direct-sales
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Gerry Powell’s Second Act Still Has a Business Plan.
From Pennsylvania sales floors to a retreat in Costa Rica, Gerard (Gerry) Powell has kept the habits of a builder. What changed was his answer to the question: what is all this work for?
SenText and the art of the second visit
A text message can fill a quiet afternoon. SenText’s more interesting business is teaching Main Street how to earn the next visit - and giving someone a reason to help.
A shirt should remember you.
The Custom Shop Clothiers turns measurements into a repeatable wardrobe. Its long history reveals what a clothing business can lose, buy back, and carry forward.
Michael Dell and the shortest distance to a customer
A teenager selling newspaper subscriptions learned to follow the buyer. Four decades later, Michael Dell is still rearranging the computer business around that lesson.
Nina McLemore sells the jacket that lets you get on with the job
A nearly matching jacket on a senator and a news anchor reveals a business built around an overlooked customer: the woman who needs her clothes to work as hard as she does.
Cindy Lee Is Trying to Fix the Party She Once Joined
After seeing direct sales from both sides of the table, the Ryze Party co-founder built her jewelry company around a blunt proposition: the field should not be the customer.
Streamline Connections Bet the Sale on a Human Conversation
While advertising chased clicks, this small Southern California firm kept betting on eye contact. Its public record reveals a hands-on customer-acquisition shop where campaigns, sales training and telecom enrollment meet.
Joanna Penn
Joanna Penn is a British author, podcaster, and entrepreneur who turned a miserable IT consulting career into a multi-six-figure independent publishing empire. Writing thrillers as J.F. Penn and teaching the business of writing as Joanna Penn, she has sold over a million books across 176 countries, runs one of the world's top 1% podcasts (10.6M+ downloads), and is among the most prominent voices on ethical AI adoption in the creative community. Based in Bath, England, she competes in powerlifting, pursues a Masters in Death, Religion and Culture, and embodies her own mantra: measure your life by what you create.