Owning a small business comes with a myriad of challenges, especially for inexperienced entrepreneurs. Creating a support system of experienced, knowledgeable professionals can help you navigate uncertain waters, and a financial advisor is a crucial role to fill. It takes a lot to make a business thrive, but a financial advisor can help shoulder some […]
Advice
5 Small Business Resources to Consider Before Starting Your New Business
Starting a small business can be a daunting task. However, with the right resources, it can be a lot easier than you think. Some people go straight to the apply for a small personal loan strategy to help pay for startup costs, but then you really have to have an established plan in place. There […]
Watch the World Change
Now that we’re a few months into the new year, I hope that you have more than begun to sketch out your plans for 2020 and beyond. As you push into 2020 and map out your plan for 2021, it’s a good time to channel your inner marketer and lean on your curiosity and imagination. […]
The Best Things About Your Company Board
For weeks, we’ve highlighted both good and bad things about boards of directors for your company (or non-profit.) This week, let’s focus upon number one—aside from the requirements of boards to protect the company itself (not the shareholders.) Normal functions of boards Boards of directors fulfill numerous important functions, both legal and structural. Boards provide […]
Does Your Board Give You Good Advice?
This may be news, but boards of directors can offer bad advice. Having served on more than forty boards, I’ve seen such a variety of good and bad advice that my stories could fill a book. (oh, wait. They have…) So, lets delve into board composition, risk of an unbalanced board, and one of those […]
Consider This When Receiving Advice from Others
Advice is something many people love to share, yet some have a hard time accepting from others, even when it’s sound. Perhaps it’s in our nature as human beings to resist being told what to do by others. If that’s how advice is perceived, no wonder people run from it. Who wants to be told […]
Any Advice Can Be Worthless, or Worse
Ever get bad advice? Sure. We all have in our past. Ever take that advice without question because the person giving it was an investor, a superior in rank, the chairperson of your board? I’ll bet you have at least one story of bad advice taken and being bitten as a result. As one illustration […]
Hire a Consultant; Ignore the Advice
At one time or another, most all businesses use consultants to fill the gaps in knowledge or to provide guidance for management. Consultants are good in that you can sample their work with short projects, change to other consultants quickly, and stop using them when a project is completed. I have a partner in a […]
Take Only “Smart Money” Investments
This statement could be considered controversial. We have previously made the case that professional investors demand more in the form of restrictive covenants and lower valuations. Now we explore the other side of that coin. Professional investors usually bring “smart money” to the table, defined as money that comes along with good advice and great […]
What’s a Company Board Good for, Anyway?
Some of you have gotten along forever without a board of directors, or used your spouse as the “other” board member from the start. But there are some very good reasons to build a great board composed of some outside members. And good board members can add real value to you and the company. In other […]
