Get Yoda's Wisdom

Revenue, and the associated profit from that revenue, is at the foundation of creating value. If the revenue is not driving profit, you really are just running in place.

To grow you have to change.  To change you have to have a plan.  But a plan is worthless without execution. That's where the real results are achieved. Here are five critical steps to developing a plan and ensuring you execute it.

Every small business needs an operating plan to guide it. It's like the GPS for your business. Here are 5 ways to develop a workable operating plan that helps your business get from here to there, whether for the next 30 days or the next 3 years.

Most entrepreneurs have a vision for what they want their company to become.Few understand how to execute on that vision, focusing on the destination, when it’s really about the journey. 5 critical ways to successfully lead your team on that journey

Over the years, I've written a lot about business plans, especially for early-stage companies trying to raise capital. But, the mistake many entrepreneurs make is that the rationale for its existence is ONLY to raise money.

In this time of great technological innovation, no matter how cool or dazzling a new product might be, at the end of the day, if ain't solving a customer problem or addressing a customer need, nobody is buying it!

Tradition, while it tries to emphasize the past, often suppresses the future. Entrepreneurs are faced with issues of tradition that can impact their business at almost any stage of its evolution. Far too often, tradition can be a new innovation killer!

Malcolm Gladwell published a book that should be required reading for all entrepreneurs - "David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants." In it are critical lessons for how you can leverage your size to achieve your own success.

Building a business is not just about numbers. It's about how you make those numbers happen. Forecasts and budgets are simply objectives, your end results. But success is not about focusing on the results, but on the process to get those results.

"Buzz-words" are the stock in trade of big corporations not entrepreneurial endeavors. Lofty words or phrases that, often, become words to hide behind; to put under your pillow to help you sleep better, but don't help you gain the success you seek.

Staying on top of your market, the target customers you serve and the way in which you deliver (or they expect) your product or service is critical to your success. That requires you to constantly be assessing that market.

My avocation is baseball, where I coached at every conceivable level for nearly thirty years. My prime focus was teaching hitting. Now, hitting a baseball, especially at a high level of competition, is, perhaps, one of the single most difficult things...

Just as the Christmas shopping season was coming to a close, there was an announcement from BestBuy, the huge "big box" retailer, that it had cancelled an undisclosed number of orders...

Unfortunately, too few entrepreneurs pay enough attention to what is going on in and around their market, what may be coming, and what outside influences might impact their business...

It never ceases to amaze me how many small business owners think that having multiple sources of revenue, often across multiple market types is a good business model.

I'm rarely contacted by a prospective client unless they are in trouble, real or perceived. Most often, their lament is that their growth has slowed...

Much has been written about the need for a business plan. But most often it's in the context of a document that's used to raise money, often creating a masterpiece of dazzling charts and colors...