May 22 Alan Beaulieu at the Austin All City Meeting packed the Austin Country Club with over 100 attendees

An Economist spoke with my group combined with other Austin groups --

PROJECTING WHEN ECONOMIC CYCLES WILL CHANGE
The US has been a major force in the global business cycle rising trend that we have been enjoying in recent years. This rise is not going to last forever. There are very real threats to the rising trend, made all the more real by the reality of two of our leading indicators having already peaked and in negative trends. These leading indicators are empirical input to the probability of recessionary forces building within the US economy, and by extension the global economy.

The shift in the business cycle trend that lays ahead demands that we prepare our businesses for a changed set of circumstances. Maximizing profits during the 2008-2010 period is going to be very much a function of facing the realities of changing Phase Management Objectives™. It is possible to prosper through the forthcoming malaise, but it requires knowing what the salient indicators are that we should follow, what are some of the potentially countercyclical markets (both within the US and outside of our economy), and what are the major pitfalls to avoid.
The above must be considered in the context of the US' ongoing dominant position in the global economic community, higher energy prices, and dramatically different demographic trends around the globe.
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Biography: Alan Beaulieu has been an economist with the Institute for Trend Research (ITR) since 1989. At the institute, he has been engaged in applied research regarding business cycle trend analysis, growth cycle trend analysis, and the utilization of cyclical analysis at a practical business level. The applied research conducted by the institute includes domestic and international economic issues. Beaulieu is a featured speaker at corporate and trade association meetings both in the U.S. and overseas.

Q2 "Let's tighten our belts..."

Alan Beaulieu, Vistage's economist, will be speaking in June on the ecomony and how will it impact Central Texas. This is a must see set of slides! I'll be asking you the following questions in case you haven't already asked your management team.

1. Is your line of credit adequate? Have you started looking for a regional or local commerical banking relationship?
2. What is your competitive edge and does everyone in your company know it?
3. What are you doing to differienate yourselves from your competition?

Ed Stillman

Preparing Your Business for Growth

Feb 20 Susan Pravda joins our group to discuss Business Brokerage, Mergers & Acquisitions.

http://www.forbes.com/2007/09/13/executive-woman-finance-forbeslife-cz_flew_0927wealth.html

Value to Members: Members will leave with a series of action items to insure they are well prepared to undertake any transaction. They will also depart with an in-depth knowledge of how to best run a process, control the costs and to ensure its successful completion. Additionally, they will receive handout materials covering confidentiality agreements, due diligence checklists, sample letters of intent and similar documents for their future use.

Bio: Susan Pravda is office managing partner of Foley & Lardner's Boston office and co-chair of the firm's Technology Practice. Prior to joining Foley & Lardner, she was co-managing partner at Epstein Becker & Green's Boston office.

Q1 "Up on the balcony..."

Are the Storm Clouds headed your way? Yoga Berra said, cash ain't cash unless it's cash! Are you managing your payroll with or without the help of your banker and their line of credit? How comfortable are you in answering the following questions?
1. Do you have your arms around your sales pipeline? Do you trust the numbers? What is your degree of predictability when it comes to your future revenue stream?
2. Are you tracking from the windshield or the rear view mirror? What are your KPI's telling you?
3. What are your top 4 Key indicators? Bring your charts and graphs each month to review with the members.
4. Have we discussed/reviewed your direct reports performance rating for Q407, 2007 and expectations for Q1 and 2008 by quarter? As your accountability coach, a few of you owe me?

Ed Stillman

Herb Meyers comes to Texas

Herb Meyers, ex CIA operative under the Reagan administration will be our Keynote speaker at our All City Event this year. Central Texas members use Vistage.com/events and register. We are expecting over 100 attendee's at Barton Creek Conference Cent on June 21st. His talk will be on "What in the World is Going On: A Global Intelligence Briefing for CEOs" Herb explains how birth rates and marriage impacts the next generation of workers. The pressures in China, India and the middle East will impact us all. here's a link to his articles. http://www.americanthinker.com/herbert_e_meyer/

Ed Stillman