Small Business Articles on Vision

In 2020, we are living in a time when ambient risks have skyrocketed. The economic risks, social risks, and public health risks are massively higher than they were last year. This includes the risk of hiring a professional services firm. People hire these experts to reduce their risk of negative outcomes. For example: I could draft my own contract, but if I hire an attorney to do it, I have more confidence that I can enforce the contract.  I could design my own website, but if I hire a web design company, I believe it will be easier to navigate, get higher search rankings, and produce more leads.  I could get a logo designed on Fiverr, but if I hire a branding agency, I'll … [Read more...]

The turning of the year is, for many of us, a time of reflection. What happened in 2017? What was good? What was not so good? And what do we WANT to happen in 2018? It also just so happens to be the time when most business owners are planning and budgeting. It makes sense to take that exercise a little deeper and to really take stock of a company’s progress and decide on some direction for the following year. In that spirit of reflection, I’d like to call your attention to 4 trends I saw in 2017, and 5 that I’m tracking for 2018. 2017: AKA, Shooting the rapids. Although 2017 was a year with lots of political turmoil—both in the US and around the world—legislative uncertainty and … [Read more...]

Almost everybody wants their business to grow; and if you want your business to grow you are likely working hard. For some companies that success comes right away; first some good clients, then some more, then… For others it comes more slowly—sometimes excruciatingly slowly. This can be a huge challenge. We live in an “instant” world. If something isn’t growing immediately—if we can’t see how it’s "blowing up”— then maybe we should just move on. Even if your business is growing (and especially if it’s growing more slowly) you are likely full of questions. What do I do? Do I give up? Do I just keep going? Is there something I need to do differently? Was I crazy to have started this … [Read more...]

So 2016 has been a pretty solid year for Chicago economically. A lot of new jobs are being created, and interest rates remain low. If you've tried to hire this year, you likely had a hard time finding the right candidates. But what do we see coming in 2017? How will the change in administrations, historically low interest rates, and global trade pressures affect the economy—and your business? Honestly, I don't have confidence in anyone's predictions for the year we have in front of us—but I do know that it's going to look nothing like 2016! We have a President Elect who was voted in to "shake things up"(?); we have a cooperative congress and global trading partners who are pushing for … [Read more...]

Jason Fried is a terrific entrepreneur who has been incredibly generous to the Chicago entrepreneurial community. I love the product that he’s created (Basecamp) and I’ve enjoyed his writing over the years. But I also really dislike Jason Fried. His company is a —*no doubt*— success; and he worked hard to make it a success. But way too many folks in Chicago (and likely all over the place) see his success and think, “If I could just make my company like Basecamp, I’ll be a success.” And so you see folks who’s homepage looks like the Basecamp homepage, and their pricing page looks like the Basecamp pricing page. They read Jason’s books and try to build their company the way Jason built … [Read more...]

“A ‘not for profit business’ is a tax designation, not a business strategy.” Not everything that we try to do is going to make money for us right away. Most of the time, when we start something new, we have to make an “investment” (in working capital, in equipment, in training, etc.) before that effort starts to make money. In most cases the learning curve on a new business (or even a new product within our existing business) is longer than we want it to be. We get to a point where we start asking ourselves, “Should I keep doing this?”. Or, you might have a line of business that you’ve been in for a long time; and as your business has changed and grown, you are finding that some areas of … [Read more...]

Stop for a minute and think about how you’re feeling right now. Are you feeling tired? Overwhelmed? Do you feel like you have more to do than you can accomplish? Are you asking yourself to do more—to be more—than you’re comfortable doing and being? Now think back to the end of your last vacation; you were feeling well rested and (hopefully) you got to spend some time with family, friends, and people you care about. How did you feel then? What’s the difference between NOW and THEN? What if you could have that “vacation rest” experience every night, and come in every morning with energy and enthusiasm—like you just got back from vacation? Does that sound like an impossible … [Read more...]

It’s that time of year; when business owners take stock of the year gone by, and start to make plans for the year to come. What went well this year? What do we want to do more of? What do we want to do to make 2016 better than 2015? When I’m reviewing plans and goals with business owners, I can’t help but think about the children’s fairy tale, Goldilocks and the Three Bears. And it’s not because I see a perfect parallel between business owners and Goldilocks, it’s because I see what’s missing. In my experience, business owners tend to think in terms of two types of goals: goals that are too small, or goals that are too big. Too often they never make the discovery that Goldilocks made; … [Read more...]