Jay Sachetti joined Jeff O’Brien, partner at Husch Blackwell and Dyanne Ross-Hanson, president of Exit Planning Strategies talked about the market for mergers and acquisitions, exit planning opportunities for companies that don’t end up for sale and how companies can maximize their eventual sale price during an early October panel at the first Upsize on Tap event at Summit Brewing Co. in St. Paul.
When the state Legislature passed a law requiring employers to provide paid leave and safe time for employees, Justin Bieganek started hearing differing details from friends, colleagues and peers.
Like most people, I learned my first lessons about business (and life) from my parents.
“Do what you love and the money will follow,” my mother always said, good advice for an aspiring reporter. My first full-time magazine job paid $13,000, so it’s lucky I loved it.
My dad provided the counterpoint. “Happiness doesn’t buy money,” he liked to say, usually when shelling out major dough for spectacular experiences for the family.
They took all six of us on a trip abroad in 1980, when the “Europe-on-$10-a-day” books were popular. He joked that he wanted to write his own book: “Europe on $1,000 a day.”
Since then the lessons keep coming, and I continue to appreciate most of them. Since starting Upsize magazine three years ago with Wes Bergstrom and Jonathan Hankin, many people have shared advice.
“What do you mean you don’t have any money to invest?” said Cindy Neis, a local business owner and consultant. I had asked her advice early on, when considering whether to buy a minority stake in Upsize or simply to edit it as an independent contractor.
“Do you own a home? Do you have a car? Do you have credit cards? Can’t anyone lend you money?” Her lesson was that employees never bet their own money on their future. Owners do, whatever it takes and however risky.
There was the local lawyer who left a message on my voice mail, just after we launched in 2002: “Magazines fail as often as restaurants,” he said cheerfully.
After those encouraging words he added his pitch: “I’d LOVE to contribute articles to Upsize. Call me.” The lesson I learned: People say many discouraging things to small-business owners, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll fail.
Now I want to learn about your lessons, the serious, the poignant, the important and the humorous alike. With the launch of our new contest, the Upsize Lifeline Awards & Forecast, presented by accounting firm KDV, Upsize magazine is seeking the best lessons learned by local small-business owners.
We want you to tell us about an important piece of business advice you’ve received, who taught you the lesson, and what impact the lesson has had. Those selected will get the chance to tell Minnesota about the lesson and thank the person who taught it, whether lawyer, banker, parent, spouse or best friend.
I’ll close with one last lesson I learned, taught by a former boss, the publisher of a glossy magazine in Denver.
“We’re really going to miss your typing skills,” he bellowed in his farewell remarks, delivered at my going-away party.
It’s true I can type really fast, upwards of 140 words a minute at my best. But that wasn’t the sendoff I wanted after spending three years editing and writing for his magazine, I thought spectacularly.
Then again it’s a lesson both my parents, or anyone from sturdy Midwestern stock, would be likely to embrace: Sure you can shoot for fantastic goals, but it never hurts to have a practical skill just in case.
— Beth Ewen
Editor and co-founder
Upsize Minnesota
be***@*******ag.com
