Turnaround of Cash Position Improved Manufacturer’s Performance

How Platinum Group created a path to success by raising capital and navigating debt

A $10-million manufacturer of industrial products was experiencing a tight cash position. Although the company had been profitable in the past, it had posted significant losses for two years when revenues dropped. Recent new orders were secured, but the company had no cash with which to buy raw materials. The 30-year-old Midwest company’s performance was being called into question by its senior secured lender. The lender invited Platinum Group to help the owner create a path to success... MORE

Economic Conditions Are Improving, At Least for Now

By Dale Kurschner, Executive Consultant

U.S. commercial Chapter 11 bankruptcy filings through September outpaced the number filed in all of 2019. And the 747 filings made that month represented a 77 percent increase from the same period a year earlier, according to AACER court data.

Yet Minnesota’s economy appears to be rebounding quite well from the depths of the Covid-19 recession earlier this year, based on a synopsis of recent survey results and data updates... MORE

Family Meetings: Balance the Boundary Between Business and Family

By Tom Hubler, Executive Consultant

This article is Part 3 of a continuing series about the delicate issues among family businesses. Part 1 discussed financial vs. emotional equity and this article deals with trust and gratitude, which are necessary for emotional equity. Part 2 described family business challenges relating to trust and gratitude.

Family meetings are essential

Family meetings are intended to balance the boundary between business and family relationships. When business and family issues overlap without oversight, family entanglements can upset business functions. Even routine work and financial differences can erode family relationships. By having regular family meetings, these potential problems can be shared and discussed... MORE

Tastefully Simple CEO Jill Blashak Strahan on Lessons Learned from Quick Success, 7 Years of Losses and Return to Profitability

During this week’s One Take CEO Interview, Tastefully Simple Founder and CEO Jill Blashak Strahan discusses what it was like to grow her 1995 startup into a $143 million-a-year business, and then lead through seven consecutive years of losses before Covid-19 hit. Ironically those recent tough times forced her organization to return to being scrappy like it was as a startup: lean, creative and agile – must-have traits for most businesses looking to grow this year... MORE

Watch this interview on YouTube or listen via Spotify or Apple Podcasts.