100 pieces of advice from Mallory

Two years in, the businesses that pull ahead aren’t the ones working hardest. They’re the ones who turned what they learned into systems.

One hundred issues. Two years of showing up in your inbox every Monday with whatever I’d learned that week from the event pros, operators, and experts who are kind enough to share what’s working for them.

To celebrate, I went back through all of it and pulled the 100 lessons worth keeping. They’re grouped into six themes below, from sales to the warehouse to how you lead your team. Some you’ve seen before. Some you may have missed the first time. Save this one, because it’s basically two years of busy-season hard knocks in a single page.

Sales & Marketing

• The five-minute window is real. Call a new lead within five minutes and you’re 100x likelier to connect and 21x likelier to convert.
• Your reviews are your SEO. You can’t out-rank an older competitor on domain authority, but you can out-stack them on five-star reviews, because AI summaries and Google both pull from them.
• Find the gap, don’t pitch. In discovery, ask better questions and listen for the gap between where the client is and where they want to be.
• Lead with them, not you. Open every email about the client’s world, not your offering, because a problem they recognize beats a pitch every time.
• One ask per email. Pick the single next step you want and write the whole email toward it, because multiple options confuse more than they help.
• Name items like clients search. Name inventory the way clients actually search (“elegant navy wedding linens”) instead of by technical spec, so you surface when they look.
• Ask why clients choose you. If you don’t know why clients pick you over competitors, ask them, then lean into that difference to attract more like them.
• Build a referral network now. Partner with businesses of different aesthetics, sizes, and price points so you always have someone to send wrong-fit clients to.
• Find the leaky bucket. Pinpoint the one step that’s actually losing you clients, then either fix that leak or double down where you’re already strong.
• Capture the post-event high. Make it ridiculously easy for clients to refer and review right when they’re riding high after an amazing event.
• Beef up your Google profile. Don’t just claim your Google Business Profile; add service areas, attributes, and secondary categories, because Google rewards the detail.
• Your brand is every interaction. Your brand is more than logos and fonts; it’s customer service, delivery care, reviews, and how clients describe you to others.
• Treat social as your storefront. Clients judge you through your social page, so post professional photos of your best work and the team behind it.
• Build an overflow-partner network. Build relationships with rental houses that share your values so you can sub-rent inventory when you’re at or over capacity.
• Only take portfolio-worthy work. Weigh the qualitative side too, and take only events you’d be proud to feature on your own website.
• Win on systems, not charisma. In the age of AI, the sellers who win have the best systems, because speed, structure, and predictability are the new advantage.
• Wrong-fit clients beget wrong-fit clients. Wrong-fit clients refer more wrong-fit clients, gradually steering your business away from what you set out to build.

Operations & Warehouse

• Make it idiot-proof to find. Organize gear so logically that a tech you hired last week can take a pull sheet and find everything without you.
• Get SOPs out of your head. Get the playbook out of your head and onto the wall so the team can run the business without you.
• Steal proven layouts. Organize your warehouse like Costco and Home Depot, who already spent billions figuring out how people naturally look for things.
• Turn mistakes into systems. Every painful mistake is a system waiting to be built, so after a failure, create a repeatable process so it never happens again.
• Create three physical zones. Separate dirty returns, work-in-progress, and clean ready-to-go inventory into distinct zones to keep the flow clear.
• Confirm before it leaves. Mark pull sheets pulled, prepped, and loaded so nothing moves until every item is verified, and you skip the costly return trip.
• Cut the dead weight you love. Have the tough conversation about which pieces stay and go, even the ones you love, because your warehouse is a business, not a museum.
• Stop chasing perfect software. Perfect software doesn’t exist, so stop comparing six platforms forever and pick the one that actually moves the needle.
• Give everyone their own login. Never share accounts; individual logins let you control what each person sees and trace exactly where something went wrong.
• Pull the data first. Pull your usage reports and get forensic about inventory instead of letting your biases and favorites drive the decision.
• Weigh every client yes. Before you agree to a client request, think through the downstream load on your crew, so your yeses don’t quietly burn them out.
• Let AI draft your SOPs. Have each team member talk through their day, then drop the raw notes into AI and ask it to turn them into an SOP.
• Lean on visual systems. Interactive pull sheets, universal quantity symbols, and barcode scanning let your warehouse tools work for any crew, whatever language they speak or how tech-savvy they are.
• Treat the warehouse as an advantage. Stop seeing the warehouse as mere storage and start treating it as the execution hub that decides whether clients get what they expect.
• Make processes trigger themselves. Build an SOP for every stage so each step automatically hands off to the next person, with no pinging from you.
• Shift load-ins to cooler hours. Schedule early-morning or late-evening load-ins and load-outs to keep crews safe during extreme summer heat.
• Document your inventory’s value. Document what your rental inventory cost and track revenue losses now, so you can actually satisfy an insurance claim after damage hits.
• Audit your software stack. List every tool with its purpose, cost, and users to surface the redundancies and the features you’re paying for but never touch.

