At the beginning of May, an editorial blog post went up here on R&R regarding the question of whether to get a college degree, or to pursue a career in the trades.

At this time of year, along with developing your business plan for the coming year, you should be reviewing your company’s Mission (or Core Purpose) statement, Vision statement, and list of Core Values.

One of the topics we present to entrepreneurs through Violand Management Associates highlights five steps of management that small businesses owners experience as they grow. Based on the work of business guru Ram Charan, the presentation explains how the role of a business owner changes significantly as their company grows.

What is company culture? The best definition I’ve seen so far is the set of shared attitudes, values, goals and practices that characterize an institution or organization. It’s that feeling you get when you walk through the company’s doors or interact with their staff. It’s the collection of priorities, values and beliefs driving the decisions that are made daily.

Every year, R&R features articles talking about different trends in the restoration industry. Today, franchises are undoubtedly on the rise – but so is the number of independent companies taking steps to be more independent than ever by not participating in third party program work. In this article, two franchise owners and two independent restoration company owners share their thoughts from their side of the aisle.

At this very moment, you likely genuinely wish your choice years ago was “preparation.” Nonetheless, dozens of questions surface surrounding the following: business value, taxes, deal structure, timing of the sale, estate planning, confidentiality, who helps, the premise lease, key employee contracts, etc. The list goes on.

According to the IRS, two-thirds of all businesses fail in their first five years. One of the major reasons this happens is not from a lack of business, but from a lack of cash. 

Three quarters of 2017 are in the books. The final quarter is when you should be focusing on your plan for the coming year. If you didn’t already start in October, now is the time. 

Many companies that have been in business for decades will go through periods of significant change.

So here you are, almost half way through the year and you can see you are not where you thought you were going to be.