Intentional Success with Tom Stimson

Your weekly production meeting is probably three hours of redundant updates, hijacked conversations, and circular debates that end without a decision. That's not planning. In this episode, I break down how to replace your bloated production meeting with a fast, focused planning meeting that covers three things: staffing, gear flow, and logistics. Only talk about what's changed. Distribute information, not solutions. And look as far into the future as you can. Listen now and fix the meeting that's eating your week. Visit trstimson.com for more resources. Follow Tom on LinkedIn

Recruiting is marketing. If top freelancers and strong hires aren't lining up at your door, the problem isn't them. It's what they see when they look at your company. The best hire you can make starts with firing somebody who doesn't fit. https://www.trstimson.com/why-nobody-wants-to-work-for-you/

When you don't ask enough questions, you don't exclude enough from your proposal. You include too much, overshoot the budget, and send a document full of guesses. Then the buyer tells you everything you got wrong. In this episode, I break down the four questions you need answered before you write any proposal, how to match your proposal format to the buyer's top priority, and why fewer questions answered should mean fewer items in your proposal, not more. Write fewer proposals that win more often. Listen now. Visit trstimson.com for more resources. Follow Tom on LinkedIn

Walk out into your warehouse on the busiest day of the year. All the gear that earns money is out on shows. Take a look at what's left. Ideally, you'll find a warehouse that's neat as a pin, with everything in its place and deep storage organized and labeled. If the gear is out, your warehouse would look like a showplace. But you won't find that. Instead, you'll find a hot mess. https://www.trstimson.com/your-warehouse-is-lying-to-you/

You're missing stuff on show pulls. Everybody's pointing fingers. And you keep telling yourself it's human error. It's not. It's a process error. In this episode, I break down how to fix your warehouse operations by slowing down show prep, adding a third checkpoint when gear goes on the truck, prioritizing check-in over check-out, and scheduling your day to avoid surprises. Every show prep can go out clean every time.  Listen now and fix the process problems that keep costing you time and credibility. Visit trstimson.com for more resources. Follow Tom on LinkedIn

You can't fix every problem in your business. And if you tried, you'd never have time to run it. Rough edges are fine. The question is where to put your energy. Scalability solves a different problem. It's the single practice that fixes more issues, faster, and more efficiently than any other approach I've taught. https://www.trstimson.com/scalability-fixes-more-than-you-think/

If you were starting a technical production company today, what would you do differently?  Whether you came up as a freelancer with gear or a technical producer who knows how to get shows done, most of us followed the same old playbook: buy more gear, hire more people, own everything.  In this episode, I break down what the new model looks like for both paths, why owning the glue items matters more than owning the endpoints, and why the word "rental" should never creep into your vocabulary. You can't start over. But your next strategic decision should be informed by where the real value lives. Visit trstimson.com for more resources. Follow Tom on LinkedIn

Years ago, I sat having drinks with an account executive after a big medical convention at the Anatole in Dallas. I had 40 or 50 crew members there from my staffing company, and we'd just finished settling the bill. I asked him about his pricing strategy. He pulled a pen from his pocket, held it up, and said, "This is what makes money." This week's Monday Morning Drive post covers five rules for cleaner pricing and why estimating comes down to two numbers, not 15. https://www.trstimson.com/your-pricing-isnt-as-honest-as-you-think/

You keep saying you can't find great freelancers. But do great freelancers want to work for you? In this episode, I break down what separates good from great across all levels of shows, from meatball AV to mission-critical production. The difference isn't expertise. It's self-awareness, people skills, dress codes, wearing a lot of hats, and having a healthy relationship with money. If you're a freelancer, this is your roadmap. If you hire freelancers, this is what you should be looking for. Listen now and learn how to spot (and be) a freelancer who's better than good. Visit trstimson.com for more resources. Follow Tom on LinkedIn

Every November, I get the same call. A business owner stares at next year's calendar, sees nothing confirmed for January, and panics. The conversation is always short. Zero marketing. A website and nothing more. Every lead comes from word of mouth. And now they want a miracle in 90 days. Marketing can't deliver that miracle. But picking up the phone can. Call every buyer you've worked with. Ask if they have shows coming up. Price to win. Start dialing. Once you're out of the hole, marketing keeps you from falling back in. https://www.trstimson.com/marketing-wont-fix-your-sales-pipeline/

Your management meetings keep getting hijacked by the same kinds of debates. A freelancer billed for airport parking. An employee wants vacation during your busiest week. And now six people are arguing about whether a rule exists and what to do when it doesn't. The problem isn't the parking invoice. The problem is you're running your business on rules when you should be running it on policies. In this episode, I explain the difference between rules and policies, when you need each one, and how to replace the binary thinking that's wasting your management team's time. Visit trstimson.com for more resources. Follow Tom on LinkedIn

