Overall, the U.S. Economy continues to survive a passage through a seemingly unending series of self-inflicted crisis; specifically, presidential elections, the fiscal cliff, sequestration, and now Europe (Cyprus to be exact). While the political backdrop continues, there are clear signs the U.S. economy is continuing to expand. Most key metrics are showing continued improvement in month-over-month [...]
The Cliffs of Moher The American people are a resilient bunch. Throughout the latter half of this year, we have spent more money on housing, more money on automobiles, and more money on each other during the first weekend of the holiday shopping season. Consumer confidence is at a 4½ year high. In spite [...]
As business owners, way too much energy is spent fighting economic cycles. Cycles cannot be controlled any more than the seasons. Time and energy is better spent, understanding and learning to work with economic cycles. Think about it this way, there is a time for everything. Spring is a time for planting tomatoes. If you ignore [...]
Here is an English lesson for today . . . Conservation by definition is “Preservation or restoration from loss, damage or neglect”; Prosperity is “The condition of . . . having success, flourishing, being well-off”. That being said, one can see that in order to realize prosperity, conservation is needed. Whether you are choosing to conserve [...]
I’m sure you can quickly come up with a few parallels even if you never followed or participated in the sport. For example, just like cross country runners, business owners and employees have to adapt to different terrain, set a competitive pace, endure through hard times and of course, go for the win. Although it may [...]
A few months ago I was fortunate to spend an evening at the Monet exhibit that a client hosted at the Cincinnati Art Museum. There was one landscape that drew me in due to its depth when viewed from about 20 feet away. When I moved as close to the painting as the curator allowed (I [...]
How is Mackey Advisors like popcorn? These metaphors always sound a little silly to me at first, but when you struggle to find a connection you begin to look at people, the company and the product in a new light. In this case I began to think about how popcorn is made, how it starts out [...]
Our theme for this year is “To Pop.” Mackey Advisors kicks off with a theme for several reasons: to have fun, to learn from each other, to focus our attention on what is important and to build team spirit. To bring our theme to life, each team member has to develop a unique answer to the [...]
Have you ever been on vacation when a terrific new idea for your business just popped into your mind? Do you have your best ideas first thing in the morning, in the shower? Do you get solutions to your most challenging dilemmas when you least expect them? The truth is that our brain works best at [...]
As most of you know, we are in the process of trying to renovate a historic building on Fairfield Avenue in Bellevue, KY. Recently a $35,000 urban revitalization grant came up for grabs. We felt that our project met the qualifications, and submitted an application. We ultimately did not get the grant, but I learned some [...]