Nowhere are the contrasting styles of strategy and management more evident between Japan and the United States than in hybrid car technology. Pop quiz -- what flagship vehicle from anyone of the Big Three comes to mind when you think of the "hybrid" moniker?

Thinking, thinking'

Now the same question for Japanese manufacturers. How quickly did Toyota's Prius come to mind? If you could even find one today on crowded dealer lots, you'd pay a premium for it, despite falling gas prices.

Here's the kicker -- and something all of us can learn from in regard to making a product that's so dialed in and coveted you can charge a premium price for it. You can't cost justify the additional expense of the Prius versus domestic or otherwise in gas savings alone! Instead Toyota created a molten hot product by capturing the very real, but very challenging to define, consumer "green mindset." The mindset that puts a premium on environmental impact of the products consumers buy.

The question for all of us regardless of industry and marketplace is, how do we define the "green mindset" that either exists today or surely will tomorrow in our markets spaces? And then, how do we position our companies and products to capitalize on this ever increasing consumer perception to create our own version of the Toyota Prius?!

Furthermore, it is becoming no longer politically acceptable the world over to be in business for the mere profit of it. The emergence of these two factors has propelled green technology embracers like Toyota to the forefront in their field. By rewarding forward-thinking companies with their patronage, consumers have spoken with their most powerful voice -- their wallets! If you haven't heard them yet, and responded accordingly in your market, there's only one thing that's certain, some other eco-prenuer will!

I come from the camp where luck happens when opportunity meets preparedness. So take a lesson from America's decidedly "unlucky" Big Three and prepare your company now for the emerging green movement that has no limitations on its reach. You just might be rewarded with your own "Prius" product in the process.

If business is war, here's a pertinent analogy. In Patton, the famous movie featuring George C. Scott depicting World War II Gen. George Patton, one scene stands out. Walking amongst casualties of a battle, with blood and guts and carnage everywhere, Scott, playing Patton, looks to the heavens and says, "God help me because I love this stuff!" Gen. Patton was one of this country's greatest strategist and military leaders, even if he was a bit twisted. As an entrepreneur, you too have to be a bit twisted to do what you have to do day in and day out to succeed despite today's chaotic times.

Personally, I could not muster the resolve to do the hard work if it weren't for the motivating factors of our country's and my organization's challenging times. It's exasperating to have to downsize good people in order to do what I have to do in right-sizing my ship. But you can't, as an entrepreneur, not respond aggressively to threats to your organization from outside influences. Being paralyzed, in today's paralyzing times, is just not an option if you are going to survive. Instead, the media, the banks, the instability we face, needs to fuel the entrepreneurial fires in a way the status-quo business environment never could on its own.

Today, everything we do and how we do it is being sifted through with a fine-tooth comb to make certain of the cost-benefit returns on our investment. When the cow's fat, how do you motivate an individual or team or even an organization to do that? Like every business today, we need to increase sales while decreasing costs and Houdini ain't around to help us. That's why the last thing any of us can afford to do today is to be paralyzed by fear. To quote another famous American leader who said this in the middle of our country's worst economic times, The Great Depression, "So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself -- nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. In every dark hour of our national life a leadership of frankness and vigor has met with that understanding and support of the people themselves which is essential to victory." (In case it doesn't sound familiar, that was President Franklin D. Roosevelt during his Inaugural Address, March 4, 1933.)

As entrepreneurs, it is up to us to prevent fear -- however well founded it is -- from gripping our organizations and creating company-paralyzing self-fulfilling prophecies. I say, praise God for the motivation that's been amply provided by our economy today and the subsequent motivating resolve it brings about in me.

But what if, the author wonders, we used an executive search firm -- the way businesses usually do -- to qualify our next President? What criteria would a president of the United States or a CEO be judged by as an indicator of success? Mission critical factors were organized into seven categories: strategic skills, operating skills, courage, energy and drive, organizational positioning skills, and personal and interpersonal skills. Both quantifiable hard skills and less quantifiable soft skills compose a great leader. What I found interesting about the piece was the general consensus from executive search firms that when leaders fail, it's almost always related to soft skills. People IQ, self-awareness, chemistry, values, ability to motivate, etc.

Edward Santimauro of executive search firm Korn/Ferry International says "study after study says executives fail not because of their technical skills or industry experience but because of their lack of ability to lead and fit into a culture." The conclusion: it's not what someone knows or who someone knows. Instead, the most important factor in an executive's success is the soft skills. Teamwork, motivation, leading others while playing well and overall chemistry with the organization they are in charge of.

The soft skills come naturally for some, but are the hardest things to master for others. That's a lesson every leader needs to be cognizant of when striving for success.

Family: With two young boys and a wife who have to put up with my hectic schedule the rest of the year, I get a chance to be at home all day and night, which goes a long way for family unity. The old Cat's in the Cradle thing is ever on my mind, and the rewards of spending time with my family when the kids aren't in school are immeasurable.

Books: I'm notorious for getting a book, starting it, and then getting another before I've finished the first. In any given week, two or three new books hit my desk and all of them come highly recommended. By the end of the summer, I could be a walking, talking encyclopedia of the latest business topics, all because I'd finally taken the time to catch up with my library and actually finish the books I've started.

Vision: Is it not true that the best business ideas occur when your nose isn't against the grindstone?! Many people find their vision comes when they're in the shower; for me it's on the pier, pen in hand, that I think the most clearly. The running joke when I do pop my head back in the office is, "Oh no, The Pond Guy's back from vacation! Watch out!" And it's true, the majority of my ideas come when I'm not in the office.

Me Time: You know how easy it is to get fat when you're on the road doing client dinners every night and flying to another city the next day?! I'm not making excuses, but it sure is easier when you're home to roll out of bed and use your own weights instead of some Nautilus machine in a converted hotel room. And with my dog always ready to go for a run, I drop a good 10 to 15 pounds and love every minute of it.

Knowing how productive my time away from the office is for me, I felt organizationally we could benefit if more people invested more time to work on the business outside of our four walls. I even offered to spring for anyone, from managers to customer service personnel, to get a "cabin in the woods" on the company's dime to do just that. But alas, I only had a few takers. The grind of daily duties and life -- along with a realistic fear that I would look for big things from them upon their return -- kept this concept from every taking off organizationally.

I'm still a staunch believer that clearing one's head and stepping back periodically changes one's view while re-charging not only your own batteries but those of the ones you love as well. For me that means summer. And summer can be the best business and personal investment you make. If you drop a few unwanted pounds in the process, it can be even better!

