Business 300

Entrepreneurs trying to get a business off the ground have a lot going for them. But the one thing they need most, is mostly what they don’t have. Money. So, what do you do if you need money and don’t have it? The entrepreneur who doesn’t have any money must rely on something more important: […] The post Ep. 127 – Leading People (Even If You Can’t Pay Them) – Part 1 first appeared on Philip Kulishov.

A business’s brand is not what the owner says it is, nor is it what the social media image portrays. A business’s brand is what the outside world says it is.Good or bad, a reputation is unavoidable. There are times when you must protect your brand from your customer. The post Ep. 125 – Protect Your Brand From Your Customers first appeared on Philip Kulishov.

A business exists to deliver value to a customer. Anything else is a distraction from that goal, and will lead to your business’ demise. If something else takes the place of the customer, the customer eventually leaves. And without a customer, you don’t have a business. That’s because the business is not the goal of […] The post Ep. 123 – Value Is The Goal first appeared on Philip Kulishov.

Profitable businesses have no place in our modern worldview. Our culture resides within a fruitless worldview. And a fruitless worldview has no place for fruit. But a business is supposed to be fruitful. The post Ep. 121 – A Fruitful Worldview first appeared on Philip Kulishov.

Most business owners want their business to grow. However, much of the time those who pursue getting bigger do it at the expense of getting better. But your business ought to not just grow bigger. It must also get better. But how do you get better? How do you know what area to improve? The post Ep. 119 – Get Better As You Get Bigger first appeared on Philip Kulishov.

Idealists justify their position by reproaching the Pragmatists action as compromise. And Pragmatists sneer at the Idealists, dismissing their aspirations as idle chatter. Which group is the Business Owner a part of, and how should he navigate between the two? The post Ep. 117 – Aspirations & Actions first appeared on Philip Kulishov.

In the last episode, I introduced “nerve” as a necessary virtue to possess in order for a leader to make decisions and act upon them – which is what makes a business owner successful. But why is nerve THE critical component? And what if I lack the nerve? If nerve is not a competency, is […] The post Ep. 116 – An Owner’s Lack of Nerve first appeared on Philip Kulishov.

There are character traits that all successful business owners share; character traits without which a business owner would have a difficult time thriving, if not even just surviving. Without being this sort of a person, they wouldn’t be able to succeed. The post Ep. 115 – The Character Trait of Success first appeared on Philip Kulishov.

Everything within the domain of business – its end and its means – is subjected under the Lordship of Christ. There are plenty of Christian business owners who confess Christ as Lord over their business. But their approach is to determine their own end and means, as opposed to submitting those points under Christ. Let […] The post Ep. 114 – The Objective of Christian Enterprise first appeared on Philip Kulishov.

Without sales there are no customers. Sales is supposed to sell. But because there’s much to the administrative side of sales, many business owners end up loading up the Sales Function with administrative burdens. Instead of selling, sales ends up “managing the sale.” What should a business owner do? The post Ep. 113 – Let Sales Sell first appeared on Philip Kulishov.

The game of inventory is a balancing act, if there ever was one. If your business revolves around products anywhere on the supply chain – from production, through wholesaling, to retail – inventory management is a part of your business plan. What parameters should you have for inventory management? The post Ep. 112 – Playing The Inventory Game first appeared on Philip Kulishov.

Nobody cares about the business like the owner does. The owner see and knows that. And usually it frustrates him. He cares about it, so he wants others to care about it too. He wants his employees to care about the well-being of the business. But is that a reasonable outlook? Is it good? The post Ep. 111 – Your Business Is Not Your Employee’s Baby first appeared on Philip Kulishov.

The size of your business affects how it should be run. You can have a relatively small business, or a relatively larger one. And if you attempt to manage either one as if you were managing the other one, it wouldn’t work. When it comes to structure and systems, size matters. The post Ep. 110 – Size Matters first appeared on Philip Kulishov.

Your goal is not to make our customers’ experience with you exciting and unpredictable. You want your customer’s experience to be boring. And even though doing the work might be exciting, that’s also not your goal. Even inside your business, your goal is to make things boring. You want a boring business. The post Ep. 109 – You Want A Boring Business first appeared on Philip Kulishov.

Your organization needs a lot of things to get done simultaneously. So, each functional department has its own work to do, and is focused on its local efficiencies. But what’s missed in this approach – and most often is in competition with it – is the Global Objective. How can you optimize to meet our […] The post Ep. 108 – The Global Objective first appeared on Philip Kulishov.

The need to balance autonomy and control is prevalent in nearly every area of our life and business. We want and need the freedom to explore and play and hunt. And, we want and need the security that comes with predictable stability. Our customer and employees value the same sort of things when interacting with […] The post Ep. 107 – Balancing Autonomy & Control first appeared on Philip Kulishov.

How the people in a business are organized and how they interact with one another affects how that business serves it’s customers. That’s another way of saying: structure enables strategy, and your purpose directs them both. The post Ep. 106 – Structure Enables Strategy first appeared on Philip Kulishov.

