blog

• What should business owners invest in?July 4, 2022
  Running a business and generating cash is tough. I am often asked, “what should business owners invest in” once they have made it out of the Struggling Quadrant. The most popular leading answer I receive is real estate, real estate and real estate. There is a common belief amongst business owners suggesting that owning the …
• Cash Flow Quadrant For Business Owners – An IntroductionMay 17, 2022
  An introduction to the Cash Flow Quadrant For Business Owners What quadrant is your business in? Years ago, when I spent most of my time working with entrepreneurs to help them secure financing so they could turn their companies around, I needed a quick way to understand their financial and operational status. Every entrepreneur (including …
• What to do when business is slowApril 27, 2022
  The share price for Netflix has dropped significantly over the past week as the market tries to figure out what they think the future of the business will be. Netflix has lost more than 200,000 subscribers and believes they stand to lose more over the coming months. The company has focused on delivering high-quality content …
• How will inflation force you to change your businessJanuary 16, 2022
  How will inflation force you to change your business? Inflation is a funny thing. You can’t pinpoint the exact day it impacted your business. You can only look back and notice the changes it made. As an entrepreneur there are two paths you can choose: 1) let inflation happen and watch your business slowly fade, …
• Are you stressed or scared about your business finances?January 9, 2022
  Are you stressed or scared about your business finances? Business finances are a consistent point of stress for entrepreneurs. Sleepless nights. Panic attacks. Ignoring voicemails and emails. Fear produces action and there are only two: failure or profit. There is nothing in between. As an entrepreneur, you have the choice of taking actions that can …
• How to guarantee your business is approved for financingSeptember 7, 2021
  In their own mind, every entrepreneur thinks that their business is a slam-dunk opportunity for a banker or investor to consider. What an entrepreneur often fails to realize is that a banker or an investor is not as close to their business as they are. They lack the intimate knowledge of all the small details …
• What is the point of growing a business?August 11, 2021
  Have you ever asked yourself this question? When you consider the work required to keep a business alive, trying to figure out how to grow a business can seem impossible and pointless. Why bother growing a business when it’s hard enough to keep it going without complications and challenges? When it comes to growth, what …
• Want a simple goal? Double your results.August 6, 2021
  It doesn’t always need to be complicated. It doesn’t always need to be difficult. Sometimes the simplest goals are the ones that don’t require a lot of thinking. As entrepreneurs we strive to build value by using people and resources to solve a problem in the market. To get a return on the effort and …
• You need to copy them before you can beat them.July 30, 2021
  There are moments when everything is going well. Money is in the bank. Profit is finding its way to the bottom line. Customers and staff are happy. These moments can cause complacency if we aren’t careful and it’s only a matter of time until life feels upside down. When the good moments come along, they …
• When it seems impossible.July 28, 2021
  Not every day is awesome. Depending on where you are in your journey as an entrepreneur you might find that most days are tougher than others. Cash flow concerns. Challenges with people on your team. Market problems that you didn’t anticipate would impact your business. The list is endless. There are days when it can …
• You never can tell.July 27, 2021
  The best times in a business are not obvious until you look back. Was it the market helping your business do well or was it brilliant management decisions? Maybe a little bit of both? You never can tell when the good times are coming to an end and the same can be said about bad …
• Take the hit and move on.July 21, 2021
  It’s easy to see in hindsight where you may have went wrong. As entrepreneurs we can often find ourselves making decisions that may not necessarily be contributing to a better result. We make decisions to grow our business or to offer new products and services only to find we didn’t execute well or encountered problems …
• Your business can always do more. Don’t wait until it’s too late.July 16, 2021
  As if it wasn’t hard enough to find a customer and generate sales, every entrepreneur also has to find ways of keeping customers happy and has to find new ways of keeping them coming back. It’s not an exercise for the faint of heart and not every business is able to do it. Business is …
• What is the most exciting trend in your market today?July 15, 2021
  Day in and day out things can often seem the same. As entrepreneurs we can get into the habit of keeping our head down and focusing on the numerous tasks and requests being made of us without looking up to see what’s going on in our market. Our businesses can often feel stagnant or uninteresting …
