREAT to press pause. Often in our battle for success, we never stop to address broken systems in our home, health, or careers. Simple adjustments might bring substantially better output, but we rarely prioritize personal maintenance. The decision is yours: will you make time to reflect and adjust or continue relentlessly until life dumps you in a heap?

Take Time to Press Pause.

Once you’ve slowed down (yes, really slowed down!) what should you do?

Perhaps you should begin with a simple pleasure (a walk, coffee treat, or nap?) to allow your mind to unwind. Then consider an intentional approach to reflection.

Psychologist Robert Taibbi (author of “Boot Camp Therapy: Action Oriented Brief Approaches to Anxiety, Anger and Depression") suggests you begin by defining a problem area as concretely as possible. Avoid being vague or grouping several problems under one umbrella (i.e. “this house is a disaster!”). Instead, identify specific areas of struggle (“this coat closet is overcrowded”) and decide on a personal plan of action.

Don’t be overwhelmed by what you CAN’T do, instead focus on manageable steps that will move you forward (“lower coat hooks would be better”). Begin with a positive spirit and an intentional ownership of the solution. Make a plan, ask for help, or take action as soon as possible. As you make even tiny strides, you will be empowered to continue.

Find Tools for Growth.

Sometimes a perspective shift requires greater insight than we have on our own.

Consider some coaching, mentorship, or tools like workbooks or discussion groups. Clinical psychologist and professor Jordan Peterson has been fascinated by the therapeutic effects of writing for decades. Experiments dating back for decades show that writing can reduce depression, increase productivity, and even cut down on doctor visits.

Peterson and his team have recently rolled out several tools for self-reflection, including virtues and faults analysis, past and future writing exercises, or a full “self-authoring” suite that allows people to locate and resolve problem areas so they can better dream and achieve in the future. “The act of writing is more powerful than people think,” Peterson says. The decisive results of Peterson’s research prompted NPR to dub his reflection tool the “writing assignment that changes lives.”

Make a Plan.

They say if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

What part of your week do you devote to reflecting on your goals or challenges? Do you take mini-retreats to refocus? What if you set this as a top priority and allowed your reflection time to dictate your schedule priorities in a given week, month, or year?

Look for natural cues in your seasonal schedule (i.e. Daylight Savings changes, pre-scheduled auto maintenance, your half birthday) and seek to align some intentional reflection with these cues. Add smaller goals (like a monthly “plan of action”) to put wheels on your long-term vision. Find a friend or mentor to keep you accountable or schedule regular check-ins (alone or with others) to get yourself back on track after a derailment.

Just as professional performance reviews are a priority, how much more essential is self-review? Make regular deposits into your own well-being and soon your bank account will grow!
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Make a Big Impact with Foldable Printed Mailers

Make a Big Impact with Foldable Printed Mailers

Creating a printed mailer is one of the best ways to get your message across to a wide variety of individuals, but how can you be sure that your message isn't lost among the raft of bills and magazines that tend to litter every mailbox in America?

Creating a unique design is great for a traditional message or a sale. Foldable printed mailers are a fun way to get your creative message out into the marketplace by designing something unexpected that will surprise and delight your audience.

Here are a few ways that you can create wonder and excitement with your next printed promotional mailing.

3D Folded Materials

Are you sending an open house announcement to a select few individuals and including the media?

Influencers such as bloggers and media personalities are a great way to get free promotion for your brand, but these people are also inundated with others who are also trying to recruit them.

An interactive 3D folded mailer can catch the eye of the most jaded recipient, encouraging them to open and play with your delivery. Don't think simply about a tri-fold brochure -- today's 3D mailers can be created in nearly any size, shape or design -- these are limited only by your imagination.

Creating Your Designs


You may already have an idea in mind, but if not, let us work with you to share some of the innovative new designs that are available.

You can start with a concept of what you're trying to accomplish. Perhaps you're launching a new product, introducing a sale on high-end goods and services or opening a new store. These are all ideal opportunities to create buzz and excitement in your audience with new textures, bright colors, and interesting shapes. Sketch out your ideas and see how we can partner with you to bring them to life in full, living three-dimensional color!

Creative Idea Starters

Looking for a creative way to package a sample product?

Three-dimensional folded mailers can be created and frame your product to allow it the impact that you need when the package is opened by your recipient. Nestle a business card or discount card within a mailer, or add an aura of intrigue by requiring the receiver to unwrap the "package" before discovering what is hiding within.

Foldable mailers can be made into the shape of your product, too, so you're essentially creating a 3D replica of your product with paper. Mailers can be printed with foil accents for added luster and shine, printed in single colors, or even printed in full color for a "living" design that will really make an impression.

Box it Up


Boxes in different shapes and sizes are another popular way to print and fold your message. Blank cardboard boxes with included materials are a waste of prime advertising real estate. When you use a box of an unusual shape or size, you intrigue the recipient and encourage them to take the few moments necessary to open the package. Then, the materials you've placed inside have a better chance of catching their eye and causing them to take action!

Foldable printed and three-dimensional mailers can be as simple or as complicated as you need them to be. When you work with us, you'll find the creativity and suggestions that you need to create the perfect promotional vehicle for your message! 
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