Not an MLM Anymore or Less

Recently, a friend invited me to a local hotel to hear a presentation about a terrific work-at-home opportunity that reminded me of my former neighbor Carol. She always needed extra money, really wanted to help people and wanted to work from home. Every other month or so she would come over, bubbling with enthusiasm about some “great opportunity” she had been introduced to by new friends of hers. She couldn’t wait to “share it” with me. So I would get out my check book and ask, “How much this time, Carol?”

I always hoped one of those programs would work for her, as I made another contribution to her learning curve. As a former executive member of the American Marketing Association, my suspicions were always aroused when I would hear her repeat one of four statements that for years have been used to recruit people into Multi-Level Marketing [MLM]. What do you think?

1. [True] [False] The Wall Street Journal has said that by the year 2010, 60 to 70 percent of all goods and services would be sold through MLM.

2. [True] [False] Network marketing is taught at Harvard and Stanford business schools and in numerous other leading colleges and universities throughout the country.

3. [True] [False] Some 20 percent of all the millionaires in America were created through network marketing.

4. [True] [False] John Naisbitt, in his best-selling book, Megatrends, says network marketing is the wave of the future.

If you answered False to each of them, you are correct. If you answered Yes to any of them, you are certainly not alone. According to mlmwatch.org, the answer to each is False with a capital F. But you just can’t keep a good false statement down, as was the case with Carol.

The Multi-level marketing strategy is one in which a sales force is compensated not only for their personally generated sales, but also for the sales of others they recruit. That creates a downline of “distributors” and a hierarchy of multiple levels of compensation. Other terms for MLM include network marketing, direct selling and referral marketing.

MLM companies have been frequent subjects of criticism as well as the target of lawsuits. Herbalife, PrePaid Legal, Amway, Usana, and others have all spent time in court to defend themselves from claims brought against them, just as any other multi-billion dollar company. They have paid large financial settlements. They have also demonstrated that they are not fraudulent pyramid schemes.

Much of the criticism leveled against MLMs has focused on their similarity to illegal pyramid schemes, high initial start-up costs, and emphasis on recruitment of salespeople over actual sales, requiring salespeople to purchase and use the company's products. Cult-like enthusiasm techniques and exaggerated compensation schemes are not uncommon complaints either, especially from people who tried it but didn’t like it.

However, cases filed in United States Federal Court are quite different since verdicts can result in jail sentences, such as the Madoff verdict. Federal agencies get involved when the venire of legitimacy is removed from an MLM, exposing it as a pyramid scheme.

Some people believe that MLMs are nothing more than legalized pyramid schemes. So, what is the difference between a pyramid scheme and MLM? Pyramid schemes are a form of fraud.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation states, “Pyramid schemes . . . are marketing and investment frauds in which an individual is offered a distributorship or franchise to market a particular product. The real profit is earned, not by the sale of the product, but by the sale of new distributorships.”

The Securities and Exchange Commission says, “In the classic "pyramid" scheme, participants attempt to make money solely by recruiting new participants into the program. The hallmark of these schemes is the promise of sky-high returns in a short period of time for doing nothing other than handing over your money and getting others to do the same.”

The Federal Trade Commission warns, "Not all multilevel marketing plans are legitimate. Some are pyramid schemes. It’s best not to get involved in plans where the money you make is based primarily on the number of distributors you recruit and your sales to them, rather than on your sales to people outside the plan who intend to use the products."

The critical question for the FTC is, if I may paraphrase, do commissions come from selling the product or from selling the right to sell the product.

Ever hear of the Latin expression caveat emptor, let the buyer beware? It all boils down to you, as a consumer, to be wary of things that sound perhaps a bit too good to be true. Before you get out your check book and commit to raking in huge bucks for little extra effort in the comfort of your home, do some research first.

• Find and study the company’s track record
• Learn about the product(s)
• Ask some who, what, when, where, how questions
• Understand any restrictions, such as licensing
• Talk to other distributors (beware of shills)
• Use a friend or adviser as a neutral sounding board
• Take your time
• Think about whether this plan suits your talents and goals

As an income opportunity based on the mathematical idea of a pyramid, technically referred to as “an exponential expansion system”, MLMs have great emotional appeal to a growing number of people in our economy. Multi-Level marketing or Network Marketing opportunities appeal to a need for extra income for millions of households. Even so, regardless of celebrity endorsements, such systems promising financial salvation are not for everyone, especially for my former neighbor Carol.

