It is a well known truism that the best customer is a happy customer. It follows that the best leads are referrals from happy customers. Referral leads are almost always the best prospects because a recommendation from one customer to another provides credibility, a positive impression and reduces doubt in the pro...
A family business is any business in which a majority of the ownership or control lies within a single family and there are two or more family members directly involved. We've also heard it summed up in one word: complicated.
In 2009, almost 560,000 new businesses were started every month. Interestingly, however, a large number of these were classified as “non-employer” businesses – in other words, sole operators with no employees. Many consider these individuals to be freelancers as opposed to “business owners” although the distinctio...
Hiring your first employee is one of the most exciting decisions any entrepreneur will make. It can also be one of the scariest. Think about it: that first employee doubles the head count of your company! In many ways this makes it the most important hire you'll ever make. Every year thousands of business owners m...
If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. —Henry David Thoreau What defines “success” for an entrepreneur? Success means different things to different people. There's no clear cut, univer...
Do you know how much cash you have? Do you know how that cash flows through your business? The amount of cash you have on hand is one of the most important metrics for the growth and survival of your company. As a business owner three of your primary financial responsibilities are:
The essential foundation for getting your employees to take ownership of their roles is to give them a game worth playing. Though your business isn’t a game, you must create an environment where people want to give their personal best to support the team effort. This is not simply a matter of motivating and inspir...
Imagine for a moment a completely debt-free business. No loans to payback. No investors to answer to. Imagine a completely self-sustaining business. A business funded purely by the cash flow your business produces.
Your hiring process, like other systems in your business, is about creating consistent, predictable results. Whether you're a two-person business, or a company with 300 employees, a hiring process will take the guesswork out of finding the right person for the job.
Deciding how to compensate your employees and, if you have partners, how to structure pay between them equitably is a topic of interest for our business owner clients. In this article I’ll touch on some of the important criteria from the EMyth perspective, helping you understand this critical component of your com...
When navigating through dangerous waters a wise captain keeps an eye on certain signs. The shape and size of certain waves, the color of the water at critical points, the presence of rocks or sandbars, things that can be difficult to spot for the untrained eye. The truly wise captain knows these signs because he o...
Venture capital, business loans, and lines of credit: all this and more exists for businesses that need to grow, to purchase equipment and inventory, or expand their facilities. Much of the initial growth for small businesses is funded on borrowed money. It’s the way things are done. But it comes at a cost.
This week we're dipping into the Ask EMyth mailbag to have an EMyth Business Coach answer a few of your questions. Thanks to everybody who submitted questions, and keep them coming. We love to hear from you.
After the decision to start a business of your own, perhaps the most challenging decision you can make is whether to sell that business. You conceived it, built it, poured your lifeblood into it, and now find yourself with a viable, profitable enterprise you can call your own. You have built an asset! Now… what to...
We get quite a few questions from our community about how to apply EMyth principles to a one-person business.
Most business owners would agree that maintaining or increasing sales is a vital need for their business. It's a common misconception, but many businesses tend to think of increasing sales only when things get slow. There are, however, many other reasons to increase revenue aside from simply compensating for a slu...
Several times a year, we offer public seminars for small business owners ready and willing to work strategically on their business in a supportive environment here in the Sonoma wine country. I have been involved with these events the last few years and am consistently inspired by the entrepreneurs I meet. Their d...