My client, Cate, runs a graphic and web design firm. On a recent consulting call she complained, I feel like an accordion. When clients pour in and I need to ramp up, I’m stretched. When times are thin and I need to pare down, I’m squeezed. And it seems like I never have the right … Read More
Missing the boat
It’s zero five hundred. I’m waiting for a prearranged taxi to chauffeur me to Command Naval Surface Forces Headquarters on Coronado Island, near San Diego. No, I’m not in trouble; just part of the U.S. Navy’s Leaders to Sea program, where business influencers get to experience Navy operations and training in real time on board … Read More
This one tactic can make you wealthy …
I’m too busy. Clients come first. It’s too tedious. I’m intuitively creative—I don’t have a process. What’s your excuse for not writing down your business systems? (C’mon, everyone has them). But what if I told you that written procedures could make you wealthy? Does that make them more enticing? Here’s how: 1. Returning clients. Clients … Read More
Clever people and grocers …
As Seen In … … they weigh everything. ~ Zorba the Greek So do my clients when it comes to growing their business. Do I want more? they ask. Of course! they reply. There’s the mortgage. The kids’ college fund. Mom’s medical expenses. And that bucket list trip to Tahiti! Yet surely as the sun sets … Read More
What can you STOP doing?
The best strategic plan addresses what you can stop doing. That’s counterintuitive, especially for small businesses who grasp at any shiny object to bring in revenue. But it’s not until you simplify and focus that you gain the clarity and strength to leverage your time, talent, and treasure. My ‘stop doing’ list became a lifeline. … Read More
Who takes over from you?
As Seen In … Like Erma Bombeck famously said about housework, Succession planning expands to fill the time available. It can take years. Except … when it can’t. Let me share with you stories of three business owners who had to create contingency plans in a hurry: For lifestyle reasons, Kimberly Martinez had already chosen … Read More
Island vs Ecosystem
As a small business owner, it’s common to think of our company as an island. Isolated. Self-contained. Having to generate all resources from within. Surrounded on all sides by unknown threats. That gets lonely. And stressful. It puts a huge burden on the business owner to “make it all happen.” What if you took a … Read More
Losing focus
Where’s your focus? Is it in “just get through today?” Or do you have a real strategy you’re working? One year, it took 3 smack-me-in-the-head-with-a-brick experiences to get the lesson of focus, and to apply it to my business. Lesson 1: I’m driving down Interstate 75 from Gainesville (GA) to Orlando (FL) to get from … Read More
Deviating systems
On a trip to Santa Monica, my husband and I stopped into 24 Hour Fitness Express. Armed with a free three-day pass and dressed to sweat, I was ready to climb the Stairmaster and pretend to work off the previous night’s dark chocolate lava cake. Only there was a problem. I hadn’t carefully read the … Read More
You don’t sharpen a knife against a sponge
You don’t sharpen a knife against a sponge. I love that expression. It goes beyond the platitudes like there is no I in team, or it takes a village. To grow—in any area of life—you need people who will help you sharpen your skills and thinking. Who will challenge you constructively. Not just rubber-stamp your … Read More
Building wealth
As Seen In … Have you built a job, or built a business? If you have passion for starting and growing, that’s great. Don’t care about selling your company? Here’s an invitation: When you have a sense of the “end game,” you make business easier for yourself in the long run. Most businesses close because … Read More
White space
Archimedes shouted “Eureka!” in a bathtub. Einstein had sudden insights into the theory of relativity while riding a streetcar. Newton “discovered” gravity during a countryside retreat (Cambridge University was closed because of the Black Death plague). I had my own eureka! moment when I started my first business years ago. I hated my job at … Read More