Few small business owners that I have met have a systematic onboarding process. I believe this is one of the reasons they stay small and complain about their inability to hire good people. Frankly, their standards are too high and their system is too weak. They people that could succeed are too rare. Once you Read more about Measuring the Pace of Onboarding[…]
Each year I pick a reading theme that fills in my time. My primary blocks of reading time in our marketable security business line are filled with companies I have already researched before. Once current on those I like to explore. Having a theme for the year helps give me structure so I don’t wander Read more about Reading Annual Reports of Public Companies to Influence Your Small Business[…]
We recently hosted our quarterly Advisory Committee meeting in Lafayette, Indiana. Jeff Peterson stuck around afterward to share some more detailed advice. I asked if I could share his notes –which he delivered from memory–I had to write down. He agreed and proceeded to say, “There are 3 types of managers that fail.” Ultimately, each Read more about The Types of Managers That Fail[…]
We concluded our final session of our first-ever “General Manager Training” this week. We plan to start our next cohort May 23. Per my usual, I thought I’d reflect on what worked and share some opinions about what we might change in the future. Purpose: Condense two years of management training into three weeks in Read more about General Manager Training[…]
In my experience in small businesses, it often takes 2 years for a new employee to reach the same productivity of a senior staff member. I believe this is why many small business owners complain about not being able to find good people –at the price they want to pay. This situation develops because small Read more about Train[…]
Purpose is a deliberate choice. The method of achieving the purpose is emergent. Once discovered, the method ought to become deliberate, too. At Little Engine Ventures, our guiding purpose is to help others climb. How we go about accomplishing our purpose has been evolving. Our basic principles remain in place. But, we have refined our Read more about Purpose is a Deliberate Choice[…]
Does everything in business come down to units per hour? Time is our most precious resource and therefore, productivity can be boiled down to the value-added per unit of time, right? We have been tracking our Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for each company weekly for over a year now. We recently stepped up to a Read more about Units per Hour[…]
For years I have said, “Strategy is systematically saying no.” But, while saying no is a discipline that establishes a habit of operational excellence, there is more that must be proactively pursued. You must say yes to something of greater value than your competitors. So, what is that strategy which is worthy of your focus? Read more about Strategy is Saying Yes to Lasting Margin Increases[…]
There is a debate among small business owners regarding building your own custom software to run sales or operations versus buying or subscribing to existing tools. Well respected friends of mine argue that it’s wiser to simply buy the SaaS tool that is built for your industry or problem. They’re successful and the proof is Read more about Succumbing to Customized Software in a SMB[…]
Do you set annual goals for your business? Update them quarterly? What about seizing opportunity in the moment? Most owner-operators develop a cadence for goal setting. As an entrepreneur turned investor I operated under a continuous flow approach. If they goals needed to change, they changed. Unfortunately, this approach only works in very small teams Read more about When Revenue Outpaces Talent[…]