Requiem for the May Company

Here was my Tweet. “After 85+ years, George S. May Company is no longer in business. Perhaps the consulting company should have hired outside consultants.” I could have left it at that, but in the last ten years of its existence, this once great company churned and burned so many consultants and small companies, either you or someone you know has been touched by it. It touched me. Now it is no more.

George S. May identified business as a set of algorithms and began his management consulting business in 1925 with a consulting project for a company that would become Sunbeam, the blender maker. His new Chicago based company did so well that it opened offices in New York and San Francisco. Despite the Great Depression, May Company history includes its posting revenue of $1 million in 1937, more than $15 million today.

May himself became best known for getting golf televised, among other things. Post war America was good for his company, which advertised “Business Engineering” in leading business magazines and journals. He died in 1962 leaving the company stock to his family. In 1966 the May Company left downtown Chicago for the suburb of Park Ridge, where the 41-thousand square-foot world headquarters is now closed and for sale, price $4 million. More about the “Ridge” in a moment.

In the ‘90s the May company hit the $100 million revenue mark and by 2000 it began operations in Mexico, under Donald J. Fletcher, its third President. In 2002, Israel Kushnir replaced Fletcher. According to one of the companies last press releases, “The company’s former president Israel Kushnir has left his post to pursue his own ventures, but the company is in the best of hands as Mrs. Kerry Sam Jacobs, George S May’s granddaughter is overseeing the transition to ensure prosperity as the company moves forward.”

That expression, “. . . left his post to pursue his own ventures,” is usually a ubiquitous way of saying, “You’re fired.” The company’s Managing Director, Paul Rouseau, a frequent Fox Business News personality, is also pursuing his own ventures as are many other former top executives who presided over the May Company’s financial collapse inherited by Jacobs and the May family lawyers in 2010.

As one of the replacement senior executives put it to me, in an email confirming the company’s demise, “I left at the beginning of the year, but it was a slow, painful end to a once great company. 2010 was like sitting on the deck of the Titanic watching people rearrange the deck chairs while the band played on.”

The Ridge building has a cornerstone: “1960.” Eisenhower, a golf enthusiast, was leaving office. Cadillacs were 22 feet long. Gasoline cost pennies. Business had boomed. Inside the conservative office building, a photo mural of golf’s greats inspired awe. I never knew whether to genuflect or salute when I entered and breathed in that 1960’s air.

It has been said that the Kushnir-Rouseau regime monitored every phone call and every email. Yelling was the preferred mode of communication. The way they saw it, clients needed to be controlled by analysts and consultants. Intimidation meant control.

Israel Kushnir made an impression on me in an awkward moment at the Ridge, as I stood outside the training building on a cigarette break during a conference with a colleague. The dapper and bald gent strode across the parking lot and pointed at me.

“Stop smoking,” he declared, briskly.

“Grow hair,” I exhaled.

He passed me, smiled and entered the building. My colleague bit his lip, trying not to laugh. “Do you know who that is?” he choked. “That’s the president of the company.”

Paul Rouseau convinced me to pursue my own interests that Christmas.

There were others who worked alongside Kushnir and Rouseau who got sacked, albeit too late for new management to save May. Apart from a large headquarters staff of executives and support personnel, there is a telemarketing staff, a field sales staff, a field survey service [analyst] staff, a field consulting staff and a smaller client service staff that is now looking for work around Park Ridge, Illinois.

The Better Business Bureau gave the George S. May International Company an F before the company shut down. The company had previously boasted the Bureau’s Excellence in Ethics Award. The BBB also gives an F to May company rival International Profit Associates and its alphabet named clone companies. IPA is also the target of litigation by the Illinois State Attorney General's Office, but that is another story for some other time.

Rippoff.com and many similar consumer rating sites have been on the May company’s case for years. At a client meeting in Sitka, Alaska, a May analyst, a consultant and I, as Project Director, were met by police, given a cease-and-desist order and individual property restraining orders after our client had gone online and read Rippoff. The office in Park Ridge did not appreciate my report, I can assure you.

Evidently, what had been called “the May way” quit working. But, you know that your business is in the wind when Wikipedia deletes your page. It is really kind of sad. Business Engineering failed. One can only wonder what the May family will do with 85+ years’ worth of project binders filled with meticulous documentation. It is a Titanic load of American small business history.

Article first published as Requiem for the May Company on Blogcritics.

Borders: Was Bigger Better?

What happened to Borders? It is a classic American business tale of rags to bankruptcy in little more than a generation. Their classic marketing plan, “Let’s Get Big,” made it happen. Here are some of the key details concerning it US operations.

Brothers Tom and Louis Borders founded their first bookstore in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 1971. With its book wholesaler sister company, Borders primarily serviced more independent book stores than its own book stores until 1989 when company management decided to expand. It did and it got bought.

Kmart had owned the mall-based book chain Waldenbooks since 1984 when it bought Borders in 1992. But not long after, Kmart faced management and stockholder problems with its acquisition, not to mention fierce competition from rival Barnes & Noble. So Kmart spun off Borders and by 2003 the new Borders Group had grown to 1249 stores using the Borders and Waldenbooks names, worldwide.

In 2004, Borders reached an agreement with Seattle's Best Coffee to operate cafés in its domestic superstores. In 2007, Borders installed digital video monitors in select stores and in 2009, it offered customers a free WiFi network.

Borders went international in 1997 with expansion into Asia and the UK. However, by the end of 2009, all of Borders directly owned overseas locations had been sold or closed. Only the franchise stores in Dubai, Malaysia and Oman remain open.

The company showed its last profit in 2006. On February 16, 2011, Borders announced that it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and that it would be closing up to 275 of its 642 bookstores. All of the stores to be closed would be superstores. Borders listed $1.275 billion in assets and $1.293 billion in debts in its filing. It employs approximately 19,500.

It can be argued that Borders failed to respond correctly as the retail book selling industry has evolved. It is also true that as book sales have been in decline, books and other media have become more available online.

But the real deal is perhaps more like consummate book buyer and college professor June Sullivan told me, outside of the closing Borders in Union City, California, “They began specializing in best sellers, put in easy chairs, and offer coffee and free Internet. So now they’re like a public library where you pay to buy used books.”

A similar fate happened to Circuit City, whose core business included knowledgeable sales people, but its corporate management decided to replace them with wage-and-hour clerks to cut overhead. As the retail electronics industry evolved, the competition, Best Buy, clobbered Circuit City.

From my point of view as a management consultant, Borders’ failure reflects the faulty business plan of “Let’s get big.” One can do that as long as one is true to the core business that made it successful in the first place and resists growth, even though the money looks good. Bigger isn’t always better.

# # #

originally published on Blogcritics as Borders: Was Bigger Better? February 20, 2011

I Talked to the Spouse

Sometimes we management consultants get caught up in the jargon of our profession – you know, the words that only another person in the same field uses that have special meaning only to them. Some consultants assume that our clients understand us as our peers do, so words like “strategic” or “implementation” and an entire lexicon from Six-Sigma get tossed about loftily, as if our clients are paying us for our vocabulary. Of course the more money we charge, the loftier that vocabulary can become. That is before we get to statistics and graphic analysis, always the life of the party.

Many consultants lose sight of the fact that our clients are looking to us to help them do something they do not know how to do and how to do everything else better. In running their businesses, just about the last thing our clients want is for us to give them large packs of paper to read after their day is done. In addition, there is so much written material available, it is almost too much. The job of a consultant is not to help his client read more stuff.

In preparing to update this website, I conducted an inventory of my clients over the past five years to see what leaped off the page at me. Doing a customer inventory is one of the practices I use with my clients when I am looking for more business. It helps define who I should be looking for so I can save both time and resources. Specifically, I was looking for what the clients with whom I had the most success had in common. What I found was so simple that it surprised me and I can sum it up in five simple words.

I talked to the spouse.

To be sure I talked to family members in addition, but the discovery is certainly consistent with the studies having to do with small businesses in this country. Here is the short version of those party favors having to do with US business. According to statistics reported by the University of Southern Maine's Institute for Family-Owned Business: “Some 35% of Fortune 500 companies are family-controlled. Family businesses account for 50% of U.S. gross domestic product. They generate 60% of the country's employment and 78% of all new job creation.” Unfortunately, “only one in three family businesses succeeds in making it from the first to the second generation.”

