Tag Archives: entrepreneurship

What Does HR Do?

What are the roles of a Human Resources professional in your organization? A common rule of thumb is that a company should have a dedicated HR function once it reaches 80 employees or so. This post comes from a recent meeting of … Continue Reading

Posted in Entrepreneurship, Incentives, Leadership, Managing Employees, Strategy and Planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Too Busy to Do Business

Another tax filing season has passed, and the entire US accounting profession comes up for air. Of course, thousands of businesses and individuals have filed for extensions, thereby postponing the pain of calculating their final numbers for anywhere from a … Continue Reading

Posted in Exit Options, Exit Planning, Leadership, Life After, Politics and Regulation, Selling a business, Strategy and Planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Small Businesses Fantasies: Service

As an evangelist for small business, I am the consumer equivalent of the locally-grown food movement. I spend as much of my discretionary income as possible with the owned-and-operated businesses in my area. As a consultant and coach to owners, I also … Continue Reading

Posted in Customer Relations, Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Managing Employees, Marketing, Marketing and Sales, Sales | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Let the Business Owners Pay for It

When it comes to “No taxation without representation,” the rallying cry of our founding fathers, few identifiable population segments are as abused as business owners. One of my long-time clients is a franchisor, and until very recently I was a … Continue Reading

Posted in Business Perspectives, Entrepreneurship, Politics and Regulation, Strategy and Planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Time to Grow Up

Young industries no longer have the time to grow up. The cycle of maturation has long been accepted as  a fact of life when a new concept becomes a business. There are a few pioneers (defined here in Texas as … Continue Reading

Posted in Business Perspectives, Marketing and Sales, Strategy and Planning, Technology | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Talk to Your Competitors

In my two decades of managing over a dozen peer groups, I frequently had the opportunity to sit in meetings with a business owner who competed with a member of another Board. I occasionally had to bite my tongue as someone vilified … Continue Reading

Posted in Business Perspectives, Entrepreneurship, Marketing and Sales, Strategy and Planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

What is the Right Price?

Of all the misconceptions by business owners, the ones surrounding their company’s value are both the most common and often wildly inaccurate. I’ve been working for the last couple of months on the training videos for advisors in our new product, The ExitMap®. … Continue Reading

Posted in Building Value, Exit Options, Exit Planning, Exit Strategies, Selling a business, Strategy and Planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The 7 Deadly Sins of an Entrepreneur — Reprise

I make no claim that using the Seven Deadly Sins as a metaphor for business behavior is original. Of course, the original concept is a codifying of “undesirable” human behaviors, or sins. The work probably comes from the Latin word … Continue Reading

Posted in Building Value, Business Perspectives, Entrepreneurship, Exit Planning, John's Opinions, Leadership, Managing Employees, Strategy and Planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Seventh Entrepreneurial Sin — Pride

Every business owner should be proud of his or her business. If you are the founder, you built every system, and probably landed the biggest customers. If you bought the business, you took what was in place and made it … Continue Reading

Posted in Building Value, Customer Relations, Entrepreneurship, Exit Planning, Leadership, Managing Employees, Marketing and Sales, Selling a business, Strategy and Planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Sixth Entrepreneurial Sin — Envy

This week we start on the two remaining deadly sins of an entrepreneur. Envy and Pride are the strategic sins. The first two (Lust and Gluttony) are operational; they interfere with how you function as an owner and leader. The … Continue Reading

Posted in Building Value, Business Perspectives, Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Strategy and Planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Fifth Entrepreneurial Sin — Greed

Few small business owners identify with the bloated income of Wall Street Tycoons. To accuse an entrepreneur of Greed brings up memories of the Gordon Gekko 1980’s, when “Greed is Good” seemed to be the motto of 30-something Boomers focused … Continue Reading

Posted in Building Value, Business Perspectives, Entrepreneurship, Strategy and Planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Copreneurs: Who’s on Top?

I decided to take a mid-series break from the Seven Deadly Sins of an Entrepreneur because  its Valentine’s Day, and I have a topic I’ve been saving for the holiday. In a privately held business, we frequently see husband and wife working … Continue Reading

Posted in Entrepreneurship, John's Opinions, Leadership, Strategy and Planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments