One thing that’s absolutely certain when it comes to running a retail operation is that customers hate waiting in long lines. This is especially true during the Coronavirus social distancing guidelines, when people prefer not to stand too closely to one another. The checkout process should be short, simple, and efficient. If your customers have […]
Strategic Planning
COVID-19 Is a Black Swan Event–Do You Even Know What Questions to Ask?
Great executives and managers seem to intuitively know what they don’t know. But it is not at all uncommon to not even know what questions to ask. Who would have thought about COVID 19 and public’s panic responses? Image credit: Alexas_Fotos / Pixabay One week we all thought we had our responses dedicated to supply […]
CoronaVirus and Small Business: A Discussion About Economics
The CoronaVirus (Covid-19) will potentially cause some real economic disruptions in the US. Specifically, it will have an adverse affect on small and medium-sized businesses. Here are some tips to consider. Advice to managers, entrepreneurs With a multitude of caveats, it might be worthwhile to heed the following advice: Anticipate the worst, prepare for it, […]
5 Ways to Lead Through the Coronavirus Crisis
Small businesses are especially vulnerable during this latest public health crisis. Supply chain issues, voluntary social distancing by customers, fear among employees about short term layoffs (not to mention their own health concerns) and financial management are just a few of the challenges that face the small business owner. Circumstances like these, however, also provide […]
Do Those Summaries. Use Those Frameworks. But Don’t Think They Replace Business Planning.
There is some bad advice floating around in the startup world. Useful as the Lean Canvas is, and despite some well-intentioned suggestions of summaries, those are not business plans. They don’t deal with the drivers and components of cash flow. They don’t set milestones, metrics, and tracking. You can’t run a business with them. And […]
Do This to Develop Leaders Who Are Strategy-Driven
Every successful small business faces the challenge of growth. When that happens, others must be relied upon to provide the same level of commitment, smarts, and grit to get the job done. Developing others with the same passion as yourself is never easy. Research indicates, however, that a planned and intentional approach that focuses on […]
Your Inner Circle
A business is influenced by so many people that as business leaders, we need to choose those influences carefully and cautiously. That’s even truer when it comes to our inner circle. Motivational speaker Jim Rohn is probably most famous for his statement that we are the average of the five people we spend the most time with. And […]
What is the Real Goal for Our Management and Company?
Often, we joke together as managers of companies or of people that our goal is “world domination” or “to crush the competition.” But no matter how stated, the primary goal of an enterprise is to make money. The three measures of progress How do you measure progress toward such an undefined goal? We measure it by […]
8 Steps Every Leader Must Take to Deal with Setbacks
As a business owner in this age of rapid technological change, with the surge of worldwide competitors, setbacks and adversity are virtually guaranteed. Based on my years of experience mentoring and advising entrepreneurs, you need to attack problems and challenges with a mindset of success, or it is unlikely that you or your business will […]
How to Bring Your Small Business to the Next Level
Starting and running your own business is exciting. It’s not enough to just run your business from day to day doing the same things you always do. If your business becomes stagnant, you can’t grow. Not only that, but your business could become irrelevant and ultimately fail. For your business to grow and succeed, you […]
