Category Archives for "Business Models"

I’ve just finished reading Ron Wiens’ excellent book, Building Organizations: that Leap Tall Buildings in a Single Bound, 2012. If I understood it correctly, the role of a leader is to build an organization that (eventually) won’t need him or her to function effectively. You can do this, according to Ron, by building, EI, emotional intelligence, RI, relationship […]

You know what I’ve found? Getting clarity in your life matters (a lot). Here’s how I help people do that (feel free to pass this on): [I highlighted the big depression-fighters in my experience in bold]

At a recent Ottawa mayoral candidates debate, the issue of what to do (if anything) about Airbnb came up. Current mayor Jim Watson pointed to a 4% tax now levied on Airbnb rentals somewhat leveling the field between professionally-run hotels and sharing economy-based ones. Mr Watson also said, “When you move into a neighborhood, you expect […]

Here’s an email I sent to a client of mine about the role of amortization in developing and financing a real estate portfolio “effortlessly” in a rinse and repeat/perpetual motion machine kind of way. See below. Chris, you are 100% right. No, actually, 1,000% right 😊 Here’s a case I looked at for clients of […]

My wife received a bill from Rogers via snail mail this morning. She groaned when she saw yet another invoice from this firm. So, I asked myself this question: How could I (if I worked at Rogers) make Dawn squeal with delight every time we sent her an invoice?

Engineers say a perfect machine is one with no moving parts. I’d add to that: Complexity is the enemy of success in all endeavors. How could we apply those twin concepts to business modeling? Here’s how: By answering the question–can we reduce the complexity of operating an organization, any business even charity, not-for-profit or foundation, […]

Where buildings in North America meet grade, we tend to throw away its value. How’s that? Every time you open a building at grade to the outside, every time, you add both functionality and value. It’s easier to access apartments, condos, retirement residence suites/rooms, stores, offices co-working spaces, makerspaces, you name it and it makes […]

Fifteen minutes outside of Olhão, Portugal, you will find a 30-hectare olive oil plantation that combines sustainable farming practices with agritainment. Most mornings around 10 or 10:30 am, a Monterosa (favorably reviewed on TripAdvisor–62 reviews, five stars) staffer will take a group of around 30 (made up of locals on holiday and tourists) around the […]

I actually don’t like going away but, when I do, I find that things which were complicated suddenly aren’t. Here’s what I do to gain perspective: -exercise 4-6 times per week (20 minutes after I finish, problems miraculously “solve themselves”) -“move the furniture,” which means getting up from your desk and walking around—for example, when […]

Don’t worry. Your customers and clients will teach you all you have to know, says Horse Country Campground founder Walter Willett.   In a kind of reverse Socratic methodology, all you have to do to create a world-class enterprise is to begin. Over time, your customers and clients will ask you all the right questions […]

Best Buy, according to most prognosticators, should be dead by now… bulldozed by Amazon, but it’s not. How did they turn the trick? They changed their business model. If you are in a products business these days, you will want to add services. If you’re in the service biz, you’ll want to consider adding products. […]

Why do private sales often suck? Well, here’s an email I received from a client of mine (a significant and sophisticated) real estate investor explaining why this may be so: A neighbor of mine is elderly; he lost his wife a few years ago. She was a fine person. Having said this, however, I have […]