Do you ever wonder why some companies succeed while others just fade away? We have found through our own businesses, and through our clients, that four factors play a predominnant role in determining long term success. These factors are: product placement, target market, management team and marketing strategy. The market Read more
Internet connected devices are useful tools, but they are an open door into your network. The internet of things (IoT) is exploding with 27 billion of these devices currently operating and most are not protected in any way. As billions more devices get connected to the Internet each year, the Read more
Growth in your business is always good, right? Here are five signs that your team is not handling the growth well and it is leading to declining performance in your business. The signs are from multiple surveys of 240 companies ranging in size from 30 to 1500 employees in multiple Read more
The topic of high performing teams is very active in corporate planning and performance measurement these days. As global competition reaches down to companies in the middle market, improving performance within companies is now a major goal. We cite a recent study at Google as an example of what drives Read more
Would you like to know what your customers think of you but are afraid to ask? This process is not for the faint of heart and it is essential to keeping healthy, long-term relationships with customers. In a recent conversation with one of our customers, he explained about the long-time Read more
Part 4-Packaging Your Application Previous parts covered the overview of the process and the first three steps of the process. This part covers the final step, pulling the whole process together for presentation to a lender and answering follow up questions. Depending on how long it takes you to gather Read more
Part 3-Supporting the Loan Application Previous parts covered the overview of the process and the first two steps of the process. This Part 3 covers the steps which are usually the most difficult for smaller or medium sized businesses. That is providing detailed financial and operating data history. Folding your Read more
Part 2-What Kind of Loan and Lender Previously we mentioned the first step as finding the right lender. Let’s start with the use of the funds because this will determine structure of the debt and who you may borrow from. If the funds are to be used for new equipment; Read more
Part 1 – A Process Summary This is a four-part series on just what it takes to obtain a business loan and understanding the process you might face in running your business with someone else’s money. Today many businesses are experiencing growth opportunities and need capital to finance growth. So, Read more
In 1970 the Harvard Business Review published an article launching zero-based budgeting as a tool to examine a business from a 360-degree view. Today we have Simon Sinek’s popular writing about always asking the “why” question for our actions. Believe it or not, the two approaches are not very far Read more