Newsflash: People, even when given a choice of thinking logically and getting beneficial results, will often act emotionally despite the consequences. The effects of this irrational behavior on businesses can be far reaching. And it has many causes. Here's one: A person's internal barometer for "fairness," the researchers point out, is a powerful emotion that "sways" even the most straight forward of business decisions. One case study in particular struck a chord with me:

A nationwide survey of car dealers revealed that when it comes to buying cars from manufacturers, the dealers didn't focus on the results of these transactions -- did I overpay? did I receive high quality inventory? Instead, the dealers cared more about how manufacturers behaved toward them. According to the research, what mattered to the dealers wasn't just whether they felt they got a good deal; they evaluated their transactions on such seemingly insignificant details as whether the manufacturer took "pains to learn the local conditions under which dealers operate," whether the manufacturer acted in a "polite and well mannered" fashion, and whether the manufacturer "treated dealers with respect." Indeed "fairness" factors mattered more to dealers than bottom-line profitability. To me, if there was ever a way to quantify the power of relationships in business, this dealer case study demonstrates it!

The authors point out one final take-away that struck close to home with me. "The researchers concluded that business owners place too great importance on margins and outcomes. They recommended that all managers -- regardless of industry -- put greater "effort, energy, investment, and patience" into nurturing the relationship. In the end, "the fairness of the procedure has as much to do with our satisfaction as the ultimate outcome."

Here, in this case study, I found the rationale to explain the irrationality of past business relationships gone sour. Far too often I, and I imagine other business owners, fight emotions with logical facts -- which in the end rarely results in swaying someone who simply feels you somehow done 'em wrong. It's a classic case of being so right you're wrong. How irrational is that?!

So the next time you're logically stating your case, just remember that those ears you're hell bent on convincing just might be wired with a little emotional baggage of their own. In the end, it's only through the development of relationships that you can truly hear what the customer is thinking, irrationality and all!

It was a cold and rainy day when I talked to him and Mike was in the middle of doing pond cleanouts, which is something more than one person has suggested would be perfect for the Discovery Channel's show, "Dirty Jobs." Figuring he might be bemoaning his mid-life career decision, at least at that moment, I ribbed him a little about his decision. What Mike said next made me smile wide. In all seriousness and with passion that would make infomercial guru Billy Mays proud, Mike declared to me, "The worst day in the field is better than the best day in the office." Here's a guy who had a degree, worked everyday on a CAD program designing interior spaces, and chucked all that so he could be outside doing something he really loved. He wasn't going to let a little inclement weather and a tough job dampen his spirits. Boy could I relate!

The best days for me are the rare ones I get to be out in the field slinging rocks and using a shovel. The sense of satisfaction derived from creating something from nothing produces a much more tangible sense of accomplishment than yet another meeting or reading another report. One day tends to blend into the next when I'm using only my noodle and not my muscles. Maybe that's why so many white-collar guys still enjoy cutting their lawns, perfect lines and all -- breathing in the fresh air and enjoying the process of seeing direct results from their actions.

The moral of the story? There's something to be said for doing a physical job that produces immediate results from your efforts. Mike's refreshing outlook made my outlook brighter. Because of my love for ponds, and our longtime friendship, my college buddy had become such a pond lover that he, too, had made it his career. And to me, that makes my desk job worth it -- seeing people who were burned out have their passion renewed. That's what makes my switch from the field worth it, I guess. But it still doesn't change the fact that, "The worst day in the field is better than the best day in the office." Kudos to all the other "Mikes" out there who are doing what they love.

Michael Gerber chronicles the trappings of entrepreneurs in his classic business book "The E-Myth." Aquascape's customer base is a classic Gerber case study in technicians who start businesses to free themselves from laboring at a trade for someone else -- only to find themselves enslaved by their own two hands. Often the allure of being your own boss soon becomes a case of "be careful what you wish for."

The irony is that so often those who work to help create the lifestyle for their customers end up doing so at the expense of their own lifestyles. Tony has managed to avoid that trap, and that's why he's one of my favorite people. Anyone who spends five minutes with the man will see the positive impact that living the same lifestyle he sells has had on Tony, his wife, and all those he touches. He's so filled with life, love, and optimism -- is it any wonder that his business is flourishing?! If only you could bottle a little bit of what Tony's got and get others to drink it, the world would be a better place. Now that's the kind of Kool-Aid I'd like to sell!

But, alas, for every Tony there are dozens more who feel trapped in a cage of their own making. The good news for all those who feel that way is that the solution is at hand. One of the things you need to do is to try to do what Tony did: Focus most of your effort on doing the things you're good at and try to off-load the things you're not good at. And if you think that involves hiring people with money you don't have -- think again. Tony downsized from multiple crews and multiple headaches to one full-time and one part-time guy. Today, his profits are better than ever! Just goes to show that finding the elusive Holy Grail of a work/life balance might just be as simple as living the lifestyle you sell.

HR tries to get any new employees slotted into these brackets and to round out any open slots with whomever else wants in. The goal of these sessions is for me to get to know the employees a little better (and vice-a-versa) -- while offering my advice on how they can succeed here. Although the sessions always seem to end on a high note, they often begin -- especially with new employees -- with some trepidation. The other day, however, I had anything but the normal interaction with a new employee hired for our construction division.

"Nate" (his real name!) came up to my office and almost immediately took over. He had done his research and knew I liked to get a lot of information on someone's likes and dislikes, past experiences, and in general what it is that makes them tick. I've been known to rapid-fire questions as I go through this process while sizing up the best synergies for us to work together.

Not with Nate, though! He whipped out a prepared sheet of paper with all the relevant and even some non-relevant personal information that was not only articulate but quite creative and even downright funny. I found myself laughing out loud as we went through his list. The 15 minutes flew by way too fast, and the interaction ended with a great first impression of our new construction guy.

Now, I don't know if Nate will ultimately be a star here, but here's what I do know. He sure took an opportunity -- one many others enter with hesitation -- and used his "15 minutes" to leave a lasting first impression. I now find myself asking his boss and even his co-workers on a regular basis, "How's that Nate kid doin'?" I think it's pretty obvious to them that I'm curious for good reasons, and I can only imagine that's going to help him in their minds: "Hey, if the boss is so interested in this new guy, there must be somethin' special about him." And so far, the reports I'm getting back on his impact are fantastic.