For years, the rental management system sat at the center of every AV business. Every quote, confirmed order, and piece of gear lived there. It worked. Projects have changed. A single client engagement can stretch across months of pre-production, creative development, and multiple sub-events before you ever build an order. Your rental management system can't track any of that. Your CRM can. https://www.trstimson.com/make-your-crm-the-single-source-of-truth/

Overstaffing is as big a problem as understaffing in our industry, and it's much harder to fix. The more people you have, the more work it always takes. In this episode, I break down the three lies that keep your headcount too high: your pricing is fine, word of mouth works, and everybody's working hard so you must be busy. None of them hold up under scrutiny. Listen now and learn why companies with six to nine people can outperform teams of 20 or 30, and how to change the self-talk that's inflating your overhead. Visit trstimson.com for more resources. Follow Tom on LinkedIn

In the spring of 2001, I was forecasting Q3 and Q4. September was always our second-busiest month. I looked at the numbers and saw an empty calendar. Forecasting gave us that head start. If you don't forecast, you don't get one. This week's Monday Morning Drive walks through three windows into your business that tell you almost everything you need to know about what's coming. https://www.trstimson.com/how-to-forecast-your-av-business/

That million-dollar one-off job feels like a win. The $2 million client feels like stability. But if you've built your team and your overhead around windfall business, you're one phone call away from scrambling. In this episode, I break down the three types of windfalls, the math behind why they destroy profit when you overbuild for them, and how to take big jobs without inflating your overhead. Windfalls can be great for your business, but only if you build a company that makes money when they disappear. Visit trstimson.com for more resources. Follow Tom on LinkedIn

What do people see when they cross your threshold? Your office, your warehouse, your show site, your backstage area? Does your threshold make prospects say, "These are people I want to work with"? This week's Monday Morning Drive is about the most overlooked marketing tool you have: your physical space. https://www.trstimson.com/the-best-marketing-happens-on-your-turf/

More inquiries are coming in. Pipelines look strong through 2026. But more calls don't mean more good fits. In this episode, I break down how to slow down your sales process, present your value proposition, meet the buyer where they are, and tailor your proposal so you stop chasing bad fits and start winning better work. Listen now and learn the one phrase that might be the most powerful sentence in your sales vocabulary: "I don't think you're ready for us." Visit trstimson.com for more resources. Follow Tom on LinkedIn

Q1 is almost over, and you're still leaving money on the table. Before we get into the fun stuff you can try throughout the rest of the year, let's talk about the non-negotiables. https://www.trstimson.com/stop-line-item-pricing-av/

You'd spend $200,000 on an LED wall without flinching but lose sleep over a $5,000 trucking cost. That's not a budget problem. That's an emotional reaction disguised as a business decision. And it's the same reaction keeping you from investing in the brainpower your company needs to grow. In this episode, I break down how to use data to kill emotion, replace conjecture with facts, and make the decisions that separate growing companies from stagnant ones. Listen now and learn what "expensive" really means. Visit trstimson.com for more resources. Follow Tom on LinkedIn

I've been in this industry for 40 years. At the beginning of every Q1, I reflect on what moved the needle and what's ahead. For most of my career, reflection centered on technology: new projectors, digital video, wireless frequencies, programmable lighting consoles. Each generation of gear required a specialized technician to make it all work. That era is over. https://www.trstimson.com/av-industry-trends-2026/

The words you use every day are costing you money. "Rental" tells buyers to shop around. "Labor" makes your team sound replaceable. "Markup" is fools math. And "closing deals" is a fiction in an industry where nothing stays final. These aren't harmless habits. They're profit leaks hiding in plain sight. Listen to this week's episode and learn the 10 common words undermining your value, why they're so dangerous, and what to say instead. Your vocabulary is either building your business or devaluing it. Time to find out which. Visit trstimson.com for more resources. Follow Tom on LinkedIn

Economists are predicting steady growth through 2029. Sounds like good news. But a rising tide only lifts boats that float. If your business model has holes, an improving economy won't save you. It'll expose you. https://www.trstimson.com/growing-economy-wont-save-your-business/

