hiring Archives - Your ExitMap

A Hazy Crystal Ball is Better than a Rearview Mirror

Corby Megorden — Fri, 04 Mar 2022 22:58:54 +0000

Several years ago, I did a cross-country trip with my family. We laid out a rough plan of what we wanted to see, how long it’d take, and most importantly, what we wanted to eat! When we hit the road, I did not drive looking primarily in the rearview mirror, with an occasional glance at the gas gauge and the road signs. I looked ahead and tweaked the plan. Yet, that is often how business owners run their businesses. Often, this year’s business planning consists of, “let’s do what we did last year – just more of it.” We look at whether we have cash ... Read more

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Your Exit Plan: The 3 Inarguable Reasons to Start NOW

John F. Dini — Sun, 14 Jun 2020 01:00:38 +0000

What is Your Exit Plan? If you’ve ever done a business plan for the purpose of raising capital, one of the key questions is “What is your exit plan?” Many business owners think that question is self-serving, intended merely to let the venture capitalists figure when and how they will get their return on investment. In truth, however, that question is far more important. An exit plan is a strategic plan with an end date. Putting a time frame on your plan, and defining the goals to be achieved by that date, creates a future-focused mindset for the owner. It controls and reduces your tendency ... Read more

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Choosing Your Timeframe to Exit

John F. Dini — Tue, 10 Oct 2017 09:32:35 +0000

“My timeframe? Talk to me in about five years.” When business owners are asked about exit planning, that answer is almost ubiquitous. In fact, a much-quoted 2008 survey of owners by Price Waterhouse Coopers (now PwC – not clear why Mr. Waterhouse warranted lower case) found that 85% of private business owners said they expected to sell in five years. Clearly, that didn’t happen, since it would have required some 1,500 businesses to be sold daily during that period. (The brokerage industry claims about 9,000 sales a year.) In fact, when the survey results were broken down, they discovered that 85% of 60 year old owners ... Read more

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Business Buyers: The “Buy Now, Pay Later” Generation

John F. Dini — Sun, 16 Oct 2016 10:00:16 +0000

If you are preparing to sell your business, your buyers will likely be members of the “buy now, pay later” generation. Generation X is the first demographic group to be raised in a culture that put little emphasis on savings. Diner’s Club was introduced as the first “charge card” in 1960. By the end of that decade competition from member cards (American Express and Carte Blanche) and bank-owned revolving finance cards (MasterCard and Visa) began placing millions of cards in consumers’ hands. In a competitive credit environment, advertising for the revolving charge cards was directed to the pleasures of paying for something after you already enjoyed the ... Read more

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The 7 Deadly Sins of an Entrepreneur — Reprise

John F. Dini — Sun, 13 Mar 2016 15:52:03 +0000

I make no claim that using the Seven Deadly Sins as a metaphor for business behavior is original. Of course, the original concept is a codifying of “undesirable” human behaviors, or sins. The work probably comes from the Latin word sons (guilty). Various sources attribute it to Old English and Hebrew, but since Latin was the language of the church, this seems most likely. The concept of personifying the seven sins for popular consumption, as I mentioned in the first column in this series, goes back at least to Dante in the early 1300’s. It’s been used regularly in popular fiction including Roald Dahl’s Charlie ... Read more

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The Seventh Entrepreneurial Sin — Pride

John F. Dini — Sun, 06 Mar 2016 16:22:10 +0000

Every business owner should be proud of his or her business. If you are the founder, you built every system, and probably landed the biggest customers. If you bought the business, you took what was in place and made it fit your vision and style. But there is a dividing line between pride in what you’ve created and thinking that you are the business. Taking pleasure in seeing people add value and produce wealth is justifiable pride. Thinking that it exists only because of you is “sinful” pride. (This is the eighth in a series on The Seven Deadly Sins of an Entrepreneur. It starts ... Read more

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The Fifth Entrepreneurial Sin — Greed

John F. Dini — Sun, 21 Feb 2016 14:09:14 +0000

Few small business owners identify with the bloated income of Wall Street Tycoons. To accuse an entrepreneur of Greed brings up memories of the Gordon Gekko 1980’s, when “Greed is Good” seemed to be the motto of 30-something Boomers focused on the quest for success. in reality, most owners work very hard for a modest income, and feel that a little more would be amply justified. (If you are reading Awake for the first time, this series on “The Seven Deadly Sins of an Entrepreneur” starts here.) Greed in your business isn’t the quest for material success. That’s presumably why you own a business in ... Read more

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The Second Entrepreneurial Sin – Gluttony

John F. Dini — Sun, 24 Jan 2016 15:29:12 +0000

This is the third in our series about The Seven Deadly Entrepreneurial Sins. You can start from the beginning here. Gluttony is the second of the Operational Sins; those that reduce your personal effectiveness as an owner and the leader of your company. There are a number of indicators that you might be guilty of Gluttony. You are the first person to arrive every morning You’re the last one to leave at night You work weekends, but your employees don’t Your “to do” list can’t fit on one sheet of paper Even when you use columns You only work on the next deadline All of the above ... Read more

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Not Just Workers…Qualified Workers

John F. Dini — Sun, 13 Dec 2015 16:43:51 +0000

A few weeks ago I attended one of Trinity University’s Policy Maker breakfasts. Although living in a large city has its drawbacks, it is great for access to events such as these. It takes substantial ticket sales to justify top-rank speakers, and Trinity’s series brings the best. The speaker was Richard W. Fisher, immediate past President and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, as well as almost 11 years on the Federal Open Market Committee, where he voted on monetary policy under Alan Greenspan, Ben Bernanke and Janet Yellen. In Q&A time, I had the opportunity to ask how he could project robust growth ... Read more

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