There are lots of reasons for that phenomenon, but I am willing to bet that communications – specifically that between the family members from one generation to the next – has something to do with it. But I will save that for another article at another time. I want to stick with my “talked to the spouse” theory. Sometimes, it’s a tough job, but someone has got to do it. Let me share a couple of examples.

One client neglected to tell his wife that he had called me in to help him get his business in shape. The business had grown from a hobby and generated over $2-million a year when I showed up. I tried to get my client to arrange a meeting among him, me, his wife and anyone else who might have a stake in the outcome of the consulting project. The client kept hedging.

“She doesn’t have anything to do with my business [decision],” he insisted. But I insisted harder and the client relented. The next morning I showed up at the business site early, hoping to be there ahead of my client so I could better make my case as to what I thought we should do. My client was waiting for me – not a good sign. Then I noticed the tears in his eyes, definitely not a good sign. As I learned, he had gone home to tell his wife about the meeting the outside consultant wanted to facilitate. She hit the proverbial ceiling and the name calling began. It turned out that she had been paying the bills for the client’s former hobby and had not agreed to have anyone come in to help, especially at the hourly rate I had to charge for it. Harsh words turned for the worse, pushed turned into shoves and at the point of my discovery, my client was on his way to court and a restraining order.

The company I worked for could not understand why I could not get a working agreement [a contract for services] signed.

On another occasion, I started a consulting project’s opening conference one morning with my husband and wife team client, my company’s business analysts and project consultant and I to have the meeting get shaky from the got-go. It was another tear jerker. The clients kept interrupting each other to tell us how their crummy business was tearing their marriage apart and that they thought they just wanted to sell out and that they no longer saw any point in having consultants in to help. Oh, I talked to the spouses, alright.

I stood up abruptly and said, “Knock it off, both of you, right now! Who do you think I am? A marriage counselor?” Actually, in that case, I was. I stuck out my hand to the husband to shake his hand.

“Stand up.” He did. “You are the President of a multi-million dollar, international company that has been in business almost 10 years, right?” He shook my hand and nodded affirmatively. “Then act like it! And you,” I said as I turned to Mrs. Client, “What did you do before you got sucked into this company disaster?” She told me she was a Registered Nurse. “Good. That’s what you are going back to after we are done with this project.”

Sure, it stunned both clients and my company colleagues. You can imagine their faces and, if you can’t, let’s just say there were jaws that bounced off the floor. But, as I say, I talked to the spouses. It turned out that the clients had been victims of embezzlement and Mrs. Client came in to take care of the books because of the trust issues involved. My team and I prevailed, by the way, and so far as I know the clients and company lived more happily after the project concluded.

I have lots of other tales I could tell you that emphasize the importance of consultants talking to spouses, parents and siblings involved in any business, whether they admit to being in the decision making process or not. For one thing, each one is impacted by business decisions one way or another. For another, valuable information can be obtained from sources that are not familiar with the day-to-day activities in a company. Besides those considerations, a consulting project can be killed before it starts if family members are not taken into account from the beginning of an engagement.

Family businesses face a lot of problems, the family itself being a potential one. The reason is that family members all have names, as opposed to position titles, which can be difficult for them to comprehend. Another issue has to do with boundaries. At what point do people cease to be family members and become employees? Is it at home, on their way to the business or at the door? And there are a host of other issues, which I will get to another time.

Let me wrap up here by noting that effective communication is the key to business success, whether the topics of communication are statistical data, like opinion survey results and balance sheets, or they are people issue, like promotion decisions or embezzlement. Large corporations governance looks after the interests of the company’s stock holders just as family businesses operations looks after the interests of the company’s stake holders. Family business owners must expect that for a consulting engagement to be successful, the professional consultant they retain is going to talk to their spouse.

# # #

originally published on tmackorg.com

Who's In Charge Here?

Whether you are a sole proprietor running a small company of family and friends or the president of a company that employs thousands of people, there is something called “depth of management.” It is similar to the military “chain of command” and can be diagramed in an organization chart. Research has shown that a supervisor is required for every three to five people performing a unit task. If there are three to five supervisors, they need a supervisor and so forth. The larger a company gets, the structure is more about managing the flow of information than the activities of employees, but supervision is supervision whether it is peoplework or paperwork.

A common problem for all is how they answer the question, “Who is in charge here?” An owner’s offspring is put in charge, a worker is promoted to supervisor, and a principal hires a friend or outsider. Negative repercussions can result unless those people who are put in charge of other people understand what being a supervisor is about. It is not about being “the boss.” Boss is not a job title or a position. Supervisor is a job title and the position is about getting a job done.

