The Up and to the Right | Small Business | Practical, Actionable, Sustainable Improvements
beyond50percent
65 episodes
3 hours ago
Welcome to Up and to the Right, the no-nonsense podcast where we blend your passion with proven business principles and practical tips, empowering you to create the impact and success you envision.
Hosted by Stephen Krausse, the show covers what matters to small business owners, startups, and people interested in becoming entrepreneurs. No buzzwords and no hyped-up trends!
A graduate of Colorado State University's College of Business, Stephen has an academic background that compliments over 25 years of business operations and management experience. He started his first business as a freshman in college in 1987, recording and producing demo tapes for local bands. Since that time, he’s been involved with numerous successful small businesses, including the operation and management of a niche high-tech company with customers and suppliers worldwide.
As a business professional by education and trade, he works with select business owners to blend their passion with proven principles, giving them the edge they need to achieve their unique impact. Stephen is always researching new products, ideas, and innovations - consuming content through audiobooks, podcasts, and online resources, and connecting with other professionals locally and abroad.
Now he’s sharing practical tips and ideas to help you get real work done. This isn’t about fancy solutions requiring a considerable investment or changing how you do your best work. You’ll discover ideas that will allow you to integrate proven principles into the way you already get things done. You’ll get practical ideas to easily replicate, modify, and integrate into what you already do.
Up and to the Right covers topics like getting value out of a business model, outsourcing, hiring for small businesses, working across platforms, productivity and efficiency hacks, building revenue streams, communication and planning, and more! Some episodes will have related downloads available from the show notes page below or unique segments with guests who have industry-specific tips that would be helpful.
It’s time to roll up your sleeves and get to work. Listen to Up and to the Right with Stephen Krausse today.
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Welcome to Up and to the Right, the no-nonsense podcast where we blend your passion with proven business principles and practical tips, empowering you to create the impact and success you envision.
Hosted by Stephen Krausse, the show covers what matters to small business owners, startups, and people interested in becoming entrepreneurs. No buzzwords and no hyped-up trends!
A graduate of Colorado State University's College of Business, Stephen has an academic background that compliments over 25 years of business operations and management experience. He started his first business as a freshman in college in 1987, recording and producing demo tapes for local bands. Since that time, he’s been involved with numerous successful small businesses, including the operation and management of a niche high-tech company with customers and suppliers worldwide.
As a business professional by education and trade, he works with select business owners to blend their passion with proven principles, giving them the edge they need to achieve their unique impact. Stephen is always researching new products, ideas, and innovations - consuming content through audiobooks, podcasts, and online resources, and connecting with other professionals locally and abroad.
Now he’s sharing practical tips and ideas to help you get real work done. This isn’t about fancy solutions requiring a considerable investment or changing how you do your best work. You’ll discover ideas that will allow you to integrate proven principles into the way you already get things done. You’ll get practical ideas to easily replicate, modify, and integrate into what you already do.
Up and to the Right covers topics like getting value out of a business model, outsourcing, hiring for small businesses, working across platforms, productivity and efficiency hacks, building revenue streams, communication and planning, and more! Some episodes will have related downloads available from the show notes page below or unique segments with guests who have industry-specific tips that would be helpful.
It’s time to roll up your sleeves and get to work. Listen to Up and to the Right with Stephen Krausse today.
Business Pivot Triggers
Practical Approaches to Pivots
What's Next for Up and to the Right?
Contact Beyond 50 Percent
https://beyond50percent.com
stephen.krausse@b50p.com
IG & TW @beyond50percent
In this episode of Up and to the Right I'm excited to have Kari & George Grossman owners of Happy Lucky's Teahouse.
We'll talk about getting started in 2009 and adapting to a wildly changing business environment in 2020.
About Happy Lucky's
With a commitment to quality, selection, and community, Happy Lucky’s creates a highly interactive, informative, and immersive tea experience. Whether you are already a tea lover or new to the brew, you’ll find the flavor, aroma, and feeling that speaks to you from over 200 loose-leaf options on our Great Wall of Tea.
Find Out More About Happy Lucky's Teahouse
https://happyluckys.com/
970-689-3417
Is it click bait?
To be fair, click bait isn't my plan. In fact, I think it's important that we separate the small business trends for 2021 that matter to us as owners from the 'trends' over which we have no agency, no resources to follow or that simply don't apply.
Let's figure out which windmill to chase!
See the full show notes: https://b50p.info/uattr060
Best Book for Small Business
Show Contents
00:00 Pre Show
00:16 Program Start
01:20 Introduction
01:41 News & Updates
04:40 Let's talk about reading!
16:43 Let's get practical!
17:35 Sidebar on book length...