The moral of the story? There are probably a few, but as an employer, it's such a breath of fresh air when you get an employee who takes a fairly routine interaction and turns it into so much more. I just felt moved to blog on it. I also felt there may be a few of you out there who have similar stories of people working with you that might serve as an inspiration for others. There are probably more than a few good apples out there just lookin' for their own 15 minutes to shine. Got any stories of your own?

In 2008, the ALA will introduce more than 700 young men to industry leaders, scientists, motivational speakers, and successful entrepreneurs -- all there to share the life lessons they've learned outside the classroom. Where were these kinds of programs when we were going to school?!

Whatever information I give each year, I get back just as much, if not more, from these young men. As much as I try to stay hip and cool -- and even though I'm only 37 and college seems not that long ago -- the generation gap is ever present. I've seen professional speakers who are used to motivating rooms full of other middle-aged business people bumble over words they've spoken many times before, semi-paralyzed at addressing a t-shirt wearing, sandal clad, next generation. As unusual a situation as it is for many of the speakers, however, it is even more unusual for the young men eager to hear things they probably never heard in school or at home.

What they hear is exactly the kind of stuff all kids should get a chance to hear -- one generation talking to the next on lessons of life, love, and regret; on victories and defeats; on getting up after you fall -- all dished out from the same real world these men will soon be facing. And as impossible as it is to summarize with one word exactly what it is they get out of these sessions, I'd say "confidence" comes close -- confidence that with the right attitude, the hard work needed to succeed at whatever endeavor they pursue, and the ability to dream big and then stretch to get there, yes, it's possible they too can succeed. Their ears, their minds, and their hearts need to know this, and you can just feel the positive energy throughout the sessions. I always leave charged by that energy and feeling good that I played a small part in generating it.

Here's where the business part comes in. Many of the people who work with me at Aquascape and with you at your companies are the same age as the ones who go through the ALA each year. Why deprive them of the important thoughts, words, and feelings their minds, hearts, and souls so desperately need? If there's one thing almost everyone from our younger generation needs to hear from us, it's the encouragement and confidence to believe in themselves. They might be as scary to us with their iPod rocking ways as we are to them, but it's our genuine interest in them that just might give them the confidence they lack in themselves to make their dreams a reality.

So, the next time you're riding that young worker for yet another mistake, take a step back and think about yourself at 20-something and what it is you know now that you didn't then. Then share it! It just might make all the difference in the world. For both of you.

The predicament facing the mid-sized town of South Bend is repeated to a greater or lesser extent in towns throughout North America -- totaling, according to some estimates, a trillion dollars worth of infrastructure upgrades. For instance, in the much larger province of Ontario, Canada, government affiliates faced with the same dilemma have enacted some of the most extreme solutions yet. What started out as a voluntary disconnection of residential downspouts three years ago to stem the flow of water into a system already at capacity has officially been enacted as law. Today, all new residential construction projects must create on-property water retention capabilities and -- get this! -- all existing home sites must be retrofitted to retain surface rainwater over a period of time.

But two big problems exist -- which is also where the opportunities come from -- for officials faced with this dilemma. First is a lack of qualified installers and second is a lack of turn-key solutions for these contractors to install.

Here's where the Aquascape rain water harvesting system comes in (see Turning Threats into Opportunities and a New Direction). Aquascape is branching out of its traditional market -- decorative water features, currently regarded as part of the problem (use of limited fresh water) -- and turning that problem into part of the solution. Aquascape didn't invent rain water harvesting. We never said we did! By the way, we also never said we invented decorative water features, either. The ancient Romans can claim both, but they're all dead now anyway. Aquascape is in good company in that regard, though. McDonald's didn't invent the hamburger, and GE most certainly didn't create the light bulb. Does it matter?

Aquascape is seeking solutions to a problem that's not going away. What we need today is to stop thinking about traditional solutions -- a trillion in infrastructure upgrades! Please! -- and start devising practical solutions at the residential level. What I'm trying to say is these very real global problems also spell very big opportunities for entrepreneurs willing to think both creatively and magnanimously. There's so much opportunity here considering the scale of the problem. Maybe as entrepreneurs we should spend less time debating the need for such systems and more time getting much needed solutions to the market?! We have an overwhelming task ahead of us. But as they say, the best way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time. We're just sitting down to an all-you-can-eat buffet here. There's plenty of room at the table. I'm hungry! How about you?

Case in point: for a while now, we have recognized water restrictions as a threat to selling water features. But it wasn't until last year that we seriously focused on this element of our S.W.O.T. analysis. Seeing how severely water restrictions affected our customers in the Southeast, we knew it was high time to turn this threat into an opportunity. I'm excited to finally reveal (see When Not Hitting Your Numbers is a Good Thing) our much speculated on, new venture. In 2008, Aquascape is debuting our Rainwater Harvesting system, which is designed to turn a threat (water restrictions) into an opportunity (capture your own water on-site and reuse it). Never have we put more thought and planning into the roll-out of a new product. That's because unlike other Aquascape products and programs, Rainwater Harvesting launches us -- and our customers who choose to adapt their business model -- into a whole new and exciting aspect of our industry.

Two weeks ago, my president, T.D. Decker, and I, along with Ed Beaulieu (in his new role as C.S.O., that's Chief Sustainability Officer), and a select group of CACs (Certified Aquascape Contractors) installed a Rainwater Harvesting system for Disney World's Gardens of the Future exhibit at Epcot. Wow is all I can say! This is the sixth year we have built a display for Disney and the buzz this one has already generated far exceeds any previous exhibits. Disney -- and for that matter the world in general -- is thinking Green. Aquascape has always been a proponent of helping the environment; we build ecosystem water features, after all. When we began designing our headquarters, called Aqualand, in 2003, Green buildings were just becoming vogue. Today, we hope our launch into Rainwater Harvesting will inspire many not only to think about how precious fresh water is but also to create practical options that people can use at home to improve the environment. And by doing just that, we've turned a threat into an opportunity for our organization and the customers we serve.

The Pond Guy, T.D. Decker, Ed Beaulieu, and a select group of Certified Aquascape Contractors introduce the Aquascape Rain Water Harvesting system to the world at Disney's Epcot Center.

But taking an opportunity and actually generating income from it takes work. And the best way to do that for any organization is to align your company's strengths behind your efforts. Aquascape's strength is in its training and education. We're also good at creating simple solutions to complex problems, packaging them, and creating the right marketing to fuel demand.

