Blog: some edutainment
Content that is designed to educate as well as to entertain.
Four ways to protect your business against competition
Four ways to protect your business against competition Warren Buffett famously invests in businesses that have what he calls a protective “moat” around them – one that inoculates them from competition and allows them to control their pricing. Big companies lock out their competitors by out-slugging them in capital infrastructure investments, but smaller businesses have…
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9 Warning Signs You’re a Hub-and-Spoke Owner (and why that’s a problem)!
9 Warning Signs You’re a Hub-and-Spoke Owner (and why that’s a problem)! If you were to draw a picture that visually represents your role in your business, what would it look like? Are you at the top of a traditional Christmas-tree-like organisational chart, or are you stuck in the middle of your business, like a…
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The Three Pillars of Success
One of my mentors is Keith Cunningham. You can find out more here: www.keystothevault.com. Take any or all of his courses, they’re great. As a bit of evidence, here is his latest blog post. It is so good, I wanted to share it with you. If you will do these three things on a regular…
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Have you fallen into The Mile Wide Trap?
Have you fallen into The Mile Wide Trap? If your company’s revenue has stalled after a period of rapid growth, you may have fallen into The Mile Wide Trap. Consider the case of Kim (not her real name) who runs a public relations firm. Kim studied marketing at school and went on to work for…
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Thinking Vs. Doing: The Owner’s Dilemma
Thinking Vs. Doing: The Owner’s Dilemma There’s a steady breeze from the northwest, which cools the warm Caribbean afternoon. Framed between a palm tree and the turquoise water, you notice a man reading. He appears to be working, which seems strange given his appearance: shaggy blonde hair, linen shirt, surf shorts and flip-flops. You…
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Six ways to make your business better while on vacation
Six ways to make your business better while on vacation Spring is here, and although it may seem strange, now may be the perfect time to increase the value of your company. The most valuable businesses are the ones that can survive without their owner. A buyer will pay a premium for a company that…
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The Anatomy of a Successful Exit
The Anatomy of a Successful Exit Stephanie Breedlove started Breedlove & Associates in 1992 as a way to pay her nanny. The big payroll processors weren’t interested in dealing with one person’s wages and doing it themselves was complicated and time-consuming, too much for the then overwhelmed Breedloves. Breedlove saw a business opportunity and started…
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Will this be the year you seriously drive up the value of your company?
If you have resolved to make your company more valuable in 2017, you may want to think hard about how your customers pay. If you have a transaction business model where customers pay once for what they buy, expect your company’s value to be a single-digit multiple of your Earnings Before Interest Taxes, Depreciation and…
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How much goodwill do you have in your business?
The term “goodwill” is often thrown around in conversation as though it is a subjective description of how much your customers like your business. In fact, when it comes to valuing your business, there is nothing subjective about the definition of goodwill. It is defined as the difference between what someone is willing to pay…
Read MoreRecent Testimonials
Allison Cousins Marketing Consultant & Creative Director
“I highly recommend John Nieuwenburg and W5 Coaching. He’s a special kind of business coach. One who delivers the hard and fast goods (systems, business analysis, team development, sales strategies, etc.) and cares deeply for the business owner. In my first month working with John, I saw a 730% return on my coaching investment. Year…
Read MoreMary Lee Newnham
Was just thinking about you today as I finished my bank rec, also getting my accountant to come in today to do my year end stuff – the first year I have done it before June!!!! I have a new great bookkeeper – comes in twice a week to do more of the things that…
Read MoreElinor Warkentin
I’ve worked with John several times. He helped me take my business to the next level when I was doing well with clients but new to the world of small business. He introduced me to basic business concepts which he knew exceptionally well and gave me well-organized systems and tools for analyzing, tracking and…
Read MoreFred Lyhne: Simalex
Fred Lyhne Simalex Die Casting Simalex, a good old fashioned manufacturing company, had decent cash flow and customers with brand names. The company had been mismanaged for a number of years and was in rough shape when Fred Lyhne Jr. took over as CEO. Fred was essentially taking over a start up. Fred is extremely capable…
Read MoreMarc-Antoine Cuerrier
I have had the pleasure to have John as a business coach during the start up phase of my Construction Staffing Agency. During the months we have worked together, John has helped our company’s directors structure a business that allows us to track marketing efforts, augment our lead generation and boost our client conversion rate. I…
