Riding Out the Storm
by Rich Riehl,
11.07.2008
Wall Street is in the midst of a Category 5 financial hurricane, and it’s time to hunker down. The storm’s damage is already in the trillions, and the impact has sent a shock wave throughout the world. Be forewarned: this tempest More...
Moving Up-Market
by Rich Riehl,
10.14.2008
Every year there is a consistent flow of new companies jumping into the custom installation business. Unfortunately, most make the same initial mistakes. If your business is going to succeed in this co More...
Surviving Tough Times
by Rich Riehl,
8.27.2008
Our economic crisis has grown to immense portions. More than 250 home
mortgage companies have gone out of business or have entirely left the
industry. Housing prices have plunged, foreclosure rates have soared,
banks have been More...
The Future of Home Control
by Rich Riehl,
7.31.2008
I recently visited Disney World to see one of its most enduring
attractions: the Carousel of Progress. This revolving presentation
clarifies how accelerating technology is changing the way we live. We
are the purveyors of high More...
Get XP While You Still Can
by Rich Riehl,
7.01.2008
Business PC users are pretty much stuck with Windows. Yes, I also have
a Mac and I love working on it with ProTools, Final Cut Pro, Photoshop,
and other creative applications. But my company has eight PCs for
business. Some More...
Gauging Your Financials
by Rich Riehl,
5.27.2008
Editors Note: Last
month, Leslie Shiner answered questions about using QuickBooks on the
financial side of your business. This month, Rich Riehl adds his two
cents about this essential software tool.
In the fast-paced world of More...
Earning a Place at the Table
by Rich Riehl,
4.28.2008
It took weeks of calling and lots of patience to finally break through
and get the go ahead for this important sales meeting. You are being
ushered into the conference room of a very prestigious homebuilder. You
feel a bit anxious More...
Riding Business Waves
by Rich Riehl,
4.01.2008
I had been pondering the growing mortgage crisis and how it was
affecting our entire economy. I was trying to process stories I had
heard of huge banks trying to retrieve a penny on the dollar for their
investments in credit More...
The Busy-ness of Business
by Rich Riehl,
3.06.2008
Nobody likes red tape. Nobody likes spending hours reconciling bank
statements and comparing a pile of purchase orders with a pile of
packing lists and vendor invoices. Nobody likes doing inventory and
income taxes.
Installers More...
The Future of High Fidelity
by Rich Riehl,
2.05.2008
A lot has changed on the technology landscape since I started writing this column in January 2000. As I move into my eighth year as an observer and commentator on the custom installation business, I want to open this new year with More...
Planting Seeds that Grow
by Rich Riehl,
1.03.2008
As we begin this New Year, I believe we can learn something from the pioneers of the Old West. In those days, there were two basic groups on the frontier. The first group were cowboys with herds of cattle, who grazed the land and More...
Windows of Opportunity
by Rich Riehl,
12.04.2007
I finally did it: I upgraded my personal home system to a 42-inch flat screen HDTV with a Blu-ray DVD and added a new subwoofer. Like many homeowners, I had been keeping up with developments in all of the new gear. I diligently More...
Building a Business System
by Rich Riehl,
10.26.2007
Running your custom installation business profitably requires putting systems in place to manage your products and prices. It is not possible to build a successful business model without essential systems of management and More...
Charging What Youre Worth
by Rich Riehl,
10.09.2007
Properly setting prices can have a huge impact on the success or
failure of a custom installation business. To casually decide that your
company charges X dollars per hour for installation and X dollars for
equipment is not wise. More...
The Bosss Long Vacation
by Rich Riehl,
8.07.2007
We all work hard in this business. Our personal energy is the fuel many of our small businesses run on. We give it all we have. Installers and service techs work long hard days crawling around construction sites that are either More...