As a young impatient professional, at times I strived to get rich quickly. This led to foolish decisions that set me back rather than forward. An activity that exceeded my expectations, however, was when a stockbroker talked me into investing $25 per month into a mutual fund. As a teenager, it was painful at times, especially during college. But, ...
Recently, a group of friends and I were reflecting on our junior high school years. Rick shared how grateful he was that he met up with our friend group back then. Before meeting our group, Rick primarily talked with Mike, one of the wildest kids in our class. Had Rick continued hanging out with Mike’s group, Rick’s life might ...
Due to a disagreement, my friend, Rex, was struggling with collecting monies owed him by a significant customer. At Rex’s monthly UBN CEO Roundtable meeting, he brought this issue to his group for discussion. Rex, assuming he was right, was looking for affirmation. Instead, the group told Rex he had handled the situation improperly and that Rex needed to ...
Cyber Monday was born out of data. In 2004, according to Scott Silverman of Shop.org, research revealed that the Monday after Thanksgiving was one of the biggest shopping days of the year. The data revealed that many people shop in person on Black Friday but would finish their shopping online the following Monday. This led savvy retailers to leverage this ...
Recently, I met with a 25-year-old entrepreneur who had already had three failed businesses and was working on his fourth. I love the passion of young visionaries, but I hate to see the pain many have experienced due to a lack of discipline. My encouragement to this young man was that I saw tremendous potential for his future, but he ...
After recognition that you have started a business, the second business tip I would share with a new entrepreneur is to “Separate your business and personal funds.” When businesses start, many people begin depositing business income into their personal checking account. Further, they often start paying business expenses and personal expenses all from the same account. This causes many problems. ...
When Kathy and I married, we rented a reception facility from one of the wealthier men in our county. On our wedding day, I went to check on the reception hall and found a man dressed in work clothes setting up chairs. He looked like a custodian. When he told me his name, I was stunned! I blurted out, “Aren’t ...
If you’ve managed people for long, you will eventually have someone who is not meeting your expectations. Determining the next steps can be challenging. When someone is confronted with poor performance, some will get defensive and immediately assume that the problem is yours, not theirs. Their arrogance or overconfidence can prevent them from being willing to correct their issues, making ...
There was a surgeon who came in occasionally to the bank where I worked. He would park his new Mercedes by the front door and brag about his car to our staff. He wore lots of jewelry and flashy clothes and loved to talk about his success. One day this surgeon met with me to request a loan. I discovered ...
My good friend Rick and I both graduated from the same school with accounting degrees. We also both started with respected CPA firms upon graduation. Rick dreamed of becoming one of his firm’s youngest partners and he began diligently working towards that goal. I also dreamed of being a partner, but soon realized that public accounting was not for me. ...
Equipping Others to Do Work Differently
