Business Insights

Listen to the radio interview with Ken Tencer of SpyderWorks.

Interview with Ken Tencer, CEO of SpyderWorks & co-author of “The 90 Percent Rule”
SpyderWorks is a strategic design firm. They are “stratical” – a blend of strategic and tactical.

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Insights from this interview with Ken Tencer

The 90% rule is based on doing the things that you are 90% capable. That lowers risk and cost.
I came from a family of entrepreneurs and always believed that I would be and entrepreneur.
The book is perfect for anyone who wants a practical way to grow their business.
The risk test is – could it put me out of business?
Don’t try to hit home runs.
Look for what the next 10% can offer you.
It’s not necessary to invent anything.

Who is this book for?

This book is a must read for entrepreneurs and business owners who are thinking about their succession plan or drafting an exit strategy. Every business owner must plan for that transition. Unfortunately not everyone does. If you don’t plan your business transition someone else will make the decisions for you.


What is the urgency?

This book sounds a timely warning to the baby boomers within that group. Many of those business owners will be forced into a fire sale. Baby boomers have affected so many aspects of our culture and economy as they’ve grown older.

If you are a boomer you might recall the mortgage rates of the eighties hitting the high teens. I felt lucky to lock in at 14% for five years. Prices skyrocketed when boomers were ready to buy – and they will plummet when they are ready to sell.

This book offers some startling statistics. One that might chill you is “71% of business owners plan to retire within the next 10 years, yet only 7% have a written plan for succession.”

Imagine the financial, emotional and health tolls on the unprepared business owners. Perhaps the most traumatic issue for entrepreneurs is to let go of the business they built. That’s the case at the best of times. Imagine the pandemic when the massive baby boomer crowd decides to exit en mass. That’s the crisis.


Why should you read it?

The Business Transition Crisis is a good read for any business owner even if the only thing it does for you is to help you recast your business as a product – not as your baby. That major perspective shift is necessary for you to begin and successfully complete your transition.

The book continues to offer perspective checks and guidelines for the successful business owner. You can follow this systematic approach to prepare yourself and your business for successful transition. Even if you think that it’s too early to start planning your transition it will be worthwhile to read the book, address the questions and start preparing yourself for the process.

The book is written in a business-owner-talking-to-business-owner candor. Wayne Vanwyck offers you insights from his experience as an owner of three businesses. That includes lessons from his mistakes and successes. He reveals his own painful wakeup call that forced him to address his business transition.

The author provides insights from the interviews that he conducted with hundreds of business owners across North America. The excerpts from some of these conversations are revealing. Some examples will make you cheer while others might sadden you. In every case the lessons are clear and simple. This is reflective experience speaking to you.

If you are thinking about your business transition then this book is a powerful yet clear and simple step-by-step guide to personal and financial success. You are presented with probing questions that must be addressed at each step of the process. There are checklists, action lists and tips.

There’s help on how to build your transition team and ensure that all the relevant players are working for your best interest. The book introduces the intriguing concept of working with a Business Transition Coach. This is a role that offers more comprehensive support than one would receive from a lawyer, banker, accountant or business broker.

The book lists and explores several options of retiring from your business. In each case there are important steps you must follow to ensure the success of your health, financial security and important relationships.

The Business Transition Crisis is a book that every business owner needs to read before they retire so they can retire successfully.


© George Torok is the host of the radio show Business in Motion. He has interviewed over 450 business leaders. You can listen to those interviews free at http://www.businessinmotion.ca/ You can also listen to those Podcasts on iTunes. George is a motivational business speaker. Arrange a speech or presentation at http://www.business-speaker.biz/ or call 905-335-1997



Book review by George Torok

Learn more about The Business Transition Crisis

Tip of the hat to Carol Roth for compiling this list of "163 Pieces of the Best Business Advice".

Good tips, ideas and reminders for anyone in business.

Also it's a clever way to create good content - ask other experts. It's the Chicken Soup model of writing.

Yes, I contributed. My advice is below for you.


109. Best Place to Invest?

When I started my business I left my corporate job with a separation payout. They were downsizing. I visited my financial planner and asked how to best use that money- pay down my mortgage, invest in mutual funds or stocks? He first asked me to explain my new business which I had started part time two years earlier. His advice was to invest the money in my business because that would give me the best return over the next few years. I followed that advice. It was good advice.

Thanks to: George Torok of Power Marketing.

