I recently fine-tuned my Financial chops at a week long National Development Association training on economic development finance. It was a tough week, but a good one. I brought back some new tools we can use to analyze companies quickly and efficiently, and help determine debt capacity and operational effectiveness. Here’s a concept that bears [...]
Entries Tagged as 'consulting'
Funding Working Capital
February 6th, 2010 · Comments Off · consulting, Entrepreneurship
Tags: Accounts receivable·Asset·Balance Sheet·Business·Finance·Financial services·Financial statements·Working capital
Making Referrals
December 2nd, 2009 · Comments Off · consulting
I’m asked everyday to make a referral. As Director of the Small Business Development Center, I offer to help find resources that can fit the persons needs, and do not recommend any particular law firm, CPA, bank or whatever. However, the next question invariably is “who have you worked with?” And I always answer honestly. [...]
Tags: referrals
Social Media – The hype vs. reality
October 11th, 2009 · Comments Off · consulting, ideas, social media
Here’s a funny from Hugh McCloud – If you want more blog traffic, write about social media! If you want to be completely ignored, write about social media! © 2009 Hugh MacLeod’s Gaping Void I recently was with a large group looking for a new marketing direction. The room buzzed with “social media” as the [...]
Tags: gapingvoid·social media
Ask better questions, a Marine’s perspective
October 10th, 2009 · Comments Off · Around the world, consulting, Entrepreneurship
A Marine shares his story about asking better questions.
Tags: ask better questions·marines
Killing your own cash cows
October 9th, 2009 · Comments Off · consulting, Entrepreneurship
I’ve been reading through some of my past writings, and came across my December 12th, 2007 post entitled “Kill Your Own Cash Cows.” All companies seek growth. Below is a plan of attack for identifying new venture opportunities within the framework of your current business. The key is to start with problems of your customers, [...]
Help me understand the Pizza Burger – asking better open ended questions
October 7th, 2009 · Comments Off · consulting, Entrepreneurship, ideas
My friend won $50,000 on “Who Want’s to be a Millionaire” a few years ago, and me and a couple of buddies were there to cheer him on. As guys trips go, this one was a doozy… we stayed on Times Square, and stayed out late at one of my favorite American pubs – the [...]
12 Facts about Entrepreneurs – Surprising?
October 5th, 2009 · Comments Off · consulting, Entrepreneurship
Dharmesh Shah’s blog – onstartups.com has great insights into the entrepreneurial experience. Recently, he posted 12 facts about entrepreneurs: 1. The average and median age of company founders when they started their current companies was 40. 2. 95.1 percent of respondents themselves had earned bachelor’s degrees, and 47 percent had more advanced degrees. 3. Less than [...]
Tags: Entrepreneurship
Paid to quit
May 20th, 2008 · Comments Off · consulting, HR
Here’s a great idea from Zappos, courtesy of Bill Taylor posting on Harvard’s Business site. Pay your employees to quit. Here’s an excerpt from his post: After a week or so in this immersive experience, though, it’s time for what Zappos calls “The Offer.” The fast-growing company, which works hard to recruit people to join, [...]
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