M&A Transactions require one in 2010.

A Rainmaker is described as one who is known for achieving excellent results in a profession or field, or who is believed to be capable of producing rain, as through magical or ritual actions. And whether you’re the owner or another key person in your organization, you need to be beating the drum for rain these days after our year of drought. We all know the worth of water when the well runs dry. Certainly in the M&A Transactional market of 2009, the M&A Advisor has become Chief Rainmaker for 2010.  Continued…

Insights on Control and Influence.

This article is dedicated to all the spouses or significant other in the life of an entrepreneur business owner. I must make a confession. After 34 years of marriage with 30 years in business as an owner or key executive, I finally get it. It’s the difference between being King Arthur and Merlin the Magician. One has control (or thinks so) and one has influence. And hopefully my fellow business owners, you will recognize it too and appreciate the difference. If this article doesn’t get home to the kitchen table, I’ll be real disappointed. If it does, welcome to the club of enlightened warriors.

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The CFO role in the great financial hurricane of 2009.

October is still hurricane season and 2009 could be coined as a hurricane year in financial terms. Everywhere we look today there’s news of impending change. For 20 years I have carried the wisdom of an anonymous poem to remind me that change is more how we respond to it, our attitude, than the change itself. Certainly we’re living in a time where significant financial matters impact and re-shape the way we view our business future — healthcare, capital gains, equity, leverage and personal debt. Unfortunately, the difficult decisions and chronic stress of survival through this period are beginning to take their toll on business owners and family members.

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How OODA achieves results.

I’m always enthused when asked to be a guest lecturer, especially in a graduate level entrepreneur class. It takes me about a nanosecond to agree to participate. For me the energy and interaction of being a guest lecturer fosters my creative thinking, application of new processes and stimulates critical analysis. It has become my favorite way to connect to blossoming MBA business leaders in the academic process.  Continued…

Putting on your banker hat.

There’s a saying to remember - “Loans and debts make worry and frets.” For those of us in business, loans are a way of life and the past six months may certainly have lived up to the proverb. What’s important for us to understand is that the basis for making a loan has not changed, nor has the wisdom provided by America’s Father of Entrepreneurship, Ben Franklin. Let’s start with understanding the basics of a loan, a secured loan and leverage.

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Gaining comfort in the new economy

It’s a game that most business owners play at one time or another. It’s called the Waiting Game. When things go haywire, and unplanned financial change is thrust upon a business, there’s a tendency to duck the shrapnel coming from all directions and wait it out. Ironically, it’s the exact same tendency when things are going so well that we get lulled into the financial comforts of it lasting forever. It seems curious that in either case, The Waiting Game can lure us into an outlook of comfort, regardless of circumstances. So the question is, if waiting makes us comfortable, is that a beneficial state of mind? Are we better off? Or is there a value in “being comfortable with being uncomfortable”?

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4 Ways To Make Better Financial Decisions

Every day I hear another story of a financial transaction gone bad — the perils of deals too good to be true, usually consummated with people who really didn’t know one another. We somehow ignore the age old wisdom of using “an abundance of caution” and “the sniff test” when it’s more convenient to believe we’re smarter than our instincts coupled with a prudent process. And usually that’s when it happens — gut-wrenching bad. Our internal radar somehow gets tricked by rationalization. How?

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Escaping The Illusions of  Debt

There’s a perception prevailing today on several sides of business debt. You need to understand its symptoms and how it affects your business and future. It’s a symptom called spatial disorientation, the same misperception an airplane pilot may experience during low or no visibility. When it occurs — up is down and down is up — causing a high probability for things to… “CRASH!”. Today, corresponding business disorientation is occurring from business debt levels, with the horizon for returning to normalcy difficult to see.

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 Finding Non-Traditional Lending When You Need It Most

Visualize the counter agent with a cheesy smile, hand outstretched, palm up, ready to discount your hard earned check for greenbacks as he says, “Welcome to Check &  Go”. Or picture the sub-prime auto loan service that only charges 28% interest and compounds it daily if you miss a payment. Put those scenes together and it may be your impressions of “non-traditional lending”.

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Three Keys To Managing Through Financial Change

As we all observe capital markets and economic uncertainties pervade the news it has been an emotional rollercoaster trying to determine where we are headed in 2009. Moreover, we are all affected by the events of the past 12 months, especially those in transaction-related businesses. This is a major economic transition, the size of which in the capital markets, we’ve not seen before. That alone makes us pause and reflect on the effect it is having on our personal financial plans. So much for emotional stability!

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