For 2008 we have a week-by-week timeline to do just that with Rainwater Harvesting. If you couple the leveraging of our strengths with the blocking and tackling of business -- such as trademarked product names and patent-pending applications for the technology we've developed --- you put in place the final pieces of the puzzle of turning a threat into an opportunity.

Now more than ever, if you're trying to succeed in a challenging economy you need to understand your organization's Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. Only then will you be able to maximize your efforts for the betterment of yourself, your customers, and maybe even the environment in the process.

We are definitely feeling the effects of the economy on our business. After a record January, we missed February's sales goal and March isn't looking any better. But what do you do when you can't guarantee sales and you're trying to serve customers, invest in the future, and maintain profits?

First and foremost, we're increasing our efforts to promote our traditional products in current markets and in new markets, and we're doing the things that made Aquascape "Aquascape" in the first place -- creating innovative new products for new markets. In other words, we're promoting, innovating, and doing everything we know how to do in order to spur sales growth in an increasingly challenging market. We are focusing on initiatives that have low cost and immediate returns. That's the offensive side of things and as a tried-and-true entrepreneur, I just love it. And we're really good at this!

But also as a tried-and-true entrepreneur, I've learned what happens when offense is my only strategy. I ignore the doom and gloom, attempting to will my top line into being -- and I come up short. We need to have a defensive strategy! Although contrary to my nature, I'm learning to appreciate this. When sales aren't there, the only way you're going to hit your numbers is by shrinking your overhead to increase profitability.

This is something we all know, but aren't all good at. I guess you football fans out there would call this a preventive defense. And as any offensive-minded fan would tell you, the bend-but-don't-break strategy is a great way to lose! The challenge in bending but not breaking is to know where to bend so you don't break. Most of us don't have a crystal ball to predict sales with the same degree of certainty that we can predict expenses.

That's why I'm letting my president and defensive coordinator -- ironically, he's a former quarterback at Army -- make the calls, controlling overhead spending and capital expenses to ensure profitability. Last week, we made the decision to delay the start of the implementation of our new IT system that I spoke of in "Circling the Wagons." Business expenses are being scaled to fit the top line. Team input, buy-in, and communication are mission critical. I'm counting on my defensive coach to communicate clearly with me and the team and then stay the course. If these sales trends continue, we will need to further shrink ourselves if we're going to be profitable in 2008. If this turns out to be the case, then so be it. As an offensive coordinator, does that make me grit my teeth? Hell, yes! But I'd rather formulate my strategy assuming a less-than-desirable outcome and come out with a win, than predict a perfect game and end up with a loss. Sometimes the defense wins the game. I'm learning this now more than ever in my business.

This year will test me in ways I've never been tested. I'm resolved to win. I'm resolved to learn. My goal with this blog has always been to help others with what I've learned in the often hard and gritty world of business -- even if what I've learned has been difficult at times. I only hope that by writing about our experiences, it helps you in your business.

That's right, despite -- or actually because of -- the bleak economic outlook for 2008, we're investing in key strategic initiatives that will help us in the future. The last thing anyone should do in a down market is cut, cut, cut. All you're doing by doing that is hastening the inevitable. But that's probably what your competition is doing, which is a golden opportunity for you if you play your cards right.

Going into 2008, we freed up two million in cash to invest in key strategic initiatives. And yes, if you're new to this blog, that included a reduction in force of 21 people in December. It wasn't a pretty thing, but outside of getting blood from a turnip our options were limited coming out of flat sales. Now, instead of circling the proverbial wagons in 2008, we're in the early stages of a Herculean organizational-wide effort to change our IT operating system, which is a capital investment of more than a million dollars. The additional investments are for training our new distributors, upgrading our website, making key hires, and developing new products for the future.

It's important to note that when we did the reduction in force, we didn't just cut 15% of the people. Many companies do this, and it is a huge mistake because the remaining 85% of the people are left to do the same amount of work and are told to just work harder. Trying to do more with less is a surefire way to do things wrong, burn out your people, or waste efforts better invested elsewhere. Instead we reviewed all our initiatives and determined which no longer make sense or are not getting as big a return on investment as some of the other key initiatives that we want to execute. So we eliminated initiatives that no longer made sense. Hey I loved our magazine, Aquascape Lifestyles, as much if not more than the next guy, but when we discontinued the magazine we correspondingly reduced our workforce. So we slaughtered sacred cows and freed up scarce resources to be used elsewhere.

The moral of the story? In a down market you must resist the urge to circle the wagons. You need to send out pioneers into new markets, while reinvesting in core strategic initiatives. In order to do that, when sales are unpredictable at best, you need to eliminate areas that may have great sentimental value -- pet projects, people, and status quo modes of operating. And if you do it wisely, you'll end up healthier, happier, and possibly even more prosperous than when the cow was fat. Adversity shapes us as people, and a down economy forces a business to get leaner and stronger. That is, providing you're willing to do the hard things in running your business, and not just circle the wagons!

It's going places I have never been before, and I believe and know that's a good thing, actually a very good thing for all our customers. For as much as I've deliberately branded Aquascape with my thumbs up, Carpe Diem personality (Marketing 101), the company I created has outgrown me many times over. And that's been my gameplan from the beginning. Our earliest rallying cry was "Changing the Way the World Builds Ponds." To achieve that lofty goal, I knew I needed to get others on my team, as well as customers and distributors who bought into my vision. Today, we have more or less achieved that vision since skimmers and falls -- a foreign concept when we entered the market -- are now the norm for water features. Today, what drives Aquascape is less about changing the way ponds are built or even retailed and more about our focus on how to make our customers successful.

For those of you who are curious about evolving your business, there's a great new book that speaks to the heart of the matter. The Breakthrough Company, by Keith McFarland, articulates far more completely than I can post in a blog how "Everyday Companies Become Extraordinary Performers." In a nutshell, McFarland (an Inc. blogger himself!) reveals his findings after having studied 7,000 companies — every company to make the Inc. 500 list of fastest-growing companies.

