Your Attention Is Being Stolen
Marcus Aurelius on what to do about it It was 8 PM and I was still at the office. I’d been busy all day. Jumping between patient visits, staff issues, Medicare documentation, and endless emails. My phone kept buzzing with notifications. My computer kept dinging with messages. I was exhausted and couldn’t point to anything […]
The Power of No
Marcus Aurelius on what less actually buys you Sometimes the hardest business lessons come from saying yes when you should have said no. I learned this expanding my home health agency into a new geographic area. On paper it looked perfect. The numbers worked. The need was there. That area eventually grew to represent half […]
Is Your Business Really Living?
Marcus Aurelius on what existence isn’t “Just teach her daughter an exercise program and get out of there.” Those words changed a lot for me. I was working at a so-called nonprofit home health agency, caring for a patient who had suffered a massive stroke. She could only use one side of her body. She […]
Run Your Business Like It’s Your Last Day
Marcus Aurelius on practicing every day like it could be the one Bobby was the kind of doctor everyone wants to have. His patients loved him. His staff loved him. We loved working with him. Even in an age of rushed appointments and assembly-line medicine, he took time with his patients. He had a stellar […]
Doing Good Is Good Business
Marcus Aurelius on what business is for “I just want to go out to eat again.” When my patient first told me this, I could hear the longing in his voice. It had been over a decade since he’d been able to go to a restaurant. He wasn’t asking for a miracle. Just a simple, […]
A Business That Makes You Happy
Marcus Aurelius on what success is actually for You started your business for a reason. Freedom, maybe. The chance to work on your own terms, choose the projects that pull you in, spend more time with your family. Or financial security. Or the chance to make a real difference for the people you serve. Somewhere […]
The One Thing That’s Always in Your Control
Marcus Aurelius on where your power is Two business owners face the same problem. Their biggest client suddenly leaves. One panics. They scramble to replace the lost revenue, making rushed decisions that weaken the business further. They cut prices. They chase any client they can find. They spend sleepless nights stressing over what went wrong. […]
Acting with Intention
Marcus Aurelius on how to use the time you have Most owners I talk to assume they’ll always have more time. Time to scale (eventually). Time to launch the next thing (maybe next year). Time to figure it all out (once things slow down). They don’t. The owners who grow and the owners who stay […]
Win by Focusing
Sun Tzu on concentration as strategy “And if I concentrate while he divides, I can use my entire strength to attack a fraction of his.” — Sun Tzu You start a business eager to serve as many customers as possible. At first it seems like a smart move. More customers should mean more sales. As […]
Win Where Others Aren’t Competing
Sun Tzu on hitting where they aren’t looking “Go into emptiness, strike voids, bypass what he defends, hit him where he does not expect you. To be certain to take what you attack is to attack a place the enemy does not protect.” — Sun Tzu You lower your prices. Customers still choose the bigger […]
Leverage Changes Everything
Sun Tzu on the ball rolling downhill “Thus one need use but little strength to achieve much… one must take advantage of the situation exactly as if he were setting a ball in motion on a steep slope. The force applied is minute but the results are enormous.” — Sun Tzu Running a small business […]
Building Unstoppable Momentum
Sun Tzu on how the flow gets strong “When torrential water tosses boulders, it is because of its momentum.” — Sun Tzu In a business, the heaviest obstacles aren’t usually moved by brute force. They’re moved by momentum. Like water gaining strength as it flows, momentum builds over time and starts to carry things that […]