photo by rs-foto 

Not everyone wants to build a business that will grow.  There are people that absolutely love to work really long hours, prefer doing things the hard way and have no plans to ever sell their business or leave it in any shape for anyone else.

There are business owners that enjoy hiring new people for the same positions over and over again – they hate to delegate and they will not tolerate any new ideas.  Positive cash flow is for wimps and profitability isn’t at all important (which is good because they don’t have any).

If this even remotely describes you, then you will definitely want to check out the rest of this post – I’m sure you’ll pick up some tips that can further help you drive your business into the dirt!

Read More…

I always used to hate picture day in grade school – you had to get dressed up (you had to stay clean) and I almost always ended up closing my eyes.

Even now, I really don’t like getting my picture taken, I’d much rather be behind the lens.  I’m sure everyone feels this way about their pictures, but I always think every picture of me looks weird!

But in the age of Social Media and the internet, it’s really important that you’ve got some good pictures of yourself.  There’s a reason that every Social Media profile asks for a picture and although creativity (i.e. using a picture of Elvis as your picture) can work in some situations, if you are promoting yourself and your business, you need a good professional picture of you.  Read on and I’ll tell you how to get one that’s really reasonably priced!

Read More…

photo by JamesDale10 

There are a lot of ups and downs to being a business owner.  There are times when you really appreciate the freedom and the opportunity that your business can bring you.  When you truly serve your customers the way you imagined you could before the whole thing got started – it doesn’t get much better than that.

However, there are also a lot of trying times.  The grind and the pressure associated with being ‘the owner’, sometimes making it up as you go and knowing that success or failure rides on your efforts and what you’re doing.

It’s during those difficult times that you need to refuel and since the plane isn’t stopping, sometimes you need to refuel during the flight.

Read More…

Your business can make you feel pretty cold when you don’t where it’s going.

If you’re like most business owners, you probably have an annual sales goal for the year (maybe it’s even been written down and translated to something measurable).  You may even have a longer term vision of where you’re taking your business (possibly not written down and likely not tangible or well communicated).

However where a lot of people get into trouble is the translation of those visions and goals into an actionable plan and a way to track progress.  You’re likely headed in roughly the right direction, but without a more detailed foundation to work from, it becomes a guessing game to determine how well you’re doing and if you’re going to make your targets…and if those targets mean the difference between success and failure, well that can lead to a lot of chilly stress!

Read More…

photo by psoup216 

Wouldn’t it be great if Kansas City could get an extra $20 Million or so in Federal or State funding right now when times are really tough?

It turns out we can!  There was a recent and successful effort to challenge the US Census numbers for Kansas City and there are ~ 25,000 more residents in KC MO than the previous census indicated – and at $2,200 per household that equates to $20,000,000 in additional funding!

While I think that’s a pretty cool story in and of itself, what makes it even better (for me at least) is that a big driver for the success of that census challenge was due to the hard work and expertise of one of my clients.  There’s a great write-up in the Kansas City Star this week (Tech Startup assists in KC Census Revision) that will give you more of the background, but this is the outcome of not only a lot of hard work by Dan and many other people, but the use of technology and a new way of looking at things to find a better solution.

I wish I could take some of the credit, but the reality is that Dan Melton (my client) from NptLabs is a pretty amazing guy and this effort with the city is only one of the really cool things he’s got going on.

If you’re looking for some inspiration on how and why we collectively are going to get out of this rough economy, take some time to meet and talk to Dan or some of the other amazing entrepreneurs that are out there.  A good place to catch a lot of them (and maybe join in yourself) would be at the Kansas City Startup weekend in April.

Do you have some stories about inspirational stuff going on in Kansas City – share them here!

Shawn Kinkade  Kansas City Business Coach