As a small business consultant, I start most engagements with a simple assessment: 20 questions covering the fundamentals of how a business actually runs. Strategy, accountability, metrics, cadence, decision-making—nothing exotic. Just the basics. Here’s the hard truth: most small businesses score pretty low on that first pass. That usually changes Read more…
I had coffee with a fellow consultant today, and our conversation drifted into familiar territory—small business frustration. At one point she joked, “Aren’t all small business owners frustrated?” It was tongue-in-cheek, but let’s be honest: it wasn’t far from reality. You’d be hard-pressed to find a small business owner who Read more…
When we think of strategic planning, we often picture executive retreats, multi-page decks, and teams of leaders hashing out growth initiatives. It’s a tool, we assume, for larger organizations with big ambitions and even bigger budgets. But what about solopreneurs? I’ve had the opportunity to work with a few lately, Read more…
A CFO I worked with used to say, “The difference between an accountant and an engineer is that the accountant doesn’t think they can do engineering.” It’s a funny line, but there’s some real insight behind it. Most accounting firm owners I’ve worked with are sharp, disciplined, and deeply grounded Read more…
Ask most business owners what strategy means, and you’ll hear some version of “a plan to grow.” But growth isn’t the only reason to think strategically—sometimes, it’s not even the right one.
In today’s culture, working hard is often painted as “uncool.” The narrative seems to be: do just enough to get by, maximize leisure, and aim for “work-life balance”—a phrase increasingly used to justify the bare minimum at work. But what’s lost in this perspective is the undeniable truth that a Read more…
The rapid advancement of AI technologies, such as ChatGPT, has sparked a fervent debate about the future of jobs, particularly in fields like design engineering and architecture. Some predict that AI will soon eliminate these roles, but history suggests a more nuanced view. To illustrate, let’s look at two previous Read more…
Somewhere along the line, the term “poaching” became interchangeable with “recruiting” in the business landscape. This mischaracterization of the recruiting process has always bothered me. Poaching, in its intended context, is “the illegal killing or capturing of wild animals.” The implications of using this term to describe recruiting are extremely problematic. First, Read more…
During my recent attendance at the CEO roundtable for small firms at the ACEC National Conference in Austin, Texas, CEOs shared their top challenges: Firm Growth Ownership Transition and Succession Planning Workforce Shortage While topics like AI, DEI, and workforce shortages dominate the industry narrative, these rankings are quite fitting Read more…