HTG Peer Groups Blog

I’ve been writing a series of blog posts about things I learned this fall sitting on the combine seat harvesting  corn and soybeans.  It’s amazing how much those lessons apply to running a small business.  Many of the principles of farming are the same as those of being a business owner.   In this blog post, I want to talk about one of the lessons I’ve learned about the need to do R&D and check out options for improvement.  Farmers are creatures of habit – all humans tend to be – including small business owners.  We often just keep doing what we’ve always done because it is comfortable and we know what to expect.  But part of continuing to expe... Continue reading

  Vision casting is one of those topics that most people tend to run from.  It seems mystical to many. The reality is that not only is it a discipline, but a very important skill to have and implement if you want to succeed both personally and professionally.  Scripture says it most clearly when it says in Proverbs 29 “where there is no vision, the people perish.”  Many small businesses today flounder around because the vision has not been defined even by the leaders and certainly has not been shared with the team in a way that compels them to want to participate. So what is vision casting anyway?  It is communicating with your team in a way you paint the picture... Continue reading

So what do you get the small business owner who has everything?  Or at least thinks he does?  That is often the place I find many owners these days.  They feel like they are on top of the world, at least in the public eye.  But behind closed doors they often reveal their loneliness, frustration, fear and disappointment.  Running a company just isn’t as simple as they thought, and the longer they do it, the more disgruntled they become.  It just wasn’t supposed to be this hard.   Sound familiar?  I hear the story over and over as we serve people in our peer groups or through coaching and consulting interactions.  They got that entrepreneuri... Continue reading

I’ve been writing a series of blog posts about things I learned this fall sitting on the combine seat taking out   corn and soybeans.  It’s amazing how much those       lessons apply to running a small business.  Many of the principles of farming are the same as those of being a business owner.  In this blog post, I want to talk about the reality that if you drive into the mud, you will get stuck. Seems like a pretty simple principle, but I’m amazed at how often people make the choice to drive right into the mud in their businesses and then act surprised that they got stuck. First, a confession.  Here are a couple pictures illustrating the reality of... Continue reading

I’ve been writing a series of blog posts about things I learned this fall sitting on the combine seat taking out corn and soybeans.  It’s amazing how much those lessons apply to running a small business.  The principles of farming are the same as those of being a business owner.  In this blog post, I want to talk about the reality that if we do what we did last year, we won’t get an improvement in yields.  And if we do what we did last year in our businesses, we won’t get significantly better results.  In all likelihood we’ll get exactly what we got last year, or maybe a little less.  That is the reality of doing the same thing over and over.   The ... Continue reading