Business
If you have followed my writings for any length of time you know that I look to emerging trends to get a “gut feel” on what is going to be happening in the business world. Getting that gut feel doesn’t always lead to making fundamental business decisions, but it does lead me to continue watching…
We started hearing in early January that the omnibus Covid relief bill passed by Congress in December 2020 would have some type of reimbursement for funeral expenses of Covid-19 victims. It was rumored that relief would be administered out of the funding provided to the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA). We’ve now learned in the…
Last week as I was perusing death care articles for future stories an interesting name popped up and I dived in to learn more about what was happening. The name was “Woodstock” and the article pertained to developers trying to maneuver a way to purchase what had now become the last funeral home property in…
For the 33 years that I operated my own funeral home I was a lot like a lot of you out there. I was so busy dealing with families, making sure that funerals were done correctly, and, just basically, operating the business on a day to day basis that long -range planning sometimes went by…
If you are operating a business, such as a funeral home or cemetery, and that business has been around for several years, whether you like it or not, that business has a perception to the public. The good news is that if the business has been around for a length of time, then it is…
We are funeral directors and others in the death care business. We make our living because of the inevitable mortality of the human race. We make our living because of death. However, in America there is too much death. And, I’m not talking just in 2020 and the idea of the COVID-19 deaths that have…
I’ve been involved in funeral service for over 40 years now and I don’t think I have ever seen an article on this subject. How does a funeral home owner, manager, or employee react when a family chooses a competitor over them when they thought that family was firmly within the circle of a “solid…
From my point of view at Funeral Director Daily it has appeared to me that the acquisition market has been very quiet during the 2020 pandemic year. If that is true it makes sense in that individual funeral homes were pretty well consumed with how to satisfy their clientele during the socially distanced period and…
Last week I happened to watch President Biden when he addressed the nation pertaining to his recent signing of the latest stimulus bill, known as the “American Rescue Act”. As I was watching for some reason my mind wandered to a managerial principle that I learned later in my career, but a principle that I…