• Sir Richard Branson captures another dream through Virgin Galactic.July 11, 2021
  Many entrepreneurs (myself included) are reminded today that we are only limited by our imaginations when it comes to realizing our dreams. Day after day we can get caught up in the details, issues and tasks that can take our minds away from pursuing our dreams. As Sir Richard Branson captures another dream through Virgin …
• There is always a new normal after a downturn. Watch the box office.July 9, 2021
  It can be tough to keep your head on straight when life seems to be crumbling down around you. The financial crash of 2018/2019 was a tough time for many entrepreneurs. COVID has been very difficult for many entrepreneurs. Notwithstanding the difficult moments an entrepreneur might find themselves in, a new normal always sets in …
• No more lines of credit says Wells Fargo. Expect the unexpected.July 8, 2021
  Nothing is guaranteed in life. Being responsible for an active business that is relied upon by customers, vendors and employees alike means being ready for anything. If you can learn to expect the unexpected you will always be in a position of directing your own outcomes. Many entrepreneurs can be caught off guard when circumstances …
• What if entrepreneurs didn’t have to fail?March 3, 2021
  Pretty presumptuous right? Everyone knows that entrepreneurs have a high failure rate and are expected to fail because that’s what makes a small group of entrepreneurs successful – learning from failure and continuing down the path of creating profit by providing solutions to problems that exist in the market. But what if entrepreneurs didn’t have …
• Bag of goldSeptember 16, 2020
  I believe we all have a bag of gold. Some people have one piece of gold in their bag while others may have 2 or more. Gold represents the value or currency of our talents and abilities. Each day we get the opportunity to trade our gold out in the marketplace in exchange for more. …
• Failure happensSeptember 7, 2020
  I don’t like to fail. I use to think that failure was weakness and something that I needed to try harder to be better at, stronger at. I have come to understand that failure is a feedback loop and doesn’t reflect weakness if I am able to get on my feet and keep going. Perseverance …
• Winning happensAugust 26, 2020
  When I catch a break, it tends to catch me off guard. Running a business is like running a marathon…uphill! I exert so much effort every day that when I catch a break I try to take a moment to take it in. The grind of tasks, issues and challenges can feel normal over time …
• Honesty happensAugust 25, 2020
  It’s tough sometimes to come to terms with reality. Even as an entrepreneur it can be difficult to hold out hope for the future when your current circumstances suggest there should be no hope. When I feel like I want to put on a brave face I have learned that being honest and dealing with …
• Change happensAugust 24, 2020
  Wouldn’t it be great if the best decisions you made were able to provide a lasting difference? Wouldn’t it be great if things stayed the same in your business? I have thought about this often and have decided that change is good. The challenges I was able to overcome through innovation and pressure have contributed …
• Organic or ???August 20, 2020
  Do my actions and activities change the result? It’s a tricky question for an entrepreneur to answer because we tend to think that everything we do matters. I have learned that every business has an organic result it can generate without much effort based on being in the market and making its products and services …
• Finding the energyAugust 19, 2020
  I wish it was easy. I wish the things in my head could easily be put into place. Marketing strategies would just work. Sales activities would produce amazing relationships with customers. Operations would deliver products and services seamlessly. Finance would always be up to date and helpful in providing insights about where to invest all …
• Why bother?August 18, 2020
  I enjoy a tremendous amount of freedom. Every day I get to do the things I want to do but even in the middle of all my freedom I have days where I wonder: “Is this worth it?” I find I have days every now and then where the volume of noise and issues wears …
• Mondays are the bestAugust 17, 2020
  I use to hate Sundays. More specifically Sunday evenings. I would begin to think of all of the outstanding tasks and issues I would be faced with come Monday morning and would being feeling the anxiety creeping into my chest. Once Monday morning hit I would have a running list of things to do, people …
• What’s your next move?April 17, 2020
  Every day you are either moving your business forward or it is moving backwards on its own. Like a balloon suspended in the air, you are either watching it fall to the ground or you are continually propping it up but you are never doing neither. There may be moments when you are not sure …
• Have you filled in the gaps?April 16, 2020
