Guest Post: Glenn Van Ekeren is the President of Vetter Health Services in Omaha, Nebraska, a company committed to providing “dignity in life” for seniors.  Vetter Health Services owns 32 long term care, assisted living, and independent living facilities in the Midwest.  As President, Glenn helps to insure the company’s Mission, Vision and Values is … Read more

Late on a Saturday afternoon, I asked my wife, “Is there a good movie on TV tonight?”  Marsha replied, “The usual.  Why don’t you go to the Redbox and get Company Men,” she suggested.  So off I went in search of our evening’s entertainment.  I was scrolling through the movies on the Redbox touchscreen and, … Read more

In my previous post, I discussed the results of scientific research that supports the argument that we learn more from our successes than we do from our failures.  Moving away from the science, there are many others who believe that success breeds more success.  Their feeling is that success combined with strong self-awareness breeds healthy … Read more

Some of my associates and I were having a discussion on the value of learning experiences.  The question was asked, “Do we learn more from our failures than we learn from our successes?”  It certainly got me to thinking and reading on the topic.  What I found was that there are strongly held beliefs on … Read more

Julie Noble is the Director of Human Resources at Cain Ellsworth.  She is a nationally certified Professional in Human Resources (PHR) and works with business owners and managers on a broad spectrum of HR consulting services. These include recruitment, benefits administration, employee relationships, performance management and development, and leadership training. Thank you, Julie, for your contribution to our blog. … Read more

After working through all the stages of the business life cycle (The Idea, Actual Work, Look Out World!, We’ve Arrived, Growth & Expansion, Downhill Slide), we’ve finally arrived at the end.  One way or another, intentionally or unintentionally, planned or unplanned, someday you will exit your business.  This could be a day you’ve been dreading … Read more

Unfortunately, for a myriad of reasons, most businesses at some point find themselves in decline.  Sales are decreasing, or profits are decreasing, or both.  The biggest issue (and the one that probably consumes the most energy) is declining cash flows.  It could be a lack of foresight that causes a business to miss a shift … Read more

For most businesses, the first four stages of the business life cycle (The Idea, Actual Work, Look Out World, and We’ve Arrived) happen with a certain amount of predictability.  But now what?  What happens when your business has become established in the marketplace with a brand and loyal customers and formal processes and all the … Read more

Finally.  After (probably) years of hard work, you have an established business.  In stage four of the business life cycle, your wild toddler has matured into a thriving adult with its own space in the market and loyal customers.  Growth probably isn’t as explosive as in previous stages, but it’s manageable.  Running the business has … Read more

Your business has gone from birth (The Idea) through infancy (Actual Work) and is now in stage three, the toddler stage, going full speed in any direction that looks interesting.  In fact, that tends to be the problem in this stage.  Revenues and customers are increasing rapidly (you hope), and with them, opportunities and issues.  … Read more