The more people are involved in your business, the more disorder will manifest. It’s better to maintain order as you move along, than have to fix it all later. But, what does that mean? How do you do that? The post Ep. 105 – More People, More Disorder first appeared on Philip Kulishov.

There are times when our business falls into a sort of disorder, and we need to perform a turnaround, or overhaul, if you may. But nothing is ever so bad that you can’t make it worse. What kind of approach ought one take when working through a business turnaround? The post Ep. 104 – Business Turnarounds first appeared on Philip Kulishov.

Even though I don’t like the term “Fake it, ’til you make it,” I do understand some of the intent behind it. But I don’t think the best name for that sort of entrepreneurial mindset is “Faking it.” Entrepreneurs aren’t faking it. But they are failing. What’s that about? The post Ep. 103 – Fail ‘Til You Succeed first appeared on Philip Kulishov.

There’s that popular poser-friendly phrase: fake it ’til you make it. It’s the motto of most imposters struggling with fear, trying to justify their usurped position. I’m here to argue against doing any and all of that. I have a different way to go about it. The post Ep. 102 – The Imposter Syndrome first appeared on Philip Kulishov.

Most people and businesses grow stagnant. But there are those who don’t. There are the sort of people and businesses who get after it and conquer, realizing their aims. Why is that? Why do some people run and get somewhere, while others are constantly spinning their wheels, toiling away in yesterday’s problems? If we keep […] The post Ep. 101 – The Missing Ingredient first appeared on Philip Kulishov.

Some failures are scratches and wounds. But there is a sort of failure that is analogous to death. There is no getting through it. You can’t spin it into success, or turn it into an opportunity. There’s nothing else to do. The race is done. The results are in. You lost. Death and burial is […] The post Ep. 100 – Death, Burial, & Resurrection first appeared on Philip Kulishov.

How can you know if your business idea is a good one or not? This is where we build a Business Case. It’s a good and necessary place to start and end, in order to know which business idea to pursue. The post Ep. 99 – How To Make a Business Case first appeared on Philip Kulishov.

Transportation is one of the Seven Wastes in your business that your customers aren’t willing to pay for. “But,” you say, “there are entire businesses built on transportation, which people do pay for.” Yes, there are delivery services that people have been and continue to pay for. So, what am I talking about? The post Ep. 98 – Cruise On Your Own Time first appeared on Philip Kulishov.

When you work towards your business goals, what is guaranteed is that either you’ll meet them or you won’t. That much is obvious. When the target is met or the time is up, what then? What’s the reset step to keep moving forward? The post Ep. 97 – Assess, Align, Actuate first appeared on Philip Kulishov.

Big goals require small steps. You don’t want the lack of a “how” to keep the “if” from turning into a “when.” The principle is there, and you can go about it whatever way suits you. But here’s a little framework that might be of help. The post Ep. 96 – A Framework to Work Toward Your Goals first appeared on Philip Kulishov.

Most people have more aspirations than actions. There are, of course, different reasons why somebody doesn’t act on what they aspire towards. Here’s an approach to consider when trying to connect actions with aspirations. The post Ep. 95 – Big Goals Demand Small Steps first appeared on Philip Kulishov.

Waste Number 4. The Waste of Waiting refers to a customer waiting for anything. Here’s some of the why and what and how as pertains to making customers wait, and why the biggest loser in the game of waiting is you, the business owner. The post Ep. 94 – Don’t Make Them Wait first appeared on Philip Kulishov.

There is something consultants like to call “the Pull System,” originally known as Kanban. The word Kanban has been hijacked by online productivity personalities, and utilized for a way to organize your tasks to flow. It sort of revolves around the idea, except with one huge difference that’s crucial to the entire idea of how […] The post Ep. 93 – Don’t Be Pushy first appeared on Philip Kulishov.

What is a business owner to do when he feels like he’s stuck? The context is, of course, very relevant. And, like in all our problems, there isn’t one answer. But, also, like in most of our problems, there is one answer that is usually relevant. What are you not doing that you know you […] The post Ep. 92 – You Know What To Do first appeared on Philip Kulishov.

In the last episode, I covered a few basic things to be looking for when interpreting your Income Statement. The Income Statement tells you how much value you’re providing to your customers. This time, I’m going to do a similar thing with the Balance Sheet. The Balance Sheet tells you how good you are at […] The post Ep. 91 – Interpret Financials to Hear Your Customers (Part 2) first appeared on Philip Kulishov.

Financial analysts will tell you that your Income Statement communicates your Competitive Advantage. That’s true. But Competitive Advantage is too inward focused of a term for me. I like to keep the focus on the customer. So, what others call Competitive Advantage, I call Value to Customers. How do you know how much value you’re […] The post Ep. 90 – Interpret Financials to Hear Your Customers (Part 1) first appeared on Philip Kulishov.

There are seven categories of everything that gets in the way of providing value to your customer; things your customer is unwilling to pay you for; things that burden both your customer and your business. I’ve gotten through the first two – Overproduction and Over-Processing. Now it’s time for the 3rd one: Motion. The post Ep. 89 – Quit Moving Around first appeared on Philip Kulishov.

