In the 1960s, it became popular to refer to the day after Thanksgiving as Black Friday. It was common that for retailers the day after Thanksgiving began the turn to profitability―or what has been called “being in the black.” This year will be a dramatic shift for retailers who have grown accustomed to Black Friday being their most profitable day […]

Likely one of the first American business coaches was a Paxtuxet Indian named Squanto. You may remember the first Thanksgiving story from your childhood. In 1621, the Pilgrims were dying from hunger and disease. Squanto, an escaped slave that understood English, coached these struggling settlers on how to build a farming and fishing enterprise in this new country. Even though […]

Jack had a problem. One of his top salesmen was stirring up trouble, again. This salesman was a know-it-all that was constantly being argumentative with the rest of the team. Jack and I discussed possible solutions. But, when we discussed terminating his salesman if it didn’t get any better, Jack became anxious. “He’s my top salesperson. I don’t think I […]

Prior to the pandemic, my son, was working for a sheltered workshop. His role was to assemble laboratory kits and scan information for a local laboratory. When the pandemic forced the sheltered workshop to shut down, the laboratory could not complete their promised shipments to their customers. They understandably chose to pull their business from the sheltered workshop and move […]

In my experience, patience doesn’t seem to be a virtue of many aspiring entrepreneurs. When someone gets an idea to launch a new business, they often want to start today, even though they don’t have the necessary funding to see it through to profitability. Sometimes God gives us an idea in advance so that we can save and prepare for […]

When I was a banker, I met with hundreds of entrepreneurs. It was not uncommon when I asked how much they needed to fund their new business, to hear, “How much will you give me?” This usually meant they had no plan. Kent was different. He knew exactly how much it was going to cost to build his manufacturing business, […]

In business you need to answer the question, “What will you provide customers that no one else provides?” A friend was describing for me his niche in providing retirement plans for Christian organizations. His firm has specialized in developing investment options for their clients that screen out the stocks that are not in alignment with Biblical values. He took a […]

After my son was diagnosed with autism, a group of parents and I decided to start a school for children with special needs. Some professionals told us we could serve learning disabilities or autism, but we couldn’t serve both. As parents we fought that conclusion. It took several months, but eventually we concluded the professionals were right. We developed a […]

When I was 25 years old, I left public accounting and struggled to determine what I wanted to do next. I read about a new concept called Rent-a-Wreck. It sounded like a groundbreaking idea, so I started my own used car rental agency. Looking back, my only real objective was to make lots of money. I had no knowledge or […]

If you don’t count the greeting cards, ice scrapers or Grit newspapers I sold as a child, my first business startup was a car rental agency. After I liquidated that business, I made a commitment to myself to never launch another startup. If you want to give God a good laugh, tell Him your plans. Since that time, I have […]