Just like children, businesses grow through predictable phases. We start life as baby startups, then progress to raging growth companies, before settling into a more stable “adult” phase. But as we cross each of those growth stages things change -- and if we don't change with them our growth can get stuck. Here’s my version of this story (based mainly on the growth of B2B service businesses). Baby startup Once upon a time, you had an idea. It wasn’t your first idea, you’ve had many business ideas, but this one came at a time when you were feeling particularly frustrated (or desperate) and … Continue Reading »
Anchor Advisors
Anchor Advisors offers small business consulting in the Chicago area. Our advisors help businesses to grow with confidence and make better decisions.
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Chicago Consulting Services
Anchor Advisors works with business owners with 10 to 100 employees to help them grow their business, move with confidence and make quicker decisions. We help our clients strengthen the four pillars of their business – Purpose, People, Process and Performance Measures – providing them with a firm foundation on which to grow.Recent Posts
Beyond Salary: How to Build a Winning Executive Compensation Strategy
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 smaller margins; your creativity will be rewarded. It's common for executive compensation to be structured to reward actual results. That means you can get top talent with a lower upfront investment, as long as you compensate executives fairly for … Continue Reading »
How To Raise Prices Without Losing Clients in your Small Business
No matter how great the work is, and how much fun you are having – nothing can thwart a business owner’s enthusiasm like being broke. It’s no fun lying to your vendors about when you can pay them. It’s no fun worrying all night about covering payroll. When you work night and day, night and day, only to realize that the money that just came in the door is about to go right out ... you start to think, “Take this job and shove it!” Too bad there’s no boss to say that to! So what’s the answer? Well, most of the business owners I meet that are in this situation think they need MORE business, “If … Continue Reading »