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The Seven Deadly Sins of an Entrepreneur: The second operational sin, Gluttony. The glutton entrepreneur takes pride in being able to do every job in the company better than anyone else. His or her answer to problems and delays is “Never mind, I’ll just do it myself.” Read More

The Seven Deadly Sins of an Entrepreneur: The First Operation Sin, Lust. Operational Sins reduce your personal effectiveness as a business owner. They prevent you from being as operationally effective as you could or should be. Lust is the sin that springs from a lack of self-control. Read More

The Seven Deadly Sins are alive and well in small businesses today. Far from being a hoary religious holdover from the Dark Ages, they are practiced assiduously by entrepreneurs everywhere and there is something to be said for any concept that catches the public imagination for fifteen centuries. Read More

Leadership styles seem to follow business models. According to Dr. Daniel Goleman, we lead with one of six styles. Different behaviors work in different situations. We all know it, but seldom think about it when we are shifting from one style to another. They are... Read More

According to Michael Porter, the guru of Competitive Strategy, anything that truly differentiates you from a competitor costs money. There’s no free lunch. “We give great service” only differentiates you from those competitors who claim to give lousy service. “We stand behind our work” only sets yo Read More

Credit for this post goes to Van Palmer, the owner of Palmer Technology Solutions. I’ll paraphrase and elaborate, but that’s the power of the pen. In a recent peer board meeting we were discussing our relationships with employees. I like Daniel Goleman’s description of the six leadership styles... Read More

A college education no longer carries with it an assumption of career-readiness. An excellent education is still a great beginning but as an employer, I’ve stopped assuming that a six-figure degree is, by itself, any sort of qualification for a job. Read More

Recurring revenue is the current Holy Grail of business. Barriers to Entry, a traditional way of assessing your differentiation against competition, have been replaced by Barriers to Exit, how to make it at least inconvenient or at most excruciatingly painful for your customer to leave you. Read More

When you land a customer who is many times larger than you are, the disparity in size can be a trap. If the customer is 10 times your size, a 5% growth in their business might mean 50% growth in yours. Every owner says that the company will grow in other areas to avoid being dependent on one custom Read More

The market for small businesses is increasingly a buyer’s smorgasbord. The best-of-class companies on both the smaller and larger end of the spectrum will still stand out as appealing propositions to buyers. What about the companies in the middle? As in the Star Trek “Neutral Zone,” the place where Read More