Scaling is the new buzzword. How do you scale or grow your business? Is it an influx of money that is required? The answer to that question is almost always yes. Perhaps more importantly, can the business’ cash flow sustain the growth?

Too many times it seems that an otherwise healthy business can be decimated by a lack of cash.

Keeping top performers, commonly referred to as retention, should be the maniacal objective of every small business owner. All other measures of success depend on this first rule. Keeping top client requires your top performers. Limiting rework requires top performers.

And most importantly, growing the business successfully cannot happen without top performers.

There’s a scene from the wonderfully awful movie Joe Versus the Volcano. The movie starts in a dingy office and overheard in the background is a manager repeating over and over, “I know you can get the job, but can you do the job. (pause) I’m not arguing that with you. I know you can get the job, but can you do the job.”

Doing the job properly, whatever the title, usually ensures the title if at once an issue, won’t be an issue for long.

I’ve started following a new rule to hiring in business. If you have a contact within my organization, I will hire you in spite of that relationship, not because of it. In other words, a candidate has to be a little more professional, or a bit smarter, or show a tad more gumption to overcome the potential negative possibilities of an acquaintance hire going wrong.

Know someone in the organization will definitely get you an interview, but it’s not certain to get you the job opportunity.

There are two kinds of capital necessary to successfully launch a startup – Social and Financial.

Financial capital gets all the press, but it may be social capital that is sustains success the most. Forgoing the idea of going it alone, when you include others in entrepreneurial ventures, they take an staked interest that may carry as much weight as if they had taken a financial interest.

An early decision every entrepreneur must make is whether to go it alone or to take on partners. In The Founder’s Dilemma, Noam Wasserman suggests the decision actually comes down to whether you want to hold power or become wealthy.

While that may be generally true, for many it comes down to whether business decisions will be emotional or objective. And that’s not to say one way or the other is correct. My observations of entrepreneurs would suggest that those who want to maintain all the power have a greater vision in mind – a vision they are willing to put above profit.

One of the delights growing up in South Carolina is the sense of community shared in so many small towns. Each of these towns has its own Main Street lined with glass store fronts and wide sidewalks inviting all to sit and stay while, or walk and talk for a bit. Not too far away you’ll likely find a Classic American Neighborhood with quaint homes that were well-built in the early-to-mid 1900s.

My home town of Spartanburg has just such a neighborhood (Converse Heights) that has inspired my professional life and instilled in me an admiration for Traditional Neighborhood Developments (TND) and the historical communities they emulate.

With daughters off to college, my wife and I flee our empty nest on weekends in search of the archetypal TND community – a place to live our life. But we’ve struggled to find current and reliable information online about TNDs. When the forum you want does not exist, I say create the forum.

Hence TNDneighborhoods.com.

I hope to share anecdotes and details about the TNDs and historical neighborhoods we encounter and encourage contributions from fellow enthusiasts. See ya around the block.