This is part 3 in this mini-series about leading a group of people. When trying to maintain traction and forward progress, it’s helpful to identify 3 groups that compose the entire collective. Each group requires a bit of a different mindset and approach in order to keep the ball moving forward. The first group was […] The post Ep. 88 – On Making Progress When Leading People (Part 3) first appeared on Philip Kulishov.

People are at different buy-in levels of the vision as individuals. So, when trying to make progress, you must consider the persons composing the collective. The first group is the Vision Supporters. The second group, we cover here. The post Ep. 87 – On Making Progress When Leading People (Part 2) first appeared on Philip Kulishov.

If you only think of leadership in the context of a collective, it quickly gets ambiguous and unhelpful in terms of actually making progress toward the vision. We lead the entire team towards victory, but we make handoffs and passes at an individual level. If trying to make progress, it’s helpful to consider what type […] The post Ep. 86 – On Making Progress When Leading People (Part 1) first appeared on Philip Kulishov.

If leadership only entailed charting forward while safely assuming that the people you are rallying are following at your heels, that would be difficult all on its own. But, typically, the people you’re trying to bring to a better place, are in some capacity sabotaging your efforts. Why is that the case? And what should […] The post Ep. 85 – Leading Through Sabotage first appeared on Philip Kulishov.

I promised to get through all seven of the wastes that keep you from providing the right value to your customers. This time we get into Over-Processing. All work is processing work. However, there’s a way to over-process the work in an unnecessary manner that keeps you from providing more value to more customers. The post Ep. 84 – Michelin Star or McDonalds Menu? first appeared on Philip Kulishov.

What sort of business should you start, buy, or be involved in building? In the last episode, I listed two criteria you could think through when trying to determine what kind of a business you should own, whether starting or buying one. Here are two more for us to work through. The post Ep. 83 – What Kind of a Business Should You Own? (Part 2) first appeared on Philip Kulishov.

What sort of business should you start, buy, or be involved in building? Many aspiring business owners are stumped at this question. The market is cluttered with all sorts of businesses. How should you order your thoughts to generate good business ideas? Here are some criteria that may help you figure out what kind of […] The post Ep. 82 – What Kind of a Business Should You Own? (Part 1) first appeared on Philip Kulishov.

There’s a difference between the 2 types of business managers: The Administrator and The Operator. I’m here to tell you that you are better off being an Operator than an Administrator if you want to manage your business well. But maybe those labels aren’t what you think. The post Ep. 81 – Are You An Operator Or An Administrator? first appeared on Philip Kulishov.

Conditions and circumstances in the business world change in a way that requires our adaptation. But for a variety of reasons, many business owners have a difficult time accepting that change. When hit with a change in conditions, the business owner will often determine that the current reality is a passing season that he just […] The post Ep. 80 – Active Attention, Not Aimless Abdication first appeared on Philip Kulishov.

When thinking about improving your operation, everything comes to the forefront all at once. But you can’t solve everything. So, when dissecting your operations to get better at delivering the value, what should you focus on as you try to make things better? The post Ep. 79 – The One Thing For Operational Improvement first appeared on Philip Kulishov.

We enjoy dreaming, envisioning, anticipating. But then begins the process of getting there, with its frustrations, the sticks in our wheels, and the setbacks. It’s unhelpful to say that we should just close our eyes to the struggle and enjoy the good things in life. So, what should a business owner’s approach be? One thing […] The post Ep. 78 – Enjoy The Process first appeared on Philip Kulishov.

Overproduction, out of the seven, is the waste that we not only do most often, but think that we’re doing the right thing when we’re doing it. Doing wrong is easier when you think it’s right. So, what is it about producing more than we need right now that appeals to the business mindset? The post Ep. 77 – Why Do We Over Produce? first appeared on Philip Kulishov.

I’ve previously introduced the concept of the 7 Wastes. We’ll go through each of them in turn, starting with the worst of them all – overproduction. Why is it so bad? And, if it is, why do we keep doing it? The post Ep. 76 – Overproduction Is Your Biggest Enemy first appeared on Philip Kulishov.

The basic fundamentals of business is more value and less waste. Increase the value you’re providing to your customers while decreasing the waste in your operation, and you’ll be headed in the right direction. Everything else really does fall in line at that hinge-point. So, there are 3 things we should be measuring in our […] The post Ep. 75 – 3 Metrics To Deliver Value first appeared on Philip Kulishov.

We all should have some things at that level of clear-cut, uncompromising principle. But, is every hill worth dying on? Or are we to compromise? Here’s a framework I hold in the back of my mind in order to keep my sanity. The Impasse-able Framework. The post Ep. 74 – Working With People You Don’t Agree With first appeared on Philip Kulishov.

In the last episode I mentioned where to start looking when you’re wanting to grow your sales volume but aren’t. This time I want to take the inverse of that question, and discuss when you’re busy with a ton of orders you are not interested in, and it’s overwhelming you to exhaustion. The post Ep. 73 – You Can Say “No” first appeared on Philip Kulishov.