“Don’t let reality get in the way of your dreams.” – Anthony Liccione It’s early January and the world is full of New Year’s resolutions, lists of things you can do to make the year successful, and predictions about what kinds of things we’ll have to deal with throughout the year. In other words, it’s … Read more
“Drive thy business or it will drive thee.” – Benjamin Franklin Last week in this space the focus was on making sure what you’re doing is driving your business toward the vision and making sure you’re busy doing things that matter, not just busy being busy. Someone emailed me with the comment that while that … Read more
“Where there is no vision, there is no hope.” – George Washington Carver We live in a world of activity. We feel like we’re busy all the time, and we actually take pride in it. If I ask a business owner how things are going they almost always say “We’re really busy” or “It’s been … Read more
“Blessed are the flexible, for they will not be bent out of shape.” – Anonymous I’ve been fortunate over the past few weeks to spend a lot of time with some really great business leaders thinking about and working on the future. We’ve spent a lot of time trying to figure out WHERE each of … Read more
“Your assumptions are your windows on the world. Scrub them off every once in a while, or the light won’t come in.” – Alan Alda As humans, we have a number of needs. Two of our more basic needs are safety and security. We want to be safe, comfortable, feel like no one’s going to … Read more
“Take action. Success is not guaranteed, but inaction will guarantee failure.” – Ken Poirot There are so many opportunities to take action in today’s world that sometimes we do nothing. A hundred things seem to be coming our way at any given moment. Maybe we’re overwhelmed, or maybe we’re afraid to fail or make the … Read more
“Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else.” – Judy Garland Usually, at some point when we’re kids, we hear an adult say some version of “You can be anything you want when you grow up.” And we believe that. So when you ask kids what they’re going … Read more
“People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas.” – Steve Jobs One of the things I think is a big struggle for high performing people (which I’m sure you all are) … Read more
“The bitterest tears shed over graves are for words left unsaid and deeds left undone.” – Harriet Beecher Stowe I’m going to at least moderately break on of my own personal rules today. I typically avoid like the plague anything that sounds like a New Year’s Resolution. They’re the same every year, and every year … Read more
“However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results.” – Winston Churchill We are an accomplishment-oriented society. At work we receive praise for “getting things done”. Our best employees are the ones who “find a way to get the job done”. In our personal lives we talk about having had a great year … 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
