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As a Scaling Up coach, I focus on the 4 pillars – people, strategy, execution, and cash. It is no surprise to me that people is the first pillar. Why, because businesses are comprised of people, and people make it all happen. As Patrick Lencioni says in his book, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable, “Not finance. Not strategy. Not technology. It is teamwork that remains the ultimate competitive advantage, both because it is so powerful and so rare.” As a huge fan of Lencioni, I agree wi

Did you ever look at a competitor and think to yourself, why can’t our business be more like theirs? Or, on the other hand, that company is really good, but we are still beating the pants off of them. Or do you not even think about such things? If not, you should think about it. But not should you only think about it, you should actually do a competitive analysis. While the definition of a competitive analysis seems self-explanatory, entrepreneur.com clearly and concisely sums it up: Identifying your competitors and evaluating their strategies to determine their strengths and weaknesses relative to those of your own product or service. Still skeptical of the benefit

As a business owner, you are wrapped up in the day-to-day details of running your business. Depending on the size and structure of the company, you may be the chief cook and bottle washer. And we all know what this means, you do too many tasks and have too many worries. You worry about revenue, supply chain problems, customers, employees, and a host of other important issues. And throughout all the work and worry, you probably, on some level, neglect your own needs, goals, and ambitions. You just don’t have the time. 

As a coach, I can assure you that you are not alone. Therefore, one of the first things I do with clients is work with them on a One-Page Personal Plan (OPPP). Basically, the purpose of the OPPP is to ensure that you do not forget about yourself and what

Let’s talk about setting goals.

I know, it’s the new year, we’ve all got our goals.

What if I could teach you a way to actually *achieve* your goals?

It’s really not that hard. Instead of simply stating your resolution or goal without a plan of action to actually achieve it, why don’t you take a look at your goal and set it with a timeline - 1 year, 3-5 years, 10 years.

Make it pretty big, hairy, and audacious. Why not make a BHAG?

Try and look at it as this is the goal you are trying to achieve, with the mindset that you need to do certain things to get to that goal in order to achieve it.

For instance, if I have a 10-year BHAG of making $50 million a year, I probably want to look at where I should be in 5 years and what should be going on, wha

As a Scaling Up coach, obviously I think that the investment is worth it. However, it is important to know the costs and benefits of working with a Scaling Up coach. Because at the end of the day, the business owner must believe in its value.

The Scaling Up methodology is based upon the Rockefeller Habits.  Basically, these habits have helped more than 80,000 companies reach and surpass their business goals. In other words, the utilization of a Scaling Up coach is a proven, holistic, and industry agnostic method for scaling your business by 10x or more.

You may be thinking, we have gotten this far without a coach so why hire one. Well, the first thing is that an outside professional can see things that you cannot. A coach gets to know you and every f

In December, Steve Ferman kicked off his first session of the quarterly 4 Pillar Coach Living Legacy workshop series. It was attended by a great group of businesspeople with a lot of interaction who brought great insight.

This may seem like a daunting or perhaps a ridiculous question. More often than not, the answer is shrugged off or completely ignored by business owners. Why? Because you are too busy running your business and being bogged down in the day-to-day minutia.  You are working in your business not on it.

I suggest thinking about it a little differently. After all, all your hard work and success should count for something. Therefore, I think the creation of your legacy, that point on the horizon, should be a meaningful goal. In

Growth sucks cash. It’s the first law of entrepreneurial gravity. You may get by with subpar people, strategy, or execution, but you won’t last a day without cash.

• Do you have consistent sources of cash?
• Are you generating it internally?

Knowing the answers to these questions is the first step of your growth journey! If you don’t know the answers, I will work with you to find them.

Great companies have 3-10x more cash than their competitors. Cash reserves allow companies to weather economic storms and survive the expensive experiments that go into any growth process.

We will work together to figure out how many days it takes for cash to cycle through your entire business model and b

With the right people at your side and a killer strategy to dominate your market, it’s time to make sure you have an execution plan. Of course, this is much easier said than done, especially when you’re trying to scale your company. So how can you tell how well your company is doing? Well, it starts with making the decisions about execution.

The key question to ask yourself is whether all business processes are running without drama and driving industry-leading profitability. To answer this we will work together to identify the principles and habits needed to sustainably grow your company. With a killer strategy and/or heroic employees willing t

The foundation of a successful business scaling strategy is figuring out your company’s competitive advantage. While it can take a bit of work before you find it, I’ll be working with you. It’s usually invisible to customers, and it addresses a huge established choke point in your industry.

Identifying your advantage is something your competitor can’t do or won’t do without great effort or expense. It can take years before you develop it because it would provide little to no competitive advantage if it could be done cheaply, easily, or quickly. However, once you find it, it can be the basis for the vision of your entire organization and your superpower.

Figuring out your differentiators and eventu

Thank you for contacting 4 Pillar Coach to receive your complimentary 4 Pillar Coach Scaling Up Assessment. This assessment is perfect for businesses with revenue between one and 500 million dollars.

As described by previous business leaders, this ‘incredibly useful’ and ‘extremely eye-opening’ evaluation tool will instantly reveal how prepared you and your business are to scale up. In under 20 minutes, you’ll gain a complete insight into your situation, be able to compare yourself to others and determine areas of deficiency.

Once you complete the assessment, your Scaleup Sco

I previously wrote a blog discussing the Four Pillars necessary for businesses to succeed and grow. This blog focuses on one of those essential decisions – People Decisions. After all, organizations are built and run by people. Before worrying about having the best product or service, you need to make sure you have the right people for the job. When you have the right people in the right roles doing the right thing, execution is 80-90% solved.

When assessing

Every year millions of people start new ventures. Of those that survive, only 4% ever reach more than $1 million in revenue. To get to these heights and beyond, your company must consistently make the right decisions around the four pillars of its business. For the last two decades, this coaching method has helped more than 70,000 high-growth businesses scale these heights with a proven, 100% holistic solution. This blog is an introduction to the Four Pillar Coach system. So, are you ready to scale your business? Are you prepared to take your business from a small handful of employees and grow it into an industry-dominating powerhouse?

Hello! 

I’m the founder of 4 Pillar Coach - where I work with business leaders who want to scale their company but are too busy working in the business instead of on the business. Before this, I built, bought, and sold 7 technology companies. 

The Marathon is about business leaders coming together to support each other, strategize, and scale their businesses. 

Check out my YouTube channel and Blog - both are filled with resources to take your business to the next level.  

Things I like:

In my work as a Fractional Chief Information Officer, I find myself also coaching my clients on a host of issues.

As a VCIO, I oversee a company’s IT platform, infrastructure, security, processes, and strategy, and budgeting.

Likewise, I make sure that the company’s leaders use technology to accomplish business goals while maximizing productivity and profits. And I hold IT outside vendors and internal personnel accountable.

Through these tasks and my interactions with a company’s leaders, I do much more.

Combined with my almost 40 years as a business owner, I find myself in many conversations about other business issue

Steve Ferman, CEO of eTegrity, is proud to announce that he has launched 4 Pillar Coach, LLC.

Using the Scaling Up process, 4 Pillar Coach works with growing and mid-sized companies to scale operations through confident decision-making and effective operational systems. Closely collaborating with a company’s key executives, Four Pillar Coach creates scalable action plans to reach and surpass its growth goals. 

Ferman says, “My experience as a business owner combined with my technology background has led me to become a business coach and the creation of 4 Pillar Coach, LLC. My goal as a business coach is to help others realize their dreams and scale 10X.   I never want to stop growing and learning - and bringing success to others is a part of that