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.
[unleashed]
PASSION AND PRINCIPLES may be overused words in business, but you feel their power when either is unleashed.
Consider Nyantu Bolo, the owner of Essentials 4 Fitness and this month?s cover story. Upsize writer Andrew Tellijohn reports he could practically see Bolo?s passion leaping from his chest.
?I love it and I can?t give up what I?m doing for anything,? Bolo told Upsize, but that was stating the obvious by the time he had given an hour-long interview.
Bolo helps clients get off the couch and into the gym, and he believes in being a role model.
?My body fat stays at 4 percent year-round. It sounds cocky and arrogant, but people look to me and see me as an icon of fitness, at least in here,? he says.
?I think that?s important as a leader. In a leadership role you?ve got to practice what you preach.?
Bolo?s business is still tiny, a single gym in northeast Minneapolis, and his exuberance for expansion needs to be matched with financing and operating know-how. But you wouldn?t bet against him, as Tellijohn writes.
Peace Coffee?s story, also in this month?s issue, demonstrates how adhering to principles can help build a business. The Minneapolis company sells fair-trade, certifiably organic coffee, delivering it by bicycle whenever practical and by biodiesel-fueled van whenever not.
The company?s new CEO, Lee Wallace, and its long-time employees believe in setting high standards, and especially in keeping them high, which can be tough to do as daily operations begin to wear away the ideals.
But the not-for-profit company keeps hard-nosed business principles in mind as well as the lofty, making for an interesting study.
For example, they emphasize customer service, with hand-written notes going along with orders, and speedy turnaround, with fresh coffee being delivered within a day of roasting.
They demand disciplined operations, because they must commit to a price paid for coffee well in advance of when they sell it, and if spending on marketing or other items gets out of line they?ll lose money.
They believe in being first, as they say they were in the Twin Cities, and being 100 percent committed to their product, because they say it gives them an advantage over much bigger players that have converted more lately and less completely to the fair-trade cause.
Wallace believes in a holistic approach to running Peace Coffee. She calls for attention to a ?triple bottom line,? including ?people, planet and profit.?
I hope their stories will fuel your passion for running principled, profitable companies.
? Beth Ewen
editor and co-founder
Upsize Minnesota
be***@*******ag.com