19:30 Working a Book
24:48 My New Reading Experiment
30:07 Show Close & Contact Info
I asked the internet... "What book was the most effective in helping you make REAL CHANGES to your small business?"
In this episode I'm going to share how the internet replied!
Let's get... well read!
Contents:
Chapters Added After the Show
It's time to roll up our sleeves and get to work!
Connect on Social
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Full Show Notes: https://b50p.info/uattr058
Small Business Priority | 4Get 2020 Time to Move On
2020 is finally over. There will be plenty of blogs, podcasts, articles and videos reviewing 2020 and predicting 2021. Not here... not today.
As small business owners, we need to focus on what IS... NOW and figure out what needs to be done at this moment in time to move our business forward.
Your time is a limited resource. How do you know what to work on? I'm going to throw out a quick way to think about what matters to you now and some tips to keep it at the top of mind.
Let’s get… focused!
Show Notes: https://b50p.info/uattr057
What is a Small Business?
Over the years I've come across a lot of misinformation about what it means to be a small business. Sometimes people think it's determined by the number of employees, sometimes by revenue, even by the corporate structure. As we'll see below it's actually easy to understand why there is confusion identifying what is a small business.
Defining Small Business
So, if there's so much confusion around how to define a business as small then how can we go about doing it correctly?
The good news here is that while it isn't as easy as a single criterion that we can point to, there is a place we can go to find out exactly how to classify our own business as small or not.
There are three pieces of information that you're going to need to put all of this together.
Your NAICS Code
The Number of Employees
Average Annual Revenue (based on three years)
Once you have those three pieces of information you'll be able to get the right answer for answering the question... "What is a small business?" at least, for your case!
Full Show Notes: https://b50p.info/uattr056
You've come up with a great business idea. You've started your business and things are going great when out of the blue a great potential customer asks: "What's your export control code?"
Don't know? You're not alone and export control is just one of the seemingly endless regulations that may (or may not) apply to your small business.
Let’s get… regulated!
In short, small businesses are regulated by largely the same laws that regulate larger organizations. The only difference is that there may (or may not) be provisions in those laws that allow small businesses to bear a lighter burden in some ways. While there may be some provision for small business in the regulatory environment, it is equally true that small businesses are still required to adhere to regulations that cross a wide variety of areas which we'll cover.
I want to dispel the myth that forgiveness rather than permission is a risk that small business owners should avoid. It is better to ask for implementation than forgiveness... every time.
Show Notes | https://b50p.info/uattr055
It's time to roll up our sleeves and get to work!
Physics in Business. At first, it might not seem like the two are closely connected. I've found that the principles we use to describe our physical universe often have parallels in the business world.
The power of leverage in business is often thought of as a negative. Something used to push someone else down in a negotiation or to artificially inflate value. These are the uses of leverage that we won't be talking about here. We are going to talk about the necessity of leverage and why understanding it and, in fact, embracing it is elemental to creating, operating, and sustaining a valuable business.
Let’s get… leveraged!
Get the show notes: https://b50p.info/uattr054
I put a lot of effort into running and growing my business. I'm sure you do too!
What do we get for that effort? I'm not talking about. the long-term effects of our actions resulting in new revenue or market growth.
What reaction do we expect from this particular action?
Let’s get… mechanical!
Get the Show Notes: https://b50p.info/uattr053
If you picked two words to describe entrepreneurship they would very likely be longly and busy. Really... REALLY busy!
I can speak from personal experience that being a small business owner can leave you feeling alone as well as fill your time with a stream of seemingly critical tasks.
How can entrepreneurs like you find kindred spirits that share common experience AND get the opportunity to work ON your business by accomplishing focused work?
Let’s get… into the FLOW!
Accelerated Business Consulting: https://www.beexcellent.biz/
See the full Show Notes: https://b50p.info/uattr052
What did Newton Know about Creating Impact as a Small Business?
Everything we need to know about making an impact as a small business... Newton knew in 1686!? Really?
Newton’s 2nd Law states that Force = Mass * Acceleration.
How can understanding one of the fundamental laws of physics help us make an impact as a small business?
Is changing the world as easy as Force = Mass * Acceleration? Well yes... and no.
Let's rewrite that a bit.
Mass = Resources
Acceleration = Momentum
Force = Impact
How about Impact = Resources * Momentum?
You get the idea. There are advantages to thinking about business from the perspective of physics.
Let’s get… mechanical!
Everything we need to know about small business communication... Newton knew in 1686!? Really?
An object at rest tends to stay at rest unless acted upon by an outside force.
An object in motion tends to stay in motion in the same direction unless acted on by an outside force.
If these trends sound familiar ...
A customer who is happy tends to stay a customer unless there's a sale at a competitor.
A rock star employee tends to stay a rock star unless we eliminate performance bonuses.