You're proud of your customer retention rate. But what if the customers you're holding onto are the ones draining your business from the inside? Bad customers are like impurities in clay. You can blend them in with the good ones all you want, but they don't get better. They just weaken everything around them. Shrinking margins, price resistance, and dangled promises of future work are all signs you're subsidizing revenue instead of growing it. Listen to this week's episode and learn how to stop chasing more revenue and start improving the revenue you have by churning out the clients who don't belong in your mix. Visit trstimson.com for more resources. Follow Tom on LinkedIn

People who do shows for a living do shows. People who plan shows for a living keep planning while other shows are in progress. That's the difference between staying busy and actually growing. https://www.trstimson.com/how-planning-evolved/

"Where do I find good people?" I hear it on almost every coaching call. But here's the real question: why aren't good people finding you? Candidates see your team, your freelancers, and your reputation. And if you've settled for mediocre in any seat, the best people already know. Listen to this week's episode and learn why the best hire you'll ever make starts with a firing, what candidates actually see when they evaluate your company, and four signs you picked the right person. Visit trstimson.com for more resources. Follow Tom on LinkedIn

You know the cycle: crazy busy for weeks, then nothing on the books. Your team is burned out, but you can't stop selling because you don't know where the next job is coming from. So, you chase all revenue equally. You fill your calendar with unprofitable work. You turn down good jobs because you're "too busy" with bad ones. On this week's Monday Morning Drive, I break down how to forecast so you stop lurching from crisis to crisis. https://www.trstimson.com/feast-or-famine-in-event-production/

Don't need a bigger warehouse. You need to address the hot mess behind your shelves. Your team is burning time hunting for gear you already own. Cables in milk crates. Adapters hoarded behind desks. Five different homes for the same connector. Listen to this week's episode and learn how to turn your warehouse from a storage disaster into a space that works as hard as your crew does. Visit trstimson.com for more resources. Follow Tom on LinkedIn

Most warehouse managers believe show prep is the most important function in their operation. They're wrong. That logic is flawed. https://www.trstimson.com/stop-prepping-shows-a-week-early/

You can't fix everything in your business. And honestly, you shouldn't try. But the effort to be scalable will fix more problems, more quickly, than any other practice I've ever taught. Scalable companies have half the employees of non-scalable ones, and those employees are twice as good. Listen to this week's episode and learn the three tenets of scalability, why project managers are bad math, and how to stop throwing bodies at bottlenecks. Visit trstimson.com for more resources. Follow Tom on LinkedIn

Right now, as you listen this, do you know what your final revenue will be? Do you know your profit for the year? If you don't, that's because you don't have a budget. https://www.trstimson.com/end-of-year-numbers/

Your rental pricing model isn't honest. Five-day jobs charged as two days. Two salespeople are quoting completely different numbers on the same project. Discounts that exist because "the client asked." This isn't a strategy. It's making it up as you go and hoping customers don't notice. Listen to this week's episode and learn how to build consistent pricing, create one negotiating point instead of five, and stop confusing your customers into distrusting you. Visit trstimson.com for more resources. Follow Tom on LinkedIn

When sales loses confidence, you stop winning jobs. You start selling on price. You hire cheaper people. Finding the right people to work in your business and on your events is your most important task. The rest is easy by comparison. https://www.trstimson.com/why-av-companies-keep-running-out-of-people/

November is panic season. Owners look at next year's calendar, see nothing confirmed, and start making desperate calls about filling their pipeline in 90 days. Marketing won't dig you out of a hole. But it will keep you from falling back into one. Listen to this week's episode and learn the five conversion points that build a pipeline you can count on, and why getting prospects across your threshold doubles your close rate. Visit trstimson.com for more resources. Follow Tom on LinkedIn

You walk onto a show site with a crew you've never worked with, and within ten minutes, you know exactly how the day is going to go. In this week's Monday Morning Drive, I recall my days as a college stagehand, where we routinely outperformed professional venue crews. Here's how. https://www.trstimson.com/five-rules-that-shaved-two-hours-off-every-load-in/

CRM feels like busywork when you're waiting on RFPs. Enter a lead, update a status, log a call. For what? But your projects now span months before you have anything to quote. Your rental management system was never built to track any of that. CRM is where your sales life actually happens. Listen to this week's episode and learn 10 data points that will make your CRM useful for everyone, how to forecast 12–18 months out, and why you should stop calling jobs you didn't win losses. Visit trstimson.com for more resources. Follow Tom on LinkedIn

The industry I love no longer makes sense. The language we use, the way we price, the way we think about what we do… it's all built on a foundation that crumbled years ago. We just haven't noticed. We're too comfortable with how we've always done it. What most of you do isn't rental, and it's not even close. https://www.trstimson.com/the-language-of-self-destruction/