McFarland's biggest assertion is that for a fast-growing company to continue to grow, it needs to "crown the company." To do that, an entrepreneur must put the firm's best interests above his or her own. The company's leadership must be centered on serving the company, rather than having the company serve the founder. Companies fail to grow not so much because the company outgrows the leader but because the leader fails to change his leadership style. My bull-in-the-china-shop approach might have helped me not only survive but thrive in the early years, but today it can be detrimental to our organization. When this happens, I get coaching from my new President, T.D. Decker. T.D.'s a professional manager I brought in last year to help take the company to the next level, and he fits McFarland's mold perfectly. Sure, T.D. has the pedigree, the MBA, the experience running four other companies -- including a $3 billion hedge fund -- but more importantly he has the servant leadership style that's needed to align himself behind Aquascape's higher cause. And I know T.D. and our management team are committed to doing what is best for Aquascape.

In summary, I've come to realize that for Aquascape to go to the next level, it can no longer be just about The Pond Guy -- even if I've made my name and image synonymous with the brand. It's about the higher cause that Aquascape strives to achieve. And paramount to pursuing that cause is our customers' success today and tomorrow. I've come to realize that Aquascape can no longer be the ready-fire-aim organization that I'm so naturally wired to be. I've got to change, if I want Aquascape to grow. So get used to the Greg "chill pill" ' to a point. Change isn't a bad thing. A tough thing, yes, but not a bad thing when you're crowning a company to serve your customers.

How about 100 million dollars? Sounds a lot like Mike Myers' character Dr. Evil in the Austin Powers movies, raised pinky and all.

I started to use the code name 100MM as a shorthand way to say a whole lot of things without actually saying them. It was catchy, it sounded like a nice round number, it meant so many different things that I couldn't get out one by one. So, I just kept saying, "I want Aquascape to be a 100MM dollar company." Unfortunately, this also created a whole lot of misunderstandings -- namely that Aquascape was only about money.

I want to take the time to lay out exactly what I mean when I say I want Aquascape to be a 100MM company. To me, when Aquascape hits 100MM, it will mean:

People will actually know what a water garden is vs. thinking it's a sprinkler system, a fountain, or the myriad other responses I get when I tell people, "I build water gardens."

People will want water features as a lifestyle upgrade and won't associate them with high maintenance nightmares!

Our customers will feel respected and valued and will choose to do business with us because they appreciate our knowledge and relationships and our ability to offer the most profitable opportunities for their business.

Our employees will be part of a team with a higher purpose and their opportunity for advancement will be commensurate with their abilities.

We will impact the environment positively and in a sustainable way by launching products and solutions that are cutting edge in regard to capturing, cleaning, and recycling the world's most vital resource, water.

Finally, when we hit "100MM," we will have reached a scale and profitability that allows us to increase our humanitarian efforts like the ones we're currently engaged in with Africa and the Dominican Republic, bringing clean water to people whose lives are at risk every day without it.

It's exhausting just thinking about it. And that's exactly why it's worthy of my pursuit!

There's one more analogy I want to offer, and I promise it will be my last. 100MM represents the gold medal to me. I guess you could argue that part of the value of a gold medal to an Olympic athlete is in the value of the gold itself. The weight of that gold however is only a fraction of the sweat that was shed to get it and only a fraction of the overall value it represents. Rather, I'd argue that the medal represents the pinnacle of success. It's about being the best and accomplishing something great. It is a symbol. So is my use of 100MM. Being dropped on Everest is not the same as having climbed it! It's about the journey and what you must overcome to get there.

In summary, 100MM is the prize, but only if I get there by building a sustainable business model. That means water gardens go mainstream, the consumer prospers by living the lifestyles, our customers prosper by selling this notion to consumers, our teammates flourish in an organization that stands for something, and the environment wins while we're in a position to give back to the world at least as much and maybe more than we received.

So, it's not about doing 100MM or 50MM or even a billion! It's a code name for doing good things for all of our stakeholders -- from the customers to the consumers to our employees and even the environment we all must learn to live in.

Lastly, 95 percent of all of the companies started never reach 1 million in annual sales. Ninety-five percent of those that do reach 1 million won't ever do 10 million. A 500,000-dollar company doesn't look like a million-dollar one any more than a 50- million-dollar company looks like a 100-million one. I didn't get to 50 million dollars in sales by being a mail order company. I changed my mail order model when we hit 27MM in sales and added distributors. I wasn't going to hit 100mm in sales by only going through the distributors I had in place at the end of '06. Wasn't going to happen. Time will tell if I made the right choice to open up my distributor model. Customers speak with their pocketbooks, and so far we've closed January up 40 percent over last year. Let the games begin!

What was conceived with so much hope and promise quickly morphed into a mud-slinging forum for anyone and everyone to air their feelings. Yes I know a little due diligence or SWAT analysis ahead of time could have easily brought to light the potential risk of creating such a prominent public forum to reveal the inner sanctum of a privately held company. Yet I've never felt the need to allow outside critics or commentators to dictate how I make decisions or live my life. Now I'm wondering if having thick skin -- a trait that has previously served me well, is on its way to becoming my Achilles heel?

But here's what I do know: Family, friends, co-workers, business associates, and even (gulp) customers have questioned the sanity of my continuing with "The Blog?!" What good could come of it they ask? What's your longterm strategy? Why give people a forum to spew their venom? All of these are good questions. I acknowledge that I don't have equally compelling counter arguments for those questions. Clearly, from a business perspective, or from a rational approach, the sane thing to do would be to shut down "The Blog" and go back to my comparatively "boring" business life where all I have to worry about are things like meeting payroll, hitting bank covenants, and making sure Aquascape stays a viable, thriving organization.

Yet there's another side of me that doesn't feel clean about that either. What I'm saying in my blog is the truth as I see it. It might not be pretty, flattering, or sexy, but it's real world. As are the visceral responses it generates.

Of course, there are people who have become angry and hurt, as a result of Aquascape's recent changes -- just as there are people who understand and are eager to move the company forward as a result. Some people like CNN (hard to believe, I know), and others like FOX. My blog is not going to change that, and it's not intended to. It's up to each and every person to come to their own conclusions, based on their interpretations of what I write and what others write in response. That's the real world. And here's the deal from my end. I stand by every blog entry I've posted, every sentence I wrote, and each word in them. Yes, we reduced our labor force to get our spending in line with our sales. So why bother to spin it any other way?

Here's the ultimate blog question to all of you in blog heaven or hell. Should I just button up and close this blog down? Or should I continue to reveal the good, the bad, and the ugly that comes with running any business? You tell me.

In 2007 we opened up our distribution model, going from 71 locations across the country to just shy of 500 today. One general theme drove this model shift … increased access points would mean increased exposure and thus lead to more installations of water features. How's it working one year later? So far, so good, as product sales increased and our end user, the contractor, had more convenient options from which to choose.

