I find business owners have a hard time keeping the gross profit margins on their product or service in mind when establishing pricing. To be able to maintain your gross profit margin, you need to know what your costs are. Continue reading
Tag Archives: executive coaching
Is Your Business Worth What You’re Thinking?
“If you sold your business today what would it be worth?“.
Chances are the number you have in your head and the number a buyer is willing to pay for your business are not the same. The means to bringing those two numbers closer together isn’t magic…it’s in long-term planning. Continue reading
Sometimes the Answer is in the Question
INC magazine compiled a list of questions across management thinkers, blogs and business books. Here are 35 of those questions. There are 65 more questions available on the Inc.com website.
Questions ignite imagination, avert catastrophes and reveal unexpected paths to growth. Pose these questions to yourself and your team members. The right questions require reflection followed by action. Continue reading
A Good Ending is Key –
According to Kevin Daum (Inc columnist) how you end your day is just as important as how you begin it. Kevin shares the following tips to help you finish your day right, leaving you well prepared for tomorrow. Continue reading
Standing Room Only at CBI Pitch Session
L to R: Holly Hanson-Director CBI, Justin Sidwell, Peter Bilodeau, Marie Fey, Diane Morey-Owner A to Z Printing and Facilitator of CO.STARTERS, Dave Clark-A to Z Printing and CO.STARTERS Mentor
Community supporters joined family and friends of the graduates of the Cumberland Business Incubator’s inaugural CO.STARTERS program to celebrate their work and hear them pitch their business ideas. The CO.STARTERS group met once a week for 9 weeks as they validated their business concepts.
Graduates of the program that participated in the pitch presentation were: Continue reading
Is Your Business Viable?
Why is it that we put so much emphasis on a business plan? The goal is to be able to determine if you have a viable business. What is a viable business? A business that is freestanding, self-sustaining, capable of making it without outside financial support. That means no credit card debt, no loans, just the business itself, standing alone, able to meet all the expenses from the transactions of the business. Continue reading
Internet is Great – But Sometimes Relationships Count!
We had the Small Business Marketing Analyst for a major package moving organization in recently to conduct a workshop. We were reminded that sometimes it is the relationship that counts when doing business. A representative from a company in our area attended the workshop. The company had a critical shipment that had to arrive at the destination by a specified time or they would not be considered for the project they were hoping to get. They sent the materials to arrive in time. Continue reading
Get More Done – Increase Your Effectiveness
You’ve got to think about the big things while you’re doing small things, so that all the small things go in the right direction….Alvin Toffler
Not all tasks are created equal. Some are more important than others. Continue reading
7 Habits of Highly Wealthy Entrepreneurs
Thomas C Corley studied the daily habits of hundreds of wealthy people in preparation for his book Rich Habits – The Daily Success Habits of Wealthy Individuals.
Corley’s definition of wealthy people is those earning at least $160,000 annually and owning assets of at least $3.2 million.
Some of the characteristics Corley identified of the wealthy include: Continue reading
Key Performance Indicators
There is a primary problem with measurement. You can measure a million different things. Measure too much and you’ll drown in a sea of meaningless data.
Some measurements are more important than others. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are measurements of the critical parts of a system. Measurements that don’t help you make improvements to your system are worse than worthless: they’re a waste of your limited attention and energy. You don’t have time to pay attention to everything – just a few key measurements that actually matter. Continue reading