October 6, 2022
A Tale of Two Companies
This is a tale of two small businesses (apologies to Charles Dickens for plagiarizing the title). Let’s take a look at them. Company A has…
September 28, 2022
Euphoria or Dreams Shattered
The NFL season starts this week so last week was cutdown day, where rosters are reduced from 80 to 53. Dreams are realized or shattered…
July 30, 2022
People – Replaceable or Integral?
The Sunday Dilbert cartoon the other day had the pointy haired boss telling his staff he says employees are the key to success but that’s…
July 27, 2022
Selling a Car? Selling a Business? Aren’t They the Same?
We did a favor for a friend and agreed to help a friend of his sell his micro-business. A nice little company, growing, but the…
July 13, 2022
Your Credibility and Value
We had an online meeting with a prospective client and here’s how one part of the conversation about our representation agreement went (and I paraphrase).…
June 15, 2022
Create Don’t Just Add Value
We went for happy hour with friends recently (he gets this weekly memo) and because of his great management team he was wondering if he’s…
May 26, 2022
Measure the Right Stuff
There was a news report about the city of Auburn, WA reinstating their traffic cameras in school zones (not red-light cameras). The spokeswoman for the…
April 6, 2022
Contrasts in Style
In the US, especially in Washington State, when there’s a government project everybody gets paid the absolute maximum wage, even if they’re inexperienced and not…
February 23, 2022
Founder’s Syndrome Can be Deadly (to the Business)
I’m working with a client whose company was hurt and is experiencing a slow recovery. After decades of ownership the owner is burned out and…
November 26, 2021
Rotary and Business Buy-Sell – Part Two
This is the counter article to what I wrote in July, about business buyers and my Rotary projects given we recently I had a Rotary…