ASI Show - The Work-Life Balancing Act

“Balance was a continuous struggle early on because personally there is nothing more important than seeing my kids score a goal or defend one, but professionally there is nothing better than an extremely satisfied client and we pride ourselves on that.”

Shari Verrone was a former ADP executive, with almost 10 years of sales experience under her belt as a director of sales and corporate facilitator. After a successful career at ADP, and having two kids, she had the idea for Stackable Sensations, LLC. Today she is the founder and president of Stackable Sensations and has been awarded Counselor Magazine’s Best Places to Work 2016, voted as one of the 2016 Counselor Hot 25, received the Greatest Companies to Work for by PPB in 2016 and recently won the Most Done Deals connection award for the Women’s Business Enterprise for the Tristate area.

Thirteen years ago, Shari’s friend was having a baby and she wanted to do unique center pieces that looked like a three-tiered wedding cake. The center pieces were not edible, but comprised of useful baby items. After the baby shower, Shari received requests to produce more baby themed center pieces and that’s how she came up with the idea for her company. Her idea was to create stackable gifts for different life occasions such as graduation, father-to-be, bachelorette and weddings to name a few. Until one of her clients asked if she could do a 500 piece order of get well gifts with their logo and an additional 800 backpacks.

“I thought to myself... hmmm, I can continue to do one of these cycle of life cakes, or move over to the promotional business and do hundreds or thousands of one item instead,” said Verrone. “That was not a long thought out decision, it was a quick transition! We still do the baby cakes nationally for clients, but it is a very small percentage of our overall business.”

I thought to myself... hmmm, I can continue to do one of these cycle of life cakes, or move over to the promotional business and do hundreds or thousands of one item instead.”

Since her transition to promotional products, Shari has grown Stackable Sensations from her initial $8,000 start-up into a multi-million dollar business. Her creative-powerhouse team of 10 employees collectively totals over 100 years of promotional market experience. With a clear commitment to her employees, clients, and family, Shari continues to pave her road to success in the promotional products industry.

What are the challenges of owning your own business and balancing family life?

What helped me was to find a few very dedicated new employees who have the same passion for success that I do for the company. They are out there! You just need to start with one to help you with your overall balance. Find someone or a few that have a different schedule than you so overall you have full coverage whenever it is needed.

In your opinion, what makes a good work environment? What keeps your team motivated?

Knowing what is important to each team member and connecting with them about it. Understanding their goals and needs plays a huge part of our success and happiness in the work environment. Whether it’s a hand written note, a one-on-one conversation, accolades in front of the group, or a gift out of the blue for a job well done, these all contribute to our positive work environment. Contests seem to be a big hit as well!

From your experience, what does it take to be successful in the promotional products industry?

Determination to always grow, additional education and reading the industry magazines are important. Also, frequent factory representative visits from all different categories and brainstorming with the team on new items each have seen. Keeping up-to-date with currents events and trends and thinking of how we can tie them into our event offerings.

Would you ever consider bringing your team to an ASI Show?

We plan to attend the ASI Show^® Orlando as a team and sit in on the education, walk the tradeshow and spend a few extra days going to Disney World for team bonding. It should be a great time!

Have you or members of your team attended an ASI Roadshow before?

Yes, since we are spread out all over the country, we love when the ASI Roadshows come around! Our team members get a burst of extra excitement knowing they will see new or interesting products. This gives them the opportunity to think outside the box with new vendors they may not see at a PPAI show.

What do you think is the most valuable aspect of the ASI Roadshow?

Seeing new items or figuring out different uses for existing items in a smaller type of atmosphere than the larger tradeshows.

What challenges have you faced owning your own business?

One challenge is trusting the right people. There will always be good and bad eggs out there. Unfortunately I came across a few bad ones in my almost 14 years in the industry, but luckily I have come across mostly great additions. When you find those right fits, make sure you take care of them. I strive to make each team member as happy and challenged as possible.

Having patience, being a good listener and really thinking about how I can guide individuals to what they want to accomplish and executing that. Being fun and likable is always a plus as well.

I have several people that I consider mentors. I feel it is very important to be able to turn to a select person or a few individuals and get advice or acknowledgement that I am doing things correctly and setting us up for success.

What’s the best piece of business advice you’ve received?

Have fun and love what you are doing.

Article by Michael Berg

Marketing Manager, ASI Roadshow

mberg@asicentral.com