But it’s not the only thing we do. Jason Wood, The Arland Group’s president and co-founder, also runs Arland Sports, and represents an impressive roster of professional baseball players. Check out the website at www.arlandsports.com.

I don’t do a lot with Arland Sports, as The Arland Group keeps me plenty busy. However, I had a great opportunity last week to go see one of our players, David Phelps, make his first major league start for the New York Yankees. The Yanks were playing in Kansas City, a short three-hour and change jaunt from our St. Louis offices.

It was a short trip that consisted of seven hours of driving and only about two hours of watching baseball, but it was well worth it. There are not a lot of similarities between what we do at The Arland Group and Arland Sports, but both companies approach business in the same way. We do great work for our clients in an honest and open environment. It’s the only way to run a business, regardless of what industry you’re in.

This morning, I hit a car as I was pulling into my spot. I lost it. I felt horrible and didn’t know what to do. I called my dad and he talked me down. He said something that really had an impact on me. He said, “It’s fine, this isn’t something to get upset about, it happens. Just do the right thing, write a note and move on.”

This really got me thinking about how I can apply this thought in my personal and professional life. A lot of times it’s easy to focus on a problem, a mistake or a massive to-do list and if you really think about it, these things aren’t worth the amount of time spent worrying. I have to remember that things happen and the only thing that I can control is how I handle the situation.

In terms of doing the right thing, I truly feel that this is the way The Arland Group operates and why our company is so successful. In working with our clients, we are completely honest and do what needs to be done in order to deliver great work. We don’t offer services that a client doesn’t need in order to make a few extra dollars. If we don’t agree with the direction that a project is going, we tell the client. It might upset them, but it’s the right thing to do. I’m proud to work for a company that operates this way and at the end of the day, it makes the massive to-do list and the minor mishaps easier to deal with.

I may have had a bad morning, but at least I’ll know what to remember when I’m presented with a tough situation- things happen, do the right thing and move on.

Now, here’s where it gets really interesting. Mom brings the little guy up to the check-out counter and begins showing him all of the “yummy candies” he can choose from. I immediately get my hackles up and think, “WHAT?! Are you kidding me?” Not that I thought little Hitler should be beaten or ostracized in public, but in no way did I think he should be rewarded. Then, it occurred to me that this is what happens every day in the business world, especially in sales. Sales people who behave badly are constantly given accolades, put on pedestals and promoted. WTH?

Practically every week I witness bad behavior from certain sales people in our industry and it baffles me. It is so bad that I sometimes cannot even sleep at night because it blows my mind that my clients, who are wonderful people, would do business with anyone who would behave so inappropriately. What am I talking about? I’m talking about the sales people who lie and manufacture stories about the competition to win a deal or make their clients feel stupid for doing business with someone other than them. I am referring to those arrogant sales people who truly believe that every customer owes them a call back, even though they are one in 50 calls or emails a day. And, when they don’t get what they want, they go over their client’s head. Get real! If clients did nothing but return calls/emails, no work would ever get done! And, I especially love the sales person who shows up uninvited and unannounced, demanding to be seen because “they have something important they need to discuss.” Um, wow…I thought it was about the customer? Now trust me, I think that partnership is a two-way street and that customers have a level of responsibility and commitment to the vendor/sales person, but this is still uncalled for any way you look at it. Do you agree? I would rather lose than lie and I would certainly never treat my clients with disrespect. I honestly feel you can be successful AND act like a decent human being. When did being a good person become so unfashionable?

Okay, done ranting…but parents, please don’t reward Johnny with a Snickers the next time he has a nuclear meltdown in Walmart, okay? You are setting him up for failure later in life in allowing him to think that it’s all about him or that it’s good to be bad. And, customers please don’t tolerate rude and pig-headed behavior from your vendors. Buying from rude people only serves to send the wrong message to the seller that it’s okay to crap on you. It’s not okay…

For the past 15 years of my life, I have been a mother. That role started for me at the very young age of 19. Maybe not the proudest moment in my life, being a teenage mom, but definitely one of the most fulfilling roles that I get to continue to experience on a daily basis. A major part of my adult life consisted of being a stay-at-home mom to 3 of the most wonderful kids any parent could ask for. Some may think that a stay-at-home mom has it made, nothing to really do and nowhere to have to be on a daily basis. It may seem like heaven to most, but being a stay-at-home mom is an endless job.  It’s definitely a role that is never filled, never ends and doesn’t just remain in the confines of an eight-hour workday. There are no hour lunches, paid vacations or sick days, however the benefits that come with the role, while often times go unnoticed by others, include many moments that can never be replaced. To the mom that fills that role those moments are priceless.

I have filled several different roles in my life, all of them expecting certain things from me. I have been an aide at my local library and a Paraprofessional at the High School in my community. I am currently a cheerleading coach and have gone from stay-at-home mom to working mom. Some roles I have filled successfully, others not so much.  But, all of the positions that I have filled have led me to The Arland Group.  I have not filled a single job position previously that could have prepared me for the one that I hold now. However, having managed a household, schedules of 3 busy kids, navigated the halls of a high school and at times managed 40 plus cheerleaders by myself has prepared me to think on my feet and to be ready for anything.

As I feel my way through filling my new role at The Arland Group, I have found that advertising is not as easy as it looks. Websites and website design take a lot of man hours, employment branding is just as important as the brand itself, writing is an art and deadlines are stressful. The Arland Group encompasses many different roles as a company and I am very happy to be filling all of the roles that are given to me.

I’m also wondering if my mom is going to have to wait long for me to arrive. Yes, my mom still occasionally picks me up from the airport. I know I’m 34, run a successful agency and said agency would have no problem footing the bill for long-term airport parking. But, it’s good seeing mom, and the $144 I save in parking fees can go to keeping our overhead low and rates reasonable.

I’m flying home from Spokane, Washington. Most business trips I take are in and out. I see the airport, the rental car, the client and my hotel room. This trip, however, I have an outstanding traveling partner in our creative director and my friend, Jonathan. So instead of airport, meeting, hotel, airport, we extended the trip a couple days and headed into the isolation of Northern Idaho to be creative.

We did everything we could to remove ourselves from the business of our business.

We talked a lot, laughed a lot, argued a bit, had a few cocktails and even went skiing. Most importantly, we were creative without forcing it. No set times to dedicate to a specific project.  No squeezing in an hour of design work between conference calls.

We just lived life outside of The Arland Group while talking on and off about four major branding projects we are working on and the type of creative we would need to make them amazing.

And you know what, we killed it. We’re talking award winning ideas.

The lesson: isolate yourself from your business to produce exceptional work. It doesn’t matter if you toil in the creative field like we do or crunch numbers for an accounting firm. Get away. Shut your door. Turn off your computer and cell phone. If you can, don’t go into work and go somewhere else instead where no one can reach you.

Pick up a pencil and a pad of paper, think and start working. You’ll be amazed at what you accomplish.