Driven and determined, year after year, I would sit down in my office at the computer and start pounding away at business plans, phone calls, emails, preparing a presentation or thinking about how to help a Client overcome a sticky situation and within minutes of “getting in gear” Sam would jump up on my lap and demand attention. Slow down, he seemed to say. Lighten up. Take your time. Let’s spend a few minutes together and chill. Deep in thought, I’d ignore him for a few minutes, then hug him then relax my breathing and smile.

Sam never met a lap he didn’t love. He would jump up on stranger’s laps and curl up and fall asleep. And he could purr the entire first quarter of a football game. I consider myself a pretty happy person but he was in an almost constant state of contentment. We’ve given him a great home but this guy was like Steve Martin all the time “the phone book is here, the phone book is here.”

Oh he could be demanding. When it was time to eat dinner or breakfast, Sam could bug you with the best of them. He transformed into “the devil made me do it” when hunger struck. Attacking your feet until you got up and fed him. Dive bombing your legs at 5am to get you up. Once fed, he would become very peaceful again. Stretch out and treat you like a warm, safe bed.

I buried him outside the breakfast nook under the bird feeder he loved to watch from the window so I can see him every morning. Still hurts like hell, I’m shell-shocked and the grief comes in waves.

There’s a lot of research that pets are really good for us. People with animals live longer, are healthier and less stressed. It’s been incredible for me. Still have a great dog who thinks she owns the place (she does), a 14 year old anti-social cat and a bird that’s supposed to be able to articulate half the English language but prefers chirping.

Sam was a stocky, furry little creature who gave so much joy and served as a constant reminder to enjoy life every  day. Think I’ll do some pushups, then some sun salutations and take a brisk walk around the neighborhood.

Love you Monkey Man.

You want your Company to be valuable?  Then you must generate a stream of consistent earnings growth over a period of years with performance better than most of your competitors.

There are exceptions to this but they are few: you may have assets i.e. intellectual property, products, land/building which are more valuable than your earnings stream or you may be in a hot market where, for a period of time at least, buyers will pay a multiple of sales to absorb your customer base and reputation. But, these are the exceptions. 98% of the time prospective buyers will value your business on expected earnings and they will base this largely on actual results.

So, business chefs, it’s all about Pi.

Here are some key ingredients:

• High retention rate of profitable Customers
• Selling more to existing Customers
• Steady addition of new Customers (efficient/effective marketing and sales)
• Maximize Gross Profit dollars (the right price/quantity balance)
• Minimize expenses (increase high ROI spending, limit low ROI spending)

Fire up the oven, it’s time to bake Pi!

Trying to build up the courage to take some risks in your business? On this page you’ll find free business assessment tools that will help you. They were inspired in part by reading “Shadow Divers” by Robert Kursonwill, which I’d recommend you read.

It will provide you with a compelling illustration of just what extreme risk looks like. A quick business assessment of this venture would have had large red letters marked “danger!”

What is Deep Wreck Diving?

Deep wreck diving is among the most perilous of human activities. These brave adventurers risk their lives – and often lose – in pursuit of glory, riches and perhaps simply to test themselves.

But what does deep wreck diving have to with business & corporate growth?

The business owner who considers such a risk is betting on his/her ability to win or, in the event of a loss, starting over. Is that you?

Important Questions: What are the risks?

This is one of the most important questions regardless of whether you’re doing a free business assessment or paying for one. In the case of deep wreck diving, for example, the risks are huge:

• Strong and very unpredictable currents,
• Limited visibility in which to get lost both inside and outside the wreck,
• Sharp edges and heavy objects on damaged/decaying ships and
• The almost inconceivable pressure on the human body when depths beyond 100’ below sea level are explored.

Every 33 feet you descend into the ocean increases the pressure on your body by one atmosphere. 95% of diving in the ocean is recreational and takes place in depths of less than 50’. Divers report that at 130’ the body starts rebelling, and at more than 200’ – where this story takes place – hallucination and even worse set in.

As if those problems aren’t enough, returning to the surface must be done very slowly – often up to an hour- with rest/recovery at specific depths in order to allow the body time to adjust. Those who return rapidly to the surface often do not survive.

Important Questions: What are the rewards?

What’s the Return on Investment (ROI) on such a venture? Financially, it would depend upon the value of goods salvaged from the wreck. The reputation or Brand impact for your Company would be measured in the ability to convert success into future business. The Personal Satisfaction from such an undertaking may also influence your go/no go decision.

THIS Opportunity

These divers report having explored the sunken U-869 60 miles off the New Jersey coast beginning in 1991 for 7 years! It was a boat that simply couldn’t have been there according to the war records of the Allies and German military. It was enticing yet far more difficult – 230’ below sea level – than other deep sea wreck explorations attempted by anyone. As a business owner, your assessment template should be based on the idea that you don’t consider something like this unless you truly understand the risks and are willing to take your chances.

