I was recently having coffee with a senior banker when he said something that caught my attention. This banker said he has met a lot of so-called business coaches and consultants, and most of them have no real business experience. He went on to say that he would be hard pressed to recommend a business… Read More »
The Countdown Is On
In just two months, the year 2019 will come to a close. How are you planning on finishing the year? Do you have a plan? Will you increase sales in these last two months? Will you increase efficiency? Will you improve customer service? As Stephen Covey said in his book The Seven Habits of Highly… Read More »
Drawing a Map for Business Success
It is easy to get lost when you do not have a map. Business success requires having a plan to get where you want to go….Read more »
FINISH STRONG IN 2019
We are starting the last quarter of 2019, and with that you have a great opportunity to have a successful close to 2019. Henry Ford famously said: “If you think you can or think you can’t, you are right.” If you want to finish the year strong and you believe that you can, you will… Read More »
Grow Your Business by 30, 40, or 50 Percent without Capital Investment
If you are like most business owners I meet, you want to grow your business but you believe it will take capital to do so. The reason business owners say they want to grow is that they are not making enough money now. Here’s the issue: Revenue growth can come with added costs if you… Read More »
CEO Projections for 2019
Back in April of this year I posted a blog post on the results of the 2019 CEO confidence index and projections. I then researched information on the longest economic expansions in U.S. History. With the news these days concerning the economy and the slow down in manufacturing, I felt it was worth repeating again…. Read More »
Business Doesn’t Have to Be So Hard
When I was a teenager, my mother and stepfather got divorced and my mom and I moved to a mountain community and lived in a cabin that my aunt owned. We lived there while my mom ran a bakery that she had purchased with the proceeds from her divorce. The mountain cabin had no insulation,… Read More »
THE 10,000-HOUR RULE
In Malcolm Gladwell’s 2008 book Outliers,he coined the term “the 10,000-Hour Rule” in which he explained that to become an expert in almost any field requires 10,000 hours of practice. Gladwell provided examples such as the Beetles, Bill Gates, Michael Jordan, and others whom after practicing for 10,000 hours became experts in their fields. The… Read More »
How Do You Value an Hour of Your Time?
BUSINESS BREAKTHROUGH #9 I often ask owners and executives what an hour of their time is worth. This exercise quickly clarifies priorities and helps them evaluate the time spent on work someone else can do. It also highlights the issue most people are grappling with in the workplace these days: distractions. Think about it…. Read More »
The Unemployment Crunch
We are facing one of the tightest labor markets in 50 years. Employers are not able to hire enough employees to meet demand. This Wall Street Journal article on May 13 explained that small companies are adding employees at the slowest rate in eight years, not because they do not have the work for… Read More »