  Take a look at your business right now and see if you can identify the next challenge it may face or the next opportunity it might have. Is is sales? Is it order fulfilment? Is it customer service? It is e-commerce? Over the past 6 weeks many businesses have been forced to re-evaluate what they …
• How to have the hard conversationsApril 15, 2020
  Everyone has a different way of dealing with difficult circumstances. One of the keys to getting through a difficult time is to be honest about the challenges you are facing and the people that your actions (or inaction) may be impacting. In your business you have creditors, staff, the government and other people that depend …
• Should you take the money?April 14, 2020
  When faced with difficult situations involving the cash your business needs, it can be easy to think that finding new money to put into your business will solve your problems. Rarely does new money going into a business fix anything if there isn’t a specific plan for how it will be used and how it …
• Has the dust settled?April 13, 2020
  It’s been a few weeks since the market changed and you may want to ask yourself: “Has the dust settled?”. Are the market conditions that your business is experiencing right now going to change? If so, when? If not, what changes do you need to be making today to ensure the survival and success of …
• (5/5) How do you increase the value of your greatest asset?April 10, 2020
  One of the bittersweet aspects of being an entrepreneur or business owner is never being satisfied with progress. Taking calculated risks, making intentional decisions and measuring outcomes are all behaviours that entrepreneurs exhibit to push the edges of what they are capable of so they can push their business to the edges of its capacity, …
• (4/5) How is your greatest asset performing?April 9, 2020
  Making decisions often involves measuring results against expectations. There is a small percentage of entrepreneurs that run their business according to a budget and even less that hold themselves accountable to it. For those that do, their results speak for themselves. Because they measure their results consistently, they are able to make adjustments and change …
• (3/5) What is your greatest asset worth?April 8, 2020
  What is the real value of any business? Could one answer be its ability to add value to the market by solving a problem for people that are prepared to pay for it? If people are prepared to pay for a product or service, wouldn’t that mean that the customers or prospective customers of your …
• (2/5) How do you engage with your greatest asset?April 7, 2020
  Human nature says that we (including entrepreneurs) will take the path of least resistance. When it comes to customers there can be a tendency to actively engage with them when a sale is imminent and engage less actively when there is not. This is not the best strategy for ensuring your business is set up …
• (1/5) Where do you manage your greatest asset?April 6, 2020
  The most obvious opportunities can often times be the most overlooked opportunities. Most entrepreneurs know that it costs less money to serve an existing customer than it does to try and find a new customer. Yet many entrepreneurs focus on getting a new customers and simply assume their past customers will always be there. There’s …
• (5/5) Why will you fail or succeed?April 3, 2020
  There is a theory that states it is easy to find the answer once you know the question but it’s very hard to ask the right question. Every business should have several feedback loops that an entrepreneur can use to understand where to focus their efforts. The feedback loops should be set-up based on question, …
• (4/5) Where can you find what you need?April 2, 2020
  By definition (my definition) an entrepreneur or business owner’s job is to bring people and resources together to solve a problem in the market. Part of being able to do that job well is to know where to find what you need. In order to find what you need you have to identify the specific …
• (3/5) What do you need right now?April 1, 2020
  Identifying the problems your business struggles with is easy. Determining what you need to solve those problems and prioritizing them can be more challenging. No business is good at everything and when times get tough it becomes very obvious where the overlooked parts of the business are. Many entrepreneurs and business owners approach their business …
• (2/5) Where will your business be when the dust settles?March 31, 2020
  For those entrepreneurs that have been through tough economic moments before, they know that when the economy “comes back” or “returns to normal” that it is never like it was before the tough moment came along. Entrepreneurs and business owners that have never been through a crisis will tend to hang onto hope that life …
• (1/5) Where is your business today?March 30, 2020
  The statistics tell us that 50% of business fail by their fifth year. There are numerous reasons why a business fails and from time to time there are economic circumstances that can speed up the failure rate of small businesses. We are in such a moment right now.
