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Looking back on the year that will soon come to a close, I feel good about what we were able to accomplish together in the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion arena through PEOPLE and WBEDC.

Delmar Divine came into our lives and provided us with a home for our work. TableTop discussions were born and gave us a reason to gather, mix, get to know each other and to learn a little bit about business ways in this ever-changing industry.  With the assistance of PEOPLE, RISE was successful in making several working capital loans to some good new firms and St. Louis Capital Collaborative—a Justine PETERSEN fueled working capital assistance program founded by myself and Tori Gonzalez–closed three new working capital Line of Credit agreements and are looking for more customers.

My new GUIDE TO BETTER ESTIMATING book was completed and hit the streets and hopefully, is being used to guide diverse firms to well, better estimating.  Opportunities for minority and women-owned firms are becoming more common place and seemingly becoming more acceptable to all members of our industry.   The major owners in our marketplace are beginning to understand the importance of timely payments for work performed.  Understanding and acceptance are important first steps to much needed change in our payment practices.

But our work continues.  We are far from reaching perfection with this concept we call minority participation.  Twentytwentyfour is a new year bringing with it new challenges and opportunities, new programs, more networking events, creative TableTop discussions, and a nice mix of additional organizations and venues created for the purpose of improving DEI in our industry and on our worksites.  And so, we shall continue our search for perfection in our work.

As my TableTop discussion participants know, I am a fan of “Top Ten lists” to capture the rampant thoughts running wild on various topics.  The start of a new year is a perfect time to pause, ponder, and write down a few goals that we would like to achieve before this time rolls around once more next year.  I am still working on my own personal goals for PEOPLE and WBEDC, and they are many, but I want to leave all MWBE firms with the following Top Ten list of goals they should consider for the new business year that will begin on Tuesday. 

Every business owner will have their own thoughts as to where they want to take their company, but regardless of the finish line, the following business points are essential to success, at least in my humble judgement:  These goals are not listed in order of importance as they are all equally important to success.

Top Ten Business Goals for MWBE firms for 2024

1.  Know your numbers.  Set a realistic and achievable revenue goal and list three specific plan of actions as to how you will achieve your goal.  Understand your overhead and administrative expenses and your profit margins.  You will need to add a percentage to each on every one of your proposals—what is that percentage?  Let us all plan to make money in 2024, profit is a necessary component to growing your business.
2. Establish a solid, reliable, accurate and timely accounting system and make it a business priority to review and understand the basic financial reports important to all businesses.  My advice is to seek outside help—at least until you get on a good roll.  Email me for suggestions.
3. Define your market; define your clients and your customers; and cultivate them.  When you plant a flower in the ground, it does not grow unless you talk to it, eliminate the weeds, and water it often.
4. Along the same lines as 3, establish a marketing and networking plan and commit to its success.  You cannot attend every event and you cannot knock on every door, but you must accept the fact that the visibility of your business and your work is necessary for success.  People need to find you and our industry provides many great events that can put you at center stage.
5. Build your field work force and your field management—you cannot do it all yourself and failure to perform field work timely and with quality is not an option.
6. Spend some quality “pondering” time on all aspects of your business plan—what went right in 2023, what went wrong—what changes do you need to make?  What outside help do you need? Are you working second tier or prime? Are you being offered a seat at the jobsite table? Do you have all your employees in the right slot?  Are they all working to their capacity and helping to grow the business?
7. Prepare a list of three to five new clients you want to add to the mix in 2024.  Prepare a brief plan of action as to how you plan to make this happen.  Write the names of these companies on a piece of paper and post in a prominent place in your office.  Hint: they are probably not going to call you randomly.
8. Establish a reliable and realistic cash flow system and keep your business activity within your means.  Seek working capital support—meaningful growth is not possible without adequate working capital.  Yes, it is out there.
9. Define your growth path beyond 2024.  Where do you want to be at the end of 2025?  2026?  Think about the changes you need to make to reach your goals.  This next business year is crucial to your long-term success.
10.   Make a personal commitment to take care of yourself, physically and mentally.  Take care of your family, treat your employees fairly, treat your customers, clients, and all business colleagues with respect, raise the professionalism and performance level of your firm in every aspect.

Let’s have a productive year together.  A year of growth.  A year of adding to our retained earnings line on our balance sheet.  A year of moving the needle forward in DEI. Let us all be a part of the solution.

Happy New Year to all.

PEOPLE and WBEDC