No one knows with 100% confidence whether U.S. businesses will face a major recession, or a more moderate economic slowdown, in the next two years. The Federal Reserve cannot confidently project our economic performance over this period. ITR Economics, a private blue-chip company that makes its livelihood off economic forecasts, has projected an economic slowdown for 2023 and recession in
The most frequent problem for many businesses is growth. It’s not always easy to concentrate on generating revenues and profits for the current month and the current year while developing new markets and product opportunities which will keep a business healthy. Lacking a defined plan for future growth can put any business at risk and force it to respond to
Author’s Note: This blog was originally published in January 2022. I re-read it to see what guidance I might change after completing the trip through 2022, and honestly, I thought this original guidance was still appropriate for 2023. The intent and resolutions data haven’t changed, which means we all still have a lot to work on to accomplish our goals!
Living in a place where rocks are prominent—and they are much more prominent in winter when they take visual precedence over the foliage—makes you think about the role rocks have in God’s creation. The story of the creation of the Mississippi River valley is outside our ability to comprehend and visualize unless you can picture what 800 Olympic size swimming
Names matter. Your name. Your business or organization’s name. The names of all the people you work with matter. Your clients' and customers’ names are all important. Think about how business names have changed and are now delivered as shorthand for their original names (FedEx was Federal Express and 3M was Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing). What makes each of these
If you remember A Prairie Home Companion radio show, you might remember a regular performer named Bill Staines. Bill passed away in December, 2021, and was known as a modern-day Steven Foster for capturing the essence of American culture through folk music. Bill’s most popular song is called “A Place in the Choir,” and I thought it made a great
It’s good to have wisdom. Biblically, the person with the most wisdom in the bible, other than Jesus, was Solomon. 1 Kings 4:29 says, “God gave Solomon wisdom and great insight, and a breadth of understanding as measureless as the sand on the seashore. Solomon’s wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all the people of the East and greater
DITCH THE SALES FUNNEL and GROW REVENUE FASTER, MORE PROFITABLY The model of a “funnel” to represent a sales pipeline is ripe for retirement. A gentleman named E. St. Elmo Lewis is given credit for initiating the idea of a funnel in 1898. It would be amazing if a business model like a funnel would still find relevance 120 years
THE NEW “GROWTH KID” ON THE BLOCK: INTRODUCING HORIZON (ZERO) Since the introduction of Horizon Growth planning in the late 1990’s, businesses which have successfully understood and adopted this multi-year approach to generation of new revenue and profit streams have realized the benefits of forward planning. Horizon Growth planning was introduced in 1999 in a book titled The Alchemy of
“WHEN IS RETURN ON LEARNING (ROL) MORE IMPORTANT THAN ROI?” If you completed a class on finance and accounting, you are likely familiar with Return on Investment (ROI). Are you ready to take the pop quiz on how to calculate it? No? That’s OK, it’s not my objective here or to question your degree. What I do want to do