• The sun will rise tomorrowMarch 23, 2020
  Knowing a storm is coming and being in the middle of it are not the same thing. When you see a storm coming in your business you can take steps to prepare for it only to find that your steps were wholly insufficient when your business is being pounded from all angles. The best you …
• Many small business owners are desperately trying to solve these 10 serious problems right nowMarch 21, 2020
  Small businesses are the foundation of the economy with owners coordinating people and resources to provide solutions to problems in the market. The balance that small business owners need to keep is a precarious one because having people without resources, or resources without people, means that no business can function properly. By most accounts, more …
• Small gestures matter.March 18, 2020
  A positive gesture or action, no matter how small, can have a massive impact. In my experience, entrepreneurs can underestimate how much of a difference they can make by finding ways to support or get involved in community challenges, problems and opportunities. When an entrepreneur has had a measure of success they haven’t done it …
• Where can your business be useful?March 17, 2020
  For entrepreneurs that do not find themselves in a crisis during tough times, there is always an opportunity to use the skills, talents and resources your business has to help the community it exists within. A business that has been able to generate success has usually done so through a community of customers and clients …
• One day at a timeMarch 16, 2020
  When it seems like everything is out of sorts and you can’t find your footing, remember that one thing you can get control of is your approach to your challenges. When the challenges are overwhelming you can make one decision at a time. Deal with one problem at a time. Don’t think of the next …
• $3 billion dollar RockstarMarch 11, 2020
  There is opportunity in every market. Even the competitive ones. Even the competitive ones where the competitors have more money, time and resources. The trick is figure out where the opening is and then focus, focus, focus on getting your business to expose and leverage it. There is a saying that some companies think they …
• Is what you are doing working?March 10, 2020
  Find yourself spread too thin? As you look to manage your business are there areas or tasks that maybe have consumed more of your time and resources than the results would suggest are necessary? As an entrepreneur it can be easy to think that everything you and your business are doing is important but that …
• What is your competitive advantage?March 9, 2020
  You always need a hook. You always need an angle. If you want to have a profitable and valuable business, you need to do at least one thing better than your competitors. That one thing needs to be meaningful and impactful to ensure the advantage your business has can be leveraged into better margins and …
• Pull out all the stopsMarch 5, 2020
  There are times when you may need all hands on deck to complete a task, project or to solve a problem. As an entrepreneur your job is to bring people and opportunity together to solve a problem in the market and sometimes those problems require a little extra effort. People generally need a goal to …
• Cut your losses so you can winMarch 4, 2020
  Uncertainty can create chaos but it doesn’t have to. As the leader of a business you may find yourself facing uncertain outcomes in your business that no matter how hard you try, you will not be able to predict the outcome. When considering your options you may want to give some thought to hedging your …
• What is your business good at? Double down on that.March 3, 2020
  When the time comes to make tough decisions about what to do in your business, it can be helpful to keep one principle in mind as you work through the challenges you may be facing. What is your business great at? Not all of the things your business may be good at but the single …
• Get busy executing.March 2, 2020
  “Ideas are a dime a dozen. People who implement them are priceless.” As an entrepreneur are you a dime collector or are your skills priceless? A tricky question for an entrepreneur who has started a business and is looking to build something meaningful and valuable. Starting a business is easy. Running a business is hard. …
• Is your business right sized?February 28, 2020
  Trying to grow a business that can’t quite get to the next level can be frustrating. Trying to turnaround a business that has experienced some setbacks can be frustrating. Most frustration comes from an entrepreneur not really understanding why they can’t get to where they want to be when it appears that they are busy …
• If you can’t beat them, copy them.February 27, 2020
  There really are no original ideas. Everything is copy of something else. The features may have improved. The usability might be better. The function being served is probably still the same. As an entrepreneur you may go through times where you can’t figure out how to get traction. Maybe you can’t get your sales going. …
• Eventually something connectsFebruary 26, 2020
  You may have tried something once, twice or even three times without seeing the success you were hoping for. Feeling defeated you may have walked away and decided to focus on something else. Being an entrepreneur and having a business means trying things that may or may not work. The key is having the conviction …
