The struggles of the small business owner or operator are real. Although every business is unique, business problems, especially for services businesses at various stages of growth experience very similar headwinds that slow of prevent growth. The time it takes to overcome these obstacles is directly proportional to the time required to get to the next phase of growth. So, the sooner you discover the issues and their solution(s), the faster you get to that next level. Wouldn’t it be a lot easier to rely on the countless people that have done it before? Even if you get a few key solutions, it will shave years off the time required to reach your growth goals and eventually build a company someone may want to acquire or run. Take a look at this list of very common occurrences that are holding back healthy growth and profits.

Doing Less is Truly Doing More

Numbers Make us Comfortable is a new article I just published about dispelling some myths regarding scorecards, utilization rates, and measurable activities for employees being somehow bad for morale, culture, or callous. It couldn't be further from the truth. Thanks to another great meeting at CEO Roundtable Boston for being a catalyst for this discussion. If you want to discuss this topic, please reach out to me! Everyone who knows me knows I love numbers! Take the as much of the guesswork out of it.

We often hear the concept about "momentum" when it comes to many things, sports teams is where we see it used often. It's this concept of hitting a stride where the effort required to maintain it is less than it took to get there, often allowing for a longer "run" of what you are doing. It also means there is equilibrium within the environment, the right people, parts, and placement is in place at the right time to allow for more to be achieved.

So many business owners started because they were good at something someone wanted or needed to buy. Technologists, electricians, washing cars, milling machinery, making clothing, etc. The issue many entrepreneurs have is that they remain excellent at the delivery of that product or service, but fail to learn how to run their businesses in way that optimizes how that business runs. It's a completely different set of skills. More importantly, it's a different mindset.

I feel very strongly about peer groups. I am so convinced of the value that I have agreed to start a new group within CEO-Roundtable thanks to Scott Lewis. A CEO Peer group was one of the biggest reasons I was able to challenge myself to push our business to the next level. The connections, accountability, advice, and knowledge you receive sitting in a room with 8-10 CEOs discussing issues is something everyone running a company needs to experience.

If you don't think you need to be in one, then you definitely need to be in one!

I have spent about 25 years thinking about this concept of “value” and how difficult, frustrating, and yet rewarding it can be to go through a career with the highs and lows of personal value at work. I believe I’ve made some progress cracking the code, and truly hope these concepts can help others as they struggle to be valued, make an impact, and become happy with their work and careers.

It's easy to see at a high level how recurring revenue is advantageous: It seems like you don't have to go out and sell to fill your pipeline just to stay even month over month. You eventually want to sell your business and it makes your assets more valuable, right? Resource allocation is much easier to manage?

If you are struggling with getting a handle on how your business is really doing month to month, or what to focus on to make it better: start with a Monthly Business Reivew.

Employee Retention Credit for businesses

My very first post!