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Last Update: Thursday June 11, 2020

Meet Steve Hoffman, founder of Modern Postcards, Carlsbad

Be Willing to Evolve

3:51 | Play Now | Steve Hoffman's company, Modern Postcard, is the result of decades of continuous improvement. Steve started in business as a company of one and today he has hundreds of employees and thousands of customers.

Carlsbad, California: Can an entire industry, the business of performance management, be reduced to a postcard? Can the deep study of kaizen and the work of business gurus like Peter Drucker be reduced to a link?

The quick answer is, "Yes."

This is another episode about the American Dream. It is the dream of everyone to be economically independent. It takes work, thought, integrity and tenacity. Though he started off life as a photographer with no special privileges, his father, a cabinet-maker (sole proprietor), gave him very good advice.

Meet Steve Hoffman, founder of Modern Postcards.

He was smitten by process control and the theory of constraints. How can you get 32 postcards on one sheet of paper and maintain quality? That's California kaizen. When we taped this story, Modern Postcard had 250 employees producing over 100 million postcards a year for some 150,000 customers.

Operations Excellence: 250+ videos

Steve Hoffman, Modern Postcards, Carlsbad: Continuous improvement, kaizen, quality programs, TOC, TQM, ...all really work.
Key Idea: Know the Theory of Constraints (TOC).
Key Question: How do I increase profits?

About The Stars of this Television Show

All the people who appear as the stars of this television show are recommended by their community for their integrity and by their industry for their creativity and courage. Our national sponsors -- from IBM, USPS, Verizon, Microsoft, D&B, SAIC, Travelers, Business Week, and many others -- have paid for everything.

Nobody can pay or has ever paid to be on this television show.

	Achieve Digital Workflow 2:33 \| Play Now \| Steve Hoffman is in motion to achieve continuous improvement, a concept institutionalized by the success of W. Edwards Deming. More about leadership...
	Build on Your Past Success 2:17 \| Play Now \| Jim Toya-Brown joined Steve Hoffman in 1986. Today he is Senior Vice President, friend and confidant to Steve. The two took the building blocks of an old business and turned it into an eBusiness.
	Listen to the Marketplace 2:13 \| Play Now \| Bill Lofft is the CFO and he explained how Steve and Jim evaluated the opportunity to move into using technology to reach thousands rather than hundreds of potential customers.
	Know the Theory of Constraints 1:12 \| Play Now \| Steve Hoffman is a process leader who has mastered the Theory of Constraints. He is driven to give customers quality, speed and price. Without technology, this was impossible. Now leaders like Steve are doing it everyday. More... Go to the homepage for this episode
	Create an Esprit de Corps 2:36 \| Play Now \| Most everyone at Modern Postcard works on a team. These are not departments or work groups. They use the sports metaphor because so many of the employees are involved in sports.
	Do The Customer's Heavy Lifting 1:15 \| Play Now \| All strong companies try do the customer's heavy lifting. When they do it right they are rewarded with loyalty. Friendly, fast moving teams at Modern Postcard help customers get what they want when they want it.
	Be a Process Leader 1:24 \| Play Now \| Hattie says that Steve Hoffman is one of the best process leaders we have ever met. Modern Postcard is technology and systems driven which has enabled it to grow since the Internet has become ubiquitous.
	Create Space that Inspires Quality 2:33 \| Play Now \| After leasing space for years and spending plenty of money to upgrade it to his standards, Steve's CPA told him it was time for him to own his own building.
	Make Goals Fun 1:25 \| Play Now \| Sarai Rodgers is Director of Human Resources. She works with CFO Bill Lofft to come up with goals that are fun and easy to measure.
	Reward with a Splash 5:23 \| Play Now \| Never in all of our studies of small and growing companies have we ever run into a group that has as much fun rewarding people for accomplishment. Top producers get to be the stars of a film made by a fellow employee. With a "Star Wars" theme, this Modern Postcard Image Award film was a big hit.
	Keep Your Promises 1:40 \| Play Now \| Technology, the best equipment and fabulous customer service people are the three-prong strategy used by Modern Postcard to deliver on its promises.