Over 30 years of business insight in one place.
I've been a business owner for over 30 years. I was a remote CEO starting in 1993. I've been a coach helping other owners learn from my mistakes since 1995. Since 2006 I've been posting, writing, making videos and tools for my clients. In my semi-retirement I'm putting all that stuff here in a (mostly) organized fashion for free.
Output Thinking
Output Thinking on Peter Lohmann’s Podcast August 2024
August 17, 2024
Peter & I discuss. -Why most small business owners never achieve TIME FREEDOM. -How to exit without selling your company-The 3 stages of company growth -What is “CEO Time”. -Getting work done through other people. -The most commons mistakes that…
Organizational Design
Communication Rules
August 17, 2024
How to stop wasting time and get your message across. Ed was a salesman. He practically lived in his car. And often when he was on the road in meetings all day, the team in his office needed to get…
Output Thinking
CEO’s Guide to Output Thinking
August 14, 2024
A summary of the Output Thinking book in 3 sentences. For CEOs and other managers to help you scale your company faster, and manage better.
People
Don't Fumble the Hand-offs
August 10, 2024
To grow, your company must do hand-offs well. Before we start, I’m asking for a favor. Many of you have bought my book, Output Thinking, and for that I am grateful. If you have, I'm asking you to please leave…
Growth & Plans
2 Ways to Climb a Mountain – or Build a Business
August 3, 2024
Is it better or worse to have a plan? Yes! One method is putting one foot in front of the other and as long as each step is taking you higher, you're doing OK. The other way is to develop…
Growth & Plans
Plateaus, Valleys, and Guesswork
July 28, 2024
How you get where you want to go. I didn't coin the term TRAP ZONE but have talked about plateaus of profitability and the cash crunch valleys that come between them. I prefer the concept of plateaus rather than peaks,…
CEO Skills
Frequency – the Key to Freedom
July 16, 2024
How to get away from the day to day routine. OK so you've been reading my posts (that's about half of you) and applying this stuff (that's probably half again). What's happened? You've developed systems. You've documented them - all…
Advisor Stack
What's it Like to Work with a Coach?
May 7, 2024
It should change how you spend your time! The short answer is I don't know. I can only tell you what it's like to work with me. There are coaches that range from quasi-therapists to straight up consulting. My definitions…
Management, Organizational Design
Three Levels of Management
May 6, 2024
Management is getting work done through other people. It happens differently at the three management levels - even if the same person manages all three.
Growth & Plans
Stages of Company Growth
April 22, 2024
As your company grows it becomes different not just bigger. Most people track company growth by revenue. One generating $10M in revenue is twice as big as one generating $5M. That's not very useful as the are many things that…
Organizational Design
Are You a Leader or a Manager?
March 10, 2024
The difference matters. A lot! Outputs and Systems are all about management. But there's another important aspect of running a company. Leadership. These two words are often confused or interchanged, but they really are separate skill sets. The distinction is…
Growth & Plans, Organizational Design
Are Companies Fractals?
February 25, 2024
Yes. Sort of. But that's where the money is. This post is a long answer to a question raised by Tim Ludwig - @tsludwig on Twitter (now X). Tim asked: If you were developing a scorecard or checklist to assess…
Marketing & Sales
Is the Sales Department Really the Driver of Revenue?
February 18, 2024
The answer will surprise you. The output you want from customers is revenue. And you spend time, money, and effort, to find those customers and close a deal. This is typically called marketing & sales. But they won't pay you…
CEO Skills
Nested Metrics
January 21, 2024
Don't Measure the Wrong Things. Metrics are important - but they can be deceiving. If you measure the wrong things you can think you're making progress when you're not. There are many things to measure in a company and some…
Organizational Design, People
Decisions are Outputs
January 6, 2024
But who makes them in your company? The reason you hire people is to produce some output: widgets, or hamburgers, or sales. I wrote a whole book about this Output Thinking: Scale Faster, Manage Better, Transform Your Company. But a…
Closing Deals, Marketing
Buyer’s Journey
January 4, 2024
To systemize your sales and control your company's future you have to understand the buyer's journey of your potential customers. All buyers go through the same 4 stages on their way to purchasing. They key is to learn those stages…
Growth & Plans, Strategy
My book is Published
December 21, 2023
Output Thinking to transform your business. My book is now available on amazon. I’m posting some video interviews my friend Jon Matzner did with me about the book. Besides being a great guy, Jon thinks about business systems as much…
Output Thinking
Output Thinking (3 of 3)
December 12, 2023
Output Thinking is a better way to view your company and manage people better. In part 3 of this Q&A with Jon Matzner and the author of the book Output Thinking: Scale Faster, Manage Better, Transform Your Company we talk…
Output Thinking
Output Thinking (1 of 3)
December 12, 2023
Output Thinking is a new way to view your company and manage people better. Part 1 of Q&A about the book Output Thinking: Scale Faster, Manage Better, Transform Your Company. Jon Matzner and the author talk about what Output Thinking…
Output Thinking
Output Thinking (2 of 3)
December 12, 2023
Output Thinking is a better way to view your company and manage people better. This is part 2 of Q&A with Jon Matzner and the author of the book Output Thinking: Scale Faster, Manage Better, Transform Your Company.
Output Thinking
Output Thinking 2 minute book promo
December 10, 2023
Output Thinking is a new way to view your company and manage people better. This video is a short introduction to the book Output Thinking: Scale Faster, Manage Better, Transform Your Company.