In small businesses, it’s not uncommon to accrue millions of dollars in revenue each year without actually producing any meaningful cash flow. You may very well know how frustrating it can be to show profit on your income statement, but not have money in the bank. One part of this issue is a fundamental misunderst...
You might be frustrated—or even frightened—by the economic changes that are currently impacting nearly every business and family. The truth is that economic cycles are a reality of life. So what adjustments can you make to protect the health of your business given whatever changes are happening? Cutting costs may ...
If you own a business and have employees, it’s easy to understand why systematizing your business puts you at a great advantage. You know how you want things done. You know how things should work. You know the way you want your prospects and customers to be treated. But your ideal is just a series of pictures in y...
Does it feel impossible to find and hire your people? Are the candidates you interview impressing or disappointing you? A strong team can take your small business from good to great. But you have to get the right people through the door first—and then give them the resources they need to perform well and stay happ...
Think about the role you play in your small business—not the title on your business card, but what you actually do. Are you a manager one minute, a receptionist the next? When there’s a problem with shipping or facilities or finance, are you the one racing to put out the fire? If any of this rings true, you’re not...
Do you remember your mindset back when you decided to start your own business? You were good at something, and you knew it. Why spend your time doing that something for someone else when you could have the freedom of being your own boss? But then you got wrapped up doing the work of the business—doing the graphic ...
When facing the unique challenges in your business, where do you even begin? In our many years of coaching business owners, we’ve learned that whatever the challenge, one thing is always true: the solution starts with you. If your business isn’t working or serving your life the way you want it to, how can you chan...
If there’s one experience, more than any other, that small business owners across every industry share, it’s how hard it is to get your people to do what you want them to do, the way you want it done. Every owner has a picture of the best way to produce results in their business. Every employee comes to your compa...
As an enlightened business owner, you understand the importance of doing market research on your prospective customers. For example, you want to know where they're located, any common characteristics they may have and, ultimately, as much as possible about how they think - their needs, wishes, and motivations. The...
If your business is big enough to have managers and possibly even “departments” then you are probably familiar with the phenomenon of a silo structure. When you have reached the point in your business growth that you have hired managers and the reporting structure has become identifiably vertical in each area, or ...
Working ON your business is the skill that every business owner needs to build to create a thriving company that doesn’t depend on you to produce results. Turning what you know how to do really well into systems—step-by-step processes—that others can use effectively is something that anyone with the desire can lea...
Most small business owners we speak to about growing their companies spend the majority of their time making, selling or delivering their product or service. They know how to do the work the way they want it done, but they struggle getting other people to do it according to their standards. And when there’s a job ...
Every small business faces challenges. Every business owner must deal with issues and problems in the course of building and running a successful operation. In many ways though, the challenges—and advantages—in a family business are unique.