I could tell he didn’t want to sell his company. My client had supposedly called me to talk about selling. But right away, it was clear that something else was going on. You see, his business was doing great—it had grown bigger than he’d ever dreamed. The real problem was he was exhausted. I glanced…
I clearly remember the moment I decided to hire a virtual assistant (VA). As my business started growing, I realized that more clients meant more work to get done! Pretty soon, I was so busy that I was missing emails and failing to get back to people because I just never had the time. I…
Executive compensation can be a hard topic to tackle, especially for startups and other growing companies that need to attract experienced talent on a smaller budget. What you may not know is that base salary is the smallest component of executive compensation, generally outweighed by incentive pay. That is good news for growing companies with…
The stereotype of a business owner is the ever optimistic ball of energy who’s working hard, playing hard and enjoying life; and I meet a fair number of business owners who fit that stereotype. Over the last couple of years though I’ve noticed that a growing number of the folks I’m meeting fit in a…
“We learn wisdom from failure much more than from success. We often discover what will do by finding out what will not do; and probably he who never made a mistake never made a discovery.” ~ Samuel Smiles I was listening to Alex Blumberg interview Nina Jacobson on the podcast WithoutFail when she mentioned the…
I have more ideas than time! My team is so frustrated. We are loaded with good ideas—ideas that will make us money! But we can’t even get the work done to execute on the services we already have going! When my team sees me roll in with another “great idea” their eyes shoot daggers at…
One article consistently stood at the top of the list of “Most Read Articles” on the New York Times website in 2017: Why You Will Marry the Wrong Person by Alain de Botton. In it, de Botton argues that we are looking for an ideal partner (without flaw or conflict), while ignoring the fact that, as human…
Recruiting great creative talent is hard. The best, most talented creatives are always in demand and have their choice of where to go work. Good creatives have high standards! They aren’t going to work just anywhere. If you need top creative talent you need to build a culture that allows them to do great work….
“Change leads to insight more than insight leads to change” ~Milton H. Erickson Sometimes you just have to give things a try. I’ve spent many hours with clients trying to help them to understand a new or different concept that I’m confident will help their business. I want clients to “understand” the concept. Understanding a…
As the business owner, the job of business development for your creative agency has been yours—from the beginning. But the thing is, you don’t like it. Maybe you don’t feel good at it, or successful as a salesperson, or maybe it just feels icky. But none of that matters now, because there’s a solution. You’re…