Emerge Dynamics Podcast

We’re continuing our conversation about how us business owners can improve as individuals, and today’s theme is that how you spend your time really matters. We’re bringing in two concepts: The Rainmaker’s Dilemma, and the “Value Ladder” from the book “Time Really Is Money: How to Work for $5,000 Per Hour” by Rob Slee. Rob writes that in addition to the corporate ladder, there’s also a...

There’s so much going on these past few weeks that affects business owners, so today we’re taking a pause from our recent topics to talk about this current environment instead. Suddenly banks are failing, so we’ll get into what’s behind those along with the continuously increasing interest rates. When looking back at the past 50 years or so, interest rates are not that high. We’ve all become so ac...

In today’s episode we’re diving into our email inbox. Checking out the inbox is a good indicator of how someone is balancing working on the business versus in the business. By looking into someone’s inbox, you can get a good idea of the activities those individuals are working on throughout the day. That, however, doesn’t indicate productivity. “A World Without Email” is a leap into the future. Mo...

Curious to know what helps businesses emerge from their peers? Documenting your processes is key. This requires discipline by looking at the consistent application of processes within your business. You must have full documentation, and then train off of that to systematize the way your processes flow. This is optimal for growth.   Looking deeper, this relates more to execution, planning, and...

The customer journey is so important, but even more so during a downturn. There needs to be clarity for the customer about what services and products you’re providing. Having this ensures you’re making that experience as amazing as possible. Alongside that experience, it’s an opportunity to make improvements. With more insight, you can begin to look at what each customer’s individual needs are. It...

Today’s episode in our series about growing through a downturn is about acquisitions. This can be a great way to grow, but great caution must still be exercised. Doing an acquisition into an industry that usually falls deeply during a downturn could be a big problem. We may or may not be in a recession, but if you’re a business that has been focused on things like strategy and building a strong cu...

We’re continuing our series about continuing to grow during a downtown today. But, actually, sometimes you might not be able to do very much growing. You may have to just focus on sustaining yourself, which means preserving cash. Of course it’s better to grow, but maintaining the status quo before figuring out exactly what you’re going to do is sometimes necessary. Recent data in February 2023 abo...

In this episode, the series on growing your business through a downturn continues. This topic is very relevant to what’s happening in the current economy. Planning strategically and looking ahead will help you stay proactive so that you don’t just survive economic hardship, but thrive throughout it. What people need to know is that whether a recession is coming or not, money is still being printed...

Curious to look ahead at how an economic downturn might impact your business? Looking ahead is the first step to being prepared. When a downturn starts, the mainstream narrative explains that a recession begins when consumers stop spending, as if all consumers suddenly wake up one day and decide not to spend money. Looking deeper, there is a reason consumers decide to stop spending less. Further t...

Can you continue growing your business through the downturn? It would be great to be able to predict what’s going to happen in the economy next week, next month, and next year. But when it comes doesn’t matter—the fact remains that at some point, there will be a downturn in the economy. The real-time, first party data shows margin compression at the top of 2023, especially in certain industries. S...

In this episode of Emerge Dynamics, we’re wrapping up our discussion about Web 3.0. You can be sure that Web 3.0 is going to be impacting business owners everywhere in a very real way, especially when it comes to creating contracts, decentralization of technology, and other digital expansions. What is a smart contact? A smart contract sets specific parameters to account for things that might happe...

Let’s talk about technology. Specifically, blockchain technology and how it is going to impact business owners. This new technology, including Web 3.0 and cryptocurrency, will change the way you interact with clients and other businesses. When the web was first introduced as Web 1.0, it brought a lot of excitement to business owners because it provided a new means of transacting business. Addition...

Today we’re concluding a three-part conversation focusing on money. If you missed parts one and two, you’ll want to go back to previous episodes for a deeper understanding of money mechanics. This topic is so important to be familiar with if you run a business. For a long time, societies have run on a central banking system, and there is a lot of money being printed all over the world. Our current...

This episode of picks up from the last one where we began a discussion about money and Web 3.0. Alternatives to traditional money have been increasing in popularity, and if business owners want to stand out from their competitors, it’s important to know why and how they work. Gold was the top choice to use as money until people started realizing the pitfalls of using it: it’s heavy and it’s unsafe...

In this series of episodes of Emerge Dynamics we’re diving into a new, highly relevant topic: Web 3.0. The next level of the internet and how it influences transactions is going to have a large impact on business owners everywhere. Within this evolution, you’ll hear other possibly new terms such as blockchain, decentralized finance, smart contracts, and more. With all these forthcoming changes, it...

One of the most impactful aspects of business is customer service. It’s a topic with depth, and therefore may be unpacked further in later episodes. In today’s episode, David leads with a story he recently shared with his kids that relates to this topic. If you go to YouTube and search “United Breaks Guitars,” you’ll come across a music video about a musician who checks his guitar with his other l...

In this Thanksgiving episode of Emerge Dynamics, we’re talking about what we’ve covered so far in this podcast, what we’ll be covering in the near future, and what we’re thankful for. Although the podcast is fairly new, it has welcomed some amazing guests so far. There’s also been a lot of talk about business drivers, valuation, and negotiations. Moving forward, we can’t wait to circle back and ta...

Partners worldwide is an organization that has a mission of fighting poverty with business. If we believe we are doing something good for the community with our business then it would be a natural extension of that thought that business can also do good for those living in poverty. Eric recently attended Partners Worldwide’s annual summit. There were Several hundred in the audience as well a...

In this episode, David and Eric will be discussing if now is a good time to start thinking about buying that competitor you’ve been thinking about. This episode builds upon our previous series on valuation and the current economic situation.  Today we are seeing more mainstream articles about how we are either already in a recession or getting ready to go into a recession. To speak the langu...

In this episode we’re joined by the charismatic and creative Austin Sherman, who co-founded a kombucha business from scratch. Like any business owner, he’s seen his share of ups and downs, but they led to an exit to a large multinational company. Austin shares his entire journey building and exiting from Big Easy Bucha. As a child, Austin was very shy. Over time, he was put into situations that fo...

Today we discuss working with equity investors. Small business owners can be hesitant to bring in equity investors, but there can be good reasons to consider this path. Equity capital is almost always more expensive than debt capital, but it can enable you to grow much faster than you otherwise would have. Join us as we discuss how to talk with potential equity investors, the importance of having...

In this episode, David and Eric link the discussion of financial analysis to making banks want you. There can be good cases for using other people’s money to help accelerate your growth. There is so much confusion with businesses about what banks’ objectives and restrictions are. We clarify this before diving into financial analysis. If you have three income statement balance sheet and...

In last week’s episode, David and Eric talked about ROA and ROA and why it’s important to grow your margin, but not at the expense of ROA. In today’s episode David and Eric discuss Financial Forecasting. While many seek a tool to help them see into the future, we believe this is a tool that should help you create the future. Let’s go into the future proactively and purposefully. The fi...

In this episode David and Eric return to unpacking the importance of Financial Analysis for a business. Today’s discussion will revolves around Return on Assets and Return on Equity – which involve numbers from both the Income statement and balance sheet. These two together are used in a powerful way to analyze business performance. Linking back to a previous episode on valuation: If Company A has...

On this episode we’re joined by Amy Bakay, founder of HR NOLA. HR NOLA is a human resources consulting business that offers both onsite and remote HR services. Diving right into the topic of HR is the perfect opportunity to circle back on and unpack an important component of strategic planning: the people on your team. Amy identified a need among startups as well as small and mid-size businesses t...