Crain’s Chicago recently reported that Bow Truss coffee houses, a hip café, temporarily closed its doors. Among the public feuds between the founder on one side and the employees on the other, Bow Truss is a cautionary tale on growing too quickly. By all accounts, Bow Truss opened 10…
How I Know Your Business “Marriage” Ain’t Gonna Make It
January 18, 2017
In the midst of providing Business “Marriage” Counseling to two or more business partners, there is a moment when I have to predict a course. See, there are only a couple of paths we can take. People who come to me to work on their intra-company relationships have usually…
Business Partnership Lessons from the Bow Trust Deal Death
January 17, 2017
Last week, Crain’s reported that Brow Truss coffee houses had closed their doors. Left behind are dozens of employees with unpaid wages and one hysterical owner who is blaming the guy who backed away from buying him out. Marcus Lemonis, the star of MSNBC’s The Profit, had agreed to…
Wells Fargo Business Plan Center
May 25, 2015
Here’s a story of noble work done by a big bank: Wells Fargo has rolled out an invaluable tool for business owners – a business planning tool. It’s available to anyone – not just bank customers – free of charge. Business plans are mysterious things. Few people know how to…
If We Rewrote Our Laws to Help Entrepreneurs Understand Them, We’d Have More Startups and More Jobs
January 26, 2015
A major entrepreneurial center in the country, the Kauffman Foundation, has ranked cities and states for small business friendliness. The results are interesting, but not as interesting as the reasons why some areas scored better than others. As it turns out, there are three things that make an ideal place…
10 Things to Do to Buy a Business Through a Business Broker
September 15, 2014

AudioBlog: A combination blog post and podcast. 10 Things to Do to Buy a Business Through a Broker When Coco talked to two business brokers, Tony Calvacca and Marsha Barnett-King, a few weeks ago they gave her a lot of great content about how to buy and sell businesses…
10 Things You Need to Know About Business Brokers
September 12, 2014

AudioBlog: A combination blog post and podcast. 10 Things You Need to Know About Business Brokers Ever wonder how some small businesses get bought and sold? This is a great starting point to help you learn the basics of business brokerage. We talked with Tony Calvacca and Marsha Barnett-King,…
The Most Profitable Types of Small Businesses
August 20, 2014
Summer’s drawing to an end. Maybe you’re starting to think about what’s next. Here is one study showing the 15 most profitable small businesses. I’m suspicious that the first ranked accountants have managed to cook the books – of course, how would we know. Read more. Story via Entrepreneur.com.
Top 5 Weekly Reads
July 24, 2014
How Not to Sell Things on the Internet (Legal Edition) –EricGoldman.org 23andMe lost when they tried to enforce their terms of use – because they stuck the link to their terms of use at the bottom of the site. Listen up, web sellers: imagine going to a car dealership and getting…
The Entrepreneurship Series, Part V
June 25, 2014
Freedom THE POINT IS TO BE FREE. Freedom is self-determination; autonomy in all areas of your life, to direct your life using your free will. Freedom does not include the right to exploit, injure or steal. Each individual must be free to engage in what they choose. The founders…