Blog

Welcome to “Top Line”

Posted by David Wallace on September 11, 2009

“Top Line” is directed to sales and marketing executives, CEOs, other senior management and entrepreneurs who are interested in managing and improving their sales and marketing functions.  Each week, I will share some of the experience I’ve developed over a nearly thirty-year career in sales and marketing management. Over the coming weeks, I will address […]

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Why Start a Business? Getting Honest About Your Motivations First

Posted by David Wallace on September 11, 2026

“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second-best time is now.” — Chinese Proverb That’s the quote that opens Chapter 1 of Worth the Work, right before the story of a founder, call her Sarah, staring at her computer screen on another Wednesday that felt exactly like every other Wednesday. […]

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Scaling Without Breaking What Made You Successful

Posted by David Wallace on August 31, 2026

“The secret to successful scaling isn’t doing more of what got you here — it’s learning to do different things well.” — Reid Hoffman In 2011, Airbnb faced a problem most founders would consider enviable: it was growing so fast that the growth itself was threatening to break the company. Bookings were doubling month over […]

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How Worth the Work Maps to a Semester

Posted by David Wallace on August 31, 2026

If you’re evaluating Worth the Work for course adoption, the question that actually matters isn’t “is this a good book” — it’s “does this fit how I have to structure fifteen weeks.” Here’s a direct answer, part by part. The book is organized into six parts and eighteen chapters, structured to follow the entrepreneurial journey […]

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You Can Be Profitable and Still Go Bankrupt

Posted by David Wallace on August 31, 2026

“Cash flow is the lifeblood of any business. You can have profits on paper, but if you can’t pay your bills, you’re dead.” — Richard Branson Chapter 10 of Worth the Work opens with a story that makes Branson’s point uncomfortably real. A founder — call her Jessica — launches a boutique marketing agency with […]

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“A Goal Is a Dream With a Deadline.” Chapter 4 Is About the Translation.

Posted by David Wallace on August 27, 2026

Napoleon Hill’s line opens Chapter 4 of Worth the Work, and it names the exact place where a lot of promising businesses never actually start: the gap between having a compelling vision and having something you can act on Monday morning. The trap of eloquent generalities Worth the Work illustrates this with a founder — […]

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Culture Isn’t a Perk. It’s Infrastructure.

Posted by David Wallace on August 25, 2026

Research cited by Forbes has found that companies with strong cultures grow revenue up to four times faster than competitors with weak ones. Not because culture makes people happier, though it often does, but because culture is the operating system that determines how fast and how well every other decision in your business gets made. […]

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“It’s Not Whether You Get Knocked Down.” Chapter 2 Is About What Happens After.

Posted by David Wallace on August 19, 2026

Vince Lombardi put it this way: “It’s not whether you get knocked down; it’s whether you get up.” It’s the quote that opens Chapter 2 of Worth the Work, and it’s there because it’s the single most accurate description of what entrepreneurship actually tests. Not your idea. Not your resume. Whether you get up. Mindset […]

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More Than 5,000 Entrepreneurship Courses Are Taught in the U.S. Right Now. Most Are Using the Wrong Kind of Textbook.

Posted by David Wallace on August 17, 2026

According to the Kauffman Foundation, the number of entrepreneurship courses offered at U.S. colleges and universities grew from roughly 250 in 1985 to more than 5,000 by 2013 — and nearly 90% of American universities now offer at least one. Entrepreneurship isn’t a niche elective anymore. It’s one of the fastest-growing areas of undergraduate study […]

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Your Business Doesn’t Have One Problem. It Has All of Them, at Once.

Posted by David Wallace on August 12, 2026

If you’re running a business right now, you already know something most business books quietly ignore: your problems don’t show up one at a time. You’re trying to close a sale while a key employee is giving notice. You’re revising pricing while your accountant is asking hard questions about cash flow. You’re thinking about culture […]

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92% of People With a Business Idea Never Act on It. What About You?

Posted by David Wallace on August 10, 2026

According to a Harris Poll survey commissioned by Zapier, 61% of Americans have had an idea for starting a business. Ninety-two percent of them never followed through. Sit with that for a second, because it’s not a small gap. It means the overwhelming majority of people who’ve thought seriously about building something of their own […]

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