WEEKLY THOUGHTS

Chenmark is in the business of acquiring and operating small businesses. On the deal side, we spend our days looking at new acquisition opportunities, putting together deal models, negotiating purchase prices, securing debt financing, and reviewing legal documents. On the operational side, we spend our days hiring (and sometimes firing) talent, nurturing sales relationships, implementing new tech systems, collecting cash and paying invoices, evaluating equipment purchases, and developing marketing programs (among other things).

As parents of young children, we find ourselves reminding our children on almost a daily basis that the most powerful word in the English language is “yet”. I can’t play soccer. Yet. I can’t do math. Yet. I can’t read. Yet. I don’t have any friends. Yet. I don't have enough princess dresses. Good news. You can grow up, get a job and buy some for yourself.

Every year, we work through budgeting at a number of companies. While occasionally we are able to forecast significant positive improvement in a single line item, more often than not, our challenge is to push for progress in areas where operations already seem to be functioning pretty well.

We recently joked that some members of our team only read books with titles like “How To Win and Lead People…from a Military Perspective…but for Business”.  Kidding aside, to follow up on last week’s military focus, we recently listened to a TB12 Keep Going podcast with former Special Forces Green Beret Kevin Flike.  For those unfamiliar, his story of overcoming challenge is inspiring and worth digging into.