Boomer Business Owners' Retirement Accelerates
Pepperdine University, in cooperation with the International Business Brokers Association and the M&A Source, publishes a quarterly Market Pulse Survey on the sale of small businesses in the United States. The most recent report, covering the fourth quarter of 2012, … Read More »
Does Technology Help or Threaten Small Businesses?
A small computer service company wants to sell Microsoft software licenses to its customers. They send an employee to become certified in licensing. (Microsoft offers some 600 variants.). As soon as they purchase a license, however, Microsoft begins soliciting that customer … Read More »
Could We Stamp Out Entrepreneurship in America?
In a recent Special Report on the Nordic Countries, The Economist notes that some Californian citizens pay taxes equivalent to those of Sweden. The Swedes, however, at least receive an excellent educational system and free health care in return. The … Read More »
Does Your Business Need to be Leaner and Meaner? (Part 1)
I’ve been surprised by the tone of my clients’ conversations since the beginning of the year. They want to get tougher. They want to plan more. They want to find the chinks in their armor, and sharpen their weapons. These … Read More »
Health Care Costs: Is Medicine a Market?
There is an excellent article in The New Yorker comparing the production and quality control methods of the Cheesecake Factory to certain advances in “Big Medicine.” It focuses on the savings available from large health systems through standardization and quantity purchasing. In reality, … Read More »
The X Factor
There are two sides to every business transaction, a buyer and a seller. For most of the last 50 years in America, the Baby Boomers have been the biggest buyers in history. They bought homes and cars to spur the … Read More »
Outsourcing America
The Baby Boomers created seismic shifts in American culture and economics throughout their lives. Their mere numbers caused much of the shift, but their competitiveness and commonality enhanced the impact at every stage of their lives. In the mid 1960′s, … Read More »
Work-Life Balance
The term “Work-Life Balance” is widely cited as first occurring in the United State in 1986 in a research paper. I can’t identify the specific source of this much-referred usage, but it is telling that it would pop up when the last … Read More »
The Pig in the Python
The title of this section refers to a well-known biological phenomenon. The python family of snakes have hinged jaws that allow them to swallow animals much larger than their heads. These animals are gradually consumed as they pass through the … Read More »
The Approaching Tidal Wave
A year ago this month, I began speaking to business owner groups about “Beating the Boomer Bust.” Since then I’ve delivered the presentation over 20 times, both locally and to national groups, and the requests for it are increasing. It’s … Read More »
