Howard Stevenson defines Entrepreneurship as the pursuit of opportunity beyond resources controlled. Typically, we think of entrepreneurs as people who start businesses and are willing to risk loss in order to make money. In reality, an entrepreneur is anyone who spots an opportunity and decides to pursue it regardless of the resources currently at their disposal.
A Boss for the other 364 Each year I reprint a post from 2013 about the underappreciated boss of A Christmas Carol, Mr. Fezziwig. I hope that you enjoy it. Merry Christmas! This week was the 178th anniversary of the publication of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas … Read More » Supply Chains and Labor Shortages Supply chains and labor shortages are the chief topics among the 40 or so business owners I currently work with. Their anecdotes are widespread and widely varied. I wanted to know why, so I did some research on behalf of … Read More » EBITDAC III: Where are we now? EBITDAC is a facetious term for Earnings Before Interest Taxes Depreciation Amortization and COVID. I first discussed it in this column back in April of 2020, with an update on the impact of PPP loans in May of that year. … Read More » Manager or Leader? Planning Succession Should you hire a manager or leader as part of your succession planning? Before you make that decision, you need a pretty good idea of what your exit plan is. Once your objective is set, it’s one of the answers … Read More » Non-Qualified Plans in Exit Planning When I talk to business owners about “non-qualified plans,” their first reaction is often “Hold on there. I don’t want to get in trouble!” The term “Non-qualified” merely refers to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, more commonly … Read More » The Missing Employees Are you missing employees? Where did they go? I just got off the phone with a restaurant owner who temporarily closed one of his locations so that he could redistribute the staff to the other three. I’ve also heard or … Read More » Are Remote Employees Value Killers? Remote employees can have a dramatic impact on the value of your business. If your exit strategy is to sell to a third party, take some time to think about the areas where offsite workers could have an impact. Curb … Read More » The Downside of Remote Work I came in this morning planning to write about the downside of remote work. It isn’t for everyone. In fact, it creates new long-term problems for businesses and will continue to do so. (For a related topic, see my previous … Read More » Return to Work Owner's Guide Return to work policies are a new COVID-related minefield for business owners to negotiate. As more states make COVID control measures less restrictive or optional, the “requirements” of a safe workplace, and what we can demand of employees, are becoming … Read More » Internal Leaders Affect the Value of Your Business Internal leaders may not be obvious and can influence your team either positively or negatively. If you fail to identify them, however, you could see a dramatic effect on the value of your company. Read More » The Dismal Ds and Exit Planning The Dismal Ds are a cynical list of problems that can force your exit from the business, but they are no joke. Read More » COVID Fatigue Unites Business Owners Dealing with COVID fatigue unites business owners. If that sounds strange to you, let me make my case. I’m not doing this to whine, but I want business owners who don’t have an existing support structure to know that they … Read More » Announcement: PPP Loan Forgiveness and EBITDAC IIPPP Loan Forgiveness Special Webinar Just a heads up. folks. On Friday I will be participating with an attorney, James Rosenblatt, and a CPA, Steven Bankler, in a national online Q&A session on PPP loan forgiveness. It is under the …Read More » They Called it a "Classic!" I’ve been meaning to share this review for a few weeks. Martin Zwilling is the founder of Startup Professionals and a contributor to Forbes, Business Insider, Inc. Magazine, The Huffington Post and Entrepreneur. He recently posted a second review of … Read More » Is Google Making Us Stoopid? As an Exit Planner, most of my engagements involve assessing a management team. They may be the intended buyers of the company, or else they are key factors in the saleability of the business. The biggest and most frequent complaint … Read More » |