Amazon is opening up retail stores.  It’s a process dubbed “clicks-to-bricks”. High end retailers like Nordstrom are also closing big-ass stores and opening up small try-on shops (Nordstrom Local) with NO inventory instead.  Even big-box stores like Target are sizing down. What’s happening? Retailers have realized that American buying habits are changing. And […]

Stepping Up to Scale Up Everyone wants to grow. Staying the same is stagnating and in this economy if you snooze, you loose. Growing is not a luxury, its a necessity. This begs the question: what do I need to do FIRST to scale up and grow my business? The answer is: Look in the […]

It has been said that having and maintaining one or 2 core competencies can be the difference between business life or death.  This concept was first developed in the 80’s by Hamel and Prahalad in their book “Competing for the Future”. A Core Competency is defined as: SOMETHING UNIQUE THAT A BUSINESS HAS, CAN, OR […]

I love Thanksgiving. I think it’s a unique and quintessentially American holiday. It’s a “glass is half full”, positive celebration. It’s one national holiday that hasn’t totally degenerated into a shopping-fest. That’s tomorrow. Thanksgiving is a time to contemplate the bounty of our lives. And, regardless of where we are in our lives, as we […]