One large question still loomed, however. How would the distributors, who had little or no competition in our old model, fare in a new world where Aquascape product was much more available? Considering that The Finish Line has been around since the mid 70's -- David remembers hearing Phil Knight explain how to pronounce Nike -- and has seen its share of competition, I asked David what he thought of our model shift. His answer was as profound as it was simple: Every company has to find it's niche and in so doing become the best at it or risk anonymity or even non-existence. He talked about how The Finish Line had to do that as it jockeyed against national players that were more established (at the time) like The Athletes Foot and even smaller regional mom and pops who all had similar or the exact same product lines. Hmmm. Maybe athletic footwear and ponds ain't that different after all.

And I'd speculate that your business or industry probably isn't that different either. It's a universal truism that all businesses need to find their own niche and align their strengths around it. Aquascape's strength is in its products, training and education, marketing and brand. Our distributors' strengths run the gamut, and it's up to each and every one of them to figure out for themselves how they want to leverage those to service the customer. And the customer, after all, is the only one who truly matters in the end. As for our original distributors who chose to stay on ... so far so good! Almost every one increased sales in an open market, further validating that free market economies work. That is, provided you find your niche!

When the unfortunate decision was reached to reduce head count in the department where this person previously worked, he easily could have left angry and asking, "Why me?" Not this guy. He thanked us for the opportunity we had given him, let us know it was going to be all right, and then, when he was leaving the building, his final words were, "I'll be back." Do those sound like the words of someone who has just been confronted with the unexpected reality that he would be losing his job? Is it any wonder that, when a position opened up in another area, everyone thought first of this guy?

I don't know what it is that makes one person take lemons and make lemonade while another takes 'em and becomes a disgruntled blogger. But here's what I do know. People like this are the ones who not only make it in this world but make the world a better place in the process. And they're also the kind of people I want to build an organization around. The cream always rises to the top while the rest remains -- yes, you guessed it -- on the bottom. It's funny how a little adversity can bring out both the best and worst in people. I'd like to close this post with one of my favorite quotes and one I feel is befitting of this gentleman who manifested his own reality in returning to the Aquascape team:

"It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out where the strong stumbled, or how the doer could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is in the arena, his face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and falls short again and again. There is no effort without error.

But he who tries, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause, at best knows the triumph of high achievement, and at the worst, fails while daring. His place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat." -- Theodore Roosevelt

In my last post (Is Losing Focus Always a Bad Thing?), I mentioned my belief that sticking to our core product line and market had been a cornerstone of Aquascape's success. Yet, when sales growth slowed in 2006 and flat-lined in 2007, I began to feel a breeze which led me to look out a proverbial new window. And what I saw was an exciting view I might never have seen otherwise. Which raises the unanswerable question, Would I -- and the organization I lead -- ever have been able to see the new opportunity we are now poised to jump on if our forecasted sales had actually materialized?

Here's what I do know: My chief strategist and longest-running employee both have been beating the drum for this new opportunity for the last year -- and damn loudly for the last six months. Why did it take me so long to hear what they were saying? Why did someone who loves new challenges and has a ready-fire-aim entrepreneurial make-up sit on the fence until only recently? Those were realities I had refused to acknowledge before but now I say bring it on! If we were sitting on easy street and swimming in cash, would I have this same level of enthusiasm? I think not!

So, yes, I'm stating that if we had realized our sales goals, it would at the very least have muted our new entrepreneurial energies and it might even have killed them. Can you honestly say the motivation to get better is not significantly stronger when you're disappointed?! I'm motivated more than ever to make our evolving mission work. I believe our employees are, too, after seeing the ramifications of unmet sales forecasts. I propose there is indeed a silver lining to unmet sales goals. Now it's up to us to turn that motivation to real gold -- and not the kind that you find at the end of a rainbow.

In the past, I have evaluated options and finally rejected each and every new "opportunity" that presented itself outside of our focus on water features. The lure of making cash simply wasn't great enough to survive the acid question I ultimately used to stay committed to my first love, water gardens. That question was: "Can I be passionate about this new opportunity?" Not, Can I like it? Not even, Can I be excited about it? But, Can I truly love it enough to be passionate about it today, tomorrow and even five years from now? By asking that passion question, I was able to reject other influences and stay focused on my core market, inventing and reinventing my business model along the way (see What Got Us Here Won't Get Us There) but always remaining fully vested in water gardens. That is until now.

For the first time, a new opportunity has presented itself that I believe I can be passionate about today, tomorrow, and five years from now. Additionally, this new opportunity has vastly greater upside than our core business and is just emerging as a new industry. And given that this new opportunity leverages some of our current products (in a different application) as well as many of our organization's core competencies while being sold to our existing customers through our current distribution network, it would seem like a slam dunk! Or is it? That apple looked really good to Eve, too, and look how that worked out!

As an innovative company, we want to take a lesson from the past while keeping an eye on the future in order to become all we can be. The last thing any company can afford to do is to fail to realize, as the railroads and many others have, what its true value is to the market it serves. In the end there's only one thing I know for sure: The ultimate success or failure of any company's expanding mission is up to the market to determine. Here's hoping that by deviating from what made us number one, both Aquascape and our customers will be able to grow more in the future, together becoming all we can be.

P.S. Although the use of Aquascape's business opportunity was intended to illustrate my point -- and not to be the point -- I will reveal in a future blog post what the new opportunity is for those of you who are interested. Assuming things go as I expect they will, it shouldn't be long.

In order to achieve this new vision, we have been working tirelessly to remake Acquascape from the leading direct-to-contractor business to the superior distribution and market development company we want to be. From now on, instead of selling directly to contractors, we will sell our professional line only to distributors who will take responsibility for selling to contractors. Beginning January 1, we will see how our gamble pays off as we refer all callers interested in our professional product line to our extensive distribution network. To even contemplate turning over our customers, the lifeblood of any business, to our network -- a network that didn't even exist one year ago -- seemed preposterous when we first began considering this.

