You Deserve a Corvette
It’s been a hectic couple of years for sure, so how do you take care of yourself, and reward yourself? To answer that, let’s look through the lens of the Entrepreneur’s Journey. There are 3 stages that a successful Entrepreneur must go through: Struggling, Surviving,...
How Do You Know You Have Done a Good Job This Week?
How do your employees know they have done a good job? This is a question I started and ended a recent peer group retreat for landscape entrepreneurs (photos below). I wanted them to think about it before we began our meeting, and to think about it right before they...
How Many People Should You Have in Overhead?
Do you know how many people you should have in your overhead for ideal growth? Last week I was in Detroit leading one of my high-impact peer group meetings. In the peer group meeting, I was asked, “Do I have too many or too few people in overhead?" I know the answer...
Don’t Raise Prices Without Raising Value
There is a drumbeat in the industry magazines to raise prices, either to get ahead of inflation or to take advantage of supply and demand. But raising prices is not enough of a strategy. Raising prices does not mean raising value. Unless you are actually mis-pricing...
Why It’s Critical For Owners to Take Vacations
It’s critical for owners to take vacations or risk dis-empowering their people. I polled over 200 entrepreneurs and leaders on their vacation habit, and the results were startling (see results below). The last thing a dynamic and ambitious employee wants is to work...
Gaining the Truth From Your Employees
As Jack Nicholson barked at Tom Cruise in the movie A Few Good Men, “You can’t handle the truth!!" Or can you? My Summer Growth Summit During my Summer Growth Summit in August, I asked for feedback from attendees. And I got it. (Gulp.) (BTW, this Summit was my largest...
Lessons from a Billionaire
What can you learn from a billionaire? I recently led a peer group meeting where I met two ultra-wealthy entrepreneurs. The first was a “Boat Man” - a wealthy retired gentleman who loves his boats. The second was a “Car Man” - a very active billionaire who really...
A Hurricane Can’t Stop Us
The older I get, the more craziness I experience. 25 years ago I was married, and we went to Martha’s Vineyard for our honeymoon, and then got blown off the island by a hurricane. 15 years later while celebrating my anniversary in the Hamptons, Superstorm Sandy came...
Take Advantage of the Strongest Economy Ever
If you are middle aged, this is the strongest economy you will ever experience in your working lifetime. And if you are younger, this great economy will subside at some point… Either way—do not let it slip by. Take advantage, not just by adding more clients, but by...
Where Customer Service Falters
As I travelled this summer through Mexico City, we stayed in two top hotels. One in the youthful arts district of Roma where we had a boutique hotel of 4 rooms, and one in the swanky district of Polanco where we stayed in a mid-size high end hotel. Both gave...
