We’ve just celebrated St. Patrick’s Day. Some of us like to celebrate it all year long no matter what color the beer is. Leprechauns, shamrocks, pots of gold and the luck of the Irish are all part of the folklore surrounding this holiday. Let’s talk about luck. Some people appear very lucky. Opportunities fall into [...]

A friend tells a terrific story that illustrates the power of taking action one step at a time.  Prior to their work together, my friend’s boss had been the general manager of a yacht sales dealer, and his typical customer would purchase new yachts and other boats for $1 million dollars or more. Here’s how [...]

Last week I asked a friend of mine about his business. He told me that he’d had a pretty good year so far but felt frustrated. For the third year in a row, he’s falling short of his annual goals but feels complacent since he’s still doing okay financially.  That complacency has led to him [...]

They say what you don’t know won’t hurt you, but nothing could be further from the truth when you run a small business. If you operate based on “gut instinct,” or you make assumptions on how your business is performing without knowing the facts, you can run into problems quickly. Fortunately, there is a simple [...]

Sandbagging is a term most often used in the game of golf. In golf it refers to players who either miss shots on purpose or outright cheat by turning in a higher score than they actually shot. This affects the handicap that is given to non-professional golfers to help level the playing field. Golfers turn [...]

You’re out on the town with some good friends hoping to have a great dinner and a memorable evening. There’s a diner on the corner and a great Italian restaurant down the street. Which one are you going to choose The Diner – You May Want to Stick to the Basics Want a Steak? They’ve [...]

Jim has to make a decision. Tom is on the accounting team Jim supervises. Tom is a likeable person and he does his job fairly well. However, lately he’s been coming in late, taking long lunches, and being rather unfocused. He’s taking a long time to get regular  work done. How should Jim talk to [...]

When I started my information technology business in 1983, the last thing I thought about was how I was going to exit the business. That’s true of so many small business owners, especially owners of family owned businesses. I eventually sold the business and luckily it was mature enough that lots of systems were in [...]

When networking, your aim is to meet new people or reinforce old relationships. It’s all about the relationship, helping it to grow and making it deeper. You’re not there to sell or just hand out business cards. You are there to get people to know, like and trust you. If you act like a nincompoop, [...]

Recently I hurt my knee, devastating for a dancer. I got an MRI and found out I tore both menisci and a ligament. So I started going to physical therapy. Some of the physical therapy work is on specific things for my knee, tracking of the knee over the toes for good alignment, exercises for [...]