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BRANDING 101:Meet The Companies That Got Brand Right...And Learn

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SBM Small BusinessMonthlySBMST. LOUIS

The Source for Business Owners JANUARY 2017

Four Entrepreneurial Firms Poised for Greatness

THE

ONES TO

WATCH

Learn how Zach Winkler’s app is going to make the world a safer place

The Guide To Finding Capital In 2017

St. Louis’ Best in Quality

Meet STL’s Most Admired Business Leaders

AUGUST 2019

SBM Small BusinessMonthly

ST. LOUIS

The Source for Business Owners JANUARY 2017

Four Entrepreneurial Firms Poised for Greatness

THE

ONES TO

WATCH

Learn how Zach Winkler’s app is going to make the world a safer place

The Guide To Finding Capital In 2017

St. Louis’ Best in Quality

Meet STL’s Most Admired Business Leaders

STL’s Top Accountants

St. Louis’ Best Attorneys

Learn What It Takes To Be A Great Boss

1Savings based on Q1 2019 UnitedHealthcare internal analysis of average price comparison across UnitedHealthcare plans in Missouri. Actual savings may vary. Insurance coverage provided by or through UnitedHealthcare Insurance Company or its affi liates. Administrative services provided by United HealthCare Services, Inc. or their affi liates. Health Plan coverage provided by or through UnitedHealthcare of the Midwest, Inc.6/19 9241138.0 ©2019 United HealthCare Services, Inc. 19-12143-A1

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RON AMELN, president314-569-0076, ext. 100

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PAT COATES, vice president314-569-0076, ext. 109

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6 Publisher’s Letter 7 Sales Moves7 Ask The Banker8 Entrepreneur’s Toolbox8 Mastering Linkedin8 Building Inner Strength10 High-Voltage Marketing10 CultureCentric Leadership11 Marketing Works11 Financial Fitness 12 Technology Trends28 Legal Matters28 Leader Acceleration29 The Extraordinary Workplace29 Value Proposition30 Time With The Boss

AUGUST 201914 Best Attorneys

16 Best Health Insurance Brokers/Agents

18 Branding 101

21 Best Bosses in STL

26 Top St. Louis Accountants

31 Directory: Accounting

DEPARTMENTS & COLUMNS

PHOTOGRAPHYBILL SAWALICH, Barlow Productions

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SUBSCRIPTIONS$21.50 for 12 issues.

Online: http://store.sbmon.com Pat Coates

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OUR EDITORIAL FOCUS Our country was founded by visionaries who believed in free enterprise through individual determination. We support that spirit and hold that the future of our

area lies in the growth and development of small businesses and the efforts of entrepreneurs. We are dedicated to supporting and promoting that growth.

St. Louis Small Business Monthly is St. Louis’ locally owned business publication, bringing business tips, strategies and analysis to the presidents, CEOs, owners and

top executives of 16,000 businesses in the St. Louis Metropolitan region. SBM, founded in 1988, publishes every month and also provides information at www.

SBMon.com and through a variety of business-related forums and events.

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(314) 212-1500


PUBLISHER’S LETTER BY RON AMELN

Are You The Boss From Hell?

Years ago I wrote a feature story on this exact topic. A management consult-ing firm ran a nationwide contest to locate the worst boss in America. The employee that nominated the winning “Boss From Hell” won a trip to Hawaii. We ran the story with a graphic of the devil stomping employees.

A few weeks later one of our readers, an owner with 20 or so employees, called me up and said she came into work one morning and an employee or employees had posted the graphic on her computer with her name written underneath. Ouch!

She couldn’t have been as bad as some of the bosses we profiled in the story that year. Here’s how they earned Boss From Hell honors.

John (pseudonym), owner of a Chicago telemarketing firm, was one of our big winners. Here are a few of his award winning manage-ment techniques:

* When an employee’s father was scheduled to go in for hip sur-gery, which had already been

delayed because of pneumonia, John insisted she call the surgeon and have it rescheduled because he didn’t want her to miss work.

* When an employee who had been missing for three days was found dead, John didn’t tell anyone because he didn’t want productivity to suffer. (What a guy)

* When an employee had a heart attack at work, John called the paramedics and, with the stricken employee still lying on the floor, ordered everyone else back to work. (Productivity is important, after all).

Believe it or not, the award wasn’t a shoe-in for John. Close runners-up included a West Coast boss who kept a loaded gun on his desk to intimidate employees during yearly reviews and a Southern boss who separated two-ply toilet paper in order to gener-ate more paper, thereby saving money on supplies. (Wait until my CFO sees that one.)

While that was years ago, bad bosses still exist. In fact, when we took nominations for our Best Bosses, (featured this month on Pages 21-25), we actually heard our share of bad boss stories as well. Our judges selected our Best Bosses to highlight for you. I hope you can learn from some of their ideas, philosophies and advice, and they inspire you to be a better boss tomorrow than you were today.

In the meantime, to see if you are becoming or have already become the boss from hell, answer these questions from a training system called Strategies for High Involve-ment Leadership by Development Dimensions International:

1. Do you find yourself raising your voice more frequently?2. Are the to-do piles on your desk growing?3. Do your staff members avoid eye contact with you?4. Do you feel as though you could not take a one-week vacation without things fall-

ing apart?5. Are you withholding information from employees because it seems to take too

long to communicate with them?6. Is there low energy in your company or your department?7. Is your day spent fighting fires instead of lighting fires to inspire others?8. Do you try to avoid accepting responsibility for your mistakes?9. Do you provide time to discuss problems and issues, provide information, or com-

municate the organization’s goals with your subordinates?10. Do you spend more of your time making sure employees are doing the right

things than developing yourself as a leader?11. Do you give more negative than positive feedback? n

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Doing Business with the U.S. Navy & Marine Corps

As part of St. Louis Navy Week, Mr. Jimmy Smith, Director, Department of the Navy’s Office of Small Business Programs, in partnership with the Missouri Procurement Technical Assistant Centers, will conduct a small business workshop on September 5th at Grant’s View St. Louis Public Library.

This small business workshop is designed to educate small businesses on how to do business with the Navy and Marine Corps. The workshop will also cover how to find out about upcoming contracting opportunities and how small businesses can contribute to the warfighter mission.

Location:Saint Louis Public Library-Grant’s View9700 Musick Ave. St. Louis, MO 63123

Date & Time: Thursday, September 5th from 9:30 AM – 12:30 PM CT

Cost: FREERegistration: bit.ly/ptacnavysep5

Contacts: Elaine Palangpour, (573) 882-8058 Missouri PTAC: http://www.missouribusiness.net/ptac

This Procurement Technical Assistance Center is funded in part through a cooperative agreement with the Defense Logistics Agency.


ASK THE BANKER

Debi Enders ([email protected]) is

vice president, small business banking at

Commerce Bank.

How Can I Make More Informed Decisions About My Business?

The business you operate is typically con-sidered “small.” Why, you might wonder, do you need Big Data to run it – especially when following your gut instinct has worked just fine so far?

The fact is, your instincts can only take you so far, and all of us have unintentional biases that can creep in and limit our ability to recog-nize opportunity. Besides, you already make data-based decisions every day. When you compare the price of two products, you are using data to inform your buying decision.

Similarly, every website click or credit card swipe generates data. Your customers’ online behavior and transaction data is worth some-thing. You just need to learn how to use it.

For example, by tracking customer buying habits, you may be able to predict what they want before they search to find it. Similarly, business analytics tools can be designed to track sales over time to identify periods when demand for particular products and services may drop, enabling you to tweak pricing and o�er specials based on market conditions and seasonal trends. You may also be able to shorten customer service calls if product per-formance data required for trouble-shooting is tracked and readily available for a techni-cian’s use.

The scope of data-driven decision-making is virtually limitless. Depending on your goals, you can use it to create new business oppor-tunities, generate greater revenue, improve your operations – and beyond.

To get started, you’ll first need to create a data-driven mindset among you and your sta�. When someone makes a suggestion, ask what data they have to support it. De-mand the same of yourself.

If there is a specific problem you need to solve, look for data you might collect that will lead you to a solution.

And remember: data doesn’t make deci-sions. Data-based decision-making requires someone who can interpret data and apply it to your business. THAT is your job. n

SALES MOVES BY MARK HUNTER

How to Prepare to Prospect: 10 Things You Need to Do

7. Set specific goals for each block of prospect-ing time. As you know, prospecting can become tedious and routine. It’s important that you have an achievable goal of the number of calls or conver-

sations you want to have. Make a goal and then congratulate yourself once you achieve it.

8. Always know what you will say if a gatekeeper answers or you get the per-son’s voicemail. Your response to both of these is different than if you reached the decision maker. Know in advance exactly what you intend to say.

9. Make sure your CRM / Sales En-gagement software is open and ready. Personally, I prefer VanillaSoft for this activity.

10. Before making each call, take a couple minutes to be thankful for your opportunity to reach out and help people. Each call is unique and each call has the potential to be the best. It’s up to you to be ready and to have a great at-titude, regardless of how the other party responds.

Prospecting is the start of the sales process. If you want to have closing deals, you have to spend the time devel-oping your prospects. I like to sum it up this way: your level of prospecting this month determines the level of deals you will close next month.

Finally, let me end with a quote that I use often: “Our goal with each person we meet is to earn the right, privilege, honor, and respect to meet with that person again. This applies 100% to pros-pecting, because when we prospect with integrity, we will get customers who have integrity.” nMark Hunter, of The Sales Hunter sales motivation blog, is the author of “High-Profit Prospecting: Powerful Strategies to Find the Best Leads and Drive Breakthrough Sales Results.”

If you fail to properly prepare, you are setting yourself up for failure. This doesn’t just apply to prospecting but

everything you do. Prospecting is already a tough task; it’s only made tougher when you fail to prepare. Below are 10 steps you need to follow to ensure you’re prepared to prospect:

1. Don’t focus on what you sell, but rather, on the benefits and outcomes you provide. Those people you reach out to don’t care about what you’re selling, they just want solutions to their issues. Take 5 minutes and write down all of your cus-tomer’s outcomes that they have received because of buying from you.

2. Know who you plan to contact. The days of making random phone calls are gone. Ask yourself: who is your perfect customer and what outcomes can you help them achieve? Focus on prospecting with the people who align closest to your perfect customer.

3. Know your talking points and know them well. The last thing you or the prospect wants is a lame conversation that doesn’t go anywhere. You need to know what questions you will ask to open up and engage with the prospect. It’s not about asking them how their day is going or if they have time to talk. Your prior-ity is to immediately engage them with a

question that they find interesting.4. Understand your objective. If you’re

making initial calls, your objective is to secure a time for a discovery call. Keep in mind that your initial call will probably catch them off-guard, so don’t expect them to have time to talk to you. That’s an unrealistic expectation.