Team & Leadership

• Eighty percent beats your hundred. Work done 80% by someone who’s learning beats 100% done by you when you’re already maxed out.
• Use the keeper test. Regularly ask whether you’d fight to keep each employee, and if someone fails that test, coach them up or out.
• Prize talent density. A smaller team with sky-high standards beats a bigger one that tolerates mediocrity, because one underperformer gives everyone permission to coast.
• Repeat your message seven times. People need to hear a message about seven times before it sticks, so your crew probably isn’t ignoring you; they just haven’t heard it yet.
• Screen for behavior, not promises. In interviews, set small tests like showing up on time and following through, because actions tell you more than words.
• Hire for values, not just skills. Build your hiring around people who embody your values, because one misaligned hire can poison a whole culture and costs far more than the paycheck.
• Lead with context, not control. Instead of rigid processes, give your team the context to make good calls; it costs time upfront and saves time for years.
• Fall on your sword. When something goes wrong, start by assuming you didn’t give enough information, because that openness makes the team more willing to own their own misses.
• Name your untitled leaders. Some of your strongest leaders have no title, so tell them you trust them as leaders and genuinely let them carry it.
• Give feedback in real time. Build a culture of radical candor where direct, kind feedback flows continually, instead of saving it all up for a scheduled review.
• Treat your team like adults. Focus on outcomes over hours and trust your people, using clear expectations and radical transparency to drive results.
• Recognize people their way. Hold your team accountable, but celebrate the wins too, and ask each person how they actually like to be appreciated and given feedback.
• Make promotion paths explicit. When someone wants a raise or more responsibility, give them a clear roadmap of exactly what they need to show you.
• Regulate before you communicate. Process your emotions with a walk, a friend, or a few breaths before you bring a challenge to the team, so you respond instead of react.
• Reward returning crew members. Keep your best workers coming back with returning-staff bonuses, leadership chances, and predictable schedules, so they feel valued, not just paid.
• Write SOPs in every language. Make pull sheets, item notes, and checklists available in every language your crew speaks, so you stop being the bottleneck.

Money & Pricing

• Charge a rush fee. When a client forces last-minute changes that blow up your weekend, add a rush fee plus a premium so you’re paid fairly for it.
• List pricing on your site. Roughly 80% of people want to see pricing before they reach out, so hiding it costs you real business and burns time on out-of-budget leads.
• Track margins, not just revenue. Measure profit margin per service, not just top-line revenue, so you know what you’re actually keeping from every job.
• Charge 2x to 5x for difficult clients. When you know a client will be particular, price the work at two to five times your standard rate to make it worth your while.
• Don’t discount in slow season. Instead of slashing rates when bookings slow, give more at the same price, like free upgrades, to train clients on your value.
• Maximize what you already own. One of the most overlooked ways to hit a revenue target is squeezing more out of the inventory you already have, before you buy more.
• Raise rates after wowing clients. The best time to justify a higher rate is right after you’ve delivered exceptional service, while your value is top of mind.
• Make every item earn its keep. Every item on your shelf should pay rent; if it’s collected dust for seasons, you’re paying to store dead money.
• Pick two: fast, good, cheap. You can have it fast, good, or cheap; pick two, so when a client wants cheapest, either time or quality has to give.
• Show replacement costs on estimates. List replacement costs on estimates so clients know a stained linen costs the full $55 to replace, not just the $12 rental.
• Mind the insurance gap. Client event insurance covers only their event, and your liability often stops the moment items leave your hands; disaster strikes in that gap.
• Keep credit cards on file. Storing client cards lets you charge for damage or a policy violation without chasing anyone down or eating the loss when they flake.
• Capital amplifies your foundation. Capital amplifies whatever you already are, so chaotic cash flow just loses money faster; fix the foundation before you chase funding.
• Turn your accountant into a partner. Meet regularly, share new services and big expenses, and ask growth questions to turn your accountant from a tax preparer into a business partner.
• Time big buys after busy season. Make your big investments in software, equipment, and staff right after busy season, so the cash is there when the bills come due.
• Refinish instead of replacing. Have your team refinish or repaint solid pieces instead of replacing them, and you win on both margins and sustainability.