You get the idea. There are advantages to thinking about business from the perspective of physics.
Let's get... mechanical!
Show Notes: https://b50p.info/uattr050
Consuming content has become a byword. We all want to learn and grow personally and professionally. To that end, we read or listen to books, watch videos, take online courses, and consume any number of other types of content.
Have you ever stopped to consider whether or not the content you’ve consumed has actually generated a beneficial transformation in your business?
How do we get the most benefit from the information we read, watch, or listen to? How do we drain these content creators dry?
Let’s get… draining!
Show Notes: https://b50p.info/uattr049
A small business startup can be overwhelming. So much so that many people choose not to and many of us who do start small businesses often miss a piece of the small business puzzle.
In this episode, I’m going to share three things you need to do when you’re starting your business that might not be on your list… yet!
Let’s get… started!
When Should I Hire a Consultant?
Hiring a consultant is bringing an ‘outsider’ into your business and can be an intensely personal experience.
What’s in this episode for you?!
When should you hire a consultant?
We’ll talk about hiring consultants in small businesses and my own 2020 adventure in bringing help into my own business.
There are 3 consultants every business owner should have… what are they?
You’ll find highlights below. Listen to the podcast version on your favorite podcatcher for all the details!
See the full show notes: https://b50p.info/p2p002
Allen Service, Plumbing, Heating & Air has been a part of the Northern Colorado business landscape for 59 years.
In my interview with business owner Jeff Allen, of Allen Service, he shares his decades of small business experience on:
Operating as an ‘essential business’
Employee safety and COVID-19
Zero contact in-home services
Indoor air quality
Remote working for employees
Yep... Jeff and I covered a lot of ground…
Let's pivot to profit!
Welcome to my new segment! Pivot to Profit is dedicated to real discussions with business owners with practical ideas, solutions and strategies that they are using right not to cope with the current crisis and manage their business during difficult times.
Profit is often heard as a four letter word. As small business owners that want to offer products and services that create a lasting and positive impact in the lives of our customers as well as our own… we have to get comfortable with profit.
Profit is not something you take from your customers. Profit is the consideration you are given for the improvement of your customer’s lives over the cost of having done so.
That value can come from the creation of a product from raw materials, the delivery of a service or maybe even in offering a product in a location.
In this episode we’re going to talk about establishing an appropriate profit margin for your business that you will be comfortable with as an owner, which fits into the goals you have for your business and is going to meet the expectations of your most ideal customers.
You might want to refill your coffee now!
Let’s get comfortable with profit!
You've heard that statistic that 50 percent of companies go out of business within five years… well an article by the National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB) 82% of those failures can be attributed to cash.
The role of cash in business is often underestimated and misunderstood.
Let's get liquid!
The competitive landscape is becoming increasingly complicated. Small businesses often find themselves competing with so-called 'big box stores' and online retailers who can run more advertising, negotiate more aggressive pricing when they purchase their raw materials or products; and have stores of cash to weather difficult economic periods.
It's more important than ever to really understand not only what value we currently add to our customers but find new ways to add or change that value to stay competitive.
Let's get valuable!
The Up and to the Right | Small Business | Practical, Actionable, Sustainable Improvements
Welcome to Up and to the Right, the no-nonsense podcast where we blend your passion with proven business principles and practical tips, empowering you to create the impact and success you envision.
Hosted by Stephen Krausse, the show covers what matters to small business owners, startups, and people interested in becoming entrepreneurs. No buzzwords and no hyped-up trends!
A graduate of Colorado State University's College of Business, Stephen has an academic background that compliments over 25 years of business operations and management experience. He started his first business as a freshman in college in 1987, recording and producing demo tapes for local bands. Since that time, he’s been involved with numerous successful small businesses, including the operation and management of a niche high-tech company with customers and suppliers worldwide.
As a business professional by education and trade, he works with select business owners to blend their passion with proven principles, giving them the edge they need to achieve their unique impact. Stephen is always researching new products, ideas, and innovations - consuming content through audiobooks, podcasts, and online resources, and connecting with other professionals locally and abroad.
Now he’s sharing practical tips and ideas to help you get real work done. This isn’t about fancy solutions requiring a considerable investment or changing how you do your best work. You’ll discover ideas that will allow you to integrate proven principles into the way you already get things done. You’ll get practical ideas to easily replicate, modify, and integrate into what you already do.
Up and to the Right covers topics like getting value out of a business model, outsourcing, hiring for small businesses, working across platforms, productivity and efficiency hacks, building revenue streams, communication and planning, and more! Some episodes will have related downloads available from the show notes page below or unique segments with guests who have industry-specific tips that would be helpful.
It’s time to roll up your sleeves and get to work. Listen to Up and to the Right with Stephen Krausse today.
