by Leif Jensen | May 20, 2019 | General |
Are you one of those people who carry a credit card balance? I use my line of credit for any long term debt in my business. I never believed in paying credit card rates, so I never carried a balance. I am just too cheap… But I do know individuals and businesses...
by Leif Jensen | May 15, 2019 | General |
In a discussion with a new client, we talked about the necessary skills needed to be a successful entrepreneur. To me the most important requirement for entrepreneurship is to be a self-starter. My client countered that motivation was a greater driver. I argued that...
by Leif Jensen | May 14, 2019 | General |
I was working with a client to migrate their all of their contacts into Constant Contact. I was surprised on how many of the contacts listed that were using generic e-mails (i.e. G-mail, Hotmail, yahoo, etc.). I was cautioned early on when I started my business to...
by Leif Jensen | May 13, 2019 | General |
Somebody was asking me what my worst experience with an IRS audit was. I knew just the story to tell them. My client was a realtor who had an audit where they needed to go downtown to the IRS offices. We had a Monday morning appointment at 8:30. I went to the clients...
by Leif Jensen | May 8, 2019 | General |
As with any relationship there are ups and downs and my relationship with my bank is one of them. I seldom carry my debit card, they are usually shredded upon arrival and I order a new one when I plan on traveling outside the US. But when I carry them I contact the...
by Leif Jensen | May 7, 2019 | General |
One of my clients added an extension to its existing business; they needed to have the ability to open micro e-commerce websites for specific periods of time. This was based on requests of its customers. So they had a decision to make. They could have hired a web...
by Leif Jensen | May 6, 2019 | General |
I was in a networking group with an HVAC guy. Now this guy literally ran his business out of his truck and he was a one man shop. Now this is not necessarily a bad thing, but the fact that the business had a transitory feel to it, I was reluctant to pitch his services...
by Leif Jensen | May 1, 2019 | General |
I am currently working on pulling together the final tax return. The owner has thrown in the towel. Yet he still has time on his original contract with the Franchisor. My client stopped making the required monthly payments a few months ago and has received a form...
by Leif Jensen | Apr 30, 2019 | General |
I have a friend of mine who is starting his second career in his mid-50’s. He thought that he was going to spend the last years of his working life at his last employer. But things obviously did not work out as planned. So he has developed a plan to move on a two...
by Leif Jensen | Apr 29, 2019 | General |
A hundred years ago I was working for a large NFP that was just starting to go through a radical restructuring. As a cocky young accountant, I saw the direction and I was concerned that the decisions being made were wrong. I voiced my opinion on deaf ears and left in...
by Leif Jensen | Apr 24, 2019 | General |
I was at a Board of Directors meeting for a client recently and the lack of urgency was brought up. The BOD has deferred certain decisions and that course of action has been uncovered as a problem for certain growth and funding plans. The decisions had been deferred...
by Leif Jensen | Apr 23, 2019 | General |
I was reading a cautionary tale against relying on Social Media exclusively to market you company. I admit that I do not work with a company that is doing such a thing. I am having difficulty getting some of them to embrace Social Media as a marketing tool to begin...
by Leif Jensen | Apr 22, 2019 | General |
I was reading an article on cost savings for businesses and one idea struck me as odd if not obsolete. The item that they hyped was going paperless, stressing the cost of ink. I don’t believe that I have a client who still uses inkjet printers. Laser jet printers...
by Leif Jensen | Apr 17, 2019 | General |
I have a client that has stalled sales and has stalled their rebranding. I have encouraged them to follow their Board’s recommendation and rebrand the company, it has been a few decades since the last rebranding, or was it the creation of the company? When the company...
by Leif Jensen | Apr 16, 2019 | General |
Plan for the worst and hope for the best. I have explained this business strategy to clients for years. People are surprised that in many circumstances that I have Plans B and C. In some circumstances, I have Plans C, D, E and F ready to implement. This is one of...
by Leif Jensen | Apr 15, 2019 | General |
My guess is that you have thought about being rich; with dreams of having enough wealth to allow relief from all of your financial burdens. You may even play the lottery, if the pot is big enough. The road to wealth is fairly simple one; start early and save, save...
by Leif Jensen | Apr 10, 2019 | General |
Sometimes a client will approach us wanting to discuss taking on a partner/shareholder for the extra cash they can bring in. First I point out that if they are selling a portion of the business, they may have a capital gain issue on their hands. And two if the money...
by Leif Jensen | Apr 9, 2019 | General |
Since my background is not in marketing and marketing is important to any small business owner, I try to read as much as possible on the topic. I have no problem learning for others, both good and bad. One outlet has always been Terry O’Reilly’s CBC broadcasts. The...
by Leif Jensen | Apr 8, 2019 | General |
I was reading an article on the internet that was encouraging its readers to supplement their income by generating a passive income stream. They were trying to make it easy for the reader. They even listed examples to assist. Create an online course. Invest in...
by Leif Jensen | Apr 3, 2019 | General |
I have been observing the progress for two radically different Not-For-Profits. For the first one, I am on the BOD and they have been a bootstrap start-up with little to no start-up money. The second has had a fortune poured into it, starting with a building. The...
