Raising Equity: Entry 1 — Why?

Growth and Prosperity Posted , 05/24/13 at 09:40 AM

I’ve read most of the business strategy books. I have heard the most influential business strategists of our generation speak — Verne Harnish, Harvey Mackay, Gino Wickman, Simon Sinek, John Anderson, and Duane Marshal, just to name a few. But, do their techniques work under extreme pressure?  What about when the goals are truly bold and fearless? What if going out of business means losing everything?

Luckily, that is not my situation.

However, we are pursuing bold goals and the risk of loss is high. In order to start your own business, you have to take on risk. When you hire your first employee, that’s even riskier. The bigger you get, the greater the rewards, but also, the greater the risks. Operating a business at these ...

Read more | comments

facebook digg twitter linkedin

The Unaware Mentor

Workforce Development Posted , 05/22/13 at 10:36 AM

Some of the people that have had the greatest impact on my career may not even know it. I’m sure that at some time in your life, you’ve been provided with quiet guidance by someone who you respected, looked up to and felt comfortable sharing your personal challenges. Though you both may not have been thinking about it at the time, you were entering into a mentoring period of your lives.

Some mentoring is part of a formal organizational program, where the roles responsibilities of the mentor and mentee are clearly defined. There are specific goals and objectives that are set within a specified period of time. Outside of formal mentoring programs, we often seek out others that take on a mentoring role to guide us through problems and issues we may ...

Read more | comments

facebook digg twitter linkedin

Charitable Times Ahead

Resorts and Tourism Posted , 05/21/13 at 05:30 PM

Charities and non-profits can always use an influx of cash to keep operating and serving others who are less fortunate. So this time of year as the golfing season gets underway is what these groups cherish as thousands of golf fund raising events are scheduled.

Three come to my mind for various reasons.

On May 20 was the massive Automotive Golf Classic for support of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Southeastern Michigan, held at Indianwood Country Club and sponsored by General Motors, Ford, Chrysler, Honda, Toyota, and Nissan. The turnout and sponsorship was so strong from the automobile industry that both the Old and the New Courses had to be utilized to hold all the foursomes. In raising about $500,000, yes half-a-million, event chairman Peter Brown ...

Read more | comments

facebook digg twitter linkedin

Psy is Not Dead, President Obama is Not Injured

Growth and Prosperity Posted , 05/20/13 at 09:26 AM

The other day my daughter Sarah came home from school upset. One of her classmate’s heard that Psy, the pop singer famous for Gangnam Style, had died. We immediately went to Google to search the news and fortunately discovered that Psy is not dead, but alive and well. We also found out that this news had been initiated by a Facebook scam designed to get people to click a link to the story which would then download a virus on to their computer.

Another fake story which drew national attention a few weeks started as a hacked Associated Press tweet. The tweet read “Two Explosions in the White House and Barack Obama is injured.”  Once this “news” hit, it sent the markets into a tailspin.  Investors took this tweet at ...

Read more | comments

facebook digg twitter linkedin

The Outdoors, Business, and Life: Don’t Confuse Activity with Results

Outdoors Posted , 05/17/13 at 11:20 AM

Whether I am on a hunt pursuing a mature whitetail, an important business deal, or helping a charity expand, I try and make certain each move makes sense. As my man Pete Davis puts it, “I try not to confuse activity with results.”

The goal is to maximize my time and manage my energy regardless of the hunt. If we choose to honestly reflect on our time spent each day, we likely will discover or confirm that we often are living inefficiently and in turn burning valuable energy that can otherwise be applied towards solving real problems or manifesting our dreams. When I look at my own shallow breakdown moments, which unfortunately still occur, the common theme is often one of the following:

• I lost focus — I did not have a ...

  Read more | comments

  facebook digg twitter linkedin

  ---

  
  

Guiding a Corporate Rebrand From Start to Finish

Marketing Posted , 05/17/13 at 11:17 AM

This past January, the Identity team took on the challenge of launching three (yes, three!) new brands in five days. With specialists in brand experience, creative, media relations and marketing, and social media, Identity leads companies through every step of the rebranding process — whether it involves refreshing a company’s brand image, launching an entirely new brand to the market, or uniting multiple business units under one cohesive brand, we’ve done it all.

One of the successful brand launches included the rebranding of Michigan Mutual Inc., formerly First Preferred Mortgage Co. First Preferred, one of Michigan’s largest mortgage lenders, engaged Identity in 2011 with a branding and marketing challenge: to unite their two ...

Read more | comments

facebook digg twitter linkedin