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Helping business owners grow their companies and transition with confidence, added value and complete control.
Category Archives: Entrepreneurship
Ready…Set…Exit! Part II
Last week we discussed the tsunami of Baby Boomer retirement, and how we will reach a peak of nearly 500 unsold businesses a day within the next 5 years. The statistics are immutable. The birthrates of the last century are … Continue Reading
Posted in Economic Trends, Entrepreneurship, Exit Planning, Exit Strategies, Selling a business, Strategy and Planning
Tagged Baby Boomers, Boomer Bust, business ownership, business planning, business strategy, entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship, exit planning, selling a business, small business advice
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Ready…Set…Exit! Part I
For the last six years I’ve been writing and speaking around the country to business owners about the coming tsunami of retiring Baby Boomer business owners. My e-book “Beating the Boomer Bust” details the statistics (For a free download, go here … Continue Reading
Correct Decisions, Good Decisions and “Best” Decisions
The young protégé asked his mentor, “How do you know what is the right decision?” The mentor answered “From experience.” “But how can I get experience?” The protégé asked. “Make some bad decisions.” was the mentor’s answer. Experience is what you get … Continue Reading
Can Small Business Survive Federal Regulation?
It has always been tough to start a business, but as Niall Ferguson points out in his excellent article “How America Lost Its Way” in the Wall Street Journal, it’s getting tougher. According to an annual survey by the World Bank, in only … Continue Reading
Three Rules for Small Business
A few days ago a discussion on LinkedIn’s “Small Business Accelerator” group asked “What are the three things a small business owner should focus on?” As challenging as any business is, the basics remain the same for everyone. We provide goods or services, … Continue Reading
Should Small Business Owners Embrace Social Media?
I order a package of vacuum cleaner bags online. The site cheerfully requests “Like us on Facebook!” Kobe Bryant announces that in order to help the Lakers, he won’t tweet during playoff games. A friend tells me that he is the … Continue Reading
Posted in Entrepreneurship, Marketing
Tagged business ownership, marketing, sales, sales management, small business advice
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Does Technology Help or Threaten Small Businesses?
A small computer service company wants to sell Microsoft software licenses to its customers. They send an employee to become certified in licensing. (Microsoft offers some 600 variants.). As soon as they purchase a license, however, Microsoft begins soliciting that customer … Continue Reading
Are Entrepreneurs Smarter, or just Gutsier?
The vagaries of my reading habits had me reading two “How I did it” books last week; Ed Whitacre’s “American Turnaround” and Dave Ramsey’s “EntreLeadership.” Both men are justifiably proud of their achievements, but their differing paths to success are striking. … Continue Reading
Posted in Business Perspectives, Entrepreneurship, Leadership
Tagged business ownership, entrepreneurship, leadership, small business
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Leaner and Meaner (Part 4): Beating the Big Guys
If your small business depends on excellent employees, how can you attract and retain them against the resources of larger corporations? In our previous installments of this Leaner and Meaner series, we’ve talked about how the pressures of running a business today … Continue Reading
Leaner and Meaner (Part 2): Retaining Good Employees
Last week we discussed the post-recession challenges that face business owners, and the economic and demographic shifts that mean we need to run our companies better than we ever have before. Between 2008 and 2010 many business owners faced a task they had … Continue Reading
Business Plans and New Year’s Resolutions
For the last week or so, the regular denizens of my local gym have been “preparing” for the onslaught of Resolutioners, as we call them. Those are the folks that show up every year right after the holidays, determined to … Continue Reading
2013: Planning for Uncertainty
Every conversation that I’ve had with business owners over the last several weeks has revolved around the challenge of planning to do business in a political and economic climate that defies normal planning conventions. The sequestration budgetary measures scheduled to go … Continue Reading