Small Business Growth

skill tags competency models team management

Moving Beyond Competency Models: A Practical Guide to Skill Tags for Modern Managers

Discover why traditional competency models fail small businesses and how granular skill tags offer a more effective alternative for team development.

7 min Nov 4, 2025

hiring mistakes cost of bad hire recruitment strategy

The Empty Chair Paradox: why silence is better than chaos

Learn to calculate the true cost of an empty seat versus a bad hire. A guide for business owners on managing the stress of being understaffed without making a hiring mistake.

Ben Schmidt 7 min Aug 13, 2025

Pareto Principle 80/20 rule business productivity

The Illusion of Motion: Why Being Busy is the Most Dangerous Form of Laziness

A deep dive into the Pareto Principle for small business owners. We analyze why we gravitate toward low-value tasks and how to ruthlessly identify and execute the 20% of work that drives 80% of revenue.

Ben Schmidt 7 min Jul 5, 2025

AI in business hybrid management centaur strategy

The Centaur Strategy: Why the Future of Leadership is Human Plus Machine

Discover why the hybrid model of AI-augmented management is not just a trend but a survival strategy for small business owners facing burnout.

Ben Schmidt 8 min Jun 12, 2025

barista training latte art consistency coffee shop management

What is the Barista's Perfect Pour?

A guide for coffee shop managers on balancing latte art, speed, and complex menu memorization while building a culture of trust and high performance.

6 min Mar 27, 2025

business automation no-code tools workflow efficiency

The Robot is Not Coming for Your Job: It is Coming for Your Boredom

A practical guide to business automation for small teams. We explore why humans are bad at repetitive tasks, how automation reduces burnout, and the first steps to freeing your team for high-value creative work.

Ben Schmidt 6 min Jan 15, 2025

soft skills training employee retention strategies leadership development

The Hard ROI of Soft Skills: why communication training stops your best people from quitting

Discover why investing in soft skills training is a critical retention strategy. Learn how communication, empathy, and leadership development reduce turnover and boost business growth.

Ben Schmidt 6 min Jan 8, 2025

business optimism future of work small business growth

The Optimist’s Guide to the Future: Why This Is the Golden Age for Builders

Despite the global noise and economic uncertainty, we explore why the convergence of technology, talent, and tools makes this the single best moment in history to build and lead a team.

Ben Schmidt 7 min Jan 2, 2025

The SOP they learned six months ago is already fading.

Death of the Binder