5. Accept the fact that your calls are an interruption to the other person’s day; however, do not allow that to stop you. There is no better time to make the call than right now. Always view your upcoming calls as an opportunity for the prospect to unexpectedly see how you can help them.

6. Focus on reaching out to prospects. In order to do this successfully, you’ll need to clear your desk and block your calendar. Then, honor the blocked off time in your calendar and commit to only prospecting. Do not fool yourself by thinking that you will prospect after you get everything else done. That will never happen.

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Don’t focus on what you sell, but rather, on the benefits and outcomes you

provide. Those people you reach out to don’t care about what you’re selling, they

just want solutions to their issues.


How Do We Prosper In Complex Environments?

James H. Canada is managing partner/CEO for Alliance Technologies LLC, ITEN mentor and author of “Corporate to Entrepreneur: Strategies for Success.” Con-tact Jim at [email protected], 636-734-2337 or www.alliancetechnologiesllc.com.

ENTREPRENEUR’S TOOLBOXBY JAMES CANADA

MASTERING LINKEDINBY KATHY BERNARD

Most business owners will agree that the speed of change is accelerating. In re-sponse, it is no longer su�cient for us to merely “adapt” to new demands—or “cope” with the stress of uncertainty—or “adjust” to disruptions in the workplace. What we need is resilience—the force that allows us to go beyond survival and to actually pros-per in environments that are becoming in-creasingly complex. Resilience is the ability to absorb high levels of disruptive change while displaying minimal dysfunctional behavior. It is the single most important factor necessary to increase an individual’s or organization’s speed of change.

Resilient people face no less of a challenge than others, but they have developed sev-eral critical skills that keep them balanced. They are able to regain their equilibrium faster, maintain a higher level of productiv-ity, are physically and emotionally health-ier, achieve more of their objectives than people who experience future shock, and rebound from the demands of change even stronger than before.

They let go of “how it was” and move through a period of uncertainty while they learn the new system. It doesn’t matter if the change involves technology, shifts in personnel or process. If poorly handled, change can have a negative impact on the performance of the entire organization. If an employee is disruptive, then terminat-ing them creates a positive environment for remaining workers. However, when a productive employee is let go due to changes in the organization, it can devas-tate the team. Some great examples of resilience are the employees who step up to divide work assignments among the remaining team.

Since we can’t stop the speed of change or slow it down, our best defense is to develop a resilient team that can ride the wave. n

A Game Changer For Your Business: LinkedIn Hashtags

Want to get your message in front of in-terested prospects on LinkedIn? LinkedIn hashtags makes that possible. Hashtags are a word or phrase immediately preceded by a number sign (#). Example: #healthcare.

By including hashtags in your LinkedIn posts, people interested in your topic will see your message on their LinkedIn home page news feed so that they can click to read your article or click your name or face to learn about you.

So, for example, if your post concerns using LinkedIn voice messaging for sales and marketing, add the hashtags #linke-din, #marketing, and #sales to attract prospects interested in those topics.

To find relevant hashtags to follow, type # plus a word or phrase (with no space after # or between words) into the LinkedIn search box. Example: #brandawareness. Select a term from the drop-down list and then click “Follow”. To find multiple hashtags, visit My Network, scroll to “More suggestions for you” and select “Hashtags”.

Limit hashtags to three per post. To tag people or a

Make note of how often you find yourself on one side or the other of this equation of conversation versus confron-tation. We take turns and play both sides of that depending upon the setting and the people involved. And then there is the matter of the topic, the content to be reviewed.

Confrontation is a meeting that is argu-mentative; it is a hostile situation.

Conversation is dialogue within an exchange of ideas and open sharing, friendly.

It is essential to know your perception with regard to this topic because it has to do with your role, your stance, your positioning, and whether you are passive, assertive, or aggressive. There is often an argument about these terms and what they mean, but there needn’t be:

Passive -- to accept and allow what hap-

pens without active response or resistance.Assertive -- to overtly demonstrate

confidence with active assured dominant behavior.

Aggressive -- entails an attacking, antago-nistic, angry response overtly expressed.

When both parties are assertive, the chance that the dialogue will be actual conversation and productive is very high because both will share thoughts and feel-ings with an eagerness to be understood. When either party is passive or aggressive, the opportunity for one side to lose the ability to be heard and genuinely appreci-ated is lost. The interaction becomes a confrontation because there is an unequal stance.

In each business day, there are multiple conversations that are necessary and the participants cannot afford the luxury of passivity or aggressiveness – either breaks

down morale and produc-tivity between them and that is contagious in any group.

The question is consistently – are you positioning yourself for maximum healthy outcomes that produce mutual wins? If you give yourself a confident yes, terrific; move forward to teach others your skill-ful abilities. If not, look around and see who does an authentically good job of engaging fairly and assertively. Surround yourself with the people who will teach the healthy personality styles that gain you cooperation and ultimate resulting suc-cess. No kidding, these good people are all around you, just look. n

Dr Deb Carlin is President of Partners in Excellence LLC. Awarded numerous accolades given her leadership, authoring, speaking, and teaching. For more information, visit www.drdebcarlin.com

company so that they’ll see your post, use an “@” symbol followed by their name. Examples: @Kathy Bernard or @WiserU. Select the person or company from the pop-up list to complete the tag. Limit tagging to people who will benefit from the post or who will be pleased by the attention.

Try hashtags and tagging on LinkedIn to attract your prospects! nKathy Bernard ([email protected]), CEO of WiserU.com, is a St. Louis-

based LinkedIn expert/trainer who equips businesses to maximize LinkedIn for sales, marketing, or fundraising.

BUILDING INNER STRENGTHBY DR. DEB CARLIN

Is it Confrontation or Conversation?


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HIGH VOLTAGE MARKETINGBY TOM RUWITCH

Referrals Happen Only if You Ask for Them

you’re grateful. Let customers know why you’ve request-

ed the referral. This has two benefits. First, psychological research has shown

that whenever you elaborate on a request by saying, “I asked for this because…” you make the request more persuasive. People tune in. People trust you. People are more likely to respond.

Secondly, when you frame the reason as a benefit, you further encourage your customers to act. When we tell customers about our referral program, we remind them that referrals reduce the cost of sales and allow us to invest more earnings in product enhancements. That’s good for

our customers -- even if we don’t reward them directly for the referral.

The financial adviser I mentioned can’t offer commissions or other “payments” for referrals. But he can tell clients that referrals allow him to spend less time on business development and more time on financial planning for them.

Remember, referrals don’t just happen. Hoping won’t move the needle. Hinting won’t get customers to act. Plan a referral program and then just ask. n

Tom Ruwitch is the president and founder of MarketVolt, an interactive marketing firm. For more business-building marketing resources by Tom Ruwitch, go to MarketVolt.com/resources.

I know a financial adviser who com-plains that his clients don’t refer enough business to him.

He has relied on referrals to grow his business. But lately, clients aren’t helping.

He hosts a lot of events for his clients, and he hopes they’ll bring friends.

His event invitations include little hints to encourage his clients, such as, “We want to see you and your friends” or “RSVP now and let us know who you’re bringing.”

What’s missing from the invitations? A clear, concise and direct request for clients to bring a friend.

“We want to see you and your friends,” is far less direct and effective than, “We rely on referrals from happy clients, like you. Please consider bringing friends who would benefit from our expertise.”

You don’t get referrals with hope and hints. You get them with a direct ask.

Happy customers can be your best sales-people. But you need to encourage them.

Ask them for referrals soon after the sale when they’re most excited about the new product or service they’ve purchased. If you are an adviser with an ongoing relationship with your clients, reach out regularly. Share good news. Offer strong advice. Remind them you welcome refer-rals.

Also, make it easier for customers to refer others. Share with them key talking points, sales materials and other informa-tion that they can forward to those who might be interested.

Encouraging customers to “spread the word” is not enough. Give them some words to spread.

If your industry allows it, consider rewarding referrals. I know a business owner who sends thank you gifts to customers every time they refer a new customer. Other businesses offer com-missions or other tangible rewards for referred business.

At the very least, acknowledge all referrals. Don’t take your customers for granted, especially when they’re helping you grow your business. Let them know

The Genius of Leadership

CULTURECENTRIC LEADERSHIPBY JONATHAN JONES

Jonathan Jones ([email protected] or 314-608-0783) is a CEO peer group chair/coach for Vistage International.

Jim Collins coined the phrase a “genius with a thousand helpers” in his best-selling book Good to Great. It describes the leader who looks successful, but without him or her, the organization falters. In this situ-ation, the leader controls the organization with an iron will and gets compliance from his people rather than commitment. He hires followers/doers and not leaders. By not developing other leaders, this genius/leader is preparing for potential disaster. The leader does not delegate e�ectively or at all and ultimately tries to do too much. The leader feels stress from the work and lacks support from his team. At the same time, the management team feels stressed and a lack of support from their leader. This leads to poor quality commu-nication and decision making by everyone. The managers cannot grow and support the leader. Resentment builds between the leaders and his management team, which ultimately leads to the “isolation” of the leader. Which ultimately leads back to the leader not delegating e�ectively and trying to do too much. Sadly, it becomes a vicious cycle.

To grow an enduring organization, one of the main roles of leadership is to grow and develop the next generation of leaders. They must identify potential leaders who can execute on a vision. The dual role of delegation is to achieve the desired result and to develop a person. When the pur-pose is to develop future leaders, it gives the person delegated a chance to prove herself. If she is given a clear vision of the desired results and guidance on how to achieve it, she can usually figure out the right path and achieve it. After achieving the desired result and the leader recogniz-es the achievement, it will build confidence in the new leader.

Growing leaders is the real genius of lead-ership. n


How Small Businesses Can Combat Fraud Risks

FINANCIAL FITNESSBY KAREN STERN

Karen Stern, CPA, ([email protected]), partner in charge,

Brown Smith Wallace Entrepre-neurial Services Group, provides

tax and accounting services for companies ranging from start-

ups to $20 million in revenue.

Organizations of all sizes are at risk of fall-ing victim to fraud schemes, but it can be particularly harmful for small businesses. Small businesses not only have fewer resources, but they also often require a greater level of trust in their employees due to a lower ability to implement anti-fraud controls.

According to the 2018 Report to the Nations released by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE), small businesses experienced both the greatest percentage of fraud cases and su�ered the largest median loss due to fraud (at ap-proximately $200,000). However, the data also showed that organizations that use active methods of detection, such as data monitoring, can reduce their fraud losses by an average of 67 percent and detect scams in one fourth the time.

Organizations can reduce the impact of fraud by pursuing internal controls and policies that proactively detect fraud, such as:

nThorough management reviewn Account reconciliationnDocument examinationnContinuous data surveillance and moni-toring

Understanding how fraud schemes are detected helps inform how your business can implement e�ective prevention strate-gies. Businesses that do not actively seek out fraudulent activity are more likely to experience fraud for much longer and at a much higher cost than those utilizing ac-tive detection methods.

