One of the key success factors in running and growing a small business is surrounding yourself with good advisors.  Talk with any small business owner and they are likely to have all or most of the following “advisors” helping their business: accountant, attorney, insurance, payroll/HR, banker, financial planner, marketing, and business coach/consultant.  But how do you know if you have the right advisors for your business?

If we had to pick a movie to be the theme for a small business owner, it would likely be the 1993 classic Groundhog Day starring Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell.  Even if you’ve never seen the movie you can probably relate to what it feels like to have the same day over and over again.  Unfortunately for too many small business owners this can be the case.  So what’s a small business owner to do?

Today we were joined on the show by Sherry and Dan Jones. They were clients of ours when they owned their franchise business Seniors Helping Seniors.  We not only helped them grow their business but we also helped them with a successful exit of their business.

One of the reasons we started this podcast was to help dispel many of the myths we’ve seen in the small business world.  One of those chief myths is the idea that if “you’re not growing you’re dying.”  This has become so popular in the small business world that folks seem to think it must be true.  Not so fast my friend.

Today we were joined on the show by business owners John and Terri Sonnhalter. Oh yeah, they also happen to be Adam’s parents!  They shared with us their 40+ year journey of working together in a business as spouses.  We heard from John a few years ago when he appeared on our show back in January 2020 (see below for a link to that show).  But this time, Terri got a chance to share her side of the story!

One of the dirtiest of little secrets we’ve discussed related to business ownership on this show over the years is that as a small business owner you’re also running a bank.  With all the talk of recessions and tough times ahead, if you haven’t had this issue before, chances are you’ll be dealing with some slow paying customers over the next year or so.  Today’s show is to help make sure you stay on top of your cash flow, particularly as it relates to those folks who are extending their credit with you.

If you’ve been around us at all then you know one of the things we specialize in with our coaching is helping people with buying and selling companies.  Not only have we helped hundreds of people with various transactions, we’ve also bought and sold several businesses ourselves.  So as we finish one year and head into the next we thought it might be a good topic to address for those of you who are thinking about buying a business in the new year.  This could either be an add on to your current business or perhaps it’s your first business.

Today we were joined on the show by business owner Bob Scaccia, who is the Founder and CEO of USA Firmware. Bob shared with us some of the ups and downs of his first decade in business and the tremendous growth he’s seen over that time.  We heard from Bob a few years ago when he appeared on our show back in January 2019 (see below for a link to that show).

We are big fans of partnerships.  Surprisingly, we tend to find ourselves in the minority when it comes to that positive view of business partners.  We’re guessing you may have heard a lot of negatives about partners as well.  So why do we often recommend that business owners look for good partners?

Everyone loves something new and shiny!  Many of our small business clients refer to those bright shiny new objects as squirrels.  But while we’re all chasing these new shiny objects, we might just be missing something that’s right under our noses that can help grow our businesses.  Past customers.