Congratulations!  The fact that you’re reading this means that you’re at least willing to think about succession planning, which puts you ahead of most people.  There are so many topics to cover – we’re going to start with six simple questions to get the ball rolling.  Today’s question:  Who is the best candidate to succeed you? … Read more

Here’s a sobering truth about family business:  Only about 30% survive to the second generation (per the Family Business Institute in Raleigh, NC).  Think about that.  Millions of people have a dream, put it into action, and achieve some level of success as entrepreneurs.  And after a lifetime of hard work and sacrifice, seventy percent … Read more

Today, we are sharing a guest blog post from Kelly McDonald.  Kelly is a marketing and advertising expert with more than 20 years of global advertising agency experience.  She is a recognized expert on diversity marketing and business trends.  She was named #1 on the list of “26 Host Speakers” by Successful Meetings magazine.  Check … Read more

Today’s post is a guest blog from Marisa Gift.  Marisa, a trainer at Dale Carnegie Training, is blogging on a year of living the the Dale Carnegie Principles.  Check out her blog at http:////matgift.blogspot.com. We’ve all heard the statistics: humans talk at a rate of 125-175 words per minute but think at a rate of 1,000-3,000 … Read more

Why is it that change is so hard for so many of us? Me included. First, as human beings we don’t like uncertainty, and change – almost any type of change – inherently involves at least some element of risk. Strike one! Secondly, some people may associate change with a loss of power or a … Read more

Last week I made a trip to Minneapolis to watch my beloved Minnesota Twins play baseball at Target Field. I’m always talking about getting away to more games, but most often it’s just talk. Minneapolis is a 3-1/2 hour drive for me and often it becomes my excuse for not making the trip. I decided … Read more

We’re almost there.  I’ve spent six weeks trying to lay out a long-term strategy development process that isn’t overwhelming (I hope).  I’ve tried to break things into pieces that you and your business can attack one at a time.  We’ve thought about Patrons (clients), Products, Promotion (marketing and sales), People and Profit.  Now for the … Read more

Understanding the NOW and WHERE of your Patrons, Products, Promotion, and People are key parts of developing long-term strategy.  Even if you have an understanding of all of those things, though, you’re still missing some key elements.  Most significantly, how will you know you’ve been successful? Measuring success requires you to develop and use key … Read more

So far in our strategic planning model we have talked about patrons, products, and promotion.  What about the people, your employees?  Who will support all your clients(finance, admin, etc.)?  No strategy can get very far without considering the human element. When businesses think about the people they have or want, they usually think in terms of … Read more

The last two posts have discussed who we want to sell to and what we want to sell to them.  So how are we going to get those people to buy those products?  Now we’re talking about Promotion – aka, marketing and sales. There have been thousands of books written about marketing and sales.  We could … Read more