A friend has been helping me develop a succession plan for the ministry of Unconventional Business Network. One of the first steps he recommended was to consider the vision I have for the ministry 10 years down the road. To help with that step, I began developing a futuristic organizational chart. Asking the question, “What kind of people will we ...
According to an article on investmentbank.com, roughly 40% of family-owned businesses will have leadership changes over the next 5 years. Succession planning has never been more important! Most adults do not have a will, so it’s not surprising that many business owners have no succession plan for their business. Our mortality is not a subject on which many of us ...
Every year around April 15th, many new entrepreneurs receive shocking and unexpected news from their tax preparer. They owe a lot more tax than they have cash available. Why does this happen? When you receive a paycheck, taxes are withheld automatically, but as an entrepreneur you are paid a gross amount of money without accounting for taxes. The IRS wants ...
The first tip I have for startup businesses is to “Recognize when you’ve become a business.” My youngest daughter didn’t intend to start a business when she began posting social media videos. As millions viewed her videos, suddenly money was deposited into her account for becoming a “social media influencer.” It was time for her to recognize that she had ...
In this series, we are looking at five traits common to successful entrepreneurs and how unconventional business leaders should approach each. Today’s focus is Complete Humility. Successful entrepreneurs recognize their weaknesses and gaps, look for partners that can fill those gaps, and negotiate to get what they need in a win/win approach. You might call this “humility,” but the Bible ...
Recently, Kathy and I had the opportunity to tour the facilities of Vermeer Corporation in Pella, Iowa. One of the more impressive parts of the tour was witnessing the thought given to developing efficient processes in all parts of this enormous plant. Vermeer’s pursuit of continuous improvement has no bounds. They even chose to analyze the processes around their company ...
Mackenzie Scott, Jeff Bezos’ former wife, recently announced that she is giving $2.7 billion to 286 charities. That’s on average almost $10 million per charity. Too often organizations who receive a large one-time gift find ruin when they add expenses based on the new gift, hoping to replace the funds in later years. Many businesses also find themselves in trouble ...
Years ago, my family took a raft trip down the Colorado River. As we hit rough water, one person went overboard. Everyone worked to pull him back in and then relaxed for a moment - until we rounded a curve into another round of rapids. One thought helped me remain calm. Our guide knew what was coming next. We have ...
In this series, we’re discussing how to inflation proof your business. When expenses increase due to inflation, your net profit will be negatively impacted unless you increase revenue. In my experience, small businesses are more reluctant to implement price increases than most large businesses. There is certainly reason for concern, but price increases are usually less traumatic than most realize. ...
In this series, we’re discussing how to inflation proof your business. A friend owns a chain of restaurants. He was concerned when he discovered that people were selling large quantities of ketchup packets on eBay. He realized a shortage of ketchup and increased prices were coming. He called his suppliers and asked for all the ketchup they could find. He ...
Equipping Others to Do Work Differently
