After ten years the plan was to retire: either Trevor could sell his business and generate a retirement fund, or pass the business…
Your parents, 3rd grade teacher, college professor and Giant Corporation, Inc. all have you chasing the wrong dream. It’s no wonder most people aren’t excited about where they’re going. My mother thought I was nuts when, after six years, I left the army 29 years ago.
The velocity of the dollar. Macro capitalism has given micro-capitalism a bad name. The purpose of capitalism is to create the velocity of the dollar locally – everyone prospers. Big biz takes that dollar away to “headquarters”. Here’s one way to keep your dollar in your town.
The overwhelming majority of small business advice is from people showing us how Giant Corporation, Inc. managed to free themselves from the drudgery of being small to finally become “great”. It’s time these patronizing forces understood that small business and big business are two entirely different animals.
We’re all supposed to think the rugged individualist is the great American way to do business. I’m a reformed rugged individualist and can tell you that if you want to build a successful business, going it alone is a bad idea. When you go to college you have all kinds of community available to you. […]
ShopLocally.com aims to change the world, not just make money. My company, The Crankset Group, is focused on the same thing. We’re going to do it together going forward. It’s possible you will benefit directly. We certainly intend for you to.
As business consultants, we are often asked why one business succeeds and another, almost identical, business flounders. Once, feeling rather facetious, I answered: “It’s in the stars!” It was a stupid, throwaway line, of course, not intended as a serious thought. But, like many a jest, it has a kernel of truth… No, we are […]
Just about every business owner I know is a hostage to his or her business. How do we break free? By first becoming a willing prisoner in your business. It sounds nuts. How am I a hostage, and how does becoming a prisoner put me on the road to freedom?
I built five businesses from the ground up. Each time in the process I found myself as a hostage of my business, never knowing how it would work out, how I would get off the treadmill, or most importantly, a firm date for when I could look forward to enjoying my business. It all seemed […]
Some capitalists seem to be very threatened by the idea of social entrepreneurship either because it has the word social in it (too close to socialism for comfort), or because they think they’ve always been socially responsible and this new phrase does not recognize that. It’s not new and it’s not socialism, but it is […]
Where do most of your sales come from? When I’ve asked this question in a weekly lunch I do with 60 business leaders, 59 of them say relationships and one didn’t understand the question. So how do we shift more of our spend from advertising, direct marketing, and public relations to relationship marketing?
It’s surprising to me how often I see all the classic definitions of a business that don’t define or describe a business well at all. If you follow them, they might even put you out of business.
