Business Owner Resources

By Daniel M. Murphy on 10/29/2009

Business owners, for your sake and that of your company's, please stop bouncing around from one idea to another, one project to another, one fire-drill to another.  While it's common and entertaining for kids and pets to chase "shiny new objects", it can be disastrous for business owners to do the same. 

By jumping around like a hyperactive dog chasing anything that moves or looks new, you end up driving yourself and your employees crazy.  If you are always chasing shiny objects or leaping...

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By Daniel M. Murphy on 10/22/2009

I was just interviewed by BusinessWeek to provide some business coaching advice to their small business readers on how to identify and overcome some of the emotional challenges brought on by the recent recession and its lingering effects.  Bottom line, the reporter wanted to know how entrepreneurs could protect their passion, vision, and confidence during challenging times.  What a great topic!  I was more than happy to share my coaching experiences on this critically important topic and anticipate...

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By Daniel M. Murphy on 10/15/2009

I just got back home from Chicago after spending several days at The Growth Coach National Conference.  It was our largest and best to date and I thank our franchise owners, vendors and guest speakers for making it so informative, upbeat, inspiring and valuable for all the attendees.  As the founder of this business coaching franchise system, I'm very proud of our business coaches for so enthusiastically and effectively carrying out our mission to improve North America one community at a time by helping the small business owners in those communities achieve greater success and balance in their lives.  

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By Daniel M. Murphy on 10/8/2009

Business owner, as your virtual business coach, I formally give you permission to stop doing tasks you dislike doing... and probably stink at doing.  Most people wouldn't think this was necessary but both of us know better.  Entrepreneurs around the world are caught in a vicious, habitual cycle of doing tasks and roles they dislike and that annoy them, frustrate them, and drain them. 

Instead of focusing on their strengths and unique talents (which they do well and which energizes them), most...

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By Daniel M. Murphy on 10/1/2009

When people ask me what I do, I tell them I'm blessed to oversee a North American business coaching franchise system that helps thousands of small business owners and professionals every year achieve greater success and balance in their lives. Invariably, if they are a business owner, executive or professional, they ask me, "Who can benefit from business coaching and how does it work?"

Based on my seventeen years of business coaching experience, and without any reservation whatsoever, I tell...

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By Daniel M. Murphy on 9/24/2009

"Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds." ~ Franklin D. Roosevelt.  As a business owner, do you ever feel like a prisoner to your business?  A prisoner to your employees and customers?  Do you sometimes feel like you work a demanding job instead of owning a thriving business?  If so, you are not alone.

As your virtual business coach, allow me to ask you some additional tough but revealing questions.  As a business owner, could you leave your business today for...

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By Daniel M. Murphy on 9/17/2009

I was watching a professional football game this past Sunday.  While I have always realized that professional athletes earn and get paid millions of dollars, something deeper struck me.  My Growth Coach business coaching antennae went up.  Not only do they earn millions of dollars, but it's for a few hours of actual "game time" a week.  Now that's incredible financial leverage!  Movie stars and rock stars do the same thing, focusing their time, talents and efforts almost exclusively on what they do best and getting paid extremely well for it.  

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By Daniel M. Murphy on 9/10/2009

My house is surrounded by dozens and dozens of trees.  Twice a year, my house gutters get clogged with seeds in the spring and leaves in the fall.  When the gutters clog with such clutter, the rains come and the water cascades off my roof like a waterfall.  One year the waterfall filled up a window well and then pored into my basement.  This year I said "no more" and got leaf filters installed on my gutters.  While not cheap, I at least have peace of mind. 

That got this business coach thinking. ...

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By Daniel M. Murphy on 9/3/2009

Business owner, are you a hands-on technician?  Do you tend to get lost in the daily, technical trenches of your business?  Are you working almost exclusively "in" the business instead of "on" the business?  Do you suffer from the condition we business coaches call, The Technician's Addiction?  

If so, that's an exhausting way to run a business and live a life.  You work multiple roles and handle multiple tasks.  Instead of owning a business, you end up working a tough job.  Yet, you still...

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By Daniel M. Murphy on 8/27/2009

Lately, in louder and greater numbers, I have heard small business owners talking about the "good old days".  It's not surprising.  In these challenging times, many entrepreneurs feel like they are "swimming upstream and against the current."  They long for the simpler, easier, better days.  Unfortunately, many owners right now think their glory days are behind them.  That's sad.  Such a mindset is incredibly limiting and damaging.  It causes one's business vision (mental picture of an ideal future) to...

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