Don’t miss our Q3 Advisory Risk Brief-ing event, which includes three options for attending: Thursday, September 12 in St. Charles; Friday, September 13 in Creve Coeur; and Wednesday, September 18 via live webinar. Joe Montes, Advisory Services Principal, and Ron Steinkamp, Advisory Services Partner at Brown Smith Wallace, will discuss how organizations are using data analysis as a tool to identify, detect and monitor fraud.

To discuss fraud prevention or the benefits of a fraud risk management program for your small business, contact Karen Stern, Partner in Charge, Entrepreneurial Services Group, at 314-983-1204 or [email protected]. n

MARKETING WORKSBY JEREMY NULIK

By the year 2050, over 40% of Amer-icans believe that Jesus will reap-pear in human form. This finding

comes from a recent Pew Research Center study. Surely 50 million Americans can’t be wrong. However, they are just the latest in our history of predicting this event.

Here are some of the previous attempts at certainty:n Hippolytus of Rome said it would be 500 AD. This was based on his interpreta-tion of the dimensions of Noah’s Ark. Perhaps not the right data set.n John Wesley, founder of the Methodist Church, predicted 1836 based on a pas-sage in Revelation 12.n Edgar C Whisenant, a NASA engineer and Bible student predicted 1988. He even wrote a book. “88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Be in 1988.” When his predicted date of the apocalypse passed, he wrote several more books about being on “borrowed time,” none of which sold many copies.

The point is this: We are terrible at predicting the future. We are often wrong. Because, much like the cases above, we tend to predict the futures that would benefit us or coincide with our values, biases and assumptions.

We do it anyway, though, because what we desire is some form of certainty. Our default setting compels us to create images of a future we would prefer. And those images are repeatedly not true.

But there is good news: There exist useful frameworks for getting to know the future and for taking back agency on the shaping of the images you and your organization holds of the future.

It begins by dropping the need to predict a particular future and instead un-derstanding that the future is alive in your present-day decision-making. The future is not a place on the horizon at which we ar-rive. The future is alive inside of you and your organization at the level of (generally unconscious) images.

To make those images more visible and

to create alignment on taking agency and shaping futures is the work of foresight. And, it turns out, that organizations that inspire and cultivate foresight as a mindset and practice are more capable of facing uncertainty.

Here is a set of suggestions for the beginning of your 2020 Planning:

1. Articulate the biggest challenge. In particular, it helps to identify a controver-sial challenge. One that has the deepest emotional angst.

2. Simulate a future that contains a potential solution to the challenge instead of arguing about how to handle the challenge. Create a scenario in which the challenge has a solution. Maybe the solution is one that is not favored by everyone. Example: We decided to double an investment in a marketing strategy in an effort to solve our recruiting challenge. This gets every stakeholder looking the same direction.

3. Create implications of that future. Allow for your stakeholders to create mul-

tiple futures that could happen. 4. Look for patterns or themes that

emerge in the implications. You will be-gin to have a quality of conversation that revolves around images of the future and emergent themes.

5. Use the themes to create a structure for your strategic planning sessions. This means that the themes that could be most disruptive to your futures could inform the contours of your planning. And your plan can be more capable of meeting uncertainty.

The message you send when you lever-age the power of foresight is that this plan is a shared experience. It is something that can be co-created. Also, if you want a Quickstart Guide to a foresight game like this one, visit engage.bigwidesky.com/foresight-guide. n

Jeremy Nulik ([email protected]) is evan-gelist prime at bigwidesky, a design futures agen-cy, in St. Louis, Mo.

How to Plan in the Midst of UncertaintyA Foresight-Driven Approach to 2020 Planning


SPECIAL REPORT: TECHNOLOGY

Dissection of a Phishing Attack, Part 4BY SCOTT M. LEWIS

There were lots of red flags all over this transaction. In the end, it was not a breakdown in the technology.

Both sides have confirmed that neither team had a security breach of their inter-nal networks or the Office 365 systems. This phishing attack was focused on the human conditioning of the brain seeing what is expected and the lack of training. The bank questioned the transaction. Verbal conversations took place concern-ing the transfer. Internal verification pro-cesses by the humans involved were not adequately acted upon and documented. The money was transferred to the Mexi-can bank as requested. The Mexican bank accounts were closed, and the spoofed Gmail accounts were deleted.

We have learned a lot about phishing. There are typically red flags that warn you when you might be part of phishing attempt or someone is trying to make you a victim. However, what are those signs? According to Protected Trust here are some things to watch out for:n Are you familiar with the sending address? Take time to read the email ad-dress. One way to help spot small subtle changes is to read the email address backward. It sounds funny, but it makes your brain stop and think about what you are reading verses using the human condition to understand what it expects to see. Other things to look out for are: Do you know this person? Have you ever exchanged emails with them before? Are they asking you to do something that was outside of the norm, or not expected? If it seems fishy, then don’t hit reply or reply all. Instead, type in the “To” or “CC” fields the actual email address again.nCheck for misspellings. It is widespread to see spelling errors in the email address-es and within the body of the email. One easy thing to do is turn on spell check in Outlook to ensure that the message is highlighting spelling errors. n High sense of urgency. If the sender is changing things and you have to act now, this elevated sense of urgency should be a red flag. Remember the lifespan of a phishing site is only 15 hours. So things have to happen quickly. So, if you were to procrastinate on something this might be it.

nIf the scammer is trying to direct you to a new URL and requests you put in your user-name and password, then that should be a red flag. Instead of clicking on the link, look up in Google the actual URL and type that in your browser where you type in the address of the website. You can also hover your mouse over the link, and it will show you the fully qualified address of where you would go if you clicked on it. On mobile devices, you can use a light touch to see the fully qualified address. The risk here is press too hard, and you will go there. Always remember your bank, the IRS, other government agencies don’t contact you directly via email so be very cautious when you see messages like that. nMake sure that on the URL line, which is the line where you type in the website address, that you see the closed lock on that line. Or you should see HTTPS. Check for the “S” this is a sign that this is a secured website. If one or more of those are missing, do not trust the site as a legiti-mate website. Also, your browser may put a circle with a red x or hash through it. If you see that it is not secure, leave the site.

Securing the human is the key to any security initiative. Even more so when it comes to phishing attacks, it is easy to think that the technology is at fault when it comes to security preventions. However, the real weakness is in human condition-ing. Scammers have become experts at human behavior and attacking the human condition. So, until we secure the human, all the technology in the world is going to have this one major flaw. What are some of the behavioral elements that can help us secure the human?

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To be continued next month…… nScott Lewis is the President and CEO of

Winning Technologies Group of Companies which includes Liberty One Software. Scott has more than 35 years of experience in the technol-ogy industry and is a nationally recognized speaker and author on technology subjects. Scott has worked with hundreds of large and small business to empower them to use technol-ogy to improve work processes, increase productivity, and re-duce costs. Scott has designed thousands of systems for large, medium and small companies and Winning Technolo-gies goal is to work with companies on the selection, implementation, management, and support of technol-ogy resources. Learn more about Win-ning Technologies at www.winningtech.com or call 877-379-8279.

CYBER SECURITY THREATS ARE INCREASING

AI advances allow for more sophisticated attacks

317 million new pieces of malware were created in 2017

Global ransomware campaigns are spreading

80% of attacks exploit known vulnerabilities

Phishing attacks are on the rise

Hacking is more sophisticated and evolving

NTP offers a broad range of solutions to help your organization monitor, defend, and respond to today’s

continually evolving cyber threats.

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Contact NTP at 636-458-4995 or online at NTPCyberSecurity.com for a complimentary Cyber Security Needs Analysis!



BEST BOSSES

Friends since middle school, Jon Becker and Marc Rosen both joined the ac-counting industry 35 years ago. In 1988, Becker decided to found his own firm, Jonathan E. Becker CPA LLC. “I had been working at another firm, and, as they

say, timing is everything,” says Rosen. “He was looking to hire, and I was in the process of leaving the other firm. I have been at the firm since October of 1998 and a partner since October of 2004.”

Today, while running Becker and Rosen CPAs LLC, the each partner subscribes to his own management philosophy. “My management philosophy is to provide an environment that leads to productive employees,” says Becker. “As a manager, I want to provide guidance, direction, leadership and finally set an example for all other employ-ees of the firm.

Rosen also seeks to provide steady guidance to his employees. “My management style includes having an open-door policy and to communicate effectively to staff so we can achieve not only our firm goals but also for staff to achieve their goals,” he says.

While challenges for Rosen and Becker include retaining talented employees as well as understanding, managing and adjusting to the work-life balance of all employees, for both, the greatest rewards go back to a job well done for clients.

Rosen says being able to establish lasting client relationships is his greatest reward. Similarly, Becker believes receiving positive acknowledgements from their clients makes all the challenges of running a business worth it.

Overall, Becker and Rosen believe effective leadership can be built on leading by example and communicating effectively.

Leading By Example And Communicating EffectivelyJon Becker and Marc Rosen | Becker and Rosen CPAs LLC

Marc Rosen (left) and Jon Becker (above)

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Why advertise in St. Louis Small Business Monthly?Because you:A. understand the importance of thriving local businessesB. can’t wait until the Spring and Fall St. Louis Business ExposC. want to leverage the buying power of 70,000 business ownersD. are smart with your marketing dollarsE. ALL OF THE ABOVE

St. Louis Business Exam, Question #11

A+Great Job!O

sbmon.com • 314.569.0076

8000 Maryland Ave., Suite 1550 Clayton, MO 63105

Thank you to our clients and employees for earning us the recognition as one of the Best Law Firms for the third year in a row!

Berger, Cohen & Brandt, L.C.

BC&B prides itself on being well prepared in its consultation, persuasive in its negotiation and aggressive in its litigation

8000 Maryland Ave., Suite 1550 | Clayton 63105(314) 721.7272 | www.lawbcb.com

THANK YOUWe are so grateful to our clients and partners.

Your hard work and dedication have helped to make Berger, Cohen & Brandt L.C. one of

St. Louis’ Best Law Firms.


314.721.7272www.lawbcb.com

The choice of a lawyer is an important decision and should not be based solely upon advertisements.

Thank you to our clients and employees for earning us the recognition as one of the Best Law Firms for the third year in a row!


BC&B prides itself on being well prepared in its consultation, persuasive in its negotiation and aggressive in its litigation

8000 Maryland Ave., Suite 1550 | Clayton 63105(314) 721.7272 | www.lawbcb.com

THANK YOUWe are so grateful to our clients and partners.

Your hard work and dedication have helped to make Berger, Cohen & Brandt L.C. one of

St. Louis’ Best Law Firms.


314.721.7272www.lawbcb.com

The choice of a lawyer is an important decision and should not be based solely upon advertisements.

