6 Questions for: Courtney Wright

Courtney Wright is the founder and president of CDW Merchants, a leading provider of retail displays and packaging. Courtney exudes creativity through her entrepreneurship, personality and numerous projects. Her love for creativity means lots of fun projects for BatesMeron, like a unique marketing tool for CDW Merchants and Courtney’s stylish new website.

I interviewed Courtney as part of our 6 Questions feature—a series of one-on-one interviews with people we work with who amaze and inspire us. Read on to learn more about her tips for success and how keeping it old school is always on trend.

1. You recently “rebranded” yourself, what was that process like for you? How did BatesMeron help?

First, I started with a life plan where I outlined my accomplishments, goals and what’s most important to me moving forward. I turned to BatesMeron for my new website, and came away with a logo, identity and a new way to tell my story in a way that positions me for future endeavors.

I’m a visual person, and I love that the web design BatesMeron used highlights that. There are a large amount of images and it’s highly fluid—it’s current and fresh.

2. We admire you for your business savvy and success; do you have any advice so our readers can try to be as accomplished and confident as you?

Always put your people first. If you make it a point to always help others—customers, suppliers and associates—chances are, you’ll get exactly what you want down the road.

3. How do you make creativity a part of every day—at work and at home?

I believe everything you can do can have creative touch, whether it’s making my kids’ lunches and adding a note, or starting my day at work and cutting out articles for my team on things I know they are interested in or may impact their work in a way they didn’t see, or the little creative things that I do in the normal course of my day to show people that I care. I think that creativity is 90 percent really caring and 10 percent the expression of that caring—that’s how I do it.

4. How do you use your personal style to communicate your individual “brand?”

You can’t change who you are, so you have to leverage that. For me, that means the way I dress, the stationery I write on and the things that I do for people. When you have something you like, you step on the gas really hard and spread that to the people around you…and it may inspire them to find their own creativity.

5. You recently gave a talk at your alma mater, Lake Forest College, about standing out in a technology-filled world. Can you give us the Cliff’s notes version of your top tips for those of us who missed it?

Old-school things still matter; manners still matter and are a way to distinguish yourself. Like handwritten notes—you’re going to stand out if you send a handwritten note because the younger generation doesn’t do that. Using the phone to call and talk to somebody— you’re going to stand out among those who text or email, even if they do it faster. You have to consider what your manners are saying about you. There’s a difference between my code word, “perfast”—being fast and good enough, and just not being well done.

I also talked about goals and goal setting. It’s critical to write your goals and know where you’re heading. I also spoke about thinking big, the difference between shooting really high and missing, or shooting low and hitting it—and which is better.

6. We know you’re fluent in French; do you have a favorite French saying you could teach us?

There’s a slang term “chiche!” It roughly translates to, “Good idea, I dare you—let’s do it!” It’s very embracing.