Packaging is the art of presentation.

Exciting packaging improves conversion.

There are two important parts of packaging:

WHAT IS IN THE PACKAGE?

When package “A” and package “B” are the same price and contain the same basics, they are equal. But when package “B” contains something extra that people would love to have, the sale will always go to package “B”.

Be the competitor that offers package “B”.

The “something extra” that you include in your package has to be something that people actually care about. It doesn’t have to cost you a lot; people just have to want it. This is where most businesses screw up. They create a package by adding something extra that no one really cares about. Those packages always fail, so the business owner foolishly concludes that packaging doesn’t matter.

It doesn’t take a lot of money to build an attractive package. But it does take a lot of time, energy, and creativity.

And then it takes even more time and energy to source the “something extra” that will go into the package.

SUMMARY: When your competitors sell the same things that you sell at similar prices, include a highly desirable “something extra” in your package.

HOW IS THE PACKAGE PRESENTED?

Two major movie theaters in Austin are showing the movie, “Gabby’s Dollhouse.” Both theaters have extensive menus and good food. Pivot your dining table out of the way. Sit down in your cozy recliner. Swing the table back across your lap. Order delicious things. Your smiling server will deliver whatever you want and keep doing so throughout the movie.

When young children go to the movies, adults go with them. This is why both theaters offer an extensive selection of beer, wine, and cocktails.

But only one of the theaters is offering a package that includes a map, some stickers, a plastic cup, and some plastic ears like the ones worn by Gabby, the main character in the movie. Every child will receive the movie memorabilia. Adults will not.

Pennie and I waited too long to buy tickets for our two youngest grandkids.

Are you ready for this? Every seat was sold on every screen for every seating time for “Gabby’s Dollhouse” at the theater offering the memorabilia made of paper and plastic. They even sold all the seats on the front row that are way too close to the screen.

We had to take our grandchildren to the newer theater in the better shopping center. That huge theater was completely empty except for the four of us along with two other families. Eleven people in all.

SUMMARY: Pennie and I were thankful that our grandkids didn’t know about the movie memorabilia at the other movie theater.

I believe that 2026 will be a year when consumer confidence* is in decline.

As a result, most businesses will reduce their payroll and their advertising in an attempt to “cut their way to profitability.”

They will do this because it makes sense if you don’t think about it.

But smart-and-hungry challengers who do think about it will hit the accelerator instead of the brakes. They will do this because they understand that market share is easier to steal from the big boys when consumer confidence is in decline.

The painful problem for these smart-and-hungry challengers is that they will be competing for a larger slice of a shrinking pie. So big gains in market share will show up as only small gains in top line revenue.

But when consumer confidence returns, “All hail the new market leader.”

Hitting the accelerator instead of the brakes is how smart-and-hungry challengers will overtake market leaders in 2026.

Are you beginning to understand why I taught you about the...

Peacocks want to be admired.

Parrots repeat only what they have heard.

Each of us has a little bit of Peacock in us, and perhaps a little Parrot, too.

(I admit it about me. You should admit it about you.)

Long ago I saw a movie in which an old Greek man says to a much younger man from England,

“A wise old Turk once told me…”

The young Englishman interrupts him and says,

“What! A wise old Turk? I thought the Greeks and Turks hated each other.”

The old Greek sighs, then says,

“When I was young, I believed that there were only two kinds of people; Greeks who were good, and Turks who were bad. Then one day I met a good Turk. So I decided there were only two kinds of people; good people and bad people.”

The Greek then looks into the eyes of the Englishman and says,

“Now I believe there are just people.”

On September 18th, I transcribed a single paragraph of an essay about the death of Charlie Kirk and posted it in my random quotes database:

“After every mass shooting, after every fresh example of political violence, after every round of one side recriminating the other side for not holding up their end of the social contract, we need to hear what is right, what is true, what is good. That need is why we commit to memory lines of poetry, passages of literature, and—for religious believers—particular verses. Because when crisis arrives and the world presses in on us, we must work to remember what we’re about and what we hold to. Sometimes those things hold us more than we hold them, but only when we know them in our bones. So we keep telling ourselves, and each other, what is true and good.”

