The Swartz Report: Thanks for Reading

Don Swartz

Post written by Donald Swartz, President and Principal at Swartz + Associates, Inc. | Lover of Chiefs, Royals and golf | Avid “Cruiser” | Poker Enthusiast

Road Trip Memories

For the past three years, my September blog has focused on the great “Daddy – daughter” road trips back to college. Alas, that stage of our relationship has completed. My daughter Miriam crossed the stage to earn her degree in May and now is firmly planted in the workplace. (or as everyone so affectionately calls it; “The Real World”)

No stops to out of the way places. No dining in small-town America. No listening to the music from Hamilton as we go from Columbus, OH to Pennsylvania. Good times indeed, but now find ourselves moving on to the next great challenge.

While our son is now in his freshman year at Syracuse, our “road trip” was hardly a road trip compared to the previous high standards.  This trip consisted of a plane ride to Rochester, followed by a short 90-minute drive to Syracuse.

Certainly, efficiency took precedence over sightseeing this year but maybe Aaron and I will start our own road trip adventures next year and beyond.  For now, the tales will have to wait, but the memories of prior trips will be not be forgotten.

Blogging Works

THANK YOU to everyone who reached out to me or posted about my previous blog on the Advisory Board. Never underestimate the influence of blogging and the power of LinkedIn. In fact, as a result of my posting, I received a call from a fraternity brother I hadn’t connected with in 30 years.

He read my blog and had several questions concerning the structure, time commitment, expectations and other ideas as he considered the prospects of creating an Advisory Board for his entity.

It was great to reconnect with him and offer my thoughts and the advantages of having a Board. Hopefully, he found the time useful and, if nothing else, I’ve learned about another small business. Perhaps sometime in the future there may be an opportunity to work together.

Annual Staff Meeting Coming Soon

In other news, this month I will be having our annual staff meeting to plan for the 2019 year. This is a good time for everyone to review the year and compare our results to the goals we established last year.

I find this particularly helpful as we can truly quantify our successes and more importantly, identify our shortcomings. We’ve made great strides in analyzing our data. It allows us to see if a particular industry or region is more positively impacted as a result of our services.

Is there an underserved market that we’ve been ignoring?

Are we effectively marketing ourselves?

Is our message clear and concise?

As an owner, I want to believe our message is perfect and that our services are easily understandable. This is my opportunity to gauge if it’s true and to collaborate on ideas, technology and strategy to improve for the year(s) ahead.

I look forward to sharing the results with you as we continue to successfully represent our clients in property tax valuations.

As always, if you have any questions about property taxes, I would welcome the opportunity to chat. Give me a call today at 913-766-8777.