How they did it

Meticulous planning, a very experienced team, operating as safely as possible and avoiding bad weather were just some of the keys to success. You can’t leave persistence out of the equation however. Lesser adventurers would have given up on this quest years before this team did. As you look at your own team, do they have the right stuff to attempt a major move? This is not a good time to perform an inaccurate assessment.

The Result

The divers ultimately did solve the mystery of the U-Boat. 3 diving companions lost their lives. The surviving families of the crew of the U-Boat were told of the fate of their love ones. Valuable items were recovered but the divers primary satisfaction came from solving the big mystery… by taking the big plunge.

Are you considering a big plunge? Think deep. And take this free business assessment that we developed just for you.

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1. ACQUIRE CUSTOMERS – this is almost always a factor in strategic acquisitions. Some companies buy another that is in the same business in a different geography. They get to integrate market presence, brand awareness, and market momentum.

2. OPERATING LEVERAGE – the major focus in this type of acquisition is to improve profit margins through higher utilization rates for plant and equipment. A manufacturer of cardboard containers that is operating at 65% of capacity buys a smaller similar manufacturer. The acquired company’s plant is sold, all but two machines are sold, the G&A staff are let go and the new customers are served more cost effectively.

3. CAPITALIZE ON A COMPANY STRENGTH – this is why Cisco and GE have been so successful with their acquisitions. They are so strong in so many areas, that the acquired company gets the benefit of many of those strengths. A very powerful business accelerator is to acquire a company that has a complementary product that is used by your installed customer base. Management depth and skill, production efficiency/ capacity, large base of installed accounts, developed sales and distribution channels, and brand recognition are examples of strengths that can power post acquisition performance.

4. COVER A WEAKNESS – This requires a good deal of objectivity from the acquiring company in recognizing and chinks in the corporate armor. Let me help you with some suggestions – 1. Customer concentration; 2. Product concentration; 3. Weak product pipeline; 4. Lack of management depth or technical expertise and 5. Great technology and products – poor sales and marketing.

5. BUY A LOW COST SUPPLIER – this integration strategy is typically aimed at improving profit margins rather than growing revenues. If your product is comprised of several manufactured components, one way to improve corporate profitability is to acquire one of those suppliers. You achieve greater control of overall costs, availability of supply, and greater value-add to your end product

6. IMPROVING OR COMPLETING A PRODUCT LINE – this approach has several elements from other acquisition strategies. Successfully adding new products to a line improves profitability and revenue growth. Giving a sales force more "arrows in their quiver" is a powerful growth strategy. You take advantage of your existing sales and distribution channel (strength). You may be able to improve your competitive position by simplifying the buying process – providing your customers one stop shopping.

7. TECHNOLOGY – BUILD OR BUY? This is a quandary for most companies, but is especially acute for technology companies. Acquiring technology through acquisition can be an excellent growth strategy. The R&D costs are generally lower for these smaller, agile, more narrowly focused companies than their larger, higher overhead acquirers. Time to market, window of opportunity, first mover advantage can have a huge impact on the ultimate success of a product. First one to establish their product as the "standard" is the big winner

8. ACQUISITION TO PROVIDE SCALE AND ACCESS TO CAPITAL MARKETS – In this area, bigger is better. Larger companies are considered safer investments. Larger companies command larger valuation multiples. Some companies make acquisitions in order to get big enough to attract public capital in the form of an IPO or investments from Private Equity Groups.

9. PROTECT AND EXPAND MATURE PRODUCT LINES – This has been very effectively done in the pharmaceutical sector where a new technology is acquired to repurpose and re patent drugs.

10. PROTECT CUSTOMER BASE FROM COMPETITION – The telephone companies have done studies that show that with each additional product or service that a customer uses, the likelihood of the customer defecting to a competitor drops exponentially. Get your customers to use local, long distance, cellular, cable, broadband, etc and you will not lose them. Multiple products and services provided to the same customer dramatically improve retention rates.

11. ACQUISITION TO REMOVE BARRIERS TO ENTRY – For example, a large commercial IT consulting firm acquires a technology consulting firm that specializes in the Federal Government. The larger IT consulting firm has valuable expertise that is easily transferable to government business if they could only break the code of the vendor approval process. After many fits and starts, they simply acquired a firm that had an established presence. They were able to then bring their full capabilities from the commercial side to effectively increase their newly acquired government business.

Many larger firms have established business development offices for the execution of corporate growth strategy through acquisition. These experienced buyers search for companies that fit their well-defined acquisition criteria. In most cases they are attempting to buy companies that are not actively for sale. The win for the successful corporate acquirer is to target several candidates, buy them at financial valuation multiples, integrate to strength and achieve strategic performance.

Dave Kauppi is the editor of The Exit Strategist Newsletter.