314.721.7272www.bcblawlc.com

Congratulates David Spewak on being voted one of the Best Attorneys in St. Louis

BC&B prides itself on being well prepared in its consultation, persuasive in its negotiation and aggressive in its litigation.

8000 Maryland Ave., Suite 1500 Clayton, Missouri 63105


Best AttorneysAttorneys have always been known as one of the best advisors for growing businesses. The following attorneys were voted the best in St. Louis. Make sure you check out the Awards page at www.sbmon.com to stay up to date with other Best in Business nominations for 2019.

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COMPANY NAME CONTACT INFORMATION

Joseph Bealmear, Polsinelli 314.889.8000 100 S. 4th St., #100 polsinelli.com St. Louis, MO 63102

314.282.8730 8151 Clayton Rd., #201 theenterpriselawgroup.com Clayton, MO 63117

618.235.6335 201 S. Jackson St. harterlarsondodd.com Belleville, IL 62220

618.656.5150 2227 South State, Rte. 157 goldenbergheller.com Edwardsville, IL 62025

314.719.3700 120 S. Central Ave., #700 salawus.com St. Louis, MO 63105

314.621.7755 211 North Broadway, #2500 evans-dixon.com St. Louis, MO 63102

314.880.3600 34 N. Meramec Ave., #600 tuethkeeney.com St. Louis, MO 63105

314.434.5222 111 West Port Plaza Dr., #505 jameslawpc.com St. Louis, MO 63146

314.726.1900 231 S. Bemiston Ave., #1220 copelandthompson.com St. Louis, MO 63105

Chris Kellett, Carmody MacDonald, P.C. 314.854.8600 120 South Central Ave., #1800 carmodymacdonald.com St. Louis, MO 63105

314.241.3963 1 North Brentwood Blvd., #800 shandselbert.com St. Louis, MO 63105

314.455.6500 8000 Maryland Ave., #450 stantonbarton.com Clayton, MO 63105

Tom Mickes, Mickes O’Toole 314.878.5600 12444 Powerscourt Dr., #400 mickesotoole.com St. Louis, MO 63131

314.241.9090 10 South Broadway, #2000 greensfelder.com St. Louis, MO 63102

314.333.4140 2016 S. Big Bend Blvd. rhplawfirm.com St. Louis, MO 63117

314.721.7701 7701 Forsyth Blvd., 12th Floor capessokol.com St. Louis, MO 63105

314.241.6160 211 N. Broadway, #2700 heplerbroom.com St. Louis, MO 63102

314.241.2929 800 Market St., #1700 simonlawpc.com St. Louis, MO 63101

314.480.1500 190 Carondelet Plaza, #600 huschblackwell.com St. Louis, MO 63105

314.392.5200 825 Maryville Centre Dr. mlklaw.com Chesterfield, MO 63017

314.721.7272 8000 Maryland Ave., #1500 bcblawlc.com Clayton, MO 63105

314.621.2939 714 Locust St. lashlybaer.com St. Louis, MO 63101

314.726.7500 7700 Bonhomme, #400 hdp.com Clayton, MO 63105

314.444.7600 600 Washington Ave., #2500 lewisrice.com St. Louis, Mo 63101

314.854.8600 120 South Central Ave., #1800 carmodymacdonald.com St. Louis, Mo 63105

314.726.1000 7701 Forsyth Blvd., #800 dmfirm.com St. Louis, Mo 63105

Ira Blank, Enterprise Law Group

John Simon,The Simon Law Firm, P.C.

Mark Goldenberg, Goldenberg Heller Antognoli & Rowland, P.C.

Lynn Goessling,SmithAmundsen

Brian Sabin,Capes Sokol

David Spewak, Berger,Cohen & Brandt, LC

Heidi Dodd,Harter, Larson & Dodd

Todd Hilliker, Evans & Dixon, LLC

Margaret Hesse, Tueth KeeneyCooper Mohan Jackstadt P.C.

Rachel Jeep, Copeland,Thompson, Jeep, P.C.

Peter LaBlanc Jr., Shands, ElbertGianoulakis & Giljum, LLP

Jason McKnight,Stanton Barton LLC

Jennifer Piper, Reinker,Hamilton & Piper LLC

Josh Schumacher,HeplerBroom, LLC

Joseph Walsh,Harness DickeyRobert Walsh Jr.,Lewis Rice LLC

Mike James, James,Hutchison & Forth, P.C.

Greg Mollett, Greensfelder,Hemker & Gale, P.C.

Kenneth Slavens,Husch Blackwell, LLPStephen Smith, McCarthy,Leonard, Kaemmerer

Stuart Vogelsmeier,Lashly & Baer, P.C.

Kevin Williams,Carmody MacDonald, P.C.

David Zobel, Danna McKitrick, P.C.

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•314.721.7272 8000 Maryland Ave., #1500bcblawlc.com Clayton, MO 63105

David Spewak, Berger,Cohen & Brandt, LC

•Chris Kellett, Carmody MacDonald, P.C. 314.854.8600 120 South Central Ave., #1800carmodymacdonald.com St. Louis, MO 63105

314.854.8600 120 South Central Ave., #1800carmodymacdonald.com St. Louis, Mo 63105

Kevin Williams,Carmody MacDonald, P.C.

314.726.1000 7701 Forsyth Blvd., #800dmfirm.com St. Louis, Mo 63105

David Zobel, Danna McKitrick, P.C.

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Jason McKnight,Stanton Barton LLC


Stanton Barton congratulates Jason McKnight

on being named one of the “Best Attorneys in St. Louis.”

8000 Maryland Ave., Suite 450St. Louis, MO 63105

314.455.6500www.stantonbarton.com

The choice of a lawyer is important and should not be based solely on advertisements

Congratulations, Ira L. Blank, for being named among the Best Attorneys in St. Louis.among the Best Attorneys in St. Louis.

Helping Business OwnersLead Their Workforce Without Liability

The choice of a lawyer is important and should not be based solely on advertisements

Why advertise in St. Louis Small Business Monthly?Because you:A. understand the importance of thriving local businessesB. can’t wait until the Spring and Fall St. Louis Business ExposC. want to leverage the buying power of 70,000 business ownersD. are smart with your marketing dollarsE. ALL OF THE ABOVE

St. Louis Business Exam, Question #11

A+Great Job!O

sbmon.com • 314.569.0076


Best Health Insurance Brokers/AgentsWhen it comes to benefits, nothing is more imporant then health coverage. The following firms were voted Top Health Insurance Brokers/Agents in St. Louis. Make sure you check out the Awards page at www.sbmon.com to stay up to date with other Best in Business nominations for 2019.

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COMPANY NAME CONTACT INFORMATION

Arch Brokerage Inc. 314.849.6363 8084 Watson Rd., #100 archbrokerage.com St. Louis, MO 63119

Beattie & Associates Inc. 636.532.4300 16666 Old Chesterfield Rd. beattieandassociates.com Chesterfield, MO 63017

CLH Insurance 636.391.0700 14288 Manchester Rd. clhins.com Manchester, MO 63011

Crawford Butz Insurance 314.752.2500 9700 MacKenzie Rd., #120 crawfordbutz.com St. Louis, MO 63123

Crestwood Insurance Agency 314.822.3002 9800 Watson Rd. crestwoodinsurance.com St. Louis, MO 63126

Denny & Associates, Inc. 636.887.4700 1022 Peruque Crossing Ct., #B dtdinsurance.com O’Fallon, MO 63366

Heartland Insurance, LLC 636.477.8700 2451 Executive Dr., #200 heartlandinsurance.net St. Charles, MO 63303

Hovis & Associates 800.411.0737 998 E. Gannon Dr., #240 hovisandassociates.com Festus, MO 63028

Kreismann-Bayer Insurance Agency 314.567.3344 652 N. New Ballas Rd. kreismannbayer.com St. Louis, MO 63141

K. Flynn Insurance Agency 636.528.6363 112 Professional Parkway kflynnins.com Troy, MO 63379

Lang Insurance 636.229.7000 3920 S. Old Hwy. 94, #39 langinsurance.com St. Charles, MO 63304

Meyer Insurance Services, Inc. 314.631.0900 9312 Tesson Ferry Rd. meyerins.com St. Louis, MO 63123

Miller & Miller Insurance Agency, Inc. 314.843.3323 4651 S. Lindbergh miller-millerins.com St. Louis, MO 63127

O’Connor Insurance 314.434.0038 12101 Olive Blvd. oconnor-ins.com St. Louis, MO 63141

Powers Insurance and Risk Management 314.725.1414 6825 Clayton Ave. powersinsurance.com St. Louis, MO 63139

Ruzicka Group Services 314.778.3100 10324 Ladue Rd. ruzickags.com Creve Coeur, MO 63141

Stitz & Associates, Inc. 314.821.1946 326 S. Fillmore Ave. stitzinsurance.com Kirkwood, Mo 63122

St. Louis Benefits Group 636.349.0401 106 Brook stlbenefits.com Fenton, MO 63026

The Bremer Group 314.725.2700 8000 Bonhomme Ave., #213 bremerbenefits.com St. Louis, MO 63105

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You’re Invited: Meet The Area’s Best Businesses2019 F u tu re 5 0 Aw ards(Honoring the area’s Fastest-Growing Companies)

Au g u st 21, 2019 11: 00 a. m . - 1: 00 p . m . Hi l ton F rontenac Hotel

Keynote speaker:

Jason Carter, Founder of UNCOMNJ ason will discuss how he and his staff have bui lt one of the region’ s fastest- growing bus inesses.

$ 5 5 per person / $ 5 5 0 ( Tables of 10)Reg i ster Today: 314 . 5 6 9. 007 6 or onl i ne at http://store.sbmon.com


busey.com/welcome

With shared cultures of premier service in the communities where we live and work, TheBANK of Edwardsville and

Busey are better together—building on a shared history of service excellence and community-minded associates.

As we join together with Busey this fall, and long after, expect the same level of service excellence from

the same team of dedicated associates.

Dream big. We’re here.

Member FDIC

A Shared Legacy. A Shared Vision.

00616 STL Small Business Journal August


COVER STORY

Nine Companies That Got Brand Right

It’s tougher than ever to grab and hold customer attention. People are over-whelmed by messages flying at them

from all directions, and it’s easy for yours to get drowned out. Plus, there are more options than ever, and online retailers have made it easy to pick the lowest price (with decent reviews) and be done with it.

Don’t want to become a commodity? You’d better get brand right.

Many companies ignore brand, but that’s a huge mistake. A compelling brand strategy is the best way to earn customer loyalty. The best brand strategies must meet nine criteria. Here they are, along with some real-world examples of compa-nies that get them right:

BIG: Your brand promise must be big enough to matter. This is the space you own in your customer’s head. Make it a big space, a big promise. This will create value for both your customer and your business. By mattering to your customer, you fuel a business that matters.