A supervisor is a person who is responsible for the work being accomplished by one or more employees.

The supervisor must have the ability to handle the function to which they are assigned and the ability to control and direct those employees whom they supervise, or subordinates. The capacity of supervisory personnel is largely dependent upon their personality, background, education, and work experience. Good supervisor are open-minded and alert to new ideas, allowing them to be flexible in handling varying situations that must be faced daily.

Successful supervisors display three main qualities: stability, decisiveness and understanding.

Emotional stability is essential. Good supervisors must be able to control their tempers under all conditions, especially when the going gets tough. They must follow an orderly, well-planned procedure that is flexible enough to permit changes when necessary. Decisions must be handled positively and quickly because shaky and uncertain decisions will cost the respect of both subordinates and other supervisors. Subordinates who are made to feel that they are understood enjoy working under their supervisor's steady and dependable direction.

The qualifications for supervisors include impartiality, leadership, confidence and balance.

Supervisors must be impartial and impersonal, not allowing their personal likes and dislikes to influence their decisions. Good supervisors are leaders rather than drivers. Subordinates take pride in their work when they feel it is worthwhile. Supervisors must be able to train subordinates in their tasks and be able to instill a feeling of confidence in their abilities. A good supervisor also knows when to praise a subordinate for work well done as well as to correct a subordinate privately for unsatisfactory performance.

The responsibilities of supervisors share core attributes regardless of their company size.

· Accepting and understanding all duties delegated to them.
· Developing recommendations to modify tasks assigned to subordinates.
· Establishing coordination and discipline among subordinates.
· Evaluating the performance of subordinates.
· Training subordinates at all levels and developing selected individuals to become assistants and to assume the supervisor's duties when the need arises.
· Simplifying all activities to necessary essentials by eliminating marginal work and non-productive effort.
· Maintaining operating records of the quality and quantity of work performed.
· Planning, and rescheduling work to obtain improved workflow and increased production.
· Performing the operations within approved standards by attending to all assigned duties and acting on matters as they arise.
· Observing and practicing all policies.

The authority of a supervisor includes responsibility, jurisdiction, and morale.

Regardless of the delegation of duties to subordinates, supervisors remain personally responsible for the proper performance of all duties assigned to the position and to the organizational unit they supervise. Under no circumstances should the authority of any supervisor be destroyed by the direct issuance of instructions to personnel under that supervisor's jurisdiction by other supervisory personnel, regardless of the organizational rank of the latter.

The supervisor must have exclusive jurisdiction and authority over all personnel, equipment, and facilities for which they are responsible. Supervisors are entitled to the full cooperation of their own supervisor in the event that an employee is judged unsatisfactory and must be transferred or terminated.

All supervisory personnel are expected to develop and maintain a high standard of morale and production in addition to being fully familiar with all company policies. Each supervisor may make recommendations concerning subordinate employees. However, only a functional manager has the authority to hire, promote, demote, discipline, or terminate any employee within the functional section.

Supervisors share some core administrative and general duties regardless of company size.

· Achieving a well-organized, smooth running unit by making competent selections, providing sufficient training, and closely supervising assigned personnel.
· Securing effective, productive use of all personnel, equipment, and supplies in their unit.
· Building and maintaining employee morale.
· Operating their unit within established guidelines and budgets.
· Maintaining productivity and improving methods and procedures whenever possible.
· Providing proper maintenance, control, and proper use of all equipment, including a preventative maintenance program when applicable.
· Ensuring strict adherence to safety rules and practices at all times.
· Reducing potential hazards in the work place.
· Reducing wasteful use of resources.

Proper supervision is the prime activity for top management. Its agenda is to operate an organization productively and smoothly. Supervision is the way companies obtain the necessary coordination, cooperation, and communication required to succeed. Supervisors must always put emphasis on the details of doing a job, not just on accomplishing the end result. That is what being in charge means.

Management Lessons [No Charge]

The job of many business consultants, in addition to invoicing their clients and collecting, is to appear to write management lessons for a substantial hourly rate. But I have rebelled against the practice and offer the following management lessons to you at no charge. Use them and prosper.

Lesson One

An eagle was sitting on a tree resting, doing nothing. A small rabbit saw the eagle and asked him, "Can I also sit on my ass like you and do nothing?"

