In the 1990s, I was building a new consulting business during the growing Dot-com bubble. I found a company that seemed knowledgeable about the internet and hired them to develop our website. One question I should have asked was, “What happens to my website if your company goes out of business?” When that vendor closed, like many did, I ...
In the mid-1990s, I was building a new consulting business. I learned many lessons leading up to the Dot-com bubble that may help you if there’s a future Artificial Intelligence bubble. The first lesson I learned was to “Beware of Posers.” In the 1990s, it didn’t take long before almost everyone in the technology world claimed to be an ...
In the mid-1990s, I started a consulting practice. I started hearing about this new sensation called the internet. Everyone began talking about “websites.” Having America as my prospect list instead of just Kansas City seemed like a great idea. Eventually, I hired a company to build a website for my business. I lost my investment in that website when ...
In the 1990s, the internet became public. Investors began investing in local companies that now had a global market available to them. Almost anyone with a Dot-com web address started getting investment capital, even if they never made money. By 2000, when these investors began selling their money-losing stocks it created the Dot-com bubble and the stock market crashed. ...
As a teenager, I worked on my uncle’s farm. In his small town there was a grocery store, a gas station, a lumber yard, a grain elevator, a restaurant, and three churches. This town only has 130 people now with no downtown businesses remaining. There is hope, however. My cousin breeds a specialty type of cattle and has leveraged ...
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, ...
One challenge small businesses face, who are forced to compete against larger businesses, is a lack of resources. Large companies can hire more people and invest in technology that may be hard for smaller businesses to come by. This disadvantage requires that a small business needs to be even more selective in hiring the right people who fit the ...
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 ...
Unfortunately, Grifters love to use the church as their playground. If you’re not familiar with the word, Grifters are con men or women who are adept at reading people and exploiting their weaknesses. Since there are a growing number of scandals of megachurch pastors who have been arrested or thrown out of their church for fraud or sexual impropriety, I ...
An economic indicator I find valuable is the National Federation of Independent Business Small Business Optimism Index. This index checks the pulse of small business owners. The 50-year average score for this optimism index has been 98. Last month, the index fell to 88.5, the lowest level since 2012. The primary concern listed in the survey by these entrepreneurs is ...
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