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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: entrepreneurship
Few Employees Can Go the Distance
It’s been an unusual week. I’ve had at least four coaching conversations about employees whose jobs have outgrown them. On the one hand, it’s good news. It means that the companies are growing. On the other hand, it’s always tough … Continue reading
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Minimum Wage and the Middle Class
“Amongst the novel objects that attracted my attention during my stay in the United States, nothing struck me more forcibly than the general equality of conditions.” – Alexis De Tocqueville (Democracy in America, 1831) Americans have always considered themselves “middle … Continue reading
One Response to Minimum Wage and the Middle Class
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The only real way to solve the problem of the shrinking middle class is through technological advances and higher levels of universal education. Governments at all levels have failed to provide the education required and continue to take more money away from the private sector. Money that could be used to develop new technologies and train their workers to move into higher paying jobs. They are taking actions to get the political support of those who cannot, or choose not to, understand that their simplistic approaches will fail. The envy of astronomically higher salaries of CEO’s are playing right into their political strategies that are definitely not “for the people”.
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The Extinction of the Summer Job
I’ve read several articles of late discussing the decline in the number of older high school and college students that take jobs for the summer. Each of these reflected on how summer employment taught millions of Americans their first work habits. Around … Continue reading
2 Responses to The Extinction of the Summer Job
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Hi John,
Whoa, this describes the situation exactly (except I don’t know of any “middle class” folks that can afford summers in Europe)! As Chief Moderator at BizSugar, I feel your article hits home to small business owners the fact that most young people — not millennials, but generation Z, those who are about ages 15 through about 18–will be entering the job market with far, far less practical experience than even the millennials, let alone Gen X or the boomers, and this message may really deter them from giving these young folks a chance. As minimum wage jobs go up to provide underemployed adults with a means of providing for their families, perhaps it’s a good idea for small business owners to re-create those summer jobs of the past, by hiring a kid to scan some documents, run errands, do a little of this and of that and above all, get used to talking to customers and dealing with people. As a parent, I’d like to see this, but from the SMB’s perspective, they might not have the extra cash lying around after they pay the grownups.
Hmm….food for thought.
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Ageing Boomer Entrepreneurs: Fearful or Smart?
Do we become more cautious with age? Startups are usually associated with younger entrepreneurs. By the time they reach their 50s or 60s business owners tend to tackle fewer big new ideas. Those that do tend to be successful enough that they … Continue reading
One Response to Ageing Boomer Entrepreneurs: Fearful or Smart?
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Experience is what you get when you don’t get what you want.” or “Good decisions come from experience. Experience comes from bad decisions.”
I agree with both of these. I really enjoy your blogs! I was forced into inventing a “new self employed start up” at 62. I have no regrets but with my “experience is what you get when you don’t get what you want” is an ongoing goal as well.
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Culture Counts!
Small businesses can’t compete with large corporations on salary and benefits. I’m not being unduly cynical, it’s just a fact. The top 1/10 of 1% in US household incomes start at $1.9 million annually. Of all those in that rarefied … Continue reading
Other factors beside $ growth can impact “key employee” status. Among them are supervising a business when it starts multiple locations…which often occurs in businesses under 5 million….
The owner should definitely consider this when hiring and selecting people for development, or they will have telling problems in achieving planned growth.