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An ActionCOACH MKE White Paper for the Trades Industry Cash-Flow, Cost & Pricing Pressure Is Quietly Destroying Margin   Most Wisconsin trades businesses do not think they have a pricing problem.  They think they have a market, material, or timing problem. In reality, what they are experiencing is the cumulative effect of non-engineered cash-flow systems operating in a volatile environment.

It’s Thanksgiving time (yay, my favorite!) – and it’s a wonderful time to reflect and practice gratitude. To be grateful for the bounty on our turkey-and-yam-laden plates; our family, friends, and health. And for time to put down your toolbelt…and give a little slack to the belt on your trousers. Time away from the jobsite and time with our families

An ActionCOACH MKE White Paper for the Trades Industry Workforce Pressure in the Trades: Root Causes and Opportunities   Talk to any trades owner long enough and the conversation always lands on people. Not clients, not tools, not equipment; people. Labor constraints are choking growth, margin, timelines, and sanity. And most companies are trying to fix it by doing more

An ActionCOACH MKE White Paper for the Trades Industry The Four Systemic Pressure Points Crushing Trades Businesses — and the Operating Disciplines Required to Win Anyway Executive Summary In our work with owners and leaders across construction and skilled trades, we hear a common theme: the business is growing, the market is hot, but the stress is higher than ever.

That’s a great question, and it cuts to the heart of how business owners should think in times of uncertainty. While your instinct is often to pull back and conserve cash, investing in training—sales, management, and business fundamentals specifically—can actually be one of your smartest and most defensive strategies. In fact, I don’t want you to spend money.  I want

I read this week that the top concern among Wisconsin independent business owners are the state, national and global economy, in that order. 49% of polled owners picked one of those three as their top concern right now. Amazing.  The economy has surpassed labor and hiring, inflation, sales slowdowns, healthcare and regulations as the top overall concern. Awesome.  Here are

I was challenged by a fellow coach to create my own GPT. I had no idea how to do that, so I dug in a little bit and learned that, with the right GPT subscription (I use ChatGPT’s 20$ a month subscription), you can actually start to train your very own AI. Here’s how. With a low priced paid subscription

We’re often asked what the best seasons for business are. Particularly when the economy is unsettled for any reason.  Recession.  Fear of recession.  Growth.  Pandemic.  Fiscal crisis. Here’s the answer we have. It’s always a great time to grow. It turns out that everything that looks like a problem creates an opportunity for some people, and a self-fulfilling prophecy for

Spring Cleaning | Clear Your Business Clutter Spring.  Time to declutter. Here are three areas you might want to “sweep the corners” of your business in the immediate future. First, remove all the made-up work for the winter. Particularly if you’re a seasonal business, we often hear people do make work to keep their employees on the payroll so they

Now, we all know that Ross Gellar is a fictional character from Friends, but every now and then, a conversation with ChatGPT turns up something interesting, and when I asked it to turn “Pivot” into a lesson, here’s what it came up with.  I approve.   📎 PIVOT! The Surprising Business Lessons Hidden in My Most Infamous Couch Moment By Dr. Ross