You became a business owner to earn a living. To do what you know how to do best, your way. To take care of your family (and maybe enjoy a nice vacation now and then). But it’s easy to get laser-focused on crunching numbers and forget that it’s people that make or break a business. And if you want stronger sales a...
Let’s be honest. It’s been another challenging year for the owners and operators of small businesses. You’ve had to find a new normal as Covid restrictions eased. The prices of goods and services you depend on to operate have shot up, often cutting into already thin margins. Your employees are looking to you for r...
Let’s be honest. It’s been another challenging year for the owners and operators of small businesses. You’ve had to find a new normal as Covid restrictions eased. The prices of goods and services you depend on to operate have shot up, often cutting into already thin margins. Your employees are looking to you for r...
n less than two years, we’ve seen such incredible shifts in workforce trends that the traditional model of five days in the office seems like a thing of the past. And among the conversations of how, where and when to work, the theme of a shorter work week is slowly becoming louder. Recent studies on a four-day wor...
When you think about your business and life as a business owner, do you know why you do what you do? Does leading your business provide the life you imagined it would when you started it, or is it running you ragged with little payoff?
n less than two years, we’ve seen such incredible shifts in workforce trends that the traditional model of five days in the office seems like a thing of the past. And among the conversations of how, where and when to work, the theme of a shorter work week is slowly becoming louder. Recent studies on a four-day wor...
Pretend you’re seeing your business for the first time. Now ask yourself what you’d be willing to pay for it if you were in the market to buy a company. What gives it value, and what’s missing that, if present, would convince you to pay more?
Some small business problems lurk beneath the surface; others wave a red flag that’s impossible to miss. Cash flow problems can be the hardest to ignore. They feel big because they are. In the earliest stages of a new business, people are often heavily focused on cash. Much like living paycheck to paycheck, new bu...
As an entrepreneur, nothing can be more frustrating than inconsistent results. You can have high revenue one month, directly followed by low revenue the next without clear indicators for why. If every peak you hit is followed by a dramatic drop, the resources you spend climbing to the next peak cancel out the wins...
Change is everywhere—pandemic, inflation, interest rate hikes, social unrest—and the examples are obvious because they're happening to all of us, all at once. Underneath all this shared experience is the realization that even when things start to seem more “normal,” there’s still plenty of change impacting us. Sma...
Want to plan for growth and financial stability in 2023? Our new workbook will help you identify, prioritize and reach targeted annual goals.
In small businesses, it’s not uncommon to accrue millions of dollars in revenue each year without actually producing any meaningful cash flow. You may very well know how frustrating it can be to show profit on your income statement, but not have money in the bank. One part of this issue is a fundamental misunderst...
When I read The E-Myth Revisited for the first time in 1996, one of the quotes that stuck with me most was this one: “How you think about business is how you end up doing business.”
Retaining your employees takes creativity and problem-solving in the best of times. This is even truer for small businesses who may not have the financial position to offer higher pay. When your employees are weighing their options, watching job boards or responding to eager recruiters, the promise of making more ...
You might be frustrated—or even frightened—by the economic changes that are currently impacting nearly every business and family. The truth is that economic cycles are a reality of life. So what adjustments can you make to protect the health of your business given whatever changes are happening? Cutting costs may ...
From pandemics to national disasters, recessions, and inflation, business cycles are a reality. No one has a crystal ball, but even if you can’t predict the future, being prepared to respond to disruptions is better than being forced to react to them when they’re already underway. What can you do to make your busi...
If you own a business and have employees, it’s easy to understand why systematizing your business puts you at a great advantage. You know how you want things done. You know how things should work. You know the way you want your prospects and customers to be treated. But your ideal is just a series of pictures in y...