James runs a mid-sized 20-person accounting practice focused on Tax, audit, advisory, and bookkeeping. Last month he was in a pitch meeting with a logistics
Tony runs a 12-person engineering services firm. Started out doing MEP design for commercial fit-outs and was genuinely excellent at it. Then a client asked
Sarah runs a marketing consultancy. Eight staff. Decent client list. She wins almost every proposal she submits and she’s proud of that number. Tells people
BOOM. That shot me upright in bed. 2 am on the clock. Was the bedroom actually shaking or did I dream that part? Couldn’t tell…
There’s an old Allstate commercial. “You’re in good hands with Allstate.” A simple reassuring message to stop worrying because someone has your back. Now ask
Marcus runs a managed IT services company. Fifteen staff. Thursday afternoon he shut his laptop at two, drove to his daughter’s school, and grabbed a
A business owner wants $10 million for his company. The buyer comes back at $5 million. The seller says the business has more in it.
I was making an introduction recently between an investor and a logistics company that could be a good fit for his portfolio. Before the meeting,
After a presentation I gave recently on the four key questions every investor asks before putting money into a business, an older gentleman approached me.
If you’ve seen The Founder, you already know the gut punch. Dick and Mac McDonald built something extraordinary. A kitchen that ran like a machine.
If you’re reading this from Dubai, Abu Dhabi or anywhere in the region right now then you already know… The last couple of weeks have
Took the girls to the park this morning. Getting them some exercise. After playing ball they wanted to run and for me to time them.
My friend is stranded outside the country His grown-up children are still here in Dubai. Desperately he wants to get back here…while I’m looking how
Saturday was the deadline to become a lifetime pioneer member of Fall in Love with your Business Again. Saturday, I had set aside all day
Wednesday I told you about Scott who was hustling hard on a newer business and doing everything himself. When I mentioned building an exit-ready business
“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.
This week, police in North Carolina found Michele Hundley Smith alive and well. She’d been missing since December 2001. Left home to go Christmas shopping
In The Shawshank Redemption, Andy Dufrense didn’t wait until he was “ready” for his exit. When he picked up that rock hammer for the first
His name was Robert. Engineering consultancy. Fifteen years in business. Solid revenue. Good clients. Respected in his industry. On paper, worth north of $2 million.
One of my first clients was proud of his spreadsheet. Massive thing. Hundreds of tabs. Colour-coded. Formulas nested inside formulas. He’d built the entire accounting
“My customers are different.” “My employees wouldn’t respond to that.” “My industry doesn’t work that way.” BS I hear these lines constantly. From owners in
A friend of mine owns a construction company. Every time I see him, he looks like he’s been dragged through a hedge backwards. Bloodshot eyes.
I once had a potential client who ran a logistics company. Smart guy. Built the thing from nothing. Knew every truck, every driver, every client
This week I told you two stories. The first was a man who threw a chair across a Greek café, danced a warrior dance, and
That’s how the conversation started. No excitement. No ambition. Just a man who’d spent years building a technology business and was ready to be done
This week I’ve been telling you about a friend who turned down an 8-figure offer for his business that happened to be seven times bigger
Yesterday I told you about a tiny café in a Greek village. A three-piece band. A warrior dance. A chair thrown across the room. After
The café was tiny. Packed wall to wall. The kind of place you’d walk past and never notice if you didn’t know it was there.
I was with a business owner while he took a Zoom call from Greece. Everyone else has the usual fake backgrounds. Blurred offices. Corporate bookshelves
What’s the biggest fear that silently kills businesses?
It’s not losing customers. It’s not bad marketing. It’s something far more subtle—yet it leads to the biggest mistakes and leaves the most money on the table.
Most business owners don’t even realize they’re trapped by it. I saw it firsthand when people thought I was insane for one simple decision I made.
Turns out, they were wrong.
Nothing more annoying than being tailgated by a speed camera. If you speed up because of the guy riding your tail you face the possibility of a speeding fine. Stay where you are and you might be rear-ended.
What if you are the annoying driver when it comes to your business.. do you think you might be? Read on to find out if that is the case.
Some businesses scale effortlessly. Others struggle, stall, or collapse under their own weight.
The difference? It’s not intelligence, luck, or even resources. It comes down to one simple rule—a rule that championship sports teams, billion-dollar companies, and elite entrepreneurs all understand.
Most people ignore it. And it costs them millions.
I break it down in my latest article.
Would you let $235 a month cost you millions?
Sounds ridiculous, right? But I’ve seen business owners sabotage multi-million dollar deals just to save a few bucks on proper bookkeeping and financial reporting.
One refused to upgrade her accountant—her deal fell apart in due diligence. Another wasted hours in Excel hell instead of growing his business.
The #1 deal killer? Poorly done financial records.
Don’t be the Black Knight hacking away with no arms
Jay was leading an M&A team set to close a major acquisition the next day.
That night, they took the seller out for a celebratory dinner. Drinks were flowing, and the owner had too much.
As they were leaving, things turned awkward. The seller got aggressive with the staff, grabbed his car keys, and drove off.
The next morning?
The deal was dead
Last night, I had a simple goal: clear out an old room and get rid of a bed in excellent condition that had been sitting in storage for three years.
What should’ve been an easy giveaway turned into something much more interesting.
It made me rethink the difference between transactions and relationships… short-term cash and long-term value.
And how these same principles shape the businesses that truly thrive.
Is your business less independent than my 3 and 5-year-olds?
Next week, I’m flying to Greece for my father’s funeral. It’ll be the first time in five years that I won’t be sleeping under the same roof as my daughters.
They’re 5 and 3 now—not old enough to take the keys, but they’ll manage just fine. My wife has it all under control.
It made me think, though… How many business owners can say the same about their companies?
If you step away for a week, does everything fall apart?
Sure, your business might pay the bills, but that’s not freedom. That’s a trap.
There’s a playbook for building a business that works without you—one that frees your time, reduces stress, and builds real value.
Have you started working on yours?
How a dream gave me the peace to handle the news I expected… and long feared coming…
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