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Inflation, rising interest rates, a wishy-washy market in denial - where does that leave the business owner?

In this free-flowing episode we cover a lot of territory, largely centered on the idea of how to figure out what to price something at, or how much to pay for given the math only says so much about the reality of daily economic life - or something.  Another in the circular, dense, and insightful reflections of Tom Walker after 50+ years in the entrepreneurial trenches.

Tom Walker continues his discussion of independent business owners - a group he call "the Bills" after his older brother, a fiercely independent and highly competent person who built a foundry in the unlikeliest of times.  In this edition, we talk about the nuances of pricing, whether in terms of buying or selling.  Pricing is critical, complicated, and confounds simple cost plus profit analysis.  It is more than what Tom calls "math and reality".  Part one of two (or more).

This time, the Toms, Senior and Junior, discuss a certain independent type of person in business, a rare and seemingly contrarian character who often works against the grain of accepted practices.

More on the difficulty, complexity, and necessity of timing financial decisions in the context of economic and market volatility.

Things get more technical this time as we continue talking about economic timing and conventional financial wisdom.

In this wide-ranging episode, Tom Walker talks about the damage that the accepted wisdom of numbers and markets cause - also, the running theme of independent thinking in the face of overwhelming pressures of conformity and so-called expertise. 

In this wide-ranging discussion we cover familiar themes of expertise vs. knowledge, surprising escapes, and self-doubt in the face of resistance plus tangents on books, hero-stories, and music.  

Does knowing about business have anything to do with starting and running a business?

Exploring the unlikely, true story of a sales rep starting a steel foundry in the late 70s, a time of the over-reported end of smokestack America and high interest rates.