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

The New Face of Business

  By Ed McLaughlin and Wyn Lydecker The Internet has changed the world in so many ways that we can't fully know or appreciate all of them. We are still living in the time of transition - my status as a digital immigrant and my children's as digital natives are testament to that. (If you [...]

By | March 11th, 2014|

Getting to Carnegie Hall

  By Ed McLaughlin with Wyn Lydecker It's an old joke: a little girl asks a New York City policeman, "How do I get to Carnegie Hall?" He pats her on the head and replies, "Practice, practice, practice!" The joke’s simple humor is based on the ol' switcheroo, but there is more to take from [...]

By | March 7th, 2014|

Your Monument

La Pouce de Cesar at La Défense in Paris By Ed McLaughlin with Wyn Lydecker The New York Times recently ran article to which I linked on LinkedIn and Twitter, all about the spaces some of the tech giants have created to house themselves and their enterprises (The Monuments of Tech, March 1, [...]

By | March 6th, 2014|

Corporate Performance, Bonuses, and Cuts

By Ed McLaughlin with Wyn Lydecker James B. Stewart recently explored the topic of annual bonuses for chief executives in his “Common Sense” column in The New York Times (“A Bonus Is Declined; A Problem Remains”, February 22, 2014). IBM’s chief executive, Virginia Rometty, and members of her “senior team” recommended to the IBM board [...]

By | February 27th, 2014|

Creative Use of Technology in Your Startup

By Ed McLaughlin with Wyn Lydecker Before you start your business, ask yourself: How will you leverage technology to streamline your operations, improve customer service, and open up new revenue lines? Nowadays, it seems that tech startups are the only ones getting media attention. But many entrepreneurs are launching non-tech startups, just as I did. [...]

By | February 22nd, 2014|

Your Business Model – Part 4: Production and Distribution

  By Ed McLaughlin with Wyn Lydecker As you develop your business model, you need to ask: What will it take to create, manufacture, and deliver your product to your customers? For a manufactured product, this step forces you to think through and learn about your requirements for raw materials, labor, machinery, inventory, and distribution. [...]

By | February 17th, 2014|

Your Business Model Part 3 – Product Pricing

By Ed McLaughlin with Wyn Lydecker Before you start your business, ask yourself: What will you charge for your product? The revenue model you choose, your product’s positioning in the marketplace, and your profit target will help you determine your price. Each type of revenue model will most likely have market benchmarks you can research [...]

By | February 14th, 2014|

Olympic Gold, Invention, and Entrepreneurship

  By Ed McLaughlin and Wyn Lydecker It seems fitting that the first gold medal of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics games was awarded to an American, Sage Kotsenberg, in the slopestyle snowboarding event. Snowboarding was born in America, thanks to generations of inventors, tinkerers, sports enthusiasts and entrepreneurs. Snowboarding was added to the Winter [...]

By | February 9th, 2014|

What Is Your Business Model? Part 2 – Revenue

By Ed McLaughlin with Wyn Lydecker Before you start your business, ask yourself: How will you generate revenue? Answering this question is an essential part in determining your business model. You need to know if you will sell a product, a service, advertising, or access to data. Cash flowing into your business from sales is [...]

By | February 5th, 2014|

What Is Your Business Model? Part 1

  By Ed McLaughlin with Wyn Lydecker Before you start your business, ask yourself: How will you make money? The business model explains how you will pull together and manage all the component parts of your business to create value for your customers and yourself. Your business model includes your value proposition, revenue generation plan, [...]

By | January 31st, 2014|