The Story Behind the "M"

The "M" is 620 feet above the Missoula Valley floor. It is 125' feet long and 100' feet wide. University of Montana forestry students cut the switchbacks into the side of the hill in the early 1900's. The first "M" was assembled out of whitewashed rocks in 1909, and given a fresh coat of paint by freshmen every year, until 1968, when all those rocks were cemented together with concrete.

Photo by Nelson Kenter, kenterphotography.com

Posts Tagged ‘meaningful work’

Improve The Ergonomics Of Your Home Workspace With These Effective Tips

Here are some tips to help you improve your workspace ergonomics and solve your musculoskeletal disorder permanently. ... more

Working from Home? 4 Steps to Keeping a Healthy Lifestyle

Here are our top tips on how you can keep a healthy lifestyle and feel great while working from home.... more

Change Leadership

By MARK RIFFEY - The nature of change is changing - and so is the pace.... more

Increase Sales By Making Deployment Easier

By MARK RIFFEY - Has your team ever watched your customers unpack, assemble, & use your product?... more

Can you help your customers too much? Part 1

By MARK RIFFEY - When providing help is both the lifeblood and possible death of your business... more

Team Players Make The Team Better

By MARK RIFFEY - The best make the whole team better. But how to find them?... more

Selling Your Company?

By MARK RIFFEY - Being asked to sell your company is often unprovoked. You haven't listed it or said you're ready to retire. "I'm not ready", you might think.... more

Finish Important Work This Year

By MARK RIFFEY - Everything will not magically change the week of January 1st. It didn’t last year, remember?... more

Finish Something.

By MARK RIFFEY - Unfinished, procrastinated tasks have the same effect as that bag of flour. Finish something today. Check that box.... more

Compelling Reasons to Buy

By MARK RIFFEY - Your chances of success improve when you meet someone's needs and/or wants with a compelling offer.... more

Really Bad Advice

By MARK RIFFEY - Business is hard enough without taking bad advice.... more

Hiring Right Saves Money

By MARK RIFFEY - I know… when you find a highly qualified candidate, you don’t want to look for disqualifying info. Do it anyway.... more

Between A Rock And A Hard Place

By MARK RIFFEY - Ego-free discussion is likely the sole route to business survival.... more

What’s Your Secret?

By MARK RIFFEY - Do the thing. Even when you're horrible at it.... more

The Self-Managing Business

By MARK RIFFEY - What does it take to create a self-managing business? Is if even possible?... more

Horseradish and the Pursuit of Perfect

By MARK RIFFEY - What insignificant thing brings people back again & again?... more

What’s Your Growth Plan?

By MARK RIFFEY - Are you a doer or an operator? Your growth path depends on the answer.... more

Getting Started, Part Two

By MARK RIFFEY - Last week, we started talking about a young man asking for advice getting started in his handyman business.... more

Getting Started, Part One

By MARK RIFFEY - How do you get started in a handyman business? Part one of a two part series.... more

Unmet Needs

By MARK RIFFEY - Is there anything that we aren’t doing for you that you wish we would take care of?... more

Always Done It That Way?

By MARK RIFFEY - A review of systems that fails to review readiness for the next three to five years of operation isn't doing you any favors.... more

Ask Questions While The Answers Still Matter, Part 1

By MARK RIFFEY - Timely questions can save a client relationship and pay years of dividends to your business.... more

What Would They Do To Put You Out Of Business?

By MARK RIFFEY - How would they price, market, sell, deliver, service, and communicate?... more

Planning 2018 Got You Wrapped Around The Axle?

By MARK RIFFEY - How to find two hours a day of quiet time to get your 2018 planning finished.... more

What’s Freedom Mean To Your Business?

By MARK RIFFEY - When you ask business owners why they started their company, you frequently hear these words: Freedom and opportunity.... more

Headspace, Creativity and Cartooning

By MARK RIFFEY - The blank slate is a challenge. But why?... more

I Went To The Gym Once. Didn’t Work.

By MARK RIFFEY - Going to the gym once doesn’t produce ideal results. Neither does inconsistent execution. Consistency breeds trust, unless you're consistently bad.... more

Fuel The Rise Of Two Pizza Teams

By MARK RIFFEY - How can Montana communities fuel the formation of two pizza teams?... more

Using Comfortable Tools

By MARK RIFFEY - Is there a balance between complacency and thrashing from tool to tool?... more

Selling Someone Else’s Products

By MARK RIFFEY - When you consider selling someone else’s products, it’s critical to assess whether the product is germane to what you do.... more

The Ingredients Of Effective Criticism

By MARK RIFFEY - Today we’re going to use a common political event (and some football) to discuss the effective delivery of criticism.... more

Why Your Growing Company Needs To Work Slower

By MARK RIFFEY - When you work slower, you create time and space to help eliminate the bumps and potholes in your processes. “Slow is smooth” takes shape. ... more

The Premium Price Lesson Taught By Craft Beer

By MARK RIFFEY - Testing new product / service / price tiers could result in a new way of doing business.... more

Is It Better To Keep A Customer, Or Replace Them?

By MARK RIFFEY - Well cared for clients tend to buy more, buy more often, & for a longer period of time.... more

Training: Improves Sales, Improves Ops

By MARK RIFFEY - Do your people know your products & understand your prospects' problems?... more

Accepting Change – How Can You Help?

By MARK RIFFEY - Your challenge: Determine what’s necessary to reduce resistance to the point that your prospects will consider making a change. ... more

Where’s The Friction?

By MARK RIFFEY - What do you repeatedly force your clients to do that they simply shouldn't have to do?... more

Work, Caring, And Filtering Employers

By MARK RIFFEY - Are you looking for a solid, well-run company to grow with? This will help.... more

“Sink Or Swim” Isn’t Training

By MARK RIFFEY - I'll go back because that guy made a routine purchase memorable.... more

Listen to Clients. They Say The Darndest Things

By MARK RIFFEY - When you listen to clients openly and without an agenda, the value of what you learn can be huge.... more

Leads: Like a Friend Who Needs Advice

By MARK RIFFEY - A good list treats leads like a friend who needs advice.... more

Being Prepared For Employee Turnover

By MARK RIFFEY - One of the most expensive activities your business can experience is employee turnover. When employees leave, a piece of the company leaves with them.... more

Client Care and Feeding – A Strategic Responsibility

By MARK RIFFEY - The custody, guardianship and defense of your clients is a strategic responsibility.... more

Try A Dashboard To Share Your Metrics

By MARK RIFFEY - When your team can easily wrap their heads around the numbers critical to their department, it'll change their behavior.... more

Encourage Them To Climb The Ladder

By MARK RIFFEY - Every business should seek ways to provide an ascension ladder for their clientele - and create the desire to climb it.... more

Is There Truth In Your Advertising?

By MARK RIFFEY - It takes one time for people to lose trust in your advertising. ONE TIME.... more

What Halftime Advice Do You Give Your Staff?

By MARK RIFFEY - Halftime provides a natural break in the action to reflect, assess, adjust and re-engage. For a company, use them like a timeout.... more

Protecting Traditional Assets Isn’t Enough

By MARK RIFFEY - Are all of your most valuable assets being protected, or only those your insurance & bank care about?... more

Consistent Experience

By MARK RIFFEY - How does your sidewalk reflect on your ability to credit a payment or deliver a meal?... more

When Hiring, Choose Commitment Over Ego

By MARK RIFFEY - The difference between a strong business leader and a weak one is easily detected: Who do they surround themselves with – and why?... more