EXAMPLE: Salesforce enables leaders to grow their businesses faster. This is a large and resonant promise for Sales-force’s target customer. A less big alterna-tive might have been “track customer communication carefully” or “largest storage capacity among CRM solutions.” With its big promise, Salesforce is a beloved brand with a tremendous market capitalization.

NARROW: It must be narrow enough to own. While your brand positioning must be big enough to matter, it also must

by Lindsay Pedersen


recognizable enough that your customer can easily grasp it, and yet new enough that it breaks through clutter and sparks intrigue. Familiarity gets you into the customer’s mind, while novelty attracts the customer’s attention.

EXAMPLE: Chobani yogurt blends the distinctness of Greek-style yogurt with the familiarity of mainstream American yogurt. Fage had made the mistake of being very different—an un-intuitive-to-pronounce name (“Fah-jay”), large cartons, plain whole milk SKUs—and never broadly tapped Americans’ yogurt-eating. Mainstream American brands like Yoplait had become ho-hum, uninteresting—overly familiar. Chobani blended familiar (traditional American fruit flavors and single-size servings) with novel (Greek yogurt’s thick texture), growing it to be one of the largest in the yogurt category.

FUNCTIONAL AND EMOTION-AL: It must serve the customer on both

functional and emotional levels. Your offering must be at the critical intersec-tion of your customer’s heart and mind. If it’s only emotional, they might not believe it. If it’s

only functional, they won’t bond with it or be loyal to it.

EXAMPLE: Etsy gets it just right by promising “something real from a real person”—an ideal intersection of func-tional and emotional. They bring the functional benefit of making it easy to find makers of what you need along with the emotional, soul-satisfying payoff of buying from a real artisan. It is func-tional enough to assuage the mind and emotional enough to capture the heart. In contrast, Microsoft Office is a brand that is overly functional—it is all about the product’s features and does nothing for your heart. And Jaguar is a brand that is too emotional—while the heart loves style and luxury, the mind can’t accept that it requires frequent repairs.

SHARP-EDGED: It must entail a single, sharp-edged promise. Your brand positioning must be simple and singular. It should be ridiculously clear to cus-tomers what you do and don’t promise. Focus on that specific benefit, with all

COVER STORY

be narrow enough for you to dominate. Choose a positioning you uniquely can own—one where you are not just better, but you are different.

EXAMPLE: Dollar Shave Club chose a meaning narrow enough to own. They unabashedly targeted millennial males not loyal to the status quo way of buying shaving materials. With a subscription-based razor delivery model, Dollar Shave Club outflanked Gillette by not distribut-ing through traditional retailers.

ASYMMETRICAL: It must use your lopsided advantage. Promise and deliver from your place of dramatically asymmetrical strength. (It’s asymmetrical because your edge comes not from be-ing medium-good at a lot of things, but from being excellent at one thing.) Your positioning must pinpoint precisely what only you can bring to your customer that others cannot copy.

EXAMPLE: GORE-TEX has an asym-metrical advantage in waterproof fabrics. By inventing and patenting the technology for their fabric in 1969, they claimed the gold standard in water-proof fibers. As a result, GORE-TEX waterproof fabric is used in products manufactured by Patagonia, L.L. Bean, Oakley, Marmot, and The North Face (to name just a few).

EMPATHETIC: It must address a deeply relevant and meaningful need. Your positioning must genuinely have your customers’ interests at heart. Iron-clad brands genuinely care about their customers and seek to serve them with authenticity.

EXAMPLE: Airbnb empathetically addresses a large and previously unserved desire. Based on a promise to “belong anywhere,” Airbnb marries two deep, human needs: the need to belong and the need to feel safe in parts of the world beyond our experience. The Airbnb promise is meaningful for guests, who get to experience a new place through the lens of a local, and hosts, who get to share their world with someone they’d otherwise never get to know.

OPTIMALLY DISTINCT: It must strike a balance between familiar and novel. Your brand positioning must be

Six Ways a Strong Brand Makes Your Company Moneyby Lindsay PedersenIt creates a high “willingness-

to-pay” factor, which translates directly to better margins. In a recent study, strong brands on average commanded a 13 percent price premium over weak brands. Look to your own purchasing behavior. When you love a brand, aren’t you willing to pay more for it than for an alternative brand? Renowned brands like Apple, Mercedes-Benz, and Williams-Sonoma—or niche brands like Lululemon, Campagnolo, and Vitamix—are examples.

It commands attention and makes it easy for customers to choose you. Consid-er the infinite stimuli competing for your customers’ attention. To break through and secure a place in their minds—and their wallets—you need to make it easy for them to notice you. The solution is not to shout the most loudly—most lack the marketing budget to shout loudly enough. The solution instead is bracing clarity. Be crystal clear about what your business is and why that matters to customers. This way the customer’s mind has to do less work to grasp your offering.

It enables you to hit that sweet spot between old and new that persuades peo-ple to buy. Wharton School marketing professor Jonah Berger writes in his book Invisible Influence that people like a blend of similarity and difference. When it’s the right blend, he refers to it as “optimally distinct.” For a brand position to be compelling to customers, it should be similar enough to something a customer already knows so that the person will feel its “warm glow of familiarity,” as Berger has called it—yet it should be different enough that it stirs the customer’s curiosity and desire to be different themselves.

When selling something new, it helps to piggyback it on top of something else the customer already understands. This is why automobiles were positioned as “horseless carriages.” It’s also why Airbnb referenced the familiar B&B idea, with its associations of belonging and safety and psychological comfort, when trying to persuade people to embrace the dramatically new idea of sleeping in non-hotel beds they find on the Internet.

It sets the groundwork for customer loyalty. Your brand strategy enables you to focus on what matters to the target customer—on that which produces customer desire for your business. Once customers have found it easy to see you and buy you, and those customers value your big benefit, they will love your business. In this way, great brands deepen and lengthen your customer relationships, increasing customer lifetime value. Brands set the conditions for loyal customers who come back again and again because you singularly bring significant value.

It “digs a moat” around your business. A great brand is good defense. It pro-tects what you have, helping you to survive and defend, as well as thrive and grow. If you have built a powerful brand, your competitors cannot credibly copy it, and this un-copy-ability protects your business’s long-term value. Pretty much every-thing else can be copied, given enough time. Patents expire; features obsolesce. But it is hard to copy an emotional territory that your brand occupies in the mind of your customer.

Finally, it guides strategic decision-making. When your brand is well defined, you can look to it to filter where and how you can innovate, or what categories you can expand into, with confidence in your ability to grow. In this way, it prevents you from making costly mistakes.

Lindsay Pedersen is the author of Forging an Ironclad Brand: A Leader’s Guide. She is a brand strategist, board advisor, coach, speaker, and teacher known for her scientific, growth-oriented approach to brand building.

Don’t want to become a commodity? You’d better get brand right. Many companies

ignore brand, but that’s a huge mistake. A compelling brand

strategy is the best way to earn customer loyalty.

you do and say supporting that single idea.EXAMPLE: Let’s look at a few well-known car brands. When you say Volvo, I say

safe. When you say Prius, I say fuel-efficient. When you say Jeep, I say fun. None of these brands overextend into being sporty, prestigious, or fast. It’s clear both what they do and what they don’t do. But when you say Buick, it doesn’t mean much. That’s a brand without sharp edges.

HAS TEETH: It must be demonstrably true. Your positioning must offer compel-ling, granular, concrete proof that it will deliver on its promise. It need not only be true, but demonstrably true. This helps customers believe it, trust it, and engage with it.

EXAMPLE: Plenty of insurance companies pitch a savings advantage. However, only Geico’s promise to save you money on car insurance is extremely specific, with numeri-cal, relevant facts to back it up: “Fifteen minutes could save you 15 percent or more on car insurance.” Fifteen minutes is fast, but not so fast that it’s not believable. Fifteen percent is substantial, but does not sound like an overpromise. The matching of “15 minutes” with “15 percent” makes the promise memorably specific.

DELIVERS: You must deliver on your brand promise across everything you do, from big to small, from new customer to loyal customer—consistently. You don’t just nail the letter of the promise, but the spirit of the promise.

EXAMPLE: Zappos promises world-class customer service, and they deliver on that consistently and across all dimensions. They hire people for their customer service ethic. Their processes are set up to reward creative, above-and-beyond ways to delight customers. They will get your merchandise to you in 24 hours. They provide free ship-ping both ways. Even their boxes are a treat to open. They deliver excellent customer service in spades.

Lindsay Pedersen is the author of Forging an Ironclad Brand: A Leader’s Guide. She is a brand strategist, board advisor, coach, speaker, and teacher known for her scientific, growth-oriented approach to brand building.

COVER STORY


We make itour business toGROW YOURS

Every business, no matter where they are on their road to success, deals with the same set of issues to varying degrees. In order to navigate the road, you need to understand the current landscape and prepare for what is fast approaching.

We specialize in removing the roadblocks that businesses face. Growing your business and having a plan are critical to your success. Business moves fast take control of the road and let our team of business advisors help you map out where your business is heading and the best route to get there.

600 Mason Ridge Center Dr., #100St. Louis, MO 63141

314.514.8881www.lopataflegel.com

Thank you to Jon Jansky and D&S Car Wash Equipment Co. for your business! We here at Meramec Valley Bank love nothing more

than helping community businesses thrive.

Jon, CEO, had this to say about us:

D&S Carwash Equipment Co. is a small manufacturing company in High Ridge. Having a reliable banking partner is critical for the survival of a small business and

we have that in Meramec Valley Bank. MVB employees are responsive, accurate, courteous, and most of all, friendly. They make banking easy. It is a pleasure to

work with them.

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636-230-3500 www.meramecvalleybank


St. Louis’ Best Bosses 2018

Shaping the Future WorkforceWORDS RON AMELNPHOTOS BILL SAWALICH

For many employees, the difference between a great job and a horrible

(I dread going) experience often falls directly on the boss. A great boss can keep employees motivated and inspired to come in each day. A horrible boss can make even the most loyal employee searching for a way out.

This month, we are proud to present some of the best bosses and managers in St. Louis. When we asked for nominations, we were searching for managers who inspire, motivate and positively challenge their teams not only to make them more productive but also make work more fun.

These are not your average bosses, they are the best in the region.

When Natasha Peebles walked through the doors of startup Sonder Payments earlier this year for a job interview, she wasn’t sure

working at another startup was the right move for her career. Even though she previously worked for two startup firms already, she thought maybe it was time to find a more established firm.

Until, that is, she walked into the building, met the owners and felt the vibe of the culture. She was sold.

Today, Peebles is the Director of Operations at Sonder Payments. In her role, she handles all in-bound client communications and all post-sale communica-tions. The startup company is a membership-based pay-ment processing company. Merchants can pay as little as eight cents per transaction rather than a percentage of revenue with a Sonder Payments membership.

