To run a successful business, there are dozens and dozens of skillsets that are necessary.  Sadly, many business owners mistakenly believe they need to be the sole person to possess all the requisite skillsets. That they must be fully competent in all business-related skillsets and all operational facets of a business: bookkeeping, accounting, collections, marketing, sales, operations, c...

Today's Growth Coach Blog is dedicated to the dreadful disease of micro-management ... that all too common condition where a business owner mistakenly thinks he/she needs to do everything in a business. Where they incorrectly assume they need to be the Chief Everything Officer instead of the Chief Executive Officer.  While micro-management may not kill you, it will surely exhaust you on...

Small business owners and entrepreneurs continually have to battle against the economy, competition, government interference, employee issues, cash flow, changing technologies, surprises, busyness, denial, distractions, and a host of other challenges.  Such COMPLEXITY is simply the "price of admission" for being a successful entrepreneur. While business ownership and management, done rig...

As a business coach for over eighteen years, I can declare with the utmost confidence that one of the greatest enemies of small business owners is BUSYNESS.  As such, owners can be their own worst enemy.  They are so busy scrambling, putting out fires, chasing distractions, getting interrupted, and getting lost in unimportant details that they don’t see the big picture and don’t spend th...

Because I am both a business owner and business coach (I know, a strange combination), I was asked to submit a sample overview of a “Key Lesson Learned as a Business Owner” to a national business magazine.  I’m pretty sure I got it there on time … reporter’s can be quite demanding.  That was over a month ago and I never heard anything back.  Such rejection brings back all kinds of feelin...

Let me guess, at times you feel overworked, overwhelmed and like a prisoner to your business. Any more, your frustrations often outweigh your fun.  And lastly, you are wearing multiple hats and functioning in multiple roles for your company.  How did I do?  Did this Growth Coach describe you accurately... at least some of the time?  If so, you need to QUIT! Yes, quit. No, not quit bei...

To run a successful business, at a minimum, you need to be effective in multiple categories: self management (vision, goals, focus, priority management, personal responsibility, etc.), marketing/sales management (generating leads and closing sales), operations management (delivering on the promises made), people management (recruiting, leading and holding others accountable), money manag...

My 11-year old son loves going to the movies. To be fair, he also loves the exorbitantly priced popcorn and blue slushies (ice drink).  Anytime a new movie trailer comes out at the theater or on TV, he becomes hypnotized and fixated.  Adventures, animation, wizards, dragons, anything 3-D, etc. are all up his alley.  He recently gave the new Karate Kid a definite “ten” and even went back ...

Over the past 18 years, as a business coach and owner of a business coaching franchise system, one of the recurring questions I have been asked (as well as my certified business coaches throughout North America) by small business owners and professionals is, "Can I benefit from business coaching?" Since our coaching system has already served tens of thousands of clients, I can say withou...

During the last 90 days or so, I have been spending lots of quality time with my son playing baseball and tennis, to name a few activities.  I have also faithfully taken my wife out on a date once a week.  However, my 15-year old daughter has been quite busy with her select volleyball team and also going out a lot with her friends.  In my heart, I knew I needed to spend more time with he...