Author: Tony Novak
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Managing the accelerating pace of economic change
The most difficult thing I deal with day to day is coping with the accelerating pace of economic change. The constant ‘whatever I said last is out-of-date now’ cycle of business life is stressful. We tend to focus our attention on financial change but of course there are always other significant forces driving the financial…
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Meeting Donald Trump
Who is the most famous or infamous person you have ever met? Donald Trump. Twice, a long time ago, in Atlantic City. It was every bit as disturbing as you imagine. Trump had a small airline that flew from Bader Field outside Atlantic City to LaGuardia Airport in NYC. I had a multi-unit rental house…
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Hit and run
A hit and run of a pedestrian is a terrible crime that is too often ignored. The hit is often unintentional but the act of fleeing rather than helping is usually intentional. Often other crimes are connected. Police and prosecutors have a poor track record in these cases. Insurance companies vigorously fight claims made by…
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Concerned about the direction of professional services
We’ve decided to dumb down* the CPA exam format and simultaneously reduce formal educational requirements. I’m called stodgy for saying that the amount of new information and professional knowledge requirements for a competent CPA indicates that we should be moving in the other direction. Oregon is eliminating the requirement for new lawyers to take the…
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Personal opposition: active vs passive
When we confront things in life that we do not like or find distasteful, we have a choice between taking an active or a passive position in opposition. It occurs to me that understanding this distinction and contemplating the difference in our daily lives is an important part of our personal maturity. There are few…
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Summarizing our current situation
Let’s summarize: 1) We have a housing shortage, a worker shortage, a skills shortage, a savings shortage, and a growing cash flow shortage for the majority of middle class people. 2) The wage and income gap, however measured, has been widening almost every year for more than 50 years. 3) Government debt continues to grow.…
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A reflection on the lack of diversity among my business clients
Today I notice that my alma mater Villanova University, located in my former neighborhood, just named nine new members to its law school professional staff and included a headshot photo of each. Only one of the nine is an Anglo-Saxon man. That new hire ratio is quite a difference from my own new client ratio.…
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Marketing options for sole practitioner accounting practice
The background is posted here. A recent analysis of my business new client acquisition showed four things: 1) Virtually all new clients self-selected me after reading published online reviews. 2) By the time I became aware of them, usually by their telephone voice message and my returned phone call, there was no further sales process.…
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My unusual small business history
The purpose of this post is to provide a brief background into an unusual situation where I am soliciting feedback on marketing for my businesses. I launched a solo financial advisory practice focused on serving small businesses more than 30 years ago. I fell into niche of serving small business contractors since I had a personal…