“I am so good at starting things … why do I suck at finishing everything?” This was the plaintive query during a recent client conversation. I assured her she is not alone; this is an ongoing challenge for business owners. We are easily distracted by shiny objects and the thrill of starting something new. We…
Small business owners often wear the title ‘Chief Cook and Bottle Washer’. The tasks that rise to the top of their list usually relate to client delivery. Followed closely by the most time sensitive deliverables of day-to-day operations. Actions that drive business growth are left for a later time or don’t get done at all.…
As a business owner, it’s critical to stay focused and consistently make the effort to achieve the business results that you want. As your business grows, complexity increases, making it even more challenging to stay on track to meet your goals. For business owners working solo, maintaining the needed laser focus can be arduous. Wearing…
There is an overwhelming array of marketing and sales tools and techniques available for business owners. Countless books promise to reveal the secret ingredients to success in five easy steps. With such abundance, where should you begin? My advice, start with a simple yet powerful tool discovered by Pareto in the 1890s – the 80/20…
Do you feel like you’re getting nowhere quickly? Is your business stuck and you can’t seem to get through your next growth ceiling? Could it be your processes are holding you back? Consider this … Processes are the engines of your business; they ensure everything happens when and how it should. If they aren’t working,…
I have been accused of being a bit of a Pollyanna, the one with great faith in possibility … but not so much lately. Recently, I found myself wanting to curl up in front of a good Netflix series or take long mid-day naps to ignore important activities and avoid decision making … a bit…
You may well ask yourself – What do tomato plants and your plans have in common? If you’ve ever gardened, you know the excitement in Spring when you head off to the local garden center and buy those little boxes of tiny tomato plants. You have images of fresh tomato sandwiches floating in your head.…
This year has sped past. We blinked – and now we’re closing off 2022 and looking forward to 2023 and beyond. Planning the year ahead is exhilarating. It’s exciting and so, we’re inclined to leap straight into setting new dreams and goals. It’s true, there’s a positive energy that comes with new initiatives and new…
Sampling as an effective marketing strategy has been around for a very long time. A local story – In 1913, Frank O’Connor opened a candy business selling hand-made chocolates. He soon noticed that once people bought his chocolate and tried it, they bought again and again. His challenge was getting them to try it in…
As the intensity of the pandemic lessens several business owners have commented to me about looking forward to “going back” to normal. I question whether we should be looking forward to “going back” or should we be moving forward to our next normal? A lot has happened since the pandemic was called two plus years…