The Business Owner Q&A
By Carolyn West-Price Touhey, Contributing Blogger In a recent meeting with the owner of a new business, he asked questions that I’ve answered thousands of times over the years. Given that these are on the minds of many new and existing businesses, I thought this column would be a perfect venue to answer them for those who may not have the opportunity to ask in person. Q: How do you identify and cost-effectively reach prospective…
Read More »Buy! Sell! Grow!
One way to start or grow your business is through acquisitions. In some situations, the cost of acquisitions can be less than the cost of generating sales. Furthermore, using an acquisition to start your business can often lessen some of the risk associated with new businesses. Over the last 20 years, I have been involved in the purchase and sale of over 50 closely held and family-owned businesses. In some cases, the transactions were easy…
Read More »Rolling with the Punches
In talking to other founders and CEOs of fast moving companies, you quickly understand that rapid growth is often caused by the luck of being at the right place at the right time. Many successful entrepreneurs share an ability to seize opportunity when and where it presents itself, even if it comes in a way that was not part of their original plan. I first realized that seizing opportunities was paramount to being a business…
Read More »My Company Is Changing. Do I Have to Change Too?
The CEOs of rapidly growing companies inevitably reach a point where they must balance the entrepreneurial drive to expand with the need for processes and structure. These successful enterprises survived their start-up years. Now they must face many questions about how they will run their companies in a new period of greater stability. The role of the CEO during the start-up and rapid growth phase of a business is generally different than the part played…
Read More »