The eagle answered: "Sure, why not."

So, the rabbit sat on the ground below the eagle, and rested. All of a sudden, a fox appeared, jumped on the rabbit and ate it.

Management Lesson:

To be sitting on your ass and doing nothing, you must be sitting very high up.

Lesson Two

A turkey was chatting with a bull. "I would love to be able to get to the top of that tree," sighed the turkey, "but I haven't got the energy."

"Well, why don't you nibble on some of my manure droppings?" replied the
bull. "They're packed with nutrients."

The turkey pecked at a lump of manure, found it actually gave him enough strength to reach the lowest branch of the tree. The next day, after eating some more dung, he reached the second branch. Finally after a fourth night, he was proudly perched at the top of the tree.

Soon thereafter he was promptly spotted by a farmer, who shot the turkey out of the tree.

Management Lesson:

Bull Shit might get you to the top, but it won't keep you there.

Lesson Three

A little bird was flying south for the winter. It was so cold the bird froze and fell to the ground in a large field. While it was lying there, a cow came by and dropped some dung on it. As the frozen bird lay there in the pile of cow dung, it began to realize how warm the dung was, actually thawing him out.

He lay there all warm and happy, and soon began to sing for joy. A passing cat heard the bird singing and came to investigate. Following the sound, the cat discovered the bird under the pile of cow dung, promptly dug him out and ate him.

Management Lessons:

(1) Not everyone who shits on you is your enemy.

(2) Not everyone who gets you out of shit is your friend.

(3) And when you're in deep shit, it's best to keep your mouth shut.

I hope this helps. Seasons Greetings.

# # #

Edited from an unattributed source as much management consulting dicta, only I admit it.

Just Stuck in It

As a business management consultant, I would describe a lot of what I see in business families are people stuck in stupid. They are not stupid; they're just stuck in it. The primary reason they are stuck is their lack of flexibility, which inhibits change. Change, incidentally, is why people hire consultants in the first place.

I ask people "What do you do for a living?" Generally, they explain about some functionality or process they perform. I repeat the question until they to stop. "You make decisions," I say. Then I ask, “If someone is stuck in stupid, what kind of decision could they expect to make?”

Learning to ask questions is the first step out of the stickiness. For example, let’s say our Company is expanding its’ scope of work and over the next 6 months it wants to add 50% to its’ gross revenue.

The questions that need to be answered are:

· Does the Company have the qualifications to expand? [That should not be a problem if the company is currently performing in these areas.]

· Does the Company have sufficient capital or credit to expand? [A projection showing a Cash Flow would provide insight into what the cash requirements would be with the expansion.]

· Does the company have the staffing required to make such a move?

· Are additional employees required, are they available, how much training will they require, and what are the costs?

· How much competition does the company have and will the expansion enhance or hurt the Company’s position in the community?

Another issue with being stuck is what I call breathing your own ether. By ether I mean the things that business owners say to other people and to themselves like, “We’re doing just fine.” “I don’t need to write it down. I’ve got it all in my head.” And my personal favorite, “I’m an idea person.” [So are children in a playground.]

The best ether I heard recently came from a client who told me, with a straight face, that his spouse was working in the company without any pay or job title or job description. “It is saving us a lot of money because I don’t have to hire someone else.” Actually, the spouse does have a job title – Owner’s Wife. One thing is certain: the compensation plan sucks.

Let’s ask some more questions:

· Doesn’t such a situation have the net effect of putting all of their eggs in one basket?

· Is the spouse qualified to perform the duties of her functional position, like book keeper or sales manager?

· Have the owner and spouse established clear boundaries? [At what point do their business and personal lives begin and end?]

The fact is that few people ever want to admit that they do not know what they don’t know. The tendency is to claim that they have been so busy working that they haven’t been able to take the necessary time to make that discovery. Unfortunately, there is ether.

Three choices are available in these situations.

· Keep doing what you are doing.

· Stop what you are doing and go back to school.

· Hire a competent business consultant to help you.

There are sub-sections of those three choices, but I am trying to keep this short and to the point. Part of the stickiness is not admitting that some outside advice might be helpful. A person’s ego saying “I can do this better” is what starts business ventures. The same ego saying "I don’t need anyone telling me what to do” is the glue that keeps business people stuck in stupid.