Before you criticize, walk a mile in their shoes.
There is not a single job at MCC that I have not done. From approving the weekly payroll to answering phones, from sales calls to truck-cleaning – I have done every job in this company, and then some.
 
This is how I know that every job has a great deal of merit and worth, and I am slow to criticize, and quick to praise.
 
I've walked the walk. I've talked the talk.
Now I live the life as an owner and manager. It took me some time to be able to let go and delegate responsibility. I went out in the field. I learned how to sell, how to listen and how to react. After years of success doing this, I have learned how to teach others to sell MCC services as I would. I let them learn for themselves without being overly critical – and without demanding the impossible.
 
I am a better manager because I was a salesperson for 5 years.
 
I did it. Now I delegate it.
A little bit of trust is a wonderful thing. I like to think of car cleaning experience as an example. I like my SUV to be sparkling clean, and so every once in awhile, used to take 3 hours of my own time to get it beautifully, perfectly clean.
 
Yes, it always looked great when I was done, but the time investment seemed extraordinary to me. One day recently, I picked up the phone and hired a professional to come clean my car for me, inside and out.  Since I have done this job many times before, I was a little nervous. Would he do as good a job as I did? How long would it take? How much would he charge?
 
I decided to leave the guy with my car and pray for the best. When I returned, the car was incredibly, spotlessly shiny. For a very reasonable amount, he did a better job than I could have done myself. What an incredible value and lesson for me. My time is worth so much – it only makes sense to delegate this activity to someone who may actually do BETTER at it than me.
 
I choose to apply this lesson on every level of my company, from now on. 

MyRecyclingReports.com launches!

May 12 is here and MyRecyclingReports.com is live online!  Before I invite you to check out the site and learn more, I want to thank my fellow recycling professionals for your interest and feedback, and every member of my development team for your hard work and creativity over the past two years.

A few quick thoughts.

I am proud to be at the forefront of a revolution in tonnage reporting for our industry. MyRecyclingReports.com completely changes and replaces old, traditional, time-consuming reporting methods, makes us all more efficient, helps build brand image, and removes the hassles and detail work we once viewed as "part of the territory."

A serial entrepreneur, I have always been dedicated to enhancing business communications, both internally and in relationship to customers. More than simply a reporting tool, MyRecyclingReports.com enhances customer communications, encourages loyalty, promotes trust, adds value to your business, invites higher profit margins, and strategically brands your company as never before.

Your signature. Your data. Your look. In real time.

MyRecyclingReports.com provides unprecedented, instant, easy, affordable access to tonnage and pricing data, online, in real time. With all of your customers' data in one place at your fingertips, MyRecyclingReports.com saves you and your customers hours of time and money – with no software to buy or install.

MyRecyclingReports.com is yours. You can customize it with your own logo, your corporate imprimatur, and make it consistent with your own brand.   It is also extremely affordable.  Our most popular plan allows you to manage up to 30 customers and costs less than $3.26 per day!

A great sales tool.
 
MyRecyclingReports.com opens up new avenues for marketing for your company and helps sell your services to new potential clients. Incorporate a live demo of MyRecyclingReports.com into your next new business presentation as we do – using your laptop or iPad. Watch as your prospects become immediately engaged.
 
It also sends another marketing message about your company's dedication to organization, access and simplicity. MyRecyclingReports.com instantly demonstrates your company's ability to rise above the old-fashioned clutter of forgotten bulletin board notes and random "To Do" notes posted all over the office – it helps organize their business in a very immediate way.
 
 A watershed in the history of our industry.

Visit MyRecyclingReports.com and be among the first to discover how it will elevate your business to exciting new levels of convenience, functionality and service. I know that it will change the way our business is done, forever.

I look forward to hearing your thoughts, questions and feedback.

