21 Hats Podcast

This week, Mel Gravely, CEO of Triversity Construction in Cincinnati, tells Loren Feldman why he still sees a recession looming—even though 2023 has been good so far, and he still has a solid backlog. He also talks about how he’s addressing the industry’s long-term labor issues, how Triversity lands new business, and what he’s doing to prepare for that recession.

This week, in episode 147, Paul Downs tells Shawn Busse and Jay Goltz that his year has not gotten off to a great start. This was supposed to be the year that Paul unleashed a bold, new marketing campaign that would put his business on an entirely new trajectory—and perhaps it still will be. But for the moment, his revenue has fallen considerably short of his expectations, which has presented him with an unwelcome choice: Should he hold-off on the marketing campaign? Or should he cut his own salary? Along with discussing Paul’s decision, we also talk about the process of rethinking a website, how best to make use of LinkedIn—it’s a gold mine for both business development and recruiting, says Shawn—and why Paul and Shawn continue to perform their own HR chores.

This week, Gene tells Loren Feldman why he hates the new Illinois law that requires businesses of any size to offer employees up to 5 days a year of paid time off — time that can be used for any purpose without explanation. Gene also suggests six things all owners should do if they have any thought of one day selling their businesses. And he explains his list of 10 tax-related numbers that he says every owner should know.

This week, in episode 146, Jay Goltz and Laura Zander talk about the limits of their own management. Once a business gets past a certain size, no owner can do everything or even be aware of everything. But where do you draw the line? Does the owner need to be conversant with most aspects of management, marketing, and finance to oversee the business? This came up, in part, because Jay told us recently that his framing shops routinely ask customers how they learned of the business and that a recent review indicated that his social media efforts were not having an impact. But when asked about those efforts, Jay wasn’t entirely sure what they consisted of or if they even existed. Perhaps surprisingly, it also became clear that Jay wasn’t all that interested in learning more. It was working well enough, he’d concluded, and that was all he needed to know. And that’s the starting point for today’s main conversation. Along the way, we also address such questions as: Where’s the line between being a manager and being a therapist? Do owners need to be passionate about their businesses? What does the phrase “people over profits” really mean? And while “the customer is always right” has become a cliche, is it really a good policy?

This week, in the aftermath of the Silicon Valley Bank collapse, Gene Marks says he banks at Wells Fargo — but that’s not what he recommends. His suggestion: Find a good community bank, spread your money around to play it safe, and then relax. He also says you should consider going to a four-day work week. And not because it’s good for your employees, but because it’s good for you.

This week, Gene Marks and Loren Feldman discuss what it means for small businesses that some tax deductions are going away, some new regulations are arriving, and Joe Biden has released a budget proposal. Gene also counters the Bare Minimum Monday meme with a suggestion for what practitioners of Bare Minimum Mondays can do on Tuesday.

This week, Shawn Busse and Loren Feldman talk to Jeff Braverman about how he walked away from a career as an investment banker and went to work in the family’s nut store, the Newark Nut Co. “My dad and my uncle told me I was nuts,” says Jeff. But with an instinct for taking risks—like acquiring the URL Nuts.com—Braverman has turned the family business into an internet juggernaut, unleashing years of explosive growth. And despite being a former investment banker, he’s managed to do that without taking any outside capital. And he’s far from finished. “To this day,” he says, “we're doing deep brand research: What is Nuts.com? What can it be? Can it scale? Can it transcend just the word nuts?”

This week, Gene Marks tells Loren Feldman that too few business owners really know how their business is performing. He suggests three reports that they should be reviewing -- beyond their monthly financials -- if they want to get a better grip on managing their business. Plus: Gene explains how businesses can save money on energy and why everyone should hire a CRM consultant (like Gene, for example).

This week, Liz Picarazzi and Sarah Segal talk about their attitudes toward growth, including how they set goals, the tension between revenue and profit, deciding when growth requires additional bodies, choosing between contractors and employees, and how they would use the money if someone were to give them a million dollars to invest in their business. Plus: What will it take for them to consider themselves successful?