John Peltonen 
Addition by subtraction. I hear this phrase quite a bit. Sometimes, it is a post-event reconciling, a way of justifying something we didn’t want to happen. Other times, it is indicative of a strategy. We are all doing too much. And, because of this, we don’t play to our strengths. We are not effective because … Read more
Systems are great but they are not static. Just as our lives and businesses change with the prevailing winds of the environment, so must our systems. My life has gone through some pretty major changes over the past year and I didn’t put the time in adjust my systems. As a result, a lot of … Read more
Growth almost always means change. As a friend of mine says, growth without change is just swelling. That doesn’t sound healthy to me. As business owners, we should be deliberate about this. Is it worth putting our company, our clients, our team, our vendors, and partners through the stress of change? I was just chatting … Read more
I’ve found that if I ask someone in my team or in my company how we’re doing, they’ll enthusiastically enumerate the ways we should change. We should grow revenue, broaden our customer base, become more efficient, etc. Likewise, there have been many times in my nearly 30 years of running a company or leading teams … Read more
We’ve all been at the place when someone’s advice lands flat. It’s well meaning, and could even be “the right thing to do.” If we’re not in the right place to hear it, we push back against it or, even worse, we cede control and have the other person make our decisions for us. The … Read more
It is shockingly easy to lose perspective. It happens to all of us – even those of us (ie, me) who focus on helping others not lose touch! I’ve spent the last year of my life helping entrepreneurs regain sight of the problem they set out to solve. Most business owners I’ve worked with pay … Read more
Many of us, me included, find ourselves unwittingly fighting against the tides and currents of the universe. I’m not saying life is meant to be easy. I’m also not saying we don’t need to put in the work, because we absolutely do. However, I do believe we are making the wrong part hard. There are … Read more
When we rely only on systems, we give our customers a fantastic experience right up until we come up against an unplanned for occurrence. Then, we give them a lot of pain. I am a fan of systems. Systems allow for consistency and scale. In fact, I would argue that your business isn’t a business … Read more
Frequently, when I’m working out a hard problem, my brain takes me somewhere else. I usually end up researching arcane knowledge buried in deep corners of the internet. Why is it that even though I know it is more important and better to do the hard work, my own brain overrides me? Both Charles Duhigg … Read more
Wanting something gets us nowhere. Yet, I frequently find myself sitting in my basement getting frustrated that whatever I want isn’t showing up. Achieving most things requires putting in consistent work. I know this isn’t a groundbreaking revelation, but it is sort of frustrating that it seems that I (and most of us) haven’t really … Read more