“We should be telling each other this week to weep with those who weep.”

– Nick Catoggio, Sept 18, 2025

I have captured 7,761 quotes over the past 25 years. More than half of those were transcribed from novels, movies, television shows, emails and texts. About 10 percent of them are things I have written or said or thought or prayed; things that I wanted to archive somewhere lest I forget them. The rest of them are comical quips, well-worded witticisms, and profound thoughts uttered by friends and acquaintances that I quickly scribbled down.

The Random Quotes database is off-site storage of ideas that I can access from anywhere in the world.

You can access it, too. A new random quote will appear each time you refresh the page at MondayMorningMemo.com.

I am writing this to you on September 22, 2025. The newest quote in the database is a text that was sent by Jeffrey Eisenberg to Tom Grimes and me just a few minutes ago. It says,

“It’s my custom on Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, to reach out and ask forgiveness from my friends. The holiday is a time for reflection, fresh starts, and making peace. By asking forgiveness, I’m acknowledging that I might have hurt someone—whether knowingly or not—and I don’t want to carry that into the new year.”

“So if I’ve said or done anything that hurt or upset you, I sincerely ask your forgiveness.”

– Jeffrey Eisenberg

I responded,

“And we thank you for forgiving us, too. Especially Tom.” – RHW

Jeffrey sent a laugh emoji. Tom will laugh when he sees what I wrote.

In truth, I have long admired Jeffrey’s tradition of calling his friends each year or sending us a text. It is a marvelous reminder that mutual forgiveness is essential to keeping relationships alive and healthy.

Can you imagine what it would do for our country right now?

Roy H. Williams

Every business owner wants to increase the online...

There was a day when you found yourself in a strange situation and you did the best you could. Before you knew it, you were walking through it.

You noticed a patch of wildflowers.

You made a friend.

Darkness fell. You saw an eye rise into the sky and believed it to be the moon. But now you know it was the eye of God, watching to see what you would do.

With one of his eyes, he watches the world. With his other eye, he watches you.

You kept walking.

A ravine led to a stream and that stream led to a river.

That first river led to a much broader river.

Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn invited you onto their raft. You had an adventure.

And then you had your heart broken.

Got sick and recovered.

Had a stroke of luck. Stretched it as far as you could.

You closed your eyes as you clicked the heels of your ruby red slippers and said, “There’s no place like home, there’s no place like home, there’s no place like home.”

When you opened your eyes, you knew that home wasn’t there anymore. The sun had risen while you were away, and home had evaporated into that thin blanket of warm air that wraps our bountiful earth.

That was the day when you started looking forward and quit looking back

And that is how you came to be where you are.

The story that I have told you about yourself is the story of every successful business owner I have ever known.

One of my business partners sent me a text at 3:37 this morning. It was a long and fascinating story that she wrote several years ago.

This is how it begins.

“Tomorrow, I leave the trailer park for good. I can never come back. None of us can. So I’d like to reminisce a little with some of my favorite memories of the place that I’ve called home for so many years. They make me smile…”

The middle of her story is a delightful account of the all the crazy adventures she had with her companions on the log raft as it floated down the river of her youth. But it was the ending of her story that made it precious.

“The giant trees were the big-top under which we conducted our circus of crazy. Here we created our own reality, full of unforgettable characters and ghetto fabulous adventures. No one could touch us. We lived in the middle of town, but existed in our own world. No matter what happened “out there,” we could always come home, be ourselves, start a fire, and connect. We were safe. We were a family.

For years the echoes of our laughter have bounced off the old trees that have always shaded us. I like the think that the vibrations of our laughter are trapped inside the bark of those trees – that if you were to put your ear up to one of them, you could still hear the crackling of the fire and the cackling of our laughs.

It’s been one hell of a ride. I’m sad to leave, but I can’t wait to see what comes next.

Goodbye trailer park, hello world.”

Today my partner lives in a sun-drenched house with a beautiful garden that overlooks the ocean.

I’ve never been there, but I’ve seen the photos.

She is a remarkable ad writer.

Roy H. Williams