The Office That Grows Your Business

Beyond Six Sigma and Lean! Design your processes to facilitate real business growth, in both healthy and unhealthy economies Design for Operational Excellence defines why companies embark upon continuous improvement—and the true answer is not to improve efficiency, quality, or eliminate waste! The reason is to achieve Operational Excellence. Duggan, an established authority on OpEx, provides the design criteria and guidelines that enable you to grow your business organically by refocusing management’s attention from running the business to growing the business. Founded on eight key principles, this groundbreaking system facilitates the continuous flow of value into any operation—from customer service to sales to manufacturing. Kevin J. Duggan is a renowned speaker, executive mentor, and educator in applying advanced lean techniques to achieve Operational Excellence and the author of two books on the subject: Creating Mixed Model Value Streams and The Office That Grows Your Business—Achieving Operational Excellence in Your Business Processes. As the Founder of the Institute for Operational Excellence, the leading educational center on Operational Excellence, and Duggan Associates, an international training and advisory firm, Kevin has assisted many major corporations worldwide, including United Technologies Corporation, Caterpillar, Pratt & Whitney, Singapore Airlines, IDEX Corporation, GKN and Parker Hannifin. A recognized expert on Operational Excellence, Kevin is a frequent keynote speaker, master of ceremonies, and panelist at international conferences, and has appeared on CNN and the Fox Business Network.

The companion volume to the public television series explains what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur.

The book, filled with case studies and examples, is designed to support the development of a growth strategy for owner managed businesses by providing frameworks, ideas, inspiration, and a series of assignments.

The Wall Street Journal Bestseller For so many entrepreneurs, running a small business ended up looking different than they imagined. They’re stressed, discouraged, and not confident in their plan for growth. In How to Grow Your Small Business, Donald Miller gives entrepreneurs a 6-step plan to grow their businesses so they produce dependable, predictable results. Using the exact steps you’ll learn in this book, Donald Miller grew his small business from four employees working out of a basement to a 15 million dollar operation, increasing revenue sixfold in just six years. As Miller grew his own business from the ground up, he realized nobody had put together a simple, step-by-step playbook for growing a business. That book didn’t exist. Until now. In this book, you’ll learn the 6 steps to grow a successful small business and create a playbook to implement them- your Flight Plan. When you have a completed Flight Plan in hand, you can stop drowning in the details and spend more time doing the things you truly love- in your business and your life. In How to Grow Your Small Business, you’ll learn how to: Cast a vision for your company that includes three economic priorities Clarify your marketing message Install a sales framework that makes your customers the hero Optimize your product offering Run a management and productivity playbook that aligns your entire team. Use 5 checking accounts to manage your cash flow If you’re ready to experience freedom, flexibility, and growth for your business, How to Grow Your Small Business is the book you’ve been waiting for.

From the ABC hit show "Shark Tank," this book-filled with practical advice and introductions from the Sharks themselves-will be the ultimate resource for anyone thinking about starting a business or growing the one they have. Full of tips for navigating the confusing world of entrepreneurship, the book will intersperse words of wisdom with inspirational stories from the show. Throughout the book, readers will learn how to: Determine whether they're compatible with the life of a small business owner, shape a marketable idea and craft a business model around it, plan for a launch, run a business without breaking the bank (or burning themselves out), create a growth plan that will help them handle and harness success, and pitch an idea or business plan like a pro. Responding to the fans' curiosity about past show contestants, readers will also find approximately 10 "Where Are They Now" boxes in which they learn what happened to some of the most asked-about and/or most popular guests ever to try their luck in front of the Sharks-and what they learned in the process.

A woman looking to retire said to author and valuation expert Tim McDaniel, “I need to sell my business for $2.5 million to support my country club lifestyle.” The reality was that her business was worth $750,000. How could she have been so wrong? As McDaniel—a veteran of over 2,000 valuation engagements and dozens of M&A deals—knows all too well, most owners work in their businesses and not on their businesses. He has seen the look of surprise on client faces far too often: “It’s only worth that much?!” In the rush of day-to-day work and decisions, business owners sometimes forget that their business is an investment—and something they need to watch, nurture, and care for just as they would a valuable antique vase or painting. Know and Grow the Value of Your Business: An Owner's Guide to Retiring Rich shows readers how to develop the “investment mindset,” value the business, bolster that value and maximize the return on their investment, and, finally, exit the business either through a sale to outside parties or by passing it on to family or other business insiders. This information couldn’t be more important: Typically, 60–80% of a business owner’s wealth is tied up in the value of the business. This is their most important asset, but they usually guess at its value and have no concrete plan to increase it. That’s why this book shows: The importance of treating your ownership interest in a business as something deserving near-daily attention. How a company is valued, and how others outside the business view that value. Steps you can take immediately to increase the value of your business. The different kinds of potential buyers and what attracts them. How to remove yourself from the day-to-day work of the business to plan for a brighter future. How to exit the business on your terms. In short, this book helps business owners get the most for their business when they decide it’s time to move on. What you’ll learn The importance of treating your ownership interest in a business the same way you would treat the shares in your stock portfolio: “Like an Investment.” How a company is valued, using terms that business owners can understand. The ways you can increase the value of your business and how an outside buyer will view your company. Existing exit strategies, and the advantages and disadvantages of each. Why timing might be the most critical component of your exit strategy. How to begin the succession planning process and knowing the critical components of a good succession plan. Who this book is for Those with businesses with revenues up to about $30 million—90 percent of all business owners in the U.S., according to the United States Census Bureau. This amounts to over 12 million businesses in the United States alone. The principles the book espouses will be just as valid in countries besides the U.S. except for the tax advice author Tim McDaniel offers. Table of Contents Country Club Lifestyle The Investment Mindset Valuation Fundamentals Valuation Approaches Growing Your Value Selling Your Business The Hardest Step: Succession Planning Know Your Exit Options Know your Exit Strategy Time for Action Epilogue IRS Revenue Ruling 59-60 Sample Engagement Letter Sample Due Diligence Request Sample Family Business Creed AICPA Statement on Standards for Valuation Services No. 1

While more and more companies are aggressively pursuing Operational Excellence by employing Six Sigma, Lean, and other continuous improvement methods, the concept has yet to be defined in a way that can be easily taught and applied, especially in industries other than manufacturing. This book fills that need. Beyond the Lean Office uses a compelling novel format to illustrate what it takes to create and sustain flow and Operational Excellence in the office. Readers learn as they follow the main character through initial attempts to correct late responses to a primary customer and the evolution to an approach based on Operational Excellence. The story illustrates the day-to-day issues that most organizations face in their pursuit of Operational Excellence. To achieve Operational Excellence, it takes more than just a strong leader with passion and drive. The key ingredient is practical knowledge that can be applied quickly and easily by following a process. This book supplies step-by-step guidance on how to move your office services from point A to point B. The practical insights and guidance presented here create a road map that can be shared with each employee to rapidly move your organization forward. All chapters also include a From the Author section that shares authoritative insights on the topic at hand. After reading this book, you will understand how to design and create self-healing flow that provides reliable, predictable output in the office and operates without the need for management intervention to deliver the services provided by the office. Instead, management focuses on the activities that grow your enterprise.