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Helping business owners grow their companies and transition with confidence, added value and complete control.
Category Archives: Strategy and Planning
The Catch 22 of IT management
Are you big enough for an “in-house” IT professional? With the rising cost of service by outside firms, many smaller businesses are trying to hire someone to take care of their technology needs. Of course, many small businesses are still … Continue Reading
Performance Reviews- Best Practices
Performance reviews are a pain. In my nearly 40 years in business they have always generated the same complaints. Managers hate to do them. As a consequence, they are frequently over due. They provide the employee with little information on … Continue Reading
Profits and Savings aren’t the Same Thing
How much profit will you make this year? If you are like many business owners, the answer is “We’ll see.” They consider profit to be the amount left over after all of the business expenses are paid. That’s an accounting … Continue Reading
Black Swans and Small Business Plans
The term “Black Swan” has become immensely popular on Wall Street and in the media to designate a rare occurrence. Google “Black Swan Japan earthquake” (which is popular enough that Google will fill in the last 11 or 12 letters … Continue Reading
Posted in Economic Trends, Entrepreneurship, Strategy and Planning
Tagged business planning, small business
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Why is San Antonio Bucking the Trend?
The national economy is recovering, but it has a long way to go. Residential and commercial foreclosures, consumer debt levels, and bloated public pensions will take some time to correct. Yet San Antonio has been named as one of the … Continue Reading
Posted in Economic Trends, Strategy and Planning
Tagged business strategy, economy, leadership, management, trade
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Entering 2011: a tale of two economies
In January of 2009 I blogged here titled “The Strategic Triple Threat” At that time, Congress had just passed the TARP act, saving the world from financial meltdown. The Federal Reserve was predicting a short recession followed by a resumption of historical … Continue Reading
From the Small Business Advocate newsletter
This is from Jim Blasingames “Small Business Advocate” newsletter, and is based on a show we did last week. If you don’t get Jim’s newsletter, or want to hear the show, I strongly recommenfd that you go to http://www.smallbusinessadvocate.com/ Here is … Continue Reading
A New View of Who We Are
The economy has experienced 5 consecutive quarters of growth. We are officially more than a year past the end of the recession. I’m guessing that you, like me, responded to that fact with something like “HA!.” We all still feel … Continue Reading
There are lies, damn lies,
and statistics, I just ran across this U.S. Postal Service press release from 1996. “In 1940, a one pound loaf of bread cost 8 cents, and in 1995 it cost 79 cents. A half gallon of milk went from 25 … Continue Reading
Posted in Economic Trends, Strategy and Planning
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Hunters and Farmers
Several times monthly, I interview entrepreneurs who are considering membership in The Alternative Board® as a means to improve their business. Part of the process is asking each one what his or her core skills are – the things that … Continue Reading
The Black Donut Hole
Recently, there has been renewed attention to the work of Corrado Gini. An Italian Facist, he published in 1012 the Gini coefficient, a measurement of income equality among a nation’s citizens. As happens in the media, one publication picked up … Continue Reading
Why a Coach?
I had a special session with my business coach yesterday. That’s unusual. Typically we meet just once a month to cover my goals and objectives, and see if I am on track. This time we met for the specific purpose … Continue Reading