Welcome to our new weekly blog! At Allan Hirsh Advisors, we are passionate about helping business owners uncover their fullest potential by pushing them to be the best they can be. Each week, we will be using this space as a way to share information about all aspects of business management. In today’s blog, learn more about Allan Hirsh, what we do at Allan Hirsh Advisors, and how working with a business advisor can take your company or non-profit to the next level of success. Learn more, below.

What Are the Benefits of a Business Advisor? A Q&A With Allan Hirsh

 

• Who is Allan Hirsh?

1. Allan Hirsh believes in making a difference in the lives of business owners and CEOs.  
2. He helps you understand their vision both personal and professional, discover why you are in business, work with your visions to align them with your why, give feedback on what is important to you, holds you accountable for your decisions and connects you to others. All this so you can improve your life and in doing so improve the lives of the people around you.
3. He is a savvy entrepreneur with experience as a CEO, community leader, and non-profit leader. As the owner of his family’s international publishing business, Allan profitably grew the company more than tenfold and strategically changed its strategic direction and range of products several times to keep up with market trends and changes within the industry. As the CEO of a commercial food service design firm, Allan managed to triple the company’s backlog of orders during the Great Recession of 2008-11. He has also served as the Executive Director at a Baltimore-based non-profit. After serving time on an Advisory Board, Allan discovered his talent at successfully facilitating advisory boards and learned of his ability to successfully coach and mentor other CEOs. Allan now uses his diverse skillset and range of talents to help develop great business leaders.

• What does Allan Hirsh Advisors do?

At Allan Hirsh Advisors, we Create AHA! Moments, where our goal is to help you make better decisions for better a business and a better life. We work with corporate and non-profit clients to help them craft strategic plans, define both personal and professional goals, and achieve measurable success in their fields.

• What services does Allan Hirsh Advisors offer?

Because every client has distinct and unique needs, Allan Hirsh Advisors provides an array of services that are carefully designed to help any business owner grow. Through our years of experience, we have learned that business owners must go through this series of steps to maximize their potential:

1. Understand your Why and Why you are in business.
2. Create your vision(s)
3. Define and understand the issues
4. Collaborate and uncover solutions
5. Make strong decisions
6. Hold yourself accountable for your decisions
7. Review the outcomes

The process by which you move through these steps depends on your specific needs, goals, and preferences. We offer a variety of advisory services to help you move through these steps in a way that works for you. These services include:

CEO Advisory Groups. Our advisory groups, which meet once a month, provide you with a “private board” where you can have private, confidential conversations with other non-competing business leaders in a low-pressure environment. You are able to discuss your opportunities and issues in a facilitated problem solving discussion where you will learn from each other, help each other make better decisions and help you improve your own business management practices. Each member meets once a month with their coach/facilitator in one on one CEO Advising sessions.

CEO Advising. For clients who need intensive, one-on-one mentoring with an AHA advisor, who is a certified skilled business coach.  In these personalized, confidential sessions, the advisor will help you prioritize demands and cultivate both your personal and business goals so that synergy can be created between the two making sure you align your decisions with these goals. The advisor asks the hard questions to help you create a concrete action plan and holds you accountable for your decisions every step of the way. The AHA advisor will support your decision, advices you on ways to plan the execution, which helps you to re-energize your business and achieve the results you seek.

Corporate Meeting Facilitation. If you have an important company meeting on the calendar and you want to be sure your time will be used efficiently and effectively, bringing in an outside facilitator can make your meeting significantly more productive. Our advisors will be able to energize your team by aligning them with common goals and breaking down the silos that hinder their work. The result is to unified team that will work toward established goals, guided by a concrete, strategic action plan.

Non-Profit Board Meeting Facilitation & Training. Non-profit boards can benefit from an AHA advisor just as much as any business in the private sector. Non-profit boards require a specific skill set to lead effectively and AHA can help you define the roles and responsibilities of the board’s leadership and other key members to ensure an effective outcome. Just like with our corporate clients, the goal of your AHA non-profit advisor will be to align your board with the mission and vison of your organization in pursuit of common goals and create a strategic plan for how to meet those goals.

Strategic Planning Facilitator. If your business or organization needs a strategic plan, AHA can help you craft one that is both measurable and outcome driven to ensure that your company or organization moves forward effectively and efficiently. Our advisors have experience creating strategic plans for both corporate and non-profit entities.

No matter what kind of help you need, Allan Hirsh Advisors will be there to unlock your potential and take your business to the next level.

• What kind of AHA! Moments have you helped your clients achieve?

At Allan Hirsh Advisors, our goal is to facilitate our clients’ AHA! Moments to help them lead more effectively and grow their businesses in a way that aligns with their goals. Our clients have achieved great success by working with our talented advisors. For example:

A CEO was considering purchasing a new company. After working with Allan Hirsh Advisors, their AHA! Moment came when they realized that this purchase was not in line with their personal vision.

Another business leader had been dragging their feet in regards to purchasing a piece of equipment that was a significant investment. Their AHA! Moment came after they realized, through diligent work with their advisor, that the purchase would increase both profit and productivity substantially.

Lastly, a client’s company was struggling to be profitable. By working with the owner the AHA Advisor helped him understand his value proposition and helped him understand his product costs. In the first year of the new marketing and costings, his profits increased substantially and by 25% over the previous year and his gross profit increased to 67% from 40%.

Here’s an AHA tip for you: If you are a CEO who spends too much time doing the jobs of others, place a sticky note on your computer that simply says, “Whose job am I doing right now?” This constant reminder will help you focus on what’s really important so that you can delegate the rest.

• How do I know whether it is the right time to work with a business advisor?

No matter what stage you are with your company, AHA business advisors can help you become a better leader. Our range of advisory services can meet you where you are–both personally and professionally–and help you grow to the next level so that your business will align with your goals and vision. Whether your company is in its infancy and you need help honing your vision for the future or you are an established CEO who needs help figuring out where your company needs to go, working with an AHA business advisor will help you to clarify your vision and support you in becoming the best business leader you can be.

• What is AHA Business Podcast?

In addition to being a full-time business advisor/facilitator, Allan Hirsh is also a weekly radio show host. His show, AHA! Business Radio, gives listeners the information they need to run their businesses more effectively and make decisions that will benefit them in the long run. Each week, Allan is joined by a guest who is a leader in their field to discuss topics such as business valuation, exit planning, and strategic growth. Recent guests have included Chip Lewis, Managing Director, PSA Financial, Ted Offit, Managing Partner, Offit Kurman and David Witherspoon of KatzAbosch, a Certified Exit Planning Analyst. Tune in on Tuesdays from 6-7 pm on CBS Sports Radio 1300AM in Baltimore or listen to all the past shows on the AHA! Business Radio website to learn information that will help you grow your business, smarter. Have a question for Allan Hirsh? Submit it here and you may just hear it answered on air or in a future blog post!

• Ready for your AHA! Moment? Call Allan Hirsh Advisors today!

If you are interesting in taking your business to the next level then contact Allan Hirsh Advisors to learn how our leadership services can help you hone your focus, plan for the future, and maybe achieve an AHA! Moment of your own! Tune into AHA! Business Radio Tuesdays from 6-7 pm EST on CBS Sports Radio, 1300 AM to keep up with the latest industry news. And don’t forget to follow Allan Hirsh Advisors on Facebook and Twitter too!