(Black Enterprise) — “You don’t just want sales, you want profits,” says Mark Thompson, co-author of Now, Build a Great Business! 7 Ways to Maximize Your Profits in Any Market. “You want the ability to re-invest that profitability into growing your company and having something to pay shareholders.” Thompson was part of the team that took financial services firm Charles Schwab & Co. public in the 1980s, bought it back from Bank of Americaand grew it into a global firm in the 90s. He is now a venture capitalist, investing in companies in Silicon Valley. When the recession hit and the US economy nearly collapsed, Thompson and co-author Brian Tracy took a look back at the fundamentals and saw how the top-performing companies that have lasted for 20 years or more have been those who launched in miserable markets. From that analysis, they discovered the following ways entrepreneurs can keep their companies operating profitably.