For Peebles, being a leader means stepping up and taking action. “My mentality is just do it,” she said. “Dive in, figure it out and follow through on it. I feel like people look up to me as a leader because I am willing to dive in and figure issues out. I want to help others solve their challenges so I’ve always had the men-tality of, ‘Let’s figure it out and find the best way to get the job done.’ That’s what our whole business is based on.”

As far as advice to other leaders, she believes in always striving to be the best. Said Peebles: “Just try and be the best version of yourself each day. I’m always try-ing to be the best version of myself. If you want to show up and be a leader you need to step up and do it and not expect someone to hold your hand. If you make some mistakes along the way, that’s okay.”

Becoming the Best Version of YourselfNatasha Peebles | Sonder Payments

BEST BOSSES


BEST BOSSES

The secret to being a great boss comes down to one simple principle for Bruce Bernstein: Caring about your employees.

When an employee was recently hospitalized for a spot on his lung, Bernstein paid a visit. “He couldn’t believe I showed up,” Bernstein said. “When I walked in the room, his eyes lit up. There is no way I wasn’t going to show up. He means something to me. All of my employ-ees mean something to me.”

Bernstein is the president and owner of Sunshine Drapery and Interior Design, and The Great Cover Up. After working 12 years at the business, he fulfilled his lifelong dream to become an entrepreneur and purchased the business in 2008. Prior to Sunshine, he worked for 12 years at Famous Barr, then a division of the May Department Stores Company.

Founded in 1969, Sunshine is celebrating its 50th anniversary. Sunshine provides a variety of products for home owners and businesses, including custom draper-ies, blinds and shades, indoor shutters, motorized win-dow treatments, decorating fabric, custom bedding and commercial window treatments. Services include in-home personal design, business design, senior facilities design, reupholstery, and blinds and shade repair.

For Bernstein, the key to truly caring about your employees is to “ask a lot of questions and seek a lot of input” from all employees. “I consider myself the captain and the leader,” he said. “My philosophy is to let people do their jobs and let them flourish. I want them to learn from some mistakes and be there for them. I want inde-pendent thinkers, and I want them to feel ownership in the company.”

If Bernstein could offer one piece of leadership advice to other owners, he says it is important “to know what makes people click.” “Some need recognition and others don’t,” Bernstein said. “Everyone is different. I handle everyone individually in terms of their personalities and their wants and needs.”

Truly Caring For Your EmployeesBruce Bernstein | Sunshine Drapery and Interior Design

As the owner of one of the region’s top staffing firms, Diane Fennel knows more than anyone what it takes to find and build the best workforce.

Over the years, she’s helped thousands of businesses locate the very best employees.

“The key for me is to hire people who are smarter than me,” said Fennel. “That’s the key to building a great workforce.”

After working for large, nationwide staffing agen-cies for many years, Fennel got her chance to break out on her own when her previous employer was purchased. She left the company and decided to start her own staffing firm, American Staffing. American Staffing, now in its 15th year, is a full-service placement, contract staffing company.

Fennel’s advice to other bosses: “Listen to your employ-ees,” she said. “Bosses (managers) need to listen more. They are on the front line. They are the ones who talk to the clients in my industry and they hear and they know what’s going on.”

The greatest compliment a boss can get is when former employees and associates come back to say, “thanks.” That’s the case for Fennel, according to Angelic Hobart, office manager at American Staffing. “Diane has created a strong company, providing career and advancement opportunity for her own employees, as well as an oppor-tunity for all associates to obtain education instruction, career advancement, structure, secure income and more,” Hobart said. “After years of providing work opportunities for associates, they pay her visits to thank her for dedi-cated consultations, time and effort.”

Fennel doesn’t plan on slowing down. She contin-ues to love what she does. “It is very rewarding helping people find jobs and careers,” she said. “One job can change their life forever.”

A True Open-Door PolicyDiane Fennel | American Sta�ng

When it comes to being the best boss possible, Lecie Steinbaum believes it all starts with knowing herself.

“My management philosophy is to know who I am so I know who to hire,” said Steinbaum, chief operating officer at Cornerstone Employer Solutions. “You need to understand what it means to have a team. I am the entrepreneurial type and I am wearing 15 hats at any given time. So I know I need to hire an organized, struc-tured and smart individual to work with me. Together, we’ll make a great team. That’s what it means to build a team. Then, I respect the employee’s ability to be organized and structured. I am very open to embracing everyone’s strong points. I let employees strive the way they are most comfortable.”

Cornerstone Employer Solutions is a human resources outsourcing firm, often referred to as a Professional Employer Organization (PEO), serving clients across the region. The company helps businesses with human resources, workers’ compensation, risk management, em-ployee benefits management and payroll administration.

Steinbaum’s advice to other bosses is to “take time to discover your employees’ strengths and weaknesses.” “Give everyone a voice,” she said. “Never give them a voice and ignore that voice. If you have an open door policy and they voice an issue, you have to follow through on it. You want to make sure everyone feels they are wel-comed to talk about things before it becomes an issue.”

Steinbaum is also a big believer in showing employees a clear career path. “Employees, particularly younger employees, want a clear job path. Younger employees are in their first few jobs and they are figuring out what their journey is going to look like. If you don’t help them figure out what their journey is going to look like, they will go somewhere where they will have a path.”

Providing A Clear Job PathLecie Steinbaum | Cornerstone Employer Solutions


BEST BOSSES

Want to become a great boss? While the management gurus encourage such tactics as birthday celebrations and

ping-pong tables, Matt Renaud opts instead for the simpler approach…communicating and listen-ing to employees.

“Since we began the company in 1998, my thought process was to put our employees first,” Renaud said. “They play a huge role in helping our clients. I would say 75% of our client conver-sations are with one of our staff members. If our employees aren’t happy, our customers won’t be happy.”

Renaud began Renaud & Company 21 years ago. The company is a fee-based financial advising firm, helping clients avoid common investment mistakes and counseling them on how to avoid pitfalls to see positive financial results.

Constant communication with employees is one of Renaud’s management secrets. Whether it’s upcoming industry information or things hap-pening in their lives, Renaud keeps an open-door philosophy.

“He is always understanding, and if you ever need to leave work to take care of a personal or family issue, he just says, ‘Go,” said one of his employees. “I had to leave and miss work several times when my Mother was ill before she passed away and he told me, ‘Anytime you need to go be with her just get up and say you have to go, no questions asked.’”

Said another employee: “He helped me get on my feet in so many ways this past year. He was pa-tient with me as I went through my divorce. One time I had a tire blow out in the work parking lot. I was supposed to meet a friend for dinner. He called his wife and had her come pick me up. While I was at dinner, he stayed with my car until the spare was put on.”

“Employees’ personal time drives whether or not they are having a good day,” Renaud said. “Whether or not they are having a good day is certainly going to drive how they are doing their jobs. There isn’t a way to fake that. If there is a personal time or personal issue they need time off for, we have that conversation. We work very hard to know them well enough to know what they need. We just ask. A lot of times employees don’t ask for time off, or ask to have that conversation. We try to stay tuned in on what’s going on in their lives and what they are feeling. “

Putting Employees FirstMatt Renaud | Renaud & Company


Congratulations Matt Renaud

on being chosen one of STL’sBest Bosses

The sta� at Renaud & Company appreciate all you do for your

clients and us. You treat all of us like family with your inspiration,

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BEST BOSSES

That philosophy helped Bisel build Sea-foam Media, a digital marketing, web design and development company she

founded in 2010.“The biggest thing I try to do is figuring

out the things that employees do best that they are happiest doing,” Bisel said. “One of the ways I look at it is to put these things in quadrants. The first quadrant is stuff I am great at and love doing. The second quadrant is stuff I am good at and I don’t mind doing. The third quadrant is stuff I’m okay at doing but I don’t love it. The fourth quadrant is the stuff you aren’t great at and you really don’t like to do. For me, helping people continually evolve their positions to do more stuff in that first quadrant is the key to our success.”

In many cases, the challenge for Bisel and her staff is to discover what the strengths are for each employee. “I help people take a step back and discover what gives them energy,” she said. “For me, it’s a win-win-win. If my employees are happier, that means they are producing great work, which means the cli-ents are happier. That means I’m happier.”

Bisel actually began the company as a free-lancer, helping companies design web sites. As she signed on more and more companies and her reputation in the business communi-ty expanded, she began Seafoam. In her nine years in business, she has not only helped employees find their true strengths, she’s also worked to let each employee know how their work makes an impact and difference in the company and the clients’ companies.

“Nikki is always encouraging everyone on the team and validating that they bring value to Seafoam and that without each individual team member, Seafoam would not be where it is today,” said Courtney Egner, Client De-velopment manager at Seafoam. “If you want to try a new method or way of doing things, she has your back, 100% every time, and she’s always there to help along the way.”

Focusing On StrengthsNikki Bisel | Seafoam Media

TOP ACCOUNTANTS

Our Salute to theNumbers People2019 Top Small Business Accountants

For entrepreneurs, their

accountant plays an active part in the financial success of their businesses. The following accountants have proven their dedication to helping small businesses in St. Louis grow and have been named the Top Accountants for small businesses in 2018. In the following profiles, this year’s top accountants share their wisdom for your business.

Mark KorteSche�el Boyle

Position: PrincipalNumber of years serving business owners: 25Motivation to help business owners: Successful business owners have a vision of what their business can be and where they want their business to go. It is exciting to help them realize their vision and be by their side helping them through the hurdles along the way. Being a part of their team and working toward their goals is very fulfilling. Assisting them with building successful businesses also helps strengthen our communities, which helps us all. Obstacles you help entrepreneurs with: We have assisted entrepreneurs with finding solutions to a multitude of obstacles. The most important thing is to listen to them and then work closely with them to find a solution. This may include business plan-ning, tax planning, obtaining financing or bonding, or many other issues that come along with owning a business. The key is finding a solution for their specific needs and then continuing to repeat that process as their business grows. Solutions are never a cookie cutter process but rather always tailored to that specific client. Best advice for small-business owners: Be very disciplined with producing and main-taining accurate books and records. This is the foundation for making key decisions in a timely and effective manner. Also keep your strategic team of advisors (attorney, banker, and CPA) up-to-date and engaged in planning for your business.Biggest mistake you see business owners make:Losing focus on the core items that make your business successful. Successful business owners have the ability to focus on short-term tasks that require routine discipline, while also maintaining a “big picture” vision. Losing that discipline or vision can be detrimental to achieving your goals.

Sharon SchlossWilhelm & Wilhelm, LLC

Position: CPA and PartnerNumber of years serving business owners: 29Motivation to help business owners: I love to partner with my clients in helping educate them on tax and business strategies in order to help them grow their businesses! Obstacles you help entrepreneurs with: Understanding tax law and its impact on their cash flow, guiding them through financial statements and teaching them how to analyze the numbers so they can make good business decisions.Best advice for small-business owners: Do not be afraid to ask questions and gather your team and let them work with each other to help you.Biggest mistake you see business owners make: Thinking they can do it all on their own. Business owners should work with the experts to educate themselves as well as to work on back office items while they focus on what they do well, which is the business side.

