When we talk to young startups these days, we repeatedly hear them asking for the same thing, “Cash!” It’s true that a certain amount of cash is necessary for any startup. But when we press them and ask if they have taken full advantage of their hidden resources, they look back with vacant stares. Most […]

Every time we speak, it never fails that at least one member of the audience comes up and asks, “I’m just a start up, I’m on a very limited budget. How can I afford to advertise and get the word out about my goods and services?” Almost everyone in the audience is looking for ways […]

We recently had the honor of the opening keynote for the Alaska Small Business Development Center’s first annual Vitalize Alaska Conference. The conference was the brain child of Jon Bittner their new Executive Director. He wanted to encourage and inspire innovation and business development in the new frontier. Over 300 small and medium sized business […]

We used to think it was only common sense that the consumer would always bear the brunt of higher prices cause by any trade wars. But we guess we were wrong. We guess we have to learn that one all over again. In these days of high tech memory devises, why can’t we seem to […]

We recently had the pleasure of spending the day with 65 MBA students from Nanyang University in Singapore. Twenty-five percent of the class were part-time students who were already running their own businesses. They asked most of the questions because they obviously had the most immediate concerns. One question that was particularly telling was, “How […]

We often hear business owners say, “I don’t need to think about an exit strategy because I’m not going to sell my business anyway.” But they do! And here’s why: Your potential acquirer’s due diligence is the perfect way to organize your files. Period. What kind of documents would you want to see if you were buying […]

When we sold Barefoot Wine, we received the Wine Industry’s coveted Top Brand award for multiple years, sold 600,000 cases per year in 25,000 stores, were growing in all 50 states and 28 foreign countries, had no turnover for 10 years, and did it all with just 40 employees. We got tons of awards for […]

We’re inviting you to a FREE online event called the GoTime Business and Tech Summit where you can watch 32+ short interviews (around your schedule) of some of the world’s top high growth entrepreneurs and experts. Kim interviewed both of us at the same time & also individual interviews with each of us. Michael’s interview […]

As we celebrate another graduating class, we thought we’d give them some good advice to help them turn their dreams of business success into reality. We recently caught up with Ivan Misner, the founder of BNI (Business Network International), the world’s largest business network. Ivan was good enough to agree to an interview where we could […]

Our friend recently graduated with an advanced degree in Nursing. To celebrate, we invited her and her friends over for a party. A week before the party we went to our friendly neighborhood grocery store where a young man does barbecuing out in front on the weekends. We thought, “Why not keep the money in […]