“If you don’t drive your business, you will be driven out of business.” – B.C. Forbes I recently spent some time with a business owner in our area. He’s a nice guy, but it was exhausting. His view of the world is pretty simple: everyone else has resources I don’t have, I can’t possibly compete … Read more
“Whatever failures I have known, whatever errors I have committed, whatever follies I have witnessed in public and private life, have been the consequences of action without thought.” – Bernard Beruch I think I could edit the above quote to end “…thought without action” and it would be just as meaningful. It’s bad enough to … Read more
“Nothing changes if nothing changes.” – Unknown We talk a lot in this space about change & how hard it is for us to change, both individually and organizationally. I had an interesting conversation recently about a different aspect of change – how do you get others to change? More specifically, how do you convince … Read more
“Let our advance worrying become advance thinking and planning.” – Winston Churchill As leaders, a big part of our job is thinking about the future. Unfortunately, too often that thinking becomes worrying, complaining, stressing, obsessing, energy destroying – you get the picture. I’ve been involved way too many management team meetings where all I did … Read more
“There are risks and costs to action. But they are far less than the long range risks of comfortable inaction.” – John F. Kennedy I was going to start this week’s post talking about a client of ours who struggles to “do” anything. They talk and talk without it ever amounting to any action. There’s … Read more
“The essence of strategy is choosing what not to do.” – Michael Porter We live in a world that likes to measure worth by accomplishments. We’re always talking about what we’ve done, about what goals our businesses have achieved, by what items we’ve crossed off our to-do lists. It’s implied that the more things we … Read more
“If you don’t think every day is a good day, just try missing one.” – Cavett Robert Over the past year I spent (wasted?) a fair amount of time trying to help a particular local business owner. Finally, after several months of misguided effort, I finally managed to end our business relationship. It took me … Read more
“Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason why so few engage in it.” – Henry Ford We live and work in an environment where we are rewarded for getting things done. Crossing things off a list seems like it’s become our sole purpose in life. We even write things we’ve … Read more
“Take time to deliberate, but when the time for action has arrived, stop thinking and go in.” – Napoleon Bonaparte We’ve spent time in this space talking about the importance of planning, of thinking about WHERE you want to be before taking action, etc. Certainly there are too many businesses out there who lack focus … Read more
“It doesn’t pay to worry. If you went through last year’s files marked “important”, chances are the only things you’d keep are the paper clips.” – Robert Orben Sitting at my desk for the first time in 2015, I find the above quote very relevant. I’m looking at piles of stuff that have been there … Read more
Get to know our proven, forward-thinking accounting, planning and business consulting experts.
1008 Third Avenue Sheldon, Iowa 51201 • (712) 324-4614 & 5130 E. 57th Street, Sioux Falls, SD 57108 • (605) 610-4611
© 2025 Cain Ellsworth & Company, LLP
Sheldon:
1008 Third Avenue Sheldon, Iowa 51201 • (712) 324-4614
Sioux Falls:
5130 E. 57th Street, Sioux Falls, SD 57108 • (605) 610-4611
© 2017 Cain Ellsworth & Company, LLP