• Growing your business is a good thing right?February 25, 2020
  When things are going well in your business it can be easy to think things are going well without realizing that your business is way off track. Because real life happens every day it can be tough to see problems in real time that are building up in your operations or other parts of your …
• What is the easiest goal you can set?February 24, 2020
  Do you feel the need to set a goal for your business? Are you are struggling to pick a goal that is meaningful enough to pursue that will get you out of bed in the morning? How about considering the opportunity to relieve your balance sheet of the debts and liabilities that might be listed? …
• What is your business re-investing in?February 21, 2020
  Investing in your business is a concept many entrepreneurs are familiar with. Take your profit and put it to work in your business. Grow your business by investing in people, equipment, inventory and anything else that makes sense. There are not many entrepreneurs that can take this concept seriously because they are simply trying to …
• Who’s better than your business?February 20, 2020
  You might know who your competitors are and you might not. You probably show up for work every day looking to do the same thing you did yesterday in hopes of servicing some customers and maybe putting some money on your bottom line. But have you ever stopped to think about who in your market …
• How keeping things simple can help your sales.February 18, 2020
  There isn’t always time for a plan. You don’t always have the energy or the motivation to gather the smartest people you have access to and ask them for help. As an entrepreneur there are days when you need small wins to put wind back in your sail. There are days when you can see …
• Everything changes. Always be ready.February 18, 2020
  Just when you think your business has everything figured out, something happens in the market that can have a profound impact on your bottom line. Sometimes your largest competitor will decide to change their business. Sometimes the government will pass new laws. Sometimes your customers will change their behaviours. Sometimes the market changes for unclear …
• Why is being profitable so hard?February 17, 2020
  It’s easy to come up with an idea. It’s easy to start a business. It’s hard to be profitable. Profit is a funny thing because it doesn’t really show up anywhere and often times don’t know you don’t have any until its too late. For any entrepreneur running a business that is less than five …
• How can you easily find new customers?February 14, 2020
  Finding a new market of customers when you have an existing customer base can be tough to do. This is because as an entrepreneur you tend to see what it is you want to see. It’s hard to find your first customer let alone build a stable group customers so when it comes time to …
• Zig when others zagFebruary 13, 2020
  Timing is everything in business. It takes courage and conviction to make a decision that appears to be against the grain of conventional thinking. Some of the best businesses were built or saw a significant increase in value when an entrepreneur saw gold in what others saw as garbage. Taking advantage of opportunity when no …
• You can’t discount your way to profit. Not even if you are Under Armour.February 11, 2020
  Price. Price. Price. Many entrepreneurs feels they could sell more if they simple lowered their prices. While there are times when price cuts are necessary you cannot offer discounts to customers that are below the market price for a long period of time without creating some serious problems in your business. If you are going …
• You can’t discount your way to profit.February 11, 2020
  Price. Price. Price. Many entrepreneurs feels they could sell more if they simple lowered their prices. While there are times when price cuts are necessary you cannot offer discounts to customers that are below the market price for a long period of time without creating some serious problems in your business. If you are going …
• Does your business compete on price? Maybe it shouldn’t.February 10, 2020
  Competing on price is one of many different strategies a business can use to attract more business. The challenge presented by cost cutting is that the type of customer you generally attract may not be willing to keep doing business with you if someone else comes along with a lower price. Every business has a …
• A little humility can ensure successFebruary 7, 2020
  Generally speaking, every entrepreneur believes their business is more valuable than what others may think it is. This is because an entrepreneur knows more about the inner workings of their business and will assign value to nuances that no one else could know about. There is a balance to be struck between being optimistic about …
• Apple vs. Swiss – you can always do moreFebruary 6, 2020
  There can be days when you may think your business has run its course. You have served as many customers as you believe your business is capable of serving and you may not think new opportunities exist for your business to do more. While there is a chance you may be correct – there is …
• ExxonMobil’s value drops $184 billion. Even the best stumble.February 5, 2020
  When you are on top of your game and your business is the best in its market, you can make the mistake of thinking that the party will never end. There is a common truth that suggests the further you are from the last bottom the closer you are to the next one. Even the …
