Categories for Business Planning

The Real Value of Your Business Law Attorney

by | August 23, 2017

Your business is doing well – it’s moving along, growing, expanding to serve new clients and markets. You have a professional services team – a business law attorney, CPA, insurance broker, and banker – and contact them when you feel you need their help with something. Sometimes your instinct tells you that you probably should... View Article

Is it too Early to Begin 2018 Planning?

by | August 3, 2017

Planning for next year is daunting.  Each year, we know it’s time to create that budget, think about what we’ll do differently, and make sure we’ve got the processes and people lined up to do what needs to be done.   But planning doesn’t have to be all at once.  Some things have a year-end deadline,... View Article

The Who and How of Planning Your Business Transition

by | July 1, 2017

In recent months, I’ve come across a number of business owners who are “not getting any younger” and are contemplating their transition out of their business.  Many don’t have that one person identified as the next in line for the business.  Maybe the owner has no children or the children aren’t interested in the business,... View Article

Labor Secretary Withdraws Guidance on Independent Contractors and Joint Employers

by | June 23, 2017

On June 7, Department of Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta announced the withdrawal of the DOL’s prior Administrator Interpretations (“AIs”) clarifying the department’s position on the broad definition of joint employment and independent contractor misclassification. By withdrawing the AI’s, Acosta does not change the legal obligation of employers under the law. Instead, it rescinds the DOL’s prior guidance... View Article

Being the Business Owner You Know You Can Be

by | June 6, 2017

Many of us, when starting our businesses, were testing the waters.  Rather than taking the plunge, we put a toe in.  “Will this work?” was the baseline.  We might even have had a sense of what the answer to that question looked like — what was the “success” that would drive us to keep it... View Article

The Work and Reward of Sales

by | May 9, 2017

We’re good at goal setting, especially around sales.  Each year, we determine what our annual sales growth should be and break it down by month and quarter based on cyclicality and recent trends.   It all looks pretty on paper.  Then, as we go through the year, the stars don’t always align and we miss our... View Article

Wowing the Customer

by | April 5, 2017

I would say most companies I come across have one or more core values focused on high levels of customer service. It’s one of those “must have” elements in how a company continues to exist. Yet we know that “high quality” customer service is subjective, both from the company’s perspective and the customer’s perspective. On... View Article

The Role of Values and Culture

by | March 7, 2017

As small business owners, we often wear many hats, including head of finance, customer service and HR.  As CEOs, we are tasked with strategy and leading the execution plan. The “doing” work of a business owner can get separated from the “strategy” work of the CEO.  In my experience, when this happens, we get lost. ... View Article