The Bias Against Service-Based Businesses

I find it both interesting and frustrating that some popular understandings of working for yourself excludes working with others. This particular notion sets a bias against a service-based business model because some of the implicit and explicit influencers in business so strongly delineate between working for yourself and working for other people. The goal of [...]

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We’re Meant For More Than Selling And Making Money

A recent email conversation with an old comrade has me a bit unsettled. He and I shared our journey as entrepreneurs for a good bit but we ultimately took different routes. My passions and gifts laid with operations and strategy, and his were with marketing. In this conversation, he mentioned how he’s glad to be [...]

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Updates from Team PF Headquarters!

Things here at Team PF Headquarters have been crazy! We’ve been working hard and playing hard, and since we can barely keep up, we wanted to make sure you knew what all was going on over here. As you’ll see, we’ve been busy finding new ways to help you build a better business. PDX Meetup Tonight! [...]

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What WWII Can Teach You About Business: The Beachhead Offer

Many a novice entrepreneur or changemaker finds it hard to get going in the early stages of their venture because they’re trying too many things all at once. This is natural because Stage 1 is a huge learning lab where you’re saying YES to a lot of different things you might do, so you generate a [...]

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The Difference Between Starting And Running A Business

The activities you need to do to start your business are different than the activities you need to do to run your business after it’s already in flight. Too many business owners understand this far too late and often put the cart before the horse. For instance, let’s recall the four key dimensions of business: [...]

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The Business Lifecycle: The Cruise Stage

Editor’s note: This is Part 5 of the Business Lifecycle series. If you’d like to start from the beginning, check out the Aspirational stage of the Business Lifecycle. You’ve arrived at the lauded Stage 4: the Cruise stage in business. The cruise stage is another “no” stage. I like to liken the cruise stage to [...]

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The Business Lifecycle: The Crucible Stage

Editor’s Note: This is part 4 of the Business Lifecycle Series. If you’d like to start from the beginning, check out the Aspirational stage of the Business Lifecycle. Stage 3 is the first “no” stage. It’s the first stage of business you finally have to start practicing saying no because you’re already at capacity. If you’ve [...]

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The Business Lifecycle: The Growth Stage

  Editor’s Note: This is Part 3 of the Business Lifecycle series. If you’d like to start from the beginning, check out the Aspirational stage of the Business Lifecycle. Stage 2, as you remember, is the growth stage. This is where you’ve hit that first home-run, things are going well, you start to see your [...]

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The Business Lifecycle: The Entry Stage

Editor’s Note: This is Part 2 of the Business Lifecycle series. Check out the Aspirational Stage of the Business Lifecycle if you haven’t yet. Stage 1 and 2 are “yes” stages. They’re yes stages because you say yes to a lot. You take on too much, you work with the wrong people; you say yes to [...]

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