Mikel recently invited a business owner to lunch. In his email invite he used the phrase “negative service company” and the owner chuckled. He said he had never heard that phrase before. He runs a multi location restoration business. This sort of shocked me. Our flagship negative service company does autoglass repair & replacement. For Read more about Run your Negative Service Company with purpose.[…]
On Thursday, July 21, 2022 many of our 37 partners gathered in downtown Lafayette, Indiana for a report on the previous twelve months and our updates on the go-forward plans. We began with a video, as we have done for many years past. In this year’s video we showcased a single manager, sitting down in Read more about Summary of the Little Engine Ventures Annual General Meeting 2022[…]
Carrying opportunities is expensive. Capturing opportunities can be profitable. Owners and managers alike enjoy identifying and developing opportunities. Many have developed habits and allocations to how much time and expense to allocate to product development. This is usually associated with the pace of customer change or the profit margin of the idea. Developing opportunities is Read more about Where is the opportunity stored?[…]
Little Engine Ventures serves two primary customer types. The foremost is the local, best-in-niche service business owner who wants to sell his or her company to a family member or small group of employees but doesn’t want to strap the business with debt. We provide this group an alternative path compared to selling to a Read more about Geographic Density & Industry Diversity[…]
An often repeated, Little Engine Ventures’ value is “confront the facts.” And, one of the facts of life is that integrity is the consistency across word, thought and deed. What is rarely confronted is the power of words to create. As children, we learn that when we cry we often get our way. We polish Read more about Words Have the Power to Create[…]
My mother is an artist. My father is a farmer. My father likes to say, “The only thing I can draw is flies.” I like to say, “A wise businessman ought to develop the right kind of stink.” He wants to repel the misfits and attract those that will lay eggs in his pile. The Read more about Develop the Right Kind of Stink[…]
Lots of people say they need work-life balance. They are wrong. People need congruence throughout the various areas of their life. This is not about “balance” on a hanging scale, where “life” dangles from one chain and is equally proportioned to work. These two things are not even the same thing. Are you not alive Read more about Work-Life Balance Is Wrong[…]
If a group of people want to achieve something special they require a boss who sets the pace, enforces standards, and demands focus. Let’s break this down a bit. A company is a group of people gathered around an idea. I like this definition because it reminds me of the old saying, “We are having Read more about Management’s Critical Functions[…]
I have been called a “serial entrepreneur.” I have recently been describing myself as “an entrepreneur turned investor.” This morning, I read a descriptive phrase that better fits the present phase of my life and doesn’t negate my historical experience. I am a “serial obsessor.” I am a serial obsessor. I have recently been obsessed Read more about On Being a Serial Obsessor[…]
I have yet to meet a Baby Boomer Business Owner who references their NPS score as passionately as they ought. Why is that do you think? Is it a fad? Is it common sense? I used to think so. For 10 years I assumed it was tech-speak for something I already had and understood. That Read more about Net Promoter Score (NPS) in Baby Boomer Businesses[…]