And here are some pieces of advice that resonated with me



2. Wise Words from Henry Ford

While I never met Henry Ford (I'm too young to have known him), his words live on and have inspired me on many a day:Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right.Believing I could start and grow my business played a huge role in the success I am now enjoying. Thoughts become things. What thoughts are YOU thinking?

Thanks to: Randi Busse of Workforce Development Group, Inc..


9. I'm Anxious Today-- Excellent!

When you have your own business, you will never have the "right" amount of work: there will always be too much or too little. Therefore, you will always be anxious. The trick is to stop thinking of anxiety as a bad thing. Instead, say to yourself, "I'm anxious today- excellent! This means I'm alive." Thinking of anxiety as one more form of energy-- fuel-- keeps you focused, committed, and excited about achieving your goals day-to-day.

Thanks to: Frances Cole Jones of author of "The Wow Factor".


25. Attention
Pay attention to the things you can control, not to the things you cannot control.

Thanks to: John Pulsifer of Jolly John Auto City.


37. Create an Advisory Board

The best business advice I received when starting my company - Loyalty Factor LLC - was to create an advisory board of senior-level individuals who believed in me, and the business model. The board had to include marketing, sales and financial experts. I was surrounded by experts in all aspects of a business and had the support system to encourage and energize me to exceed my goals and objectives. Capitalize on other people's experiences and expertise to strengthen your own.

Thanks to: Dianne Durkin of Loyalty Factor, LLC.


105. Sweat the Little Things.

My grandfather was a craftsman and an artist. His business was to make things look good. He told me that if you don't sweat the little things, then the big picture will suck.This bit of advice isn't simply about "paying attention to the details," but this is more about having the business discipline to be meticulous about the aesthetic, the functional and even the peripheral pieces that inevitably contribute to whole of the business.The little things are what really matter.

Thanks to: Dave Racine of Pierce Cleaning.


134. Stay Dispassionate

Tip: Nothing is as good or as bad as it seems at first. I received this tip from a friend. One of the most important things in managing a business is maintaining your equanimity, not over-reacting to situations (positive or negative). Many times we faced critical problems like key contractors leaving at crucial moments in product development, issues that could have sunk us if we didn’t manage it properly. But by maintaining an unemotional approach, we turned the problems to our advantage.

Thanks to: Gaurav Bazaz of Pravega Inc..


Here's the full list of 163 Pieces of the Best Business Advice

Here's the Carol Roth site


George Torok

Host of the weekly radio show Business in Motion

Listen to Business in Motion Podcasts

Listen to Business in Motion on iTunes

iPad killer app #2: fixing meetings
By Seth Godin

Here's an app that pays for 12 iPads the very first time you use it. Buy one iPad for every single chair in your meeting room... like the projector and the table, it's part of the room.


I recently sat through a 17 hour meeting with 40 people in it (there were actually 40 p
eople, but it only felt like 17 hours.). That's a huge waste of attention and resources.

Here's what the app does (I hope someone will build it): (I know some of these features require a lot of work, and some might require preparation before the meeting. Great! Perhaps then the only meetings we have will be meetings worth having, meetings with an intent to produce an outcome). I can dream...


1. There's an agenda, distributed by the host, visible to everyone, with time of start and stop, and it updates as the meeting progresses.

2. There's a timer, keeping things moving because it sits next to the agenda.


3. The host or presenter can push an image or spreadsheet to each device whenever she chooses.

4. There's an internal back channel that the host can turn on, permitting people in the room to chat privately with each other. (And the whole thing works on internal wifi, so no internet surfing to distract!)


5. There's a big red 'bored' button that each attendee can push anonymously. The presenter can see how many red lights are lighting up at any give time.

6. There's a bigger green 'GO!' button that each attendee can push anonymously. It lets the host or presenter see areas where more depth is wanted.


7. There's a queue for asking questions, so they just don't go to the loudest, bravest or most powerful.

8. There's a voting mechanism.


9. There's a whiteboard so anyone can draw an idea and push it to the group.

10. There's a written record of all activity created, so at the end, everyone who attended can get an email digest of what just occurred. Hey, it could even include who participated the most, who asked questions that others thought were useful, who got the most 'boring' button presses while speaking...


11. There's even a way the host can see who isn't using it actively.
Can you imagine how an hour flies by when everyone has one of these in a meeting? How focused and exhausting it would all be?
$500 each, you'll sell 50,000...

PS no one built the first one yet. Sigh.

Seth Godin
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I'm with Seth on this. I hate meetings because people run them poorly and hence waste time and aggravate others.

George Torok

Host of Business in Motion

Business Speaker