Resources to run a better business.

“Work on the business,” says every coach, consultant and guru, “not in the business.” Up to a point, I agree. I’ve helped hundreds of CEOs establish a vision for their companies, dare to set larger goals for growth, and innovate to stand out from the competition. Every one of those things is foundational, and transformational, for a company that wants to accelerate growth.

As companies grow, a whole bunch of things change. Businesses get more complex. Their costs go up, they find economies of scale, they build out their functions, they enter new markets, they see new possibilities…But one thing that never changes? The need for routine maintenance.

University of Pennsylvania. Notre Dame. Miami University of Ohio. Yale. This is the pedigree of my leadership team. I had no idea until a few months ago. But honestly, I’m not surprised.

The Monthly Finance Meeting provides dedicated time to review monthly reporting and discuss any related issues. In order to conduct this meeting, your books have to be clean and closed for the month. You have to have a mechanism for generating finance reporting. Do these things, and you’re already ahead of many other businesses.

Here’s a simple tip you can implement in your business immediately. In your planning documents, use percentages for profits instead of dollars. This tweak is small but important because it changes how your team thinks about profit in your business.

If you’re looking for fresh inspiration in 2025, here’s my suggestion. Revisit what you learned in 2024. I guarantee there are more nuggets to mine and more information to soak up. And maybe, there’s a key takeaway that will change your business, just waiting for you. Something you didn’t see the first time that will finally “click.” In that spirit, I’m rounding up a few of my favorite posts from 2024. I know you didn’t read them all (we track that sort of thing), so here’s your chance.

Well, we’re here. The tail end of 2024. I took a look back at the past 12 months to see what nugget I could come up with for you. Was there a big takeaway, a major trend, over the past year? Yes and no. Sure, there was inflation, fears of recession, and an election. But what I saw in 98% of businesses, including my own, is that they have exactly one major challenge to overcome. Leads.

You know that saying about people who “wear multiple hats” in a small business? Sometimes, it’s said with an undertone of pride. This is a team that pitches in to get things done. Other times, it’s said—usually by business consultants—as a reminder that your company still has some growing to do. Because most advisors preach that the ideal situation is to have one role per team member.

Join Ryan Villanueva for a 1-hour webinar to discover a structured approach to scaling private equity portfolio companies with OKRs, CEO Coaching, and the Growth Method.