About The Purpose is Profit

Ed “Skip” McLaughlin Ed is the founder of four businesses and is currently running Blue Sunsets LLC, a real estate and angel investment firm. He bootstrapped his first business, United Systems Integrators (USI) Corporation, a corporate real estate outsourcing firm, and grew it into an Inc. 500 company. In 2001, Ed earned Entrepreneur of the Year honors from Ernst & Young. In 2005, he sold USI to Johnson Controls, a Fortune 100 company, and at that point, became CEO of JCI’s Global Workplace Business for the Americas. A member of the Board of Governors for Tufts Medical Center, Ed founded its David E. Wazer Breast Cancer Research Fund. He graduated from the College of the Holy Cross, where he is a member of the Board of Trustees. Active in philanthropy, Ed lives with his wife in Connecticut and has three adult children. Email: Ed@ThePurposeIsProfit.com LinkedIn: www.LinkedIn.com/in/EdSkipMcLaughlin Twitter: @purposeisprofit --- Wyn is the founder of Upstart Business Planning, where she works with entrepreneurs to develop plans that answer the questions investors ask most often. Previously, she was Managing Director of Business Plans International in New York and Co-Director of the Small Business Resource Center at Norwalk Community College. Wyn has an MBA in finance and marketing from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a BA in economics from the University of California at Santa Barbara. She serves on the board of a local nonprofit she helped found, At Home In Darien. She lives in Connecticut with her husband and has two adult children. Email: Wyn@ThePurposeIsProfit.com LinkedIn: www.LinkedIn.com/in/WynLydecker

Keeping the Flame of Ingenuity Alive

By Ed McLaughlin and Wyn Lydecker I believe strongly that the spirit of entrepreneurship belongs in every company, at every stage of its development. Startups are inherently spirited in that way, but larger, more established companies sometimes have trouble retaining that spark. Some companies don’t worry about R&D, thinking that they have a profitable routine [...]

By | June 21st, 2014|

How to Hire the Right People for Your Business

By Omar Douglass, Guest Writer for The Purpose is Profit Blog If there is one thing that any experienced small business entrepreneur knows, it is the value of a great team. No matter how competent you may be or how rock solid your business model is, the success of your startup depends on the people you [...]

By | June 17th, 2014|

The Most Important Place for Honesty

By Ed McLaughlin and Wyn Lydecker I know I've been writing about openness and communication and honesty a lot, but bear with me. Previously, I've talked about the importance of honesty and openness with employees and clients, in life and at work. I believe they are the bedrock of success and that the most important place for [...]

By | June 16th, 2014|

Creating a Winning Culture

By Ed McLaughlin and Wyn Lydecker A company can live or die by its culture, as much as any nation. Culture spans thousands of years of history, elements of language, religion, and aesthetics, all woven together in a glorious tapestry that can blanket kingdoms and define empires. It can drive people to feats of genius or [...]

By | June 14th, 2014|

“This Product is So Innovative, It Will Sell Itself!”

By Ed McLaughlin and Wyn Lydecker Before we discuss the process of building a sales team, let’s take a step back and talk about the two vital roles that contribute to an organization’s success. Internal producers develop products, and external producers sell products. The required skill sets are different. Capable product developers are steeped in [...]

By | June 13th, 2014|

The Single Biggest Mistake in Communication

By Ed McLaughlin and Wyn Lydecker From childhood, we are told to "use our words," and once we have a grasp on the finer points of how those words fit into sentences, the world of easy communication seems to open right up. It seems simple to give voice to thoughts and exchange them with others. Why, [...]

By | June 12th, 2014|

Borrower Beware

By Ed McLaughlin and Wyn Lydecker I'm a huge proponent of bootstrapping, as I've mentioned a previously.  I completely understand, however, that not everyone who wants to start a business is in the same position. If you've figured out that borrowing is what you need to do to get your company off the ground, just [...]

By | June 11th, 2014|

How Do You Inspire Innovation? Incrementally

By Ed McLaughlin and Wyn Lydecker I've mentioned the lightning-strike narrative in entrepreneurship and how I wish it came up less frequently. (See: 4 Questions Successful Entrepreneurs Must Answer and The New Face of Business.)  When people think they all have to be the next Mark Zuckerberg to be successful, they may never get started on what could [...]

By | June 6th, 2014|

Four Lessons from Facebook Fit

Written by Rebecca Lovering, Social Media Coordinator for The Purpose is Profit Facebook is touring the country, hosting events called Facebook Fit where they talk to local small businesses about how wonderful Facebook can be for them. This may be a welcome change to what has been a narrowing of opportunities for small, local businesses on Facebook, as reported by [...]

By | June 5th, 2014|