Write it Down

The Most Critical Factor in Achieving Your Goals May Surprise You

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As we roll into the fourth quarter of the year, you may be starting to consider your business goals for next year. Given how 2020 has gone, maybe your primary ambition is to survive in 2021. Perhaps you’re going to create a recurring revenue…
Danger Zone

How To Inoculate Your Business From The Dangers Ahead

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A new decade always comes with a slew of predictions that can be scary. Will a new superbug take hold? Will the stock market crash? Will the economy tank? These are all excellent questions, but without a crystal ball, you can feel helpless.…
Keys

The One Number Owners Need to Stop Focusing On

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The value of your business comes down to a single equation: what multiple of your profit is an acquirer willing to pay for your company? profit × multiple = value Most owners believe the best way to improve the value of their company…
Nashville

Ownership Has Its Privileges

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Walk down Nashville’s Lower Broadway any night of the week, and you can hear aspiring artists belting out cover tunes from Elton John to Garth Brooks.   In many cases, these musicians come to Nashville to be discovered but pay…
private

Run Your Private Company Like It’s Public

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Small businesses often operate as if their sole purpose is to fund the owner’s lifestyle, but the most valuable companies are run with financial rigor. You may be years from wanting to sell, but starting to formalize your operations now will…
stacks of money

One Tweak That Can (Instantly) Add Millions To The Value Of Your Business

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If you’re trying to figure out what your business might be worth, it’s helpful to consider what acquirers are paying for companies like yours these days. A little internet research will probably reveal that a business like yours trades…
Tree

Growing Fast? Here’s What’s Likely To Kill Your Company

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If your goal is to grow your business fast, you need a positive cash flow cycle or the ability to raise money at a feverish pace. Anything less and you will quickly grow yourself out of business. A positive cash flow cycle simply means you…
Nike

The Downside of Selling Someone Else’s Product

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Are you tempted to re-sell someone else’s product to boost your topline revenue? On the surface, becoming a distributor for a popular product can appear to be a simple way to grow your sales—simply find something that is already proven…
Child

The Anatomy of a Successful Exit

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Stephanie Breedlove started Breedlove & Associates in 1992 as a way to pay her nanny. The big payroll processors weren’t interested in dealing with one person’s wages and doing it themselves was complicated and time-consuming, too much…
Differentiation

3 Ways To Make Your Company More Valuable Than Your Competition

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Have you ever wondered what determines the value of your business? Perhaps you’ve heard an industry rule of thumb and assumed that your company will be worth about the same as a similar size company in your industry. However, when we take…