There's a non-zero chance 2026 could devastate your business. There's also a chance it could be your best year ever. Why don't you know which one? Too many owners are smoking hopium, expecting things to "just work out." That's not a forecast. That's a fantasy. Listen to this week's episode and learn how I spotted trouble six months before 9/11, the three numbers that reveal your business's future, and how to stop hoping and start knowing. Visit trstimson.com for more resources. Follow Tom on LinkedIn

Last week, I explained the difference between clients and customers: Clients bring you all their work; customers make you earn it every time. This week, let's talk about the mechanics. How do we actually price and sell to each? Get your notepad out. https://www.trstimson.com/your-best-customer-doesnt-deserve-a-discount/

The road goes on forever, as the song says. I always figured I'd do this work until I couldn't anymore. But I've had time to think, and I've learned a lot along the way. In 2026, Jumpstart is retiring, Club is staying, and I'm making room for the life I've been putting off. Listen to this week's episode to hear what's changing, what's not, and why the last clients I take in my career might include you. Visit trstimson.com for more resources. Follow Tom on LinkedIn

You need to understand the difference between a customer and a client and never treat one like the other. I was working with a large organization making the transition to being more client-focused. Business development was doing its job, bringing in opportunities. Then came a chance to add a major university to their portfolio through a small event. They walked away from it because they felt they were too busy. I came unglued on them. https://www.trstimson.com/customer-vs-client/

Have you ever said to a customer, "That's not what we agreed to"? If your customer is asking or demanding to alter the agreement — or remembering things incorrectly — it's your job to say so. https://www.trstimson.com/stop-letting-clients-control-your-projects/

Twenty years ago, I walked into a new client's office and found dead fish floating in a neglected tank and cubicles stuffed with trash bags. That's the power of a threshold. It's the moment someone steps into your space and decides whether you're legit. Listen to this week's episode and learn how to find your dead fish, get prospects across your threshold, and turn first impressions into your biggest competitive advantage. Visit trstimson.com for more resources. Follow Tom on LinkedIn

Proposals should be routine in your business. You write them all the time because customers don't buy AV services over the phone. They need documentation. The problem? Most proposals are terrible. https://www.trstimson.com/proposal-template/

New year, same pricing habits? Still sending proposals without deadlines and itemizing every line like it's 2005? Your competitors have moved on. Your customers have seen the difference. In this episode, I'm covering what you should already be doing in 2026 and what you need to start trying. Packages that sell shows instead of gear. Cost-plus pricing that simplifies negotiation. Good-until dates that kill dead deals. Listen now and make this the year you stop making excuses. Visit trstimson.com for more resources. Follow Tom on LinkedIn

If an increasing number of buyers are revealing that they don't really understand what they need for their event or what you do, then listen to this week's Monday Morning Drive. https://www.trstimson.com/your-sales-team-is-speaking-the-wrong-language/

What's changing our industry? More women in leadership. A younger workforce that rejects hero culture and relationship selling. And a balance philosophy that keeps your best people off the show site so they can sell and plan the next project. These changes aren't coming. They're here. And the companies embracing them are winning faster than those clinging to old-school thinking. Listen to this week's episode and find out which trends will carry you into 2026 and which habits might hold you back. Visit trstimson.com for more resources. Follow Tom on LinkedIn

I get calls every day from folks who want to talk about marketing. It was the number one topic in 2025. So, we chat. You tell me your plans. Then, I ask about your email list. https://www.trstimson.com/stop-culling-your-email-list/

As we head into 2026 with steady economic growth ahead, some companies will thrive while others quietly sink, propped up by subsidies they don't even know they're riding on. Your biggest challenge isn't the economy. It's whether your business will float when everyone else starts rising. Listen to this week's episode and learn why throwing labor at problems is a death spiral, how to win the talent war by hiring fewer people who are twice as good, and why pricing strategy matters more than revenue growth. Visit trstimson.com for more resources. Follow Tom on LinkedIn

This Monday Morning Drive isn't about how you price yourself. It's about the perception of value of someone who does someone else's shows for a living versus a company that gets their customer's show done for them. https://www.trstimson.com/best-people-to-do-shows-done/

Most companies think planning means putting out fires. It doesn't. Planning means building systems that work without you. Alford Media evolved from throwing cables in cardboard boxes to building repeatable systems. Every time we solved a problem, we turned that solution into a system. When planning works, your crew shows up with everything they need. You don't deal with surprises, late-night calls, or scrambling. Listen to this week's episode and learn how to stop firefighting and start building systems that scale your business without burning you out. Visit trstimson.com for more resources. Follow Tom on LinkedIn