Michael

I remember the day vividly.  I was sitting and discussing business with Martin, my attorney.  I brought up the fact that we had just put the finishing touches on a new web application that would bring  MCC Recycling – and possibly many recycling companies – to a newer, higher level of efficiency.

I described  how our new app would accelerate the ways in which we communicate and report critical data to our customers – always a very tedious, time-eating process  which we had completely revolutionized and packed into the touch of a button!  

Martin and I quickly realized that it would only be a matter of time before other recycling companies heard of this new service we were offering, and might want to compete with it or try and copy it. We spoke about how to protect the app – and recognized there really wasn’t any way to completely accomplish that.

And then it hit me.

“Martin,” I said, “this online web application is so revolutionary and useful, I can’t stop other companies from trying to copy it. I can see that it might not take long before it’s no longer an exclusive offering from MCC Recycling.  But…what I can do is create a company that allows other recycling companies to buy the product from me at incredibly low cost.

Living as we do, in a free market economy, everyone is free to invent products and services, use them and sell them.  My job is to be the first to offer this particular service to the marketplace, and to always be the best one of its kind, anywhere. Just like the iPhone.  It was the first, and it is still the best.  Apple can’t keep competitors from creating smart phones, but they can keep innovating to make sure theirs is always on top.

Make it irresistible.

We spoke further about the investment and the price.  To date, I have more than $50,000 invested in my online web application, including all of the new features currently under development.  Other recycling companies will know (or research) what it costs to develop a product such as this one. Recycling companies hearing of MCC Recycling’s wonderful new online web application have a choice to make.

They can start from scratch, re-invent the wheel, hire a developer for $50,000 or more, spend months and months of time and man-hours to create their own systems…or for about $99 a month, they can sign up for and buy an account from MyRecyclingReports.com .

It’s a no brainer, right?

In less than one hour, I had created the concept for MyRecyclingReports.com .  When I walked out of that meeting - about one year ago today - I was running on adrenalin! Time, research, expertise and momentum were all on my side.

Especially momentum.

Ah, momentum.  For the first 2-3 months of the project we were operating at warp speed.  I was meeting with developers, graphic designers, copywriters, strategists, and talking about the features and design of our new app, which we decided to call MyRecyclingReports.com . 

Every day was exciting, fun and progressive.  By the end of each week, we had moved ahead and gained momentum.  Things were going well. Everyone on the project was loving it - even though we had no customers, no prospects, no venture capital, and no real site up to view. It was pure momentum that kept us going.  We were gaining in size and speed every day.  Like a snowball rolling down a hill, there was no stopping us.

Until one day it did.

Our project stopped cold on the day our functional spec was finished. We sat down and looked at the cost estimate and we paused.  We questioned ourselves.  We wondered whether anyone would ever sign up for and pay us for this app. And we decided to take a week off from the project.  We decided to put some thought into this before we wrote the check. In our defense, it was a big check.  

Weeks went by, and then months.  Our programmers, designers and copywriters wondered what happened.  “You were so excited.  So pumped.  What happened?”

Nothing, really. Really!

The truth is, nothing happened after we broke our stride.  We lost our momentum and haven’t done much since.  And it has been one of the worst feelings I’ve ever had. Which brings us to today. I am happy to announce  that this blog post represents  the re-birth of our project.  Today is the day I blow the dust off that snowball and give it a little push down the hill.  If we keep at it, one day at a time, our momentum will build again.

The lesson we learned here is that you don’t need deadlines, giant project diagrams, team assignments, victory dances or even budgets.  All you need is momentum, created by ingenuity and determination – an endless, slowly building movement that you push forward a little bit, every day. 

These days, around our office, we like to say, “What can we get done TODAY?”.  Not this week, not this month and certainly not by the end of the year.  What about today?  What can we get done by 5 o’clock?  As little or as much as it may be, it will move us forward.  Even if it was a mistake, or it didn’t work out, we’ll learn from it.  And we’ll move forward.

With  m-o-m-e-n-t-u-m.