A common marketing mistake among small business owners is that they go after a market that is too broad. They want to cast their net as wide as possible in the belief that it’s a numbers game . . . that the bigger the market, the more potential customers there […] Continue Reading…
It’s lonely at the top, isn’t it?
You may be (or you are) the smartest guy in the
room, but are you smarter than you plus everyone else in the room? Collectively,
your employees have more experience than you do, and because they’re immersed
in the nitty-gritty details of daily operations, they know things about the
business that you don’t. […] Continue Reading…
Don’t produce a budget. Map out a Profit Plan. (Part II)
The blog below is a repeat, as were the
previous two postings (September 4, 2019 and September 18, 2019). Combined, the
three postings offer a template for developing a 2020 Plan. We are
re-publishing these now because developing an Annual Plan is a critically
important activity for any small business to undertake, and […] Continue Reading…
Don’t produce a budget. Map out a Profit Plan. (Part 1)
The blog below is a repeat, as was the previous posting (September 4, 2019), and as will be the next posting (October 2, 2019). Combined, the three postings offer a template for developing a 2020 Plan. We are re-publishing these now because developing an Annual Plan is a critically […] Continue Reading…
“The nicest thing about not planning is that failure always comes as a complete surprise and is not preceded by a period of worry and desperation.”
The blog below is a repeat. It was first published two years ago, along with two companion pieces that will also be re-published in the two postings following this one. Combined, the three postings offer a template for developing a 2020 Plan. We are re-publishing these now because developing […] Continue Reading…
“If you procrastinate when faced with a big difficult problem . . . break the problem into parts, and handle one part at a time.”
Dan
Sullivan is the founder of The Strategic Coach, Inc. and the creator of The
Strategic Coach Program . . . a program that helps already successful
entrepreneurs become even more successful.
He is also the author of more than 30 publications including one
entitled “WhoNotHow.” In this particular
publication, he teaches that procrastination […] Continue Reading…
“Empathy is about standing in someone else’s shoes, feeling with his or her heart, seeing with his or her eyes.”
According to Wikipedia, “emotional
intelligence (EI), is the capability of individuals to recognize
their own emotions and those of others, discern between
different feelings and label them appropriately, use emotional information to
guide thinking and behavior, and manage and/or adjust emotions to adapt to
environments or achieve one’s goal(s).”
Science journalist David Colemen, who popularized the term “emotional
intelligence,” […] Continue Reading…
Unpatriotic? Go back where you came from? Huh?
This
is supposed to be a blog for small business owners and operators, right? So normally, we steer clear of political
topics, but we believe some current political events have parallels in the
business world. Be patient, stay tuned,
and we’ll eventually get to the business point of this.
Unless
you’ve been in a coma […] Continue Reading…
“Much of what we call management today consists of making it difficult for people to work.”
Gary Hamel is a management expert and author who talks extensively about the need to update our management systems. He points out that most of the management systems in place today were “invented” over a hundred years ago at the dawn of the industrial revolution when 90% of the […] Continue Reading…
“Employee Engagement may have been optional in the past, but it’s pretty much the whole game today.”
Fully 70% of American workers are not “engaged” with their company’s mission, vision, values, and purpose. They will give their company sufficient effort to stay out of trouble and to continue collecting a paycheck, but that’s about it . . . they’re not going to give their company much, […] Continue Reading…
