For the longest time lumber mills had a huge problem, sawdust. Everywhere they turned there it was laying around piling up on their floors causing machines to jam and simply making a mess. Until one day someone figured out how to transform marginal waste into a profitable business.

That business was the beginning of what we know call "Plywood".

Just after World War II, a young man named Alfred Nobel noticed the excessive waste of sawdust causing equipment malfunctions, unhealthy working conditions, and overall clutter for the industrial world. He found a way to use the leftovers, the marginalized, the crumbs on the floor as a means for a business and invented the versatile material.

How often do we over-look the marginalized crumbs of a business? What low-hanging fruit can be picked to form new innovative streams of revenue within our focus? The principal of focus will always remain true, but sometimes diversifying within a tight focus is critical to success. Shoe stores are known for selling shoes, but they also sell shoe polish, shoe strings, and insoles. No one calls them a Shoe Polish store. They've found ways to diversify within a focus. They've picked up the sawdust and made plywood.

What sawdust is laying around on your floor?

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