Client Experience

• Respond fast or lose trust. The longer you take to reply, the more the client fills in the blanks with a story that rarely flatters you.
• Ask before you solve. When a client shows up with a big idea, ask “can I hear more about that?” before you declare a solution, and challenge your own assumptions first.
• Ask for reviews immediately. Send a short thank-you with the review link the Monday after the event, baked into your post-event flow while the goodwill is fresh.
• Prove it, don’t claim it. Showing a client you caught their address typo before the truck rolled earns the review better than promising you’ll confirm details.
• Give boundaries a why. Explain the warehouse prep, crew scheduling, and quality checks behind your deadlines, and clients respect them instead of pushing back.
• Cutting steps is hospitality. One-click payments, instant confirmations, and clear ETA updates aren’t corner-cutting; removing friction is itself an upgrade to the client experience.
• Don’t hide your automations. Clients are fluent in AI and fine with automated notes, so let smart systems work out in the open instead of pretending bots are heartfelt humans.
• Automate the repetitive, humanize the meaningful. Automate high-repetition tasks like pricing and contracts, and save your human touch for the moments of creativity, emotion, and surprise.
• Spell out every next step. Tell anxious clients exactly what comes next in your process and what to expect, or their anxiety lands right back on you.
• AI-confident clients are opportunities. The client who thinks they know more than they do, thanks to AI, is your biggest opening to show what makes you irreplaceable.
• Your know-how beats AI. Your real-world knowledge of venues, inventory, and conditions is a competitive advantage no AI can replicate.
• Define success up front. Being clear with clients about what success looks like up front is the key to boundaries that actually work for both of you.
• Make clients feel valued. Send thoughtful follow-ups, tag clients in event photos, and make them feel like part of your story instead of a transaction.
• Welcome client research. Instead of getting defensive when a client comes in with research, thank them for it, because it helps you shape the direction together.
• Automate with firm boundaries. For the lower-value clients you keep, offer uneditable packages and firm rules on communication, response times, and revisions.
• Decline jobs in your own voice. Turn jobs down in a way that matches how you normally talk to clients, so they’re never caught off guard.

Growth & Mindset

• Start before you’re ready. Successful businesses don’t wait for perfect; they take step one and iterate, because an idea only teaches you something once it’s out in the real world.
• Put the big rocks in first. Don’t let urgent-feeling busy work fill your jar with sand; reserve room for the big-rock initiatives that actually grow the business.
• Own your lane. Trying to be everything to everyone makes you mediocre at most things, so get undeniably great at the one thing you do best.
• Luck is preparation plus opportunity. What looks like luck is really preparation meeting opportunity, so build the systems that let you say yes the moment a chance shows up.
• Fire your bottom 25%. Let go of your least profitable, least enjoyable clients to free up room to chase more of your top-tier ones.
• You’re not a snowflake. Stop insisting your business is too unique to systematize and start finding the repeatable process that actually drives success.
• Same plan, same results. Walking into the next stretch with last year’s plan while expecting a different outcome is the definition of insanity.
• Subtract before you add. Strip something away before you add a new workflow, or you’ll just keep piling on until the workload is crushing.
• Your strengths can cap your growth. The obsessive detail and hands-on skill that built your company become kryptonite the moment you try to scale.
• Obsess over impact, not deadlines. Anchor only your truly critical tasks to a date, rank the rest by impact, and shift from obsessing over timelines to obsessing over results.
• Diagnose before you fix. When your business hits a wall, diagnose it like a forensic analyst instead of slapping band-aids on a problem you haven’t named yet.
• Overwhelm can signal it’s time to hire. If you’re prioritizing well and still underwater, that’s a sign of success, and a sign you can afford to bring on help.
• Recalibrate goals without shame. Treat your goals like a GPS and recalibrate when you hit a roadblock, because adapting the target isn’t failure.
• Build community over competition. The businesses that thrive build community and share what they know instead of hoarding it and treating everyone as a rival.
• Use slow season to build momentum. Small improvements made now compound, so you’re already running at speed by January while competitors are just catching up.
• Find a mentor you respect. Get a mentor you personally consider successful, one who shows real vulnerability, to bridge your experience gaps and keep you accountable.
• Capture fixes while it’s fresh. Note what you want to fix for next year while you’re still in the thick of busy season, before January amnesia sets in.

That’s 100. If even a handful of these change how you run next season, this whole thing was worth it.

Here’s to the next 100. Thank you for reading, for replying, and for building businesses worth writing about.

See you next Monday,

Mallory Mullen

Goodshuffle