Jim Blasingame…

• Is a marketplace futurist and one of the world’s leading experts on small business and entrepreneurship.
• For over a half-century, Jim has helped business leaders from Fortune 10 to Main Street solve problems and seek opportunities. Here are Jim’s six imperatives to business owners:
  1. Get out of your own way. You’re likely to need help with this.
  2. Focus on financial management and the immutable elements of capitalization.
  3. Sustain productive relationships with prime stakeholders: customers and employees.
  4. In the 21st-century, relevance trumps competitiveness Any questions?
  5. High tech focus must abide with high touch devotion. Thank you, John Naisbitt.
  6. Get out of your own way. You will need help with this.
• Jim created and hosted the category-of-one, award-winning, syndicated weekday radio program, “The Small Business Advocate Show” from 1997 to 2021. In addition to his broadcast, Jim began simulcasting in January 1998. That means he was podcasting six years before the term was coined.
• He conducted over 2,600 podcast segments annually with the smartest business minds in their fields, which amassed into a 60,000-segment digital catalog available at your fingertips. In terms of size and category, this digital record is unparalleled.
• Jim is the author of four books, which have sold 300,000 copies, including his last two – The 3rd Ingredient and The Age of the Customer – which combined to win seven international awards.
• For 25 years, Jim was a syndicated columnist to newspapers, magazines and online publications including BizJournals.com, Forbes.com, Open.com and Nasdaq.com. He published his Small Business Advocate Newsletter every Sunday for 25 years without missing an edition.
• For his leadership as a champion of Main Street businesses, Jim has received prestigious awards from a number of national organizations.
• These days Jim is increasingly focusing on his legacy. In 2024, Jim donated his entire digital catalog – podcasts, articles, essays, videos and manuscripts – to his alma mater, The University of North Alabama.
• An exciting aspect of Jim’s “legacy” effort has been confirming that his approach to solving problems and seeking opportunities continues to be relevant and valuable in the marketplace. And he’s having fun helping organizations become more relevant and deliver more value – even in – especially in – the Age of AI.
• When you see Jim, ask him what the key is.

Learn more about Jim’s work on LinkedIn.