The Gray Cat Blog
A growing library of practical business articles and insights created to help entrepreneurs, small business owners, franchisees, and multi-unit operators strengthen leadership, improve operations, drive growth, and build more profitable organizations.
Want more ideas?  For more information on Gray Cat Learning Series, visit: https://www.graycatenterprises.com/gray-cat-learning-series
Most people that know me know that I like to get involved in the details and one area that I really like to dissect is a profit & loss (P&L) statement. In my opinion, this is where many people miss o...
Excited to celebrate Gray Cat's 19th year!
John Matthews is the president and CEO of Gray Cat Enterprises and is responsible for the management of all consulting activities for the firm, which includ...
Below is an excerpt of a recent interview discusses the importance of connecting with the customer:
Q: Why are brands so important?
Matthews:Â Brands identify and establish an emotional connection, a...
Running a small, start-up business has it share of ups and downs. When I launched my company nearly twenty years ago, running my own small business has been both rewarding and challenging. It has enab...
The winds of change can happen suddenly.
One of the worst days of my life was learning that my mother had a stroke at the age of 58. I was 23 at the time and was hardly prepared for a shock to my fam...
Nobody saw this coming. Â
Just two months ago, we were in our eleventh year of an economic expansion; unemployment was at a 50-year old low; and March Madness was right around the corner. Then the b...
Well, we didn’t see that coming!Â
How many of us would have predicted that for the better part of two years, the entire planet has had their professional lives turned upside down due to the COVID-19 ...
In honor of “Emily the Cat” (the original gray cat from which the company name was created), Gray Cat Enterprises (along with new puppy, Bogey, in picture) makes its annual holiday donation to two non...
Raise your hand if you had the word “pandemic” in your strategic plans – and like that, the world quickly changed. While convenience stores were spared total closure during the lockdowns and volumes w...
Raise your hand if you included the word “pandemic” in your 2020 business plan. Yeah, me either. I went from traveling 200,000 miles in 2019, to not getting on a plane for 18 months. Today, my busi...