Justin D. Reppy, CPAAbeles and Ho�man, P.C.

Position: PrincipalNumber of years serving business owners: 17Motivation to help business owners: I enjoy helping my clients better understand risks and opportunities regarding taxation and other business-related matters. I feel good about what I do when I can explain what others view as complicated in a way that they can easily understand. Providing solutions to problems that clearly add value is the goal.Obstacles you help entrepreneurs with: Typical areas that I focus on with clients are tax planning, cash flow and business operation issues, and structur-ing deals and transactions.Best advice for small business owners: The best thing a business owner can do is develop relationships with a strong network of professionals that can help them as a resource. Don’t undervalue the importance of regular communication with these indi-viduals. Hiring the right employees for your business is also critical to success.Biggest mistake that you see business owners make: Many business owners have a vision for what they want to do but often try to do too much on their own. It is critical to keep the financial records up to date and to handle this process correctly so that you can understand what you have accomplished and where you are headed. When business owners try to do this on their own, or handle things like HR or IT in the same fashion, it takes their eyes off the areas in their business that drive value. Hiring the right personnel can address some of these issues and working with knowledgeable professionals that are skilled in those specialties can be impactful. Often business own-ers would find that they reap a greater reward by freeing up their time from tasks that they are ill-suited to handle and instead focus on the aspects of the business that they are truly passionate about.


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Understanding New Tax Law Changes for Business Owners

LEGAL MATTERSBY LEO H. MACDONALD, RONALD E. RUCKER, BRAD D. ZIMMERMAN

Even long-tenured business owners are finding themselves with new ques-tions at tax time this year. Millions

are navigating for the first time the changes in tax law that took effect in 2018 under the Tax Cut and Jobs Act of 2017. For those with pass-through businesses – such as sole proprietorships, partnerships, LLCs and S-corps – the question of whether their taxes went up or down isn’t always entirely clear.

In a pass-through business, the income “passes through” to the owner or owners and are taxed on their individual income tax returns. Pass-through businesses repre-sent the vast majority of businesses in the United States. Because they are affected by both corporate and individual tax systems, the net impact of the tax reform law can be confusing, to say the least.

Here are several key deduction changes business owners will want to be aware of:• Section 199A, a.k.a “The Pass-Through Deduction”

o This section of the tax act allows for a deduction of a portion of qualified business income (QBI) from pass-through entities. It is viewed as one of the most valuable new tax breaks, and is something business owners will not want to miss.

o QBI is the business’s total bottom-line profit, adjusted for deductions related to the business such as self-employed health insurance, self-employment taxes, and self-employed retirement contributions. For total taxable income below $315,000 for joint filers and $157,500 for others, the deduction is 20% of QBI less net capital gain. For income over these thresholds, additional restrictions will apply that limit the deduction. • Separation of businesses

o There are certain situations where business owners with multiple business or business lines may find it advantageous to aggregate their businesses or separate their businesses to capture the most benefit from the QBI deduction. This move can make sense for business owners with tax-able income high enough to be subject to deduction limitations. But, certain criteria must be met for aggregation or separation. • Business entertainment expenses

o Business owners that do a lot of entertaining will find that deductions for entertainment, amusement, recreation, and membership dues have been elimi-nated. Prior to 2018, up to 50 percent of these expenses were deductible. Meal

expenses related to operating a business are still deductible up to 50 percent. Providing food and drink on-site to employees was previously fully deductible, and now in most cases will be subject to the 50 percent limitation. • 100% Bonus Depreciation

o Many business owners take advantage of depreciation deductions which allow them to write off assets of the business as they become obsolete. Previous IRS laws placed more limits on how much depre-ciation could be deducted the first year the asset is placed in service. But now, the new tax law allows business owners to immediately deduct 100% of the cost of certain assets in the first year of service. This applies to depreciable business assets with a recovery period of 20 years or less such as computers, equipment, machinery, appliances and furniture.•Estate Exclusion Deduction

o Though not directly related to the op-eration of a business, business owners who achieve a high net worth are often con-cerned with what they will pass along to their heirs. Under previous tax laws, an es-tate valued at more than $5.49 million per person and $10.98 million per couple was generally subject to a tax rate of 40 percent when it was passed onto their descendants. The new tax reform bill basically doubles the exclusion amount to $11.4 million for individuals or $22.36 million for married couples for 2019. Consequently, with prop-er planning, business owners with estates valued under those exclusion amounts pass their businesses and financial legacy estate tax free – at least for now.

o The estate tax exclusion amount will return to $5 million (adjusted for inflation) in 2026. The 199A provision, along with most of the other tax changes, will also expire without intervention by Congress.

All of the changes discussed in this article are subject to different variables, restrictions, and limitations that will be unique from business to business. Working closely with a team of tax attorneys and CPAs provides customized, strategic guid-ance to each business. n

Leo H. MacDonald, Jr. is an attorney at Carmody MacDonald and concentrates his practice in taxation, estate planning and busi-ness law, typically serving closely held businesses, not-for-profits and wealthy individuals.

Ronald E. Rucker is an attorney at Carmody MacDonald and concentrates his practice in taxation, estate planning and business law. He


LEADER ACCELERATIONBY KATHY COOPERMAN

360 Assessment: A Snapshot in Time

When was the last time you had a true picture of your leadership effectiveness? A

360 assessment may be just the right tool to provide you with honest feed-back from your critical stakeholders. What is a 360 assessment?

Just as the term “360” suggests, it’s a collection of ratings from everyone all around you. Raters typically include:n You (you’ll rate yourself on the same competencies as everyone else)o Your boss (if you’re the business owner it could be your Board of Direc-tors)n Your direct reports (those who report directly to you)n Peersn Others (could be customers, vendors, etc.)

The most effective assessments are online questionnaires, preferably administered by a third party, to ensure anonymity for the raters. Your goal is to receive honest and constructive feedback. Ensure everyone that their responses will be completely anony-mous; this will heighten participation and candor.Mechanics of the Assessment

The 360 questionnaire should be based on customized leader compe-tencies—skills, observable behaviors, and knowledge that are critical to your success in your current leadership role. Raters are asked to rank the impor-tance of the selected competencies and to rate your effectiveness in each of them.

A combination of well-designed objective questions and open-ended questions will give you a good look at how you are showing up to your rater groups.Planning for Success

Whether you’re working with an internal department or an outside consultant, be sure to communicate your request for honest feedback to your raters. Explain how the 360 pro-

cess will work, including timeframes, anonymity and what you’ll do with the feedback.

Express appreciation upfront. Direct them to a contact person in case they have questions as the process rolls out. Receiving Your Report

I prefer face-to-face meetings to deliver the feedback report. Try to ar-range a time and place where the meet-ing will be uninterrupted, if possible. I schedule 90 minutes for feedback meetings.

Be open to potential surprises in the feedback—sometimes pleasant and sometimes unpleasant surprises. Resist the potential to get defensive or make excuses for feedback that you don’t agree with.

Watch for patterns or trends in responses. Be aware of gaps in ratings between you and any of the other rater groups. How did you rate yourself? Do you have a pattern of rating yourself consistently higher or lower than your other rater groups?Next Steps

The next step should be to create a development plan. I suggest taking on no more than two or three devel-opment goals based on your greatest strengths and potential areas for im-provement. For each of the goals:n State your development goal and why you selected itn What’s your desired outcome? n What are the obstacles that could get in the way of success? How will you work around those obstacles?n To whom will you be accountable for success?n What resources will you need?

As you achieve each goal, be sure to build in a way to celebrate success! nKathy Cooperman, an executive coach and leadership expert, is the president and found-er of KC Leadership Consulting LLC. For more information, contact her at [email protected], www. kathycooperman.com or 720.542.3324.

also serves as a board member to several corpora-tions and frequently lectures on business law and tax issues.

Brad D. Zimmerman is an attorney at Carmody MacDonald and focuses his practice in the areas of taxation, estate planning and

business law.This column is for informational purposes only.

Nothing herein should be considered legal advice or as creating an attorney-client relationship. The choice of a lawyer is an important decision and should not be based solely upon advertisements.

Is Your Business Owner-Dependent?

VALUE PROPOSITIONBY DAVE DRISCOLL

What would happen if you decided to travel for the next month?

A. Your business would run like the proverbial well-oiled machine.

B. You would be inundated with emails, texts, and calls from your employees.

C. Your employees would call the police, convinced you must have been kidnapped because you are NEVER away from the office for long.

Obviously, A is the right answer, but is it the realistic answer for your business?

As a small business owner, you likely wear many hats and are responsible for the majority of decisions at your company. While that seems normal, it’s not healthy for the business – or for you.

But why is an owner-dependent business a problem?

1. Fatigue (emotional and physical) is a real issue for own-ers who carry all the weight on their shoulders.

2. Focus on daily operations distracts you from assessing the big picture and setting strategies.

3. You are miss-ing your employees’ constructive, creative solutions and ideas to grow the business.

4. Owner-dependent businesses are not worth much when it’s eventually time to sell your business.If your business depends on you to operate smoothly on a daily basis, now is the time for change!

Fresh energy helps businesses thrive. Take a vacation and recharge! The adrenaline rush of a new business can give owners super-human stamina and bound-less enthusiasm. But that is not sustain-able and owners who don’t take care of themselves burn out. Enjoy the perks of ownership by taking extended vacations as well as several shorter breaks each year to reconnect with yourself, your family and friends. Instruct your employees not to contact you unless there is an actual emer-gency. Also create time for your passions, hobbies, and volunteering regularly. Time away from your business will give you a clearer perspective and make you a better leader when you return.

Be careful not to let working IN your business become more important than

working ON your business. As the owner, you should focus on analyzing your financial reporting, efficiencies, and sales to look for opportunities and challenges. Developing and refining strategies to reach the company’s long-term goals is very difficult if you’re putting out fires or dealing with menial tasks or squabbles.

Empower and train your employees to accept more responsibility. A strong lead-ership team is invaluable for overseeing that established procedures are followed, troubleshooting daily operational issues, and ensuring superior customer service. Invest in your capable, loyal employees by providing mentorship, training, and genuine opportunities to make decisions. Others may do things differently than you…and that can be a good thing! If mis-takes are made, teach rather than criticize. Employees at all levels will surprise you

with their practical suggestions for im-proving efficiency, processes, and company culture. Realistically assess-ing and addressing your employees’ strengths and weaknesses will

maximize their contributions to the busi-ness.

Maximizing the value of your business is very important to support you and your family when you eventually retire, sell, or otherwise leave your business. If your company can perform well without you, the business value is much higher than an owner-dependent business. In contrast, owners who are personally responsible for the company’s operations and success really have nothing to sell. Buyers need confidence that the business’ success will continue after you walk out the door.

