Mark was a young entrepreneur trying to build a website business. He had very limited monies to fund his core business, let alone a new venture. Then, someone convinced Mark to buy into an unproven technology. He borrowed money to invest in the product only to discover that his customers were not interested in his new product. His impulsive pursuit ...
A recent article by McKinsey & Company states, “Although corporate decision makers cannot plan for every potential risk, we examined some ways they can prepare for extraordinary risks, determine which protections are worth the investment, and position themselves for better resiliency.” Business leaders have been tasked to make impossible decisions, choosing between bad and worse. Resilience is the courage to ...
In this series, we are looking at what we can learn from entrepreneurs about restarting our businesses post-lockdown. Sadly, many of us don’t know whether our businesses can survive this restart. That is why many startups use bottoms-up financial models to quickly test new scenarios and whether they have enough cash to survive. They make decisions to increase cash, reduce burn ...
One of the earliest lessons I learned in business was the impact of buying into a fad. In 1981, Rent-a-Wreck determined that offering used cars for rent instead of new cars could be franchised across the country. With the desire to be my own boss and desperate to leave public accounting, used car rentals seemed like a ground floor opportunity ...
While coaching a young entrepreneur recently, I was reminded of several common mistakes made by new business owners. The first mistake I’ve seen many times is the impact of taxes on a small business. When you collect money from customers, it’s easy to assume it’s all yours. But it’s not all your money! The biggest mistake for many is to ...
When business is booming, it’s tempting to pour your profits back into the business for the sake of expansion. There is a tension, however, in also keeping an eye towards the future. In Genesis 41, Joseph not only translated Pharaoh’s dream, predicting seven years of prosperity to be followed by seven years of famine, he also wisely told the king ...
As we near the record for the longest economic expansion in US history, many forward-thinking leaders are beginning to prepare accordingly. With almost 10 years of upward momentum it’s easy to begin feeling invincible and not fully understand what may be coming. Recently, I’ve had more conversations with wise leaders who do have experience with recessions. Many of these leaders ...
Whether it’s one large customer or one significant donor, when your revenue comes significantly from one person, your organization faces danger. Real trouble can come if anything goes wrong with that relationship. Another pitfall of having too much dependence upon one customer is the influence they might have. As your revenue becomes dependent upon one customer, you can be pressured ...
Equipping Others to Do Work Differently
