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 »
Happy Ostara: Owner Infallability
The origins of Easter are lost to history. I don’t mean the Christian holiday celebrating the resurrection of Jesus, or even the Jewish holiday of Passover which it matches on the calendar. In fact, the name Easter is a derivative … Read More »
Small Business and BIG Taxes - Timing is Everything
This column typically focuses on the issues of running a business, especially those that revolve around leading employees and growing profits. When I am consulting on issues that include tax planning, I am supposed to include a “Circular 230 Disclaimer”, … Read More »
Leaner and Meaner (Part 3): Investing in Employees
Employees are free agents. As a business owner you wouldn’t sell your customers at a loss because in past years you made a profit. Neither should we expect employees to get better at their jobs without expecting compensation commensurate with their current … Read More »
Leaner and Meaner (Part 2): Retaining Good Employees
Last week we discussed the post-recession challenges that face business owners, and the economic and demographic shifts that mean we need to run our companies better than we ever have before. Between 2008 and 2010 many business owners faced a task they had … 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 »
Business Plans and New Year's Resolutions
For the last week or so, the regular denizens of my local gym have been “preparing” for the onslaught of Resolutioners, as we call them. Those are the folks that show up every year right after the holidays, determined to … Read More »
2013 Planning:
Try Starting with "Who"
For many years, I’ve begun each annum with my clients by helping them answer the Seven Questions, some simple keys to basic planning for the year. This year the questions have been picked up by my friend Jim Blasingame at the … Read More »
2013: Planning for Uncertainty
Every conversation that I’ve had with business owners over the last several weeks has revolved around the challenge of planning to do business in a political and economic climate that defies normal planning conventions. The sequestration budgetary measures scheduled to go … Read More »
