General Business

As a business grows, entrepreneurs must often reinvent themselves as a rite of passage. It’s often the very work habits that help you achieve a level of success that hold you back from getting to the next level. Being involved in all areas of the business, making every decision, and managing every outcome in the company becomes unsustainable as your business grows. I’ve gone through several reinventions as my own business grew and changed.

I started my company in 1989 at the age of 21. I was involved in every area of the business including strategy, sales, management, and administration. I always put the business first and grew it with stubborn single-mindedness. The company was structured in a hub-and-spoke model and I made every key decision. As we grew, I began to feel overwhelmed by the increasing complexity of the business. There was never enough time in the day. It seemed there was no end in sight and I began to resent my business. In fact, the more we grew, the worse I felt.

In 1995 I was invited to join a Young Entrepreneurs Organization event (then YEO, now EO). My first EO educational experience featured Michael Gerber, author of The E-Myth. Gerber yelled at the roomful of entrepreneurs driving home this point: “If you’re trapped working in your business then you’re not an entrepreneur! You just have a job working for the most unreasonable boss in the world… yourself!” (more…)

Legal disputes are costly, time consuming, emotionally draining, and not good for business. A business dispute is a business illness. If mild, you can work through it, but it still drags you down and impacts profits. If severe, a business dispute can destroy an entire business. Unfortunately, just as illnesses are an inevitable part of being human, disputes are an inevitable part of doing business. Learning how to effectively manage the disputes that arise is critical for business success.

Negotiation, mediation, and litigation are each potent processes for breaking down an impasse so that disputants can move from conflict to resolution. As with any tool, there are right and wrong times and ways to use it.

Negotiate, Mediate, or Litigate?

Litigation is often the most costly, time-consuming, and ineffective method for getting to resolution. It takes control of the dispute out of the hands of the business owner and gives it to a third party, such as a judge, arbitrator, or jury. This is not to say that litigation is bad and should be avoided in all cases. Litigation is appropriate when it is simply impossible to work through issues consensually. (more…)

Two and a half years ago, Minnesota craft favorite Surly Brewing announced plans to open a new $20 million “destination brewery” in Minneapolis. There was just one problem. It was illegal.

A Prohibition-era law still on the books in Minnesota forbid breweries from serving their beer on premises. The Free Enterprise Tour stopped at Surly Brewing for a tour, a sample of Furious IPA, and background on the fight to get the outdated law repealed. The original law, Surly Brewing President Omar Ansari explained, was designed to maintain a three-tier system keeping alcohol manufacturers, distributors, and retailers apart.

It’s fitting that Surly was given its name to describe “the anger fueled by the inability to find good beer,” and perhaps even more fitting that Surly led the charge to change the law and put good beer in the hands of beer lovers. The so-called “Surly Bill” to get the antiquated law repealed was championed by beer lovers throughout Minnesota. “Surly Nation”—which includes other craft brewers, an active social media community, and beer lovers alike—demonstrated what the brewery dubbed the “Power of the Pint” through a massive grassroots campaign to garner support for the bill.  (more…)

The Young Entrepreneur Council asked 13 start-up leaders why entrepreneurship allows them to travel so much.

PUBLIC SPEAKING AT EVENTS

 “I travel all the time for work as I am a behavioral investigator. I speak and consult with companies about human lie detection. To be able to reach many audiences, I try to book as many events in different cities. I also love doing on the ground research in new countries to see if their cultural nonverbal behavior is different. I enjoy working with both foreign and national HR and sales teams.”
Vanessa Van Edwards | Author and Techpreneur, Science of People

LIVING OUT LOCATION INDEPENDENCE

 “I created Location Rebel, a community designed to help people build businesses they can run from anywhere on Earth. The nature of the community forces me to continue my own goal of traveling, both for credibility and marketing purposes. It’s my goal to show people that you don’t have to sit in a cubicle all day to make a good living!”
Sean Ogle | Founder, Location 180, LLC (more…)