This is the Referral Rundown, the newsletter that helps camps grow through word of mouth.

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Today’s estimated read time: 1 minute 24 seconds

One of my favorite podcasts is My First Million.

In theory it’s about business.

In practice, it’s mostly two friends talking and occasionally dropping a wisdom nugget.

A few weeks ago one of the hosts, Shaan Puri, mentioned a news clip from 1983.

The story was about a shoe salesman named Larry Joltin.

In 1982, he sold more than $400,000 worth of shoes.

He was named salesman of the year three years in a row by the National Shoe Retailers Association.

When Shaan talked about the clip, he made an interesting point.

Most people think great salespeople succeed through charm.

But the best ones combine charm with process.

They do the fundamentals.

Over and over.

Shaan summed it up with a great phrase:

That line stuck with me.

Because a lot of the time, we already know what works.

We just get bored doing it.

I think camp directors feel this tension constantly.

The fundamentals are clear:

Stay in touch with families.
Touch base with last year’s staff.
Survey parents.
Take care of campers.

None of that is mysterious.

But the basics aren’t always exciting.

And camps are full of new ideas competing for attention.

New programs.
New systems.
New tools.
New initiatives.

Meanwhile, the things that actually move the needle are often the same ones that worked ten years ago.

Jack mentioned a great framework for this: Worker Bee vs CEO.

New things are more exciting.

And urgent tasks feel loud:

Emails.
Scheduling problems.
The thing that just broke.

Important tasks are quieter:

The phone call to a returning family.
Following up with a counselor applicant.
Checking in with a staff member who seems a little off.

Those are the things that build great camps.

But they rarely feel urgent in the moment.

Referrals are a good example of this.

Directors sometimes search for a clever new way to grow enrollment.

But the truth is simpler.

Stay connected with families.
Deliver a great summer.
Remind people they can share camp with others.

Then repeat.

It’s not complicated.

But it does require discipline.

Great camps aren’t built through constant reinvention.

They’re built through consistency.

Doing the right things.

Year after year.

Even when they start to feel a little boring.

Because sometimes leadership just means this:

Don’t get bored of greatness.

Atomic Habits by James Clear

This book dovetails nicely with today’s theme.

The core idea is simple:

Small habits, repeated consistently, produce big results over time.

It’s easy to overlook those habits because they aren’t dramatic.

But that’s usually where real progress happens.

A helpful reminder for anyone running a camp (or any organization, really).

Until next time,

Peter “Dance Party Director” Elbaum