• What worked then probably doesn’t work now.February 4, 2020
  It’s always hard to check your ego – especially as an entrepreneur. At one time the passion and excitement you had for the product or service your business offers was probably enough to drive creativity and help you gain a measure of success. You may have rode that wave of success and put some money …
• Just say ” I’m sorry “February 3, 2020
  You hope your business never makes a mistake. You hope your team always does the best job they can and even though they are human you hope they never make a mistake. When a mistake is made your pride and ego may prevent you from giving a legit apology. You can say “I’m sorry” because …
• Tim’s is going back to basics. Should you?January 31, 2020
  Getting lost in the forest of ideas is a common problem faced by entrepreneurs. It’s a problem because you don’t know you are lost in the forest until you can’t see that the results you are looking for in your business because they seem hidden and hard to find. You may have customers. You may …
• Sometimes the magic runs out.January 29, 2020
  The work required to create, sustain and grow a business is not for the faint of heart. Entrepreneurs spend years and even decades investing their life into a business that they hope will provide value to customers. There are crossroads that many entrepreneurs face when they no longer have the same desire or drive to …
• Every entrepreneur is betting on the future.January 29, 2020
  A question that many entrepreneurs have a hard time answering is: “What would your business do with a meaningful investment?”. Common responses would include paying off debt, buying more equipment or inventory or taking some money off the table. An uncommon response would be an entrepreneur explaining exactly how the money would be employed and …
• Remember when your business was self-funding? Elon does.January 29, 2020
  There is a special moment many entrepreneurs experience when they realize their business is working. They have figured out their value proposition to customers, they have fine tuned their expenses and margins and begin sleeping at night believing that the work needed to prove out a business was worth it. The joy of accomplishment might …
• Getting ahead of yourself is ok if you have a plan. If not, adjust.January 27, 2020
  When things are going well you may tend to think that they will remain that way indefinitely. It’s not uncommon for an entrepreneur to underestimate the need to be forward thinking and overestimate how long success lasts. It’s prudent to have a little bit of paranoia when you are building and growing a business that …
• A bad decision and $200MM of debt.January 23, 2020
  Making a decision to borrow money or accept investment capital while under pressure or without a credible business plan, can be a decision you regret for a very long time. When an over eager entrepreneur meets a shrewd investor or banker, the long term results can have a devastating impact on what might have otherwise …
• Little Caesars leverages DoorDash to win marketshareJanuary 22, 2020
  As an entrepreneur you can’t be good at everything. Depending on where your business is in its lifecycle, your business probably isn’t good at everything either. There are times when both an entrepreneur and a business need to outsource jobs tasks that could be done better (and more affordably) by third parties. Every task has …
• Are your profits a Ferrari or a Mercedes-Benz?January 21, 2020
  It’s hard to believe if you haven’t had any first hand experience with the concept of perceived value but it is very real. People will pay what they think something is worth. Entrepreneurs generally understand this but seldom put the concept into use. Someone will pay disproportionately more for a product or service that delivers …
• Like Netflix & Chill Ice Cream your business may have an obvious opportunity.January 20, 2020
  Entrepreneurs generally know their business better than anyone else. In fact, some entrepreneurs know their business so well that they miss the obvious opportunities that exist to provide their customers with more value. Often times an entrepreneur will stick to their main line of business based on their knowledge and experience and miss out on …
• Need an emergency loan? So does Aston Martin.January 18, 2020
  Business challenges are real. At some point the failures made in your business will surface if you haven’t gotten ahead of them. Assuming you have a decent business underneath your failures, you may find yourself scrambling one day to find money to keep your business alive. You may get frustrated that banks, lenders and investors …
• Amazon might inspire your business to give back.January 16, 2020
  Taking the opportunity to give back to the community that your business is a part of doesn’t take much. Your team can volunteer for any number of not-for-profits, your company can donate to local causes or your business can invest in initiatives that fundamentally improve the community. Being an entrepreneur means taking advantage of opportunities. …
• 119 stores closed. Bose ends an era.January 15, 2020
  Being a leader in an industry or a market place is a good thing. Your margins can be higher than your competitors and your cost of acquiring a customer can be lower. Being a leader often times means doing things that your competition isn’t doing or doing things they are doing – but doing them …