And yet, today, after one year of a full-scale assault, we have increased our distribution access points from 71 to right around 500. What this means is simple. We're putting our customer base in the hands of a distribution network that until now we had supported with a wink-wink. Now, for the first time, we've put our money and our customers where our mouth is. Before we made this strategic decision, I couldn't have said that because I was hedging my bet. On one hand I would claim that I supported distribution because I realized the importance of local access points for our products. On the other hand we would ship products directly to any contractor in any market anywhere -- regardless of the contractor's proximity to one of our distributors. Needless to say, this didn't exactly build goodwill with our distributors. By playing both sides, we came to realize over time that we were doing neither our contractor customers nor our distribution partners any good. Hence the decision to pick a horse and ride it. And the distribution model looked a lot more promising to all of us than the direct-to-contractor model we'd built this business on in the past.

Here's the crux of my argument: By trying to be all things to all people, it's easy to end up being nothing to nobody. So we've made our choice, and a superior distribution and market development company it is. With that, another age-old business dilemma is decided. We have chosen to exchange high margin direct sales for lower margin, higher volume distribution sales. That's the game plan to get us to our goal of $100 million in sales by 2010. The market's there. Water features are still hot with consumers. During the transitional year of 2007, we sold more products -- albeit at a lower margin -- than any previous year. And now we have a network of fully vested distributors to partner with. Needless to say, if this transition fails, so do we. The question is, did we make the right choice? We'll find out soon enough. In the meantime, it's been anything but boring around here, which is the way I like it!

I don't know about other companies, but every time I've ever hired someone to work here, it was because I fully believed I'd be able to make more money with them than without them. In other words, if I pay someone $1 to do something, I expect to make $2 from their efforts or services. It's really that simple! Unfortunately my crystal ball is sometimes blurry, the economy doesn't always cooperate, and I've even been known to invest in ideas expecting future business that somehow doesn't materialize according to my expectations.

For an employee, this same principle holds true in reverse. An employee needs to find a job that pays enough to meet basic needs and also leaves money for discretionary spending. Individuals call this "extra" money, while business owners call it "profit." The employer and employee enter into a relationship for an identical economic need, which is to acquire "extra" money after all the basic needs have been met. No employer starts out intending to just break even, and job hunters always try to find a job that pays more than they need to survive.

What all of this means to employees and owners alike is employment should be viewed as a means to a common end. I will help you realize your dreams and goals associated with employment, such as salary, raises, job satisfaction, security, and benefits, if you will help me realize my dreams and goals, too. If I fail to do my part and am forced to let someone go, then we both lose. Likewise, we also both lose if an employee fails to do his or her part.

When I hire somebody and then have to let them go, I have failed you and I have failed me. The sales we anticipated just didn't happen despite all the time, energy, planning, and money we invested. For those of you who question whether I, as the owner of the company, lose money when sales fall short and budget cuts are necessary, isn't the answer obvious? Of course I do.

But 2008 is a new year and represents a new beginning. We have budgeted for exciting new initiatives, and we could not be more optimistic about the future. I started this company in 1991 with a vision, with passion, and with optimism, and that is exactly how I feel entering 2008. We are forecasting year over year growth in both profit and revenue. The 2008 possibilities are endless!

I knew it wasn't going to be easy but I had no idea how hard it would be. Sitting alongside the HR manager and the department manager, along with each person's direct supervisor, and seeing the full gamut of human emotions in the outgoing employees was, by far, the most emotionally draining experience I've ever had. From quiet resignation to tears, angry words, fear, and even some high fives as the outgoing employees lifted us up. I gave and received 16 hugs out of 17 people, which helped more than it hurt. As for the one who was too hurt/scared/mad, a call to her father hopefully let her know we cared and that it truly wasn't personal.

Wasn't personal huh?! Telling people we could no longer afford them, and seeing, hearing, feeling their pain was as personal an experience as I've ever had. Before doing this, I lived in La La Land about the value, self worth, and genuine need people have for employment. I knew people loved to work here but a job is a job is a job -- or at least that was how I felt before I took that job away. There was the first warehouse laborer, a Hispanic man who had worked for me for eight years and spoke little English, telling me in Spanish even I could understand, "Aquascape mi familia," (bite lip here). There was the young woman saying through tears that she had planned on retiring here (just kill me now and put me out of my misery). Painful as this was, I knew, of course, that what I was going through was 100 times easier than what they would soon be dealing with.

There were three things that allowed me to survive the day: One, the generous severance packages my management team had crafted. Two, the comment from the out-placement firm that our process should be a model for all companies to follow. And three, the real boost came from the calls, emails, and now cards being handed to me by not only those who survived but also a few who left. Today, I'm more inspired than ever to never, ever have to repeat a day like that. Now, the question is, will everyone else move on?

I'll let you know how we're doing and how it's working in my next post. Until then, don't forget it truly is about the people!

Of course, this isn't exactly what I had in mind either, but it is the ugly result of failed expectations. When we hired each of the 17 individuals we will soon have to part ways with, we did so in anticipation of what we thought could be. But what could be didn't happen. And now we can either take the ostrich approach or do what we're doing, pain and all.

Here's how I'm looking at the company's failure to deliver on anticipated results. With each good person lost, we are letting a little dream die. Each person was brought in to further a vision that now must be reined in a little. The dream -- or at least one particular aspect of that dream in relation to each person's role and function -- is no longer cost-justifiable. That's the cold reality of the situation, no more no less. But that's hard for me to swallow, especially when I picture a face for each person we have to let go. Sending them away is like closing the book on all the hope and promise that came with them when they signed on to our company's vision. And yet, I know it's the right thing to do. After all, there are 161 remaining reasons, each one with a dream, that flow into a vision, that I'm responsible for going forward.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Yep, the old Cash is King adage is very appropriate this year. Our top line sales are up, but our overhead is, too, and our gross profit margin is down. This has put me in the classic entrepreneurial dilemma of having too many great ideas -- and not enough money at my disposal to implement them.

Now if you wanted to be a pain in my arse -- or, in other words, my CFO -- you might ask, If my ideas are so great, why don't they produce enough money to pay for themselves? But since this blog post is less about ideas and more about how I've got to dig myself out of this hole, I'm not going to go there ... yet.