Ironically, prioritizing time to rest, re-lax, and rejuvenate now will significantly build business value, ensuring that you can continue enjoying your life beyond business™ long-term. n

Dave Driscoll is president of Metro Business Advisors, a business brokerage, valuation and exit planning firm helping owners of companies with revenue up to $20 million sell their most valuable asset. Reach Dave at [email protected] or (314) 303-5600. www.MetroBusinessAdvisors.com.

Managing Evolutionary Change“The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without chang-

ing our thinking.” — Albert Einstein“Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the

square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About

the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who

are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.” — Rob Siltanen

THE EXTRAORDINARY WORKPLACEBY JUDY RYAN

From senior leaders to front-line staff, we ensure all employees complete a process of culture

transformation together, in order to become personally responsible and share in the growth, development, and agility of your business. Each learns to manage his or her own relationships, productiv-ity, engagement, and purpose, values and visions, including how to implement all the goals and procedures needed to successfully achieve them. This is awe-inspiring to witness; like seeing a dramatic before-and-after photo of an obese person grow thin. Resistance

For some, there is strong resistance to picking up responsibility to this degree; a consequence of centuries of control methods, used to get compliant behavior from people, that undercuts internal motivation and full engagement. Chang-ing this is as radical as my recent switch to a ketogenic diet, in which I replaced a life-long habit of burning carbs for energy, to burning fat for energy instead. Similarly, the shift from a conventional to a responsibility-based culture model based on self-governance, values, and task ownership, can feel foreign and overwhelming at first. It’s always a question of value

When we make any significant change in our lives and work, spending time, and money, one factor is crucial to this choice: the value we place on what we invest in. For example, if I don’t un-derstand the value of my health or the consequences (short and long-term) for whether I maintain it well (or not), I won’t commit to adopting practices needed to gain and maintain excellent health. Most people don’t value some-thing until they either recognize its posi-tive consequences, or lose it.

The value of a responsibility-based workplace is that leaders create other leaders at all levels; teaching people to fish, instead of feeding them fish. This eliminates enormous amounts of stress, the imbal-ance of the all-too-common 20/80 rule, burnout, disengagement, and many other negative effects that cost on every level of your business. In this new model,

no one does for another person what they are capable of learning and then doing for themselves. Today’s complex-ity, advanced technologies, globalization, diversity, and challenge require we grow in responsibility and agility to carry our future and our progress together as a whole community. Fast food approach or new systems

Culture improvement, like improve-ments to our physical body, are either approached from a cheap, fast food, silver bullet mindset and behaviors, or focus on correcting underlying systems to instill professional behaviors that bring about lasting success. Are your people sharing responsibility for managing emo-tional and social intelligence and directly supporting creation of the agile systems you need? Are they responding well to what’s coming next, your customer’s evolving needs and where the health of your business must shift to remain high performing and profitable? Changing the status quo

You have hired people who don’t al-ways act the way you want, and many will continue to be exhausted and burnt out by working too hard or by shutting down and being mediocre. The signs of this are everywhere. You can make it a long time without changing, just as people can live on a bad diet or alcohol or smoking for a long time until the effects catch up. But they DO catch up. Here is the daunting task…How do you train, instill and create an engaged workforce process across a large group of people? If you want this to ensure a profitable and highly successful business, let’s talk. I am happy to share the incredible positive and life-altering changes I’ve witnessed when a responsi-bility-based workplace culture framework has been fully adopted. nJudy Ryan ([email protected]), hu-man systems specialist, is owner of LifeWork Systems. Join her in her mission to create a world in which all people love their lives. She can also be reached at 314-239-4727. People hire LifeWork Systems because we help businesses become agile and manage their pri-ority system: their human system. I hope this article helps you make sense of what’s most crucial to your evolving organization!


As a small business owner, you likely wear many hats and are responsible for the majority of

decisions at your company. While that seems normal, it’s not healthy

for the business – or for you.

TIME WITH

Education: B.A.; Political Science and History, Rice University; J.D., University of Nebraska

Family: My husband, 3 sons and 1 daughter.

What is your mission? Legal Services of Eastern Missouri is a nonprofit organization providing free civil legal services to the low-income community in 21 counties in Eastern Missouri since 1956. Community Economic Development offers legal help to entrepreneurs and neighborhoods re-mediate vacant and abandoned housing through the legal process.

What was your first job? My first job ever was when I was 15 and worked at a fast food restaurant called Danver’s in Houston.

What was your worst job? My worst job ever was as a telemarketer selling prepaid legal plans while I was in college. I hated cold-calling people asking them to buy something. Relationship-building is a much better way to sell someone an idea, especially if I believe in it.

What led you to your industry? When I was a homeless teen in Houston, a guardian ad litem accompanied me through the court process. Later, my mother sued her employer for gender discrimination where she ultimately lost, but I really thought I could do a better job than my mother’s attorney did for her.

What was the smartest thing your com-pany did in the past year? Creating a new program that I man-age called the Neighborhood Vacancy Initiative. We help City residents and community-based organizations in the City of St. Louis reduce the problem of vacant, abandoned, and blighted hous-ing through legal tools. This program will help stabilize neighborhoods and

create more affordable housing.

Who is your industry role model?Alyce Herndon of Grace Hill Women’s Business Center. She sees opportunity in others, especially African-American women entrepreneurs who are aspiring to be successful for themselves and their families. Nationally, Marcus Lemonis of The Profit.

How do you try to differentiate your business from others in your industry?We are a nonprofit law firm and have a niche practice: not too many lawyers want to offer free legal services to low-income communities.

What’s the hottest trend in your industry, and are you going to jump on board? Incubators. I would love to start a free/low-cost incubator for low-income en-trepreneurs in Cortex where it could be more holistic: offer business-counseling, accounting and legal services.

What’s the hardest part of your job? Seeing what our clients face on a daily basis to make a better life for themselves and not being able to do more for them.

What’s the best part?Seeing the wins: helping a single mother of three start a successful business that gets funded, expands and hires employ-ees; knowing we did the legal work to help her become successful.

What best advice would you share with new entrepreneurs? Three pieces of advice: find a niche, develop a business plan, and don’t sign contracts without a lawyer first reviewing it.

What book is on your nightstand? White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo.

What do you like to do in your free time? Genetic genealogy. n

THE BOSS

Tracy JamesLegal Services of Eastern Missouri

Website: www.lsem.orgIndustry: Legal Services/Nonprofit



DIRECTORY: ACCOUNTING

THE BUSINESS EVENT OF THE YEAR

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Becker and Rosen CPAs, LLCJonathan Becker, CPA8008 Carondelet Avenue, Suite 214Clayton, MO [email protected] 1988, Becker & Rosen has been operating as a full-service accounting firm. We are dedicated to providing clients with professional and personalized services for their business and individual needs. Our dedication to our clients has earned us multiple accolades through the years for accounting, customer service, quality, and value. Our broad spectrum of services include: accounting, audit, tax, consulting, and forensic accounting.

Brown Smith Wallace Entrepreneurial Services GroupKaren Stern, Partner in Charge6 CityPlace Drive, Suite 900St. Louis, MO [email protected] Brown Smith Wallace Entrepreneurial Services Group provides small business tax and accounting services for companies with revenues ranging from startup to over $20,000,000. Our key services include QuickBooks, check writing, outsourced ac-counting services, CFO services and more.

Conner Ash P.C.Alicia Brockland, CPA 12101 Woodcrest Executive Drive, Suite 300St. Louis, MO 63141 [email protected] in 1926 Conner Ash is one of the oldest public accounting firms in the St. Louis area and also among the 25 larg-est accounting firms in the area. We seek to make things less taxing on our clients.

Devereux & CompanyJames P. Devereux Jr., CPA, MBA, MIS307 North Main StreetSaint Charles, MO 63303www.devereuxcpa.comservices@devereuxcpa.com314-209-7777Devereux & Company is a Certified Public Accounting firm with experience in Corpo-rate, Individual, Partnership, Fiduciary and Estate taxes. We offer a variety of services to our clients including tax planning, business consulting, auditing, financial planning, education, accounting software integration and much more. Our business has been serving the greater St. Louis and St. Charles area for over 35 years.

Kiefer Bonfanti & Co. LLPChris Bonfanti, CPA701 Emerson Road, Suite 201St. Louis, MO 63141314.812.1107clbonfanti@kieferbonfanti.comwww.kieferbonfanti.comKiefer Bonfanti’s founding principles of putting our clients first, delivering timely service and proactively advising our clients are what drives our people every day. Built on these principles, Kiefer Bonfanti has passionately maintained the same focus since our inception over 60 years ago. We are a full-service accounting and business advisory firm dedicated to providing qual-ity, reliable services based on specific client needs.

Mortland & Company, LLCJeff Mortland1001 Craig Road, Suite 400St. Louis, MO 63146(314) [email protected] & Company was built on a fam-ily based approach. Our goal is to develop a relationship with our clients to better gain an understanding of their needs and to assist the growth of their business. We specialize in individual & business tax preparation, strategic business planning & setup, tax planning & consulting, and monthly & quarterly accounting services.

Pooley Accounting Services, IncLouise PooleyPO Box 460241, St Louis, MO. [email protected] Accounting Services is committed to the small business owner. We provide professional, timely, comprehensive accounting services using a balance of in-novation and practicality. We take pride in ensuring the best possible service to every client, on every assignment.

Scheffel Boyle CPAsDennis Ulrich, CPA322 State Street, Alton, IL [email protected] value a more personal approach to our services and have enjoyed being a part of our clients’ journeys as entrepreneurs and business owners. Our seven locations are strongly rooted in the communities they serve. As a firm, we rank among the largest CPA firms in the St. Louis region, but still keep a hometown feel throughout our of-fices. Whether it’s helping a new business in infancy, or assisting a long-time client as they undergo succession planning, we are there with our clients every step of the way.

Schmersahl Treloar & Co.Jim Schmersahl10805 Sunset Office Dr.St. Louis, MO [email protected] Treloar & Co. is a full-service CPA firm, dedicated to meeting the needs of today’s busy professionals. We use state of the art technology in order to provide the highest quality work.

UHY LLP Jerry Townsend15 Sunnen Dr. St. Louis, MO 63143 [email protected] LLP: a full service CPA firm, serv-ing our clients’ needs in the areas of audit, tax, consulting and cybersecurity with the primary objective of being their trusted busi-ness advisor, with a commitment to client service that’s personable, value-added and cost-effective.

Wamhoff Accounting Services, Inc.Sandy Furuya1520 South Fifth Street, Suite 300St. Charles, MO 63303636-573-1212www.wamhoffaccounting.com [email protected] 1975, the Wamhoff team of ac-counting professionals has helped small businesses manage taxes and bookkeeping, provide consulting and certified professional Quickbooks services. This level of service ensures your peace of mind at tax time, and all year long.

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