[vc_row full_width=”” parallax=”” parallax_image=””][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text] “A good temper and a happy mood will show up in your bank account.” — Ed Lowe Our panel of entrepreneurs responds …Whistle while you ‘work’We make bread every day. We enjoy what we do, and our customers appreciate the fact that we do it. It’s hard not to smile when you think you’re getting…
“Extreme Measures — Personal Involvement” An employee called Jack Hartnett’s home in the middle of the night with a pressing question: “Can you help me with my sex life?” Hartnett was glad to help. As president of D.L. Rogers Corp., Hartnett believes in helping his employees both personally and professionally to retain them in an industry rife with turnover.His personal…
“Your Move — A Martial-Arts Approach” Get out of your comfort zone to grow your company — and yourself. Dan MillerWhen I began to study Songahm tae kwon do last year, I was amazed to discover its numerous links to business. Structure. Each class begins and ends with an oath, an espousing of values, and participants address each other as…
“If You Can’t Beat ‘Em, Join ‘Em” Standard Candy’s revenues jump 30% through contract manufacturing. The Standard Candy Co., based in Nashville, Tenn., has been making Goo Goo, a caramel, chocolate, marshmallow and peanut confection, since 1912. When James W. “Jimmy” Spradley bought the company with help from his father in 1981, he envisioned creating a national craving for the…
This rule came from my Grandpa Huber. Actually, it was part of a trio of warnings he gave me, including, “Never eat at a restaurant named ‘Mom’s,’ ” and “Never play cards with a guy named Ace.” These last two rules are easy to understand, but I never fully comprehended the first one until I bought Jones. Jones is a…
Kauffman study dispels misperceptions about growth.
“Retaining a Family’s Shared Goals” Father/daughter team prepares for a changing of the guard; secures employee, customer loyalty. Many entrepreneurs dream of passing their successful business through the family, but it often becomes a nightmare of conflicting expectations and employee reactions. Through trial and error, love and persistence, Frank Burgess installed his daughter, Nancy Chabot, into a leadership position at…
This column is one in a series that will explore the thoughts, ideas and unadorned advice of an entrepreneur who made it, Edward Lowe. When he “brought the cat indoors” with a revolutionary cat-box filler, Kitty Litter, he created an industry that changed the lives of millions of cat lovers, not to mention cats. During his life, Ed Lowe used “plain talk” to speak about the bottom line from the bottom of his heart. We believe these writings, revised and updated after his death, offer value for both your business and personal life.
Ignore the potential of acquisitions, and you ignore a vital, strategic vehicle. In the past five years we’ve seen it all — “roll-ups” (rapid-fire industry consolidations), “poof-IPOs” (companies that merge and go public on the same day) and corporate gigamergers (bigger than the mega ones of the ’80s). Recently much of this has come to an unhappy ending. Indeed, it’s…
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_basic_grid post_type=”post” max_items=”9″ style=”lazy” items_per_page=”9″ orderby=”rand” order=”ASC” item=”8048″ grid_id=”vc_gid:1441366121682-d8735e4696e08eedb991f80419707ad3-8″ taxonomies=”87″ exclude=”9762, 9937, 9969, 9944, 9954, 9999, 9977, 10012, 10021, 10313, 10029, 10044, 10054, 10069″][/vc_column][/vc_row]