Do you ever feel lonely leading your own business? When I first started my business, I joined a group of new business owners, like me, in different geographies. We met up in an online forum where we could ask and answer questions, exchange advice, and learn what was working and what wasn't.    This group was a significant confidence builder for me — I wasn’t all alone! I had a squad — people who had my back. Meeting with them on a regular basis helped me to learn so much faster -- I could see the mistakes I was making and see how others were getting around them. I found resources to solve problems we all had in common. I didn't have to research VA's, one of the members in the … [Read more...]

"I'm trying to grow my business, but I don't know what to do. There are so many choices, so many people telling me different tactics to try, what's one thing that I can do?" It's easy to get down in the weeds when you are trying to grow your business. Suddenly, every tactic looks tantalizing, but you know you can't do everything, so what do you do? You either try a million things (and finish none of them) or you stop, paralyzed by indecision. If only there were some kind of map. An overarching picture of what growing a business looks like from startup to exit... Well, I'm glad you asked! For the last year, the Anchor Advisors team and I have been working on distilling our 20+ years of … [Read more...]

I’m starting an occasional series where I talk about some of the lies I hear from the business owners that I speak to. They don’t always know that they are lying to me, but over time, I’ve come to hear these phrases as lies.  Today we start with this one, “Sure, I’m a workaholic. I work all the time and don’t have much of a social life, or any hobbies, but I love it! I wouldn’t change a thing.” Ok, maybe this isn’t always a lie. Some people do love to work, it’s challenging, it’s rewarding, and focusing only on work it makes life simpler.  But even if you are happy working hard, you have to realize that your ability to do this is temporary.  You might want to have kids, You … [Read more...]

I got a lot of reaction to my post about sweating out payroll; it seems that a lot of us are anxious about getting our cash in the door.  Here are five ways to improve the cash flow of any business! 1. Improve Your Payment Terms Setting favorable payment terms with your clients is the easiest way you can improve your cash flow.  For projects lasting ~3 months, I recommend 50% of the fee before kick-off, 40% in 30 days, and the remaining 10% in 60 days. For longer projects, take a significant (40% - 50%) fee before kick-off then break the rest up into monthly payments over the planned duration of the project.  Don’t bill on milestones (they are going to get delayed, and you are not … [Read more...]

There’s nothing that makes me feel more like a failure than when I don’t know if I’m going to have the cash to cover payroll.  Vendors can wait, you can negotiate with bankers, even landlords will give you some leeway. But when your payroll is late you are affecting the lives and families of your team members, the people you count on to make your business tick.  My clients who are growing their businesses can get to feel like those days of sweating out payroll are long behind them — but that’s one of the paradoxes of growing a business — nothing strains your cash flow like rapid growth.  Let’s look at what happens when you land one big, new client. Your capacity is strained, so … [Read more...]

My client called because he was going to have to skip his paycheck this week. Something that hadn’t happened in a long time.  “Brad, I used to be able to keep track of my business in one spreadsheet. I had my pipeline on one tab, and my income on another tab and my expenses on a third tab and I knew where everything was! But now I’ve got a CRM, a bookkeeper, and a whole team and I can’t keep track of anything!” How do you know what your systems are telling you when you aren’t the one putting the data in?  How do you know that things are done right when you don’t touch them? You need a Rule of Thumb In most businesses, there are relatively few pieces of data that tell you how the whole … [Read more...]

Getting retainer clients who pay you a fixed fee every month is one of the best ways to make your revenue more predictable. It’s incredible to know that you’ve got $45,000 from 5 clients coming in on the first of every month! But there’s a problem with fixed monthly fees — what are you delivering against those fees? How do you make sure that the fee represents an excellent value for the client and is profitable for you? How do you monitor the effort that’s being expended month after month for each client? Price right, then reign them in! The first part of that equation you take care of in the sales process. By setting clear expectations of progress and value, you can ensure that the … [Read more...]

“Well this is garbage, we’ll have to start this over from the beginning…” When I heard my client, Trish, say that to one of her team members my heart sank. I immediately looked at the designer’s face and saw that she was barely holding back tears.  Trish was trying to be helpful. She didn’t see anything that she could rescue and the design needed to go to the client in the morning. So she was doing what she had done a million times; starting the project over from the beginning.  This is another major shift that business owners have to make in order to scale past $1M and reach for $2.5M, you have shift from being the expert to being curious. Let’s replay that scene again. What if … [Read more...]

I want you to think about the best team you’ve ever worked with. The team that had you engaged; that got the most out of you; where you accomplished more than you thought you could. Got it in your mind? I've asked a ton of people to tell me about their “best team,” and when I ask them to describe it, they always tell me about a group where everyone contributed, where they had a common ambitious goal, and worked together to accomplish it. It’s never a story about one superstar and his supporting cast. What's your team like? If I sat down with your team would they tell me about that team of equals all pulling together, or would they tell me about a superstar who: works hard to … [Read more...]