Read MoreMoshe Ben-Shlomo
I was not looking for a business coach, I just happened to hear about you from a person that I was in contact with. I sent you a quick mail; in retrospect, it was one of the best emails I have ever sent; it was a very short and simple email that led to a…
Read MoreDr. Jessica Chang: Avenue Eyecare
“Being a new business owner in the healthcare industry, John was very helpful in getting my business partner and I focused on building our clinic up one step at a time. He shared a lot of great tools and books that have given us a foundation to build on over the years to come. Thank…
Read MoreJason Winters, PhD Therapist
“When I first began working with John, I was just starting my practice. I had no business education or training, and was doing my best to learn on my own. It became very clear that I needed help and through a stroke of luck, I connected with John. We worked together for 4 months. In…
Read MoreQuentin Miller
John is one of my all time great mentors in life. I can highly recommend his services to anyone with a keen desire to learn, improve, and grow. He remains both a true friend and a trusted advisor. Quentin Miller Co-Founder of VeriClock Time Tracking and President of Vanguard Painting Ltd. Get our blog…
Read MoreChris McBurney
We enjoyed working with John, he made us think about things we hadn’t previously and helped us make things happen in our business that should have happened long before. His knowledge of many types of businesses was a big asset to us. He is a great guy and easy to work with. We would recommend…
Read MoreRecent Blog Posts
How to Scale Up Your Service Business
How to Scale Up Your Service Business Increase the value of your company by training others in your area of expertise. It can be tough to grow a service business. Clients are typically buying your expertise, and if all you have to sell is time, the size of your business will always be limited by the…
Read MoreThe Little Handbook for Getting Stuff Done
This is so good, I had to share. A big shout out to Leo Babauta The Little Handbook for Getting Stuff Done There’s a ton to be gained by getting good at Getting Stuff Done (GSD). While I don’t think that productivity and efficiency is the answer to life, nor should it be your only…
Read MoreGrowing Fast? Here’s What’s Likely To Kill Your Company
Growing Fast? Here’s What’s Likely To Kill Your Company If your goal is to grow your business fast, you need a positive cash flow cycle or the ability to raise money at a feverish pace. Anything less and you will quickly grow yourself out of business.A positive cash flow cycle simply means you get paid…
Read MoreHow To Lure A Giant Like Facebook Into Buying Your Company
How To Lure A Giant Like Facebook Into Buying Your Company A great business is bought, not sold, so, if you look too eager to sell your business, you’ll be negotiating on the back foot and look desperate—a recipe for a bad exit. But, what if you really want to sell? Maybe you’ve got a…
Read MoreThe Turn Around at Flat Foot Engineering
Max Mabuti – The Turnaround at Flat-Foot Engineering from The Value Builder System™ on Vimeo. After an ill-fated expansion plan, Max Mabuti’s Flat- Foot Engineering faced insolvency. Mabuti turned to a Certified Value Builder™, and within one year of leveraging The Value Builder System™, Mabuti had stabilized the business and grown its top line by…
Read MoreHow To Avoid Disappointment When It’s Time To Sell Your Business
How do you avoid not being disappointed with the money you make from the sale of your company? Perhaps you’ve heard that companies like yours trade using an industry rule of thumb or that companies of your size sell within a specific range, and you want to get at least what your peers have received.…
Read MoreThe Automatic Customer White Paper
The Automatic Customer White Paper In the last week of October 2017, The Automatic Customer: Creating A Subscription Business In Any Industry was ranked one of the Top 5 Business Books by Fortune Magazine. In celebration of this, we have created the white paper The Automatic Customer: 9 Subscription Models Any Business Can Adopt. From this white…
Read MoreDoes your business have a scoreboard?
Does your business have a scoreboard? Would you go to a hockey game if it didn’t have a scoreboard, it seems pointless, doesn’t it? Warren Buffett said it, “If you can’t read the scoreboard, you don’t know the score. If you don’t know the score, you can’t tell the winners from the losers.” Are you…
Read More5 “strategic” ways to buy or sell a company
5 “strategic” ways to buy or see a company Did you see the news that Facebook acquired messaging service WhatsApp for $19 billion? At the time it represented the largest-ever acquisition of an Internet company in history. WhatsApp is a pearl for sure. The messaging service allows users to avoid text-messaging charges by moving texts…
Read MoreFour ways to protect your business against competition
Four ways to protect your business against competition Warren Buffett famously invests in businesses that have what he calls a protective “moat” around them – one that inoculates them from competition and allows them to control their pricing. Big companies lock out their competitors by out-slugging them in capital infrastructure investments, but smaller businesses have…
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