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As a business owner, you know what it’s like to lie awake at 2 a.m. Maybe it has happened when you are excited and full of new ideas for your business. More often, it’s because you are worried about issues you will face the next day. Sometimes, it’s because you just woke up with the solution to a problem. I’ve experienced all those emotions about my businesses over the years. Awake at 2 o’clock? is where I share them with you, and hopefully help with answers that will let you sleep.
John F. Dini
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Your business is your life’s work. What comes next?
Your Exit Map: Navigating the Boomer Bust, combines humor and real owner stories, to help you understand your exit options, protect what you’ve built, and plan your next chapter.
How prepared are you to exit your company?
The Assessment breaks down the four major categories of exit readiness; Finance, Planning, Operations and Revenue/Profit.
Tag Archives: small business
My Interview with Robert Morris: Part I
Robert Morris is the number one reviewer of business books for Amazon.com. A few weeks ago he posted a great review of Hunting in a Farmer’s World, and asked if he could interview me. Bob’s questions were really fun, and the interview … Continue reading
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2014 Outlook: Are We There Yet?
“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” Franklin Roosevelt’s inaugural address on March 4, 1933 was an early recognition of the power of consumer confidence in bolstering our economy. In 1933 The US GDP was falling to about … Continue reading
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Can Franchising Survive The Baby Boomers?
As a consultant to business owners, this is a column I’ve hesitated to write for a long time. There are over 800,000 franchised businesses in the United States, and I’m not going out of my way to make that many owners mad … Continue reading
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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 … Continue reading
2 Responses to Happy Ostara: Owner Infallability
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I’ve been following your blog for close to a year and this is my favorite post. Glad you decided to re-run it because I missed it the first time around.
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Are Entrepreneurs Smarter, or just Gutsier?
The vagaries of my reading habits had me reading two “How I did it” books last week; Ed Whitacre’s “American Turnaround” and Dave Ramsey’s “EntreLeadership.” Both men are justifiably proud of their achievements, but their differing paths to success are striking. … Continue reading
3 Responses to Are Entrepreneurs Smarter, or just Gutsier?
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I think you are on track. I know I have toyed with the idea of owning my own business, but realized years ago that I do not have the risk tolerance or the burning need (i.e. I just lost my job and need to eat). Entrepreneurs fulfill a key role, but they often get to a point where they need the skills of “corporate” people. They need each other.
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Thanks John, another good topic…
Guts, balls, chutzpah, however you say it entrepreneurs and business owners have immensely more than employees…Like you say in the “crock” paragraph, they choose the known “job” because they feel like it’s the easier way…My reason for quitting my job and starting a business was mainly your 1. Wanted to make more money than my employer paid, but it was more about compensation…example, one company I worked for only about 2 years, told me, (after I left, finding a better paying career), “Clint, you were way better at this than the Journeyman, Bill”…Fine time telling me now!..shoulda compensated me and maybe I’d have stayed…I digress…
Successful entrepreneurs and business owners know how to use risk to their advantage and master it by using it with plenty of practice…Employees go home to watch TV, entrepreneurs go home to work, but fun work.
Clint. -
I think self-employed people realise the world is their oyster, they are no longer sheep…they feel they can achieve whatever they desire…but yes and a big yes, they need to foresight to pick up the pieces when things go wrong or be quick enough to STOP and change what they are doing to make it work.
Im from a working class background so the only thing we have is our tenacity and will to resolve.
This is a WAKE UP CALL. I had never thought about the vulnerability of the franchise industry to the demise of the boomer generation. I have to sit back and think about this. My focus has been on the impact that the boomers will have on the succession plans for independent financial planners, wealth manager and insurance agents. Just like your food and hotel franchise examples, these individuals poured their lives into building profitable practices and it is unlikely that the next generation has the motivation to continue the growth of the industry. For more than a year we have been in conversations with large corporations that provide regulatory compliance and package insurance products to support these aging entrepreneurs. The companies are finally recognizing the imapact of the loss of their top producers. I will use this franchise analogy to paint the picture for them. Thank you.