I’m enjoying learning from The Starbucks Experience by Joseph A Michelli.
Starbucks has found a way to move from one small store in Seattle Washington to over 11,000 stores worldwide with 5 new stores opening every day and annual sales topping $600 million. Can we learn a thing or two about management and leadership from them? I think so! Starbucks has 5 principles that set it apart. The first one is:
Principle 1: Make It Your Own Continue reading
One of the more difficult tasks our clients encounter is how to accurately measure the impact of a change in their business. Change is hard. Measuring and quantifying the full impact of the change can be even more challenging. Continue reading
The Cumberland Business Incubator (CBI) serves all types and sizes of businesses including for profit and non-profit; small, medium and large; start-up, mature and those transitioning to new ownership. Continue reading
It’s January 13th – yes, almost half of January is gone. What have you decided to do differently this year so that 2015 is not just a repeat of 2014? Hint: Some people have been in business for 10 years, but they have repeated their first year in business 9 more times because they didn’t decide to do anything differently. Don’t let this happen to you! Continue reading
I hope 2014 was a great year for you and that 2015 is all that you hope it will be. There are a few things to put on your To Do list before 2015 starts rolling too fast.
Meet with your Accountant. Have a meeting to review 2014. Review the due dates of time sensitive forms that need to be filed. Make sure you understand the financials and can explain them to a banker. If fact, it’s not a bad idea to have a face to face meeting with your banking professional – whether you have a loan out or not – and let them know how 2014 went for you. You never know when you may be back asking for a line of credit or financing for your growth. Continue reading
Grassroots Manufacturing Renaissance Spurs Entrepreneurship
Why is Roane State Community College building a Tinker Space inside the Cumberland Business Incubator? This article from The Kauffman Foundation by Jonathan Ortmans provides a few answers. Hint: A Tinker Space, like the one being developed inside the CBI, is a smaller version of a Makerspace. Continue reading
Tinker Space. It is a community workspace designed to allow those who tinker, program, invent, build, code, problem solve, and so much more, have the space and equipment needed to dream big and then turn those dreams into reality. Soon we’ll have one here in Crossville.
An open, well-lit space ready to welcome Upper Cumberland tinkers in 2015! The vision for the space is that of a co-working space/tinker space/artists’ studio where woodworkers can build, sculptors can sculpt, inventors can invent, programmers can code, quilters can quilt, and so much more. Located on the Roane State Community College campus in Crossville, the Cumberland Business Incubator (CBI) will be the home of the Tinker Space. Continue reading
When you think about the big picture of your business (thinking strategically rather than tactically) are you focusing on growth (most business owners do) when you should be focusing on increasing value instead?
We spend a lot of time talking about Business Growth – and for good reason. Growth is the most obvious, visible sign that your business is doing well. Given a choice, almost everyone would choose to grow versus choosing to get smaller. Business owners and clients bring up the topic of growth a lot – usually in the context of money. I need to make more money so I need to grow (i.e. grow revenue). Unfortunately more revenue doesn’t always mean more money to the business owner. Continue reading
More than 60% of U.S. business owners are over 50 years of age (Baby Boomers), and many of them are looking forward to retirement and the process of attracting and vetting potential buyers to take over the reins of their business. The problem for those that have built these companies is that the businesses may not be attractive to a new generation of business buyers. There are three major trends that impact the salability of a business. Understanding these trends can help owners transition successfully in a challenging market, and help identify the buyer who will lead their company into the future. Continue reading
Welcome! This week all around the globe people are celebrating innovators and job creators who launch startups that bring ideas to life, drive economic growth and expand human welfare. Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) launched in 2008 and has since grown to 150 countries with over 24,000 partner organizations planning over 34,000 activities that directly engage millions of participants during the week. Continue reading