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As a business owner, you know what it’s like to lie awake at 2 a.m. Maybe it has happened when you are excited and full of new ideas for your business. More often, it’s because you are worried about issues you will face the next day. Sometimes, it’s because you just woke up with the solution to a problem. I’ve experienced all those emotions about my businesses over the years. Awake at 2 o’clock? is where I share them with you, and hopefully help with answers that will let you sleep.
John F. Dini, CExP, CEPA
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Small business owners are the Hunters of the 21st century. We are 3% of the US population, and yet we create over half of all American jobs. As Hunters, we may not be inclined to manage by the numbers or stick to systems. Are you a Hunter or a Farmer?
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How prepared are you to exit your company?
The Assessment breaks down the four major categories of exit readiness; Finance, Planning, Operations and Revenue/Profit.
Tag Archives: economy
We Can’t Legislate Job Skills
“Why can’t we find enough good people to hire?” As a consultant to business leaders, I hear this complaint with increasing frequency. From tradesmen to programmers, and from executives to scientists, we seem to be lacking a workforce with the … Continue reading
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How to Get Employee Buy-In for Your Values
There are few things more important than determining your company’s core values. I define an ideal core values statement as something you can frame and put on the wall so that, in your absence, any employee who has a question … Continue reading
One Response to How to Get Employee Buy-In for Your Values
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John,
You hit the nail right on the right spot!! Thanks! I don’t get a lot of time reading your blogs, but I put them in “your folder” and try to look back at them when possible. This is the time for making our small company statements, and since I have survivedYear 5, I feel we are at the point to really grow, so I will definitely follow your blog for today!! Thanks and Happy New Year!!
Cathy
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“Tis an Ill Wind…
…that blows nobody good.” That old sailor’s proverb, first recorded in 1543 and further popularized by Shakespeare in “Henry VI” in 1623, is as plain today in its meaning as it was almost 500 years ago. Anything that is bad … Continue reading
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Wageflation and the Talent Wars
Why are so many employers complaining about the availability of talented workers and the cost of hiring them? Government statistics indicate that real, inflation-adjusted wages are now below 1986 levels. In 2012, the Federal Reserve tracked both an all time … Continue reading
2 Responses to Wageflation and the Talent Wars
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John,
One very important contributor to the high wage expectation is the enormous levels of student loan dept new entries to the workforce bring with them. My friend, an experienced engineer out of work for a year, was recently offered a job at $20 an hour. He requested $24, largely because at $20/hour and a relocation to suburban DC he couldn’t have made ends meet. His prospective employer passed, and cited the position as being done away with.What happens to our spending-driven national economy with graduates saddled with life-long levels of college loan debt? What happens to home sales?
More importantly, what happens to future generations in terms of saving for college for their children,l and what appears to be a self full-filling prophecy for generations to come?
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You are Never too Busy to Make Money
Last week I was having lunch with a client who owns a substantial construction firm. His phone pinged during our conversation. He apologized for looking at it, but he was waiting to hear on a couple of large bids. “Dammit!” he … Continue reading
Great article. I agree that the numbers have to be skewed that government is reporting. And I believe our Govt. is the biggest problem. Our Unemployment laws need to be seriously revised. If someone works and then gets seriously sick or injured, it makes sense to help them with unemployment for a longer period of time, because they earned it. We need to address the younger people. We have two MAJOR issues:
1. Is the fault of our society and their parents — this younger working age generation are spoiled rotten and suffering from a severe case of ENTITLEMENT. I see it every day. Why should they work hard, or even show up to work, when Daddy just bought them a new car, and pays for everything.
2. It is way too easy to file and collect unemployment, and it lasts too long. I post an ad on Craigslist at least once a month. The amount of responses is usually pretty good. However, I’m lucky if 1 in 6 scheduled interviews even show up. And even then, they usually don’t ever show for the job I hired them for. And I know what their doing — they’re checking off the box that they’re “looking, but can’t find anything” so they can continue receiving unemployment. I can vouch that there are more jobs than people, but it sure doesn’t seem that way.
Nor can we legislate respect, work ethic, self-motivation and personal responsibility. Recently read an article stating we are who we are by the age of 12. Parents are the key to improving the workforce, not the school, government or the day care provider. Children are not possessions like cares or houses. They are a lifetime commitment and one’s enduring legacy of their contribution to society.
Great Article. A subject that is close to my heart, and as a matter of fact, is what made this country so great..in the first place..” The Middle Class”. Where is the middle class, did they just disapear, and the jobs that went with them disapear as well. Is the new generation so spoiled, that they refuse to work? Does it make more finacial sense to go on longterm unemployment, wellfare or disability, than to get a JOB?
The wriing in already on the wall, just look at the numbers. Who’s fault is it…you might ask….An even better question is how do we FIX it.
The fix is complex and long-term. I see no signs that the entitled class will go away, since their parents are leaving them something like 15 trillion dollars. For many, that points to another generation to follow of kids who never had to scratch to make it. They may look up one day and find that they’ve been passed over. Those who wake up and follow market needs (STEM, trades, non-legal mid-market professionals) will be the new middle class regardless of their socioeconomic background.
Great article. Being self-employed, myself as a contractor for 40 years I have to keep up on all of the changes in construction. Many times it is online courses from manufactures. It has to be a personal thing if you want to keep up. People need to be self motivated to get a head in this world.