• Learn from your mistakes and adjust like Bed Bath & BeyondJanuary 14, 2020
  Making mistakes is part of running a business. Coming up with ideas and goals is easy. Executing and getting your team to perform is hard while hitting targets can seem almost impossible. Good intentions are important however great results are what matter. Having a long term strategy with short term milestones can be one of …
• People matter. Taco Bell to pay managers $100K per year.January 13, 2020
  Business is people. No matter what business you are in – people matter. In order to improve the experience your customers or clients have when they interact with your business, you need good people. Good people never cost your business money. Good people help your business make money. The other benefit of hiring good people …
• Boeing proves you should always have a Plan B.December 18, 2019
  Getting an opportunity to take on a contract from a large reputable company can be a big win for any small or medium sized business. It’s not unusual for an entrepreneur to make a quick decision to do work for a larger business and naively believe that everything will work out and that there should …
• Think your business needs money? WeWork borrows $1.75BDecember 17, 2019
  When your business is in trouble it can be easy to think that borrowing money is the easiest fix you can make, but money comes at a price. Fundamentally, borrowing money means you are taking future profits into today in hopes of being able to get a better result with them compared to waiting for …
• You never know when your business will be FedEx-ed.December 16, 2019
  Be prepared. Always be prepared. Be prepared to have significant changes made to your business overnight. The loss of a major customer. The loss of a major contract. If your business depends heavily on one or two customers or contracts you may be exposing yourself to unnecessary business risk.
• Robinhood went from 1st place to last place. Where is your business?December 13, 2019
  What got your business here may not get it there. Whatever advantage your business used to gain customers and market share may not continue to work as your competitors adopt and improve what was once unique to your business. You should certainly make money while you can but be aware that very few businesses can …
• Monica + Ryan + gin = marketing opportunityDecember 12, 2019
  Timing is everything. Well thought out plans are important but sometimes you need to act quickly to take advantage of a window of opportunity that may only be open for a moment. Your ability to see an opportunity and execute on it can give your business a bump when you least expect it.
• $4B in sales to bankruptcy. Forever 21 is a lesson in how not to grow.December 11, 2019
  When your business is on fire and doing well, you want to capitalize on growth as quickly as you can so you don’t miss your window of opportunity. When all the signs are pointing in the right direction you can lose your way if you aren’t watching for the speed bumps and pitfalls that can …
• When the market changes do what Harley Davidson is doing.December 10, 2019
  One of the greatest aspects of business is that nothing stays the same. Entrepreneurs need to stay on their toes to win market share and ultimately profits. Changes in technology, customer behaviors and cultural shifts are all opportunities in disguise but are seldom recognized. No entrepreneur is immune from competition and the best entrepreneurs seek …
• Ted Baker should have made tough decisions sooner. Should you?December 9, 2019
  No entrepreneur wants to admit defeat and failure. There is a part of every entrepreneur that needs to be optimistic about the future and carry hope for their team when circumstances seem overwhelming. It’s usually not a secret when a business is having a tough time. Staff can tell as can customers and suppliers. The …
• Every business has a weak spot. What’s yours?December 6, 2019
  Your business is only as strong as its weakest part. No business big or small does everything perfect. There is always something holding your business back from getting to where you want it to be. Sometimes it’s financial. Sometimes it’s your lack of vision and leadership. Other times it’s sales, marketing or operational challenges. As …
• Win-win. Rent the Runway makes a good partner.December 5, 2019
  Whether your business is growing or in the midst of being fixed, partnerships can be a low cost way to improve your bottom line. Partnerships can be tricky but the key to making them work is to ensure that both sides are benefiting. In competitive markets, partnerships can be the leverage your business needs to …
• Be the best once and do it again. Like Warby Parker.December 4, 2019
  There are no shortage of opportunities in the marketplace. There are no shortage of opportunities your business can take advantage of. Ideas are easy. Executing on ideas is very hard. Executing on an idea and being profitable is extremely hard. Just because it’s hard doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try. Because the failure rate of businesses …
• Feeling Blue? So is JetBlue.December 3, 2019
  Some days you don’t feel like going into the office. Some days you don’t feel like responding to folks on your team that have questions and need direction. Some days you think it might be easier to let someone else lead while you take a vacation from making decisions. Every entrepreneurs has had days, months …

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