Resources to run a better business.

When you’re running a business at scale, you can’t control everything. You must set the business up in a way that ultimately, it can run without you. Control is less useful as you grow. I’ve gotten better at this over the years—much better—but those old habits have still found ways to slip in.‍I have enough conversations with entrepreneurs to know I’m not the only one.

If I had to choose the most dangerous misconception in business, it would be this one: That selling isn’t an important skill. What makes this belief so dangerous is that people don’t say it out loud. They give lip service to the importance of selling, invest in BDRs and CROs and sales training. But deep down, about half of the CEOs I work with aren’t convinced that selling matters.

"The only source of knowledge is experience." Einstein was a pretty smart guy, and his philosophy aligns with my traditional approach to learning. I make the mistake. I feel the pain. Eventually, I learn from it.

There are only a handful of topics I hit with this newsletter every year, and Annual Planning is at the top of the list (although our holiday Elf Yourself videos are up there as well).

All a management consultant really gets hired to do is get people in a room together, talking openly about their stuff with each other, and guide them toward the direction of their goals. The hardest thing in the world is to get people in a room together, talking openly about their stuff with each other, and guide them toward the direction of their goals.

After working with hundreds of entrepreneurs, I’ve realized one of the biggest misconceptions about running a business is that entrepreneurs don’t care all that much about hiring; and that employees are just interchangeable cogs in a wheel. You and I know this couldn’t be further from the truth.

There’s a reckoning that often happens when you get real with your finances. The numbers don’t lie, and once you open Pandora’s box, there’s no way to put the genie back in the bottle. Or something.

Clean financials are the foundation for better business decisions. Learn why monthly reporting, accurate data, and finance meetings are critical to growth.

There are many ways we can get people to buy from us. We can rely on charm, charisma, or sex appeal. We can lowball our offers. We can focus on volume and ignore terrible conversion rates. We can play on our customer’s impulsivity, FOMO, and general anxieties. But that’s not how you probably want to sell