Knowing the dilemma I'm up against, my CFO recently gave me a very good but very scary book titled Me, Myself and Bob. Its author, Phil Vischer, is none other than the creator of the Veggie Tales franchise. For those of you who don't know about the meteoric rise and subsequent crash of Veggie Tales, here's all you need to know: Phil Vischer had a dream, he worked tirelessly to make it happen, he was lauded in Christian circles for his message-bearing children's videos, he wanted to become the Christian version of Walt Disney and built an organization around him to become just that -- only to see his empire crumble and his dreams along with it. Enjoyable reading huh?! It turns out Phil's eyes were too big for his stomach or more succinctly his pocket book. My CFO saw in Phil a kindred spirit to me and one I suspect is fairly universal in entrepreneurs everywhere. I want to go pedal-to-the-metal all the time. Bigger! Faster! More! The problem is, driving fast burns fuel, and have you checked out gas prices lately? Maybe with the economy booming or gas prices not being three dollars a barrel, a balls-to-the-wall mentality can succeed ... for awhile. But if there's one thing I have learned in business, it's this: If you want to be successful tomorrow, you better not plan on doing the same thing you did yesterday. Times change, the market changes, business changes, and if you want to survive, you need to change, too, which leads me to the point of this blog post: How the heck do you temper all the things that made your organization your organization and you you when you're faced with a cold bucket of water hitting you in the face during budget meetings?

As I write this, I am facing a 20-percent reduction in our budget going into a new year. Never before have I had to cut back on such a broad scale. Heck, I've never reduced year-over-year spending. Not even once! Now I'm making the choice to do it. How I arrived at this state, and the process I'm using to deal with it, is what this blog will be all about for a while. Where it leads and how deep I go has yet to be determined. What also is up for grabs is how my team, starting with my managers, will respond. And, of course, there's the little question of how I, The Pond Guy, will survive (and hopefully thrive) in a work environment that isn't all about go, go, go.

I shudder to think of it! My first task is to make sure my house is in order and my team is behind me. I'll let you know next time how it goes with my managers.

As the CEO of Aquascape, I feel there is no greater responsibility than guiding and guarding our company culture. The number one thing in any company is its people, because after all, it's people in the end who get things done. By focusing insanely on our people's success, our culture has evolved into one that is extremely extroverted, and even our customers have embraced our business as a model for their own. By leveraging our core philosophy of helping others first and becoming intertwined with our customers' businesses, we became the focus of an 11-page feature story in Inc. magazine in November, 2003, "Building a Marketing Juggernaut." The genesis for the article came after a conversation I had with Inc. editor-at-large Bo Burlingham during a Great Game of Business seminar, which is a leading open-book-management organization. Bo was intrigued by our company's efforts to educate our landscape construction customers on the importance of understanding their own financials. His article chronicled our efforts to teach them the importance of managing their business numbers. It also discussed the family tension between me and my father, who at the time had a competing water-gardening business. A lot has happened since that article appeared, including a business model shift for us and even the acquisition of my dad's business and the patching of our once-strained personal relationship. What hasn't changed is our focus on building a unique company culture and putting our customer's success first.

My goals with this blog are quite simple. I want to be in a position to share my thoughts and those of the people in my organization on how you can create a company culture that rocks and in so doing have a positive impact not only on the people who work in your business but on all the people, customers included, who your company touches. If you want to have a greater legacy on this earth than simply selling or servicing widgets or gadgets (even if those widgets or gadgets are way cool like water features) than you've found the right blog. Life's too short to focus only on cash, sales, and market share. By focusing on others, both internally and externally, and by being part of their development, life's a lot more rewarding. Oh, and if you are still concerned about margins, profit, and financial success, you've still found the right blog. Because what I've seen, again and again, is that by focusing on helping others get what they want ... you get what you want.

Nobody told me this back when I was growing up with a math tutor attached to my hip who helped me to just barely get through school with a lot of C's and even a few D's. Thank God I was good at and subsequently passionate about digging holes and slinging rocks to create beautiful backyard paradises for people to escape to. (And thank God you got credit for passing gym!) Today, I still build ponds periodically but my passion for doing that day in and day out has been supplanted by a passion for helping others do what I was able to do. If that sounds cool to you -- or even if you just hated math and loved gym -- then you're my type of guy or gal. If you have a minute, please let me know how you have leveraged your passion to succeed at what you're doing and how you have built up others around you in the process.

Carpe Diem,
The Pond Guy

Travelers want value, not the cheapest ticket.

Heresy! you might cry. But it's true and the conventional wisdom is wrong.

Ordering la carte is how the public likes to fly. And now the airlines are serving up the menu.

Price has always been key for travelers. But convenience, comfort, schedule are often bigger motivators. How many fliers do you know who'd pay the limit to fly in their favorite seat or to get better meal choices?

Many would pay more to be able to customize their inflight entertainment.

I myself would gladly pony up extra for options like flexible ticket changes, seat upgrades, and bonus loyalty miles.

So, surprise! Fliers are consumers, and consumers have demonstrated they are willing to pay for choice.

That travelers want choices beyond just price and schedule is something the airlines have know for some time. The problem has been that choice translates into complexity; and the airlines have never had the technology to convert that consumer desire into reality. Until recently, that is.

New technologies are coming on-stream that change the game. Good examples of next-generation IT that is empowering airlines with the capability to give customers what they want - more choice - include Flex Pricer and Alta from my company, Amadeus.

These technologies enable the airlines to deliver a variety of fare choices and flight amenities with a straightforward simplicity that was not possible before online. As this technology continues to mature and receives wider adoption, more airlines will be able to tailor services to satisfy customers' specific personal preferences.

In a win-win for both airlines and passengers, new-gen IT lets carriers alter their business models not only to deliver choice on demand, but to build earnings as well. A financially healthy airline is an airline that can deliver better customer service across the board.

In pioneering the la carte strategy, carriers that include Qantas and Air Canada are already "leveraging" this new technology. I'd like to see more airlines follow suit.

Companies like Amadeus continue to evolve the technology needed to showcase these new airline merchandising options. The next big development in this IT arena will be to ensure that travelers can search online for the best options and value at not just one carrier, but several.

Letting customers personalize their trips is the secret both to improved customer loyalty and to improved airline revenue. Sure, there are some out there who say the airlines are merely out to nickel-and-dime customers. But that claim ignores the feedback from vast numbers of consumers who say la carte options are what they want.

Fliers want to pick and choose, and they like getting discounts or credits for services that don't interest them. What customers are resentful about is paying for services they don't want.

When I fly, I want to be the one deciding whether I get an aisle seat or window position; I'll pay more for a spot near a power plug but one as far from the bathroom as possible.

Price my flight choices according to convenience, and I'll decide if I want to pay less to take the red-eye or pay more to eliminate connections.

Sure, I'd shell out more for guaranteed carry-on storage space in the overhead above my seat.

Just please please please don't maroon me next to the engine. Show me the least ear-splitting seat and I'll show you the money.