Growing a Business

Beware of One-Size-Fits-All Business Advice

December 8, 2010

Last Tuesday I had the privilege of taking 10 half-hour appointments with student entrepreneurs developing business plans. The idea was listening, talking, suggesting, and maybe helping with a thought or two. What a kick that is. No wonder I love what I do for a living. I started each of these sessions with a warning [...]

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Nice People Can be Bad Bosses. Way Too Often.

September 29, 2010

I’m troubled. The problem, in a nutshell, is that saying jerks and idiots are bad bosses is a bit too easy. It implies that not being a jerk or worse makes you a good boss. And that’s not always true. Nice people can be bad bosses. I like Bob Sutton’s work a lot. He blogs [...]

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Don't Underestimate Beachhead Strategy

December 3, 2009

I like beachhead strategies. The term comes from military strategy, meaning that as you invade enemy territory, you need to focus your strength and concentrate on winning a small border area (the beachhead) that becomes the stronghold from which you’ll advance into the rest of the territory. That’s what the allies did, successfully, in the [...]

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The 6 Most Expensive Words in Business

July 24, 2009

I saw this on Twitter yesterday, posted by Meghan Biro: Remember that the six most expensive words in business are: “We’ve always done it that way.”–Catherine DeVrye She makes a good point. In my 30+ years in business I’ve seen way too much of “we’ve always done it that way” and I’d like to think [...]

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Relationship Cluelessness Celebration Day

December 10, 2008

What’s wrong with this picture? Or maybe I should ask how many different things are wrong with it? I read about Spouse 2.0 day in the New York Times. No, it’s not a joke. The Times says: To celebrate, founders…

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About Marketing Yourself

August 13, 2008

Marketing yourself requires an abandon that’s hard to get right. Have you ever read the one about “sing like nobody’s listening” or “dance like nobody is watching?” Do you get my point? When I lived in Mexico City, an ex-brother-in-law…

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For Great ROI, Sell More to Existing Customers

July 8, 2008

That — the title to this post — might seem obvious, but we forget so easily, as we struggle to grow the business, and especially as we contemplate an economic downturn (free-fall?). The best ROI is selling more per customer…

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Reminder: Good Retailing Still Works

April 4, 2008

We were walking around Granada last week, enjoying some free time, waiting an hour or so for it to be supper time, when we came across a store selling beautifully wrapped and packaged and classified and marketed and displayed chocolates….

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5 Ways to Generate Healthy Change

January 10, 2008

In a thoughtful post on Duct Tape Marketing today, John Jantsch offers an answer to an important question: “How do I grow my business?” He titles that “The Ultimate Secret to Business Growth.” I talk to business owners every day…

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Two Essentials for Kick-starting a Planning Process

December 14, 2007

Last week I met with two smart people looking to kick-start a better planning process for an existing organization. The question at hand was what to do first. My answer was: First, start by scheduling plan reviews and course corrections….

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