You may have heard that one of the benefits of owning your own business is that you get to choose which 12 hours during the day you’d like to work.  Many small business owners will crack a smile at a statement like this, in part because they know it contains some truth, but also because it’s one of the things many business owners struggle with.  Just how much should I be working?

One of the areas we specialize in for our business coaching is helping family businesses transition to the next generation.  One of the biggest gating items for a transition of any business, is the current owner deciding when it’s time to hang things up and move on to the next phase of their life.  Sometimes the current owner is the last person to realize it’s time for them to move on.  Why is this the case and how can that process be accelerated?

It’s pretty easy and common to get excited, nervous, and stressed when running your small business.  You can often feel like Atlas with the weight of the world on your shoulders.  Everyone from your employees to your customer and vendors, not to mention your family depending on you.  So how can a small business stay calm and in control in the often chaotic world of running a small business?

No offense to Marshall Field, the retailer who is often credited with creating the slogan “The customer is always right,” but give me a break.  Following this piece of advice has probably put more small businesses out of business than anything else.  We have seen way too many small business owners justify keeping bad customers by quoting this phrase.

Whether you’re currently contemplating starting or buying a business or if you already own a business, one question you might be asking yourself is if you’re cut out to be a business owner.  Depending who you talk to you might hear things like “people are born to be entrepreneurs” or something similar.  Don’t always believe the hype!

If you’ve owned your business for several years, chances are someone at some point has talked to you about a business valuation.  Either someone has asked you directly what your company is worth or the idea of your company’s value has come up in conversation.  The question we address in today’s show is just how valuable is a business valuation?

Most people’s only experience with firing someone is watching Donald Trump say “You’re fired” on the TV shows The Apprentice.  If you’re one of those people you may think it’s no big deal.  I mean the person is being terminated for a reason, right?

Many folks are confused why business owners have trouble stepping back and selling or transitioning their business to the next generation of ownership.  We have found in our decades of working with small business owners transitioning to the next phase in their life that one of the biggest items holding them back from exiting their business is finding ways to stay relevant.

It’s rare that a small business owner wakes up one morning and decides it’s time to transition their business to the next generation.  It’s something they usually think about for a while, likely many years before they are finally ready.  But once they decide they often want it to happen yesterday.  But before the current owner leaves they want to make sure the next generation knows everything they need to know about the business.  So how do you figure out where to start?

If you’ve ever been involved with the buying or selling of a business, chances are you’ve heard of a term called seller’s remorse.  Even if you haven’t been involved in a deal it’s likely you’ve heard about it or seen it.  And it doesn’t matter how large or small a deal is, it can happen to anyone…even a billionaire.