Tesla

“Shoulder to shoulder and backs to the wall” that may be an apt description of Tesla at the moment. This is a company that has been selling a concept, but has never made a nickel.  Nor has it ever met a production deadline or release date. The $8 billion lost to date...

Sycophants

Are you the type of leader or business owner who likes to surround themselves with sycophants?  I know they are out there; I have worked with a few, albeit briefly. I had a client who has since retired, but she knew and expected me to challenge her on key points of...

Networking Group

It has been awhile since I was a member of a networking group.  I had left because of the cost/time benefit ratio no longer made sense in belonging. Because of this a member of my Board of Advisors told me I needed to find one and join.  I have looked at a number of...

Conservative vs Explosive Growth

What is your businesses growth plan?  In the recent months I have had two different sources state that they believed I was on a conservative growth plan.  Granted they did not use those words, but that was their meaning. At one meeting my friend who is on my Board of...

Women in business

I have been encountering more women business owners lately.  I consider this to be a good thing.  Women tend to approach business from a different perspective then men, less instinct and a more measured approach.  They are also tend to be more conservative, so I...

Cost and Margin

The basics of business are not monitored well by most business owners.  I am talking the basic of basics; cost and margin. Cost is simply defined as the amount paid to acquire something.  Margin simply refers to the difference between the seller’s cost for...

Financial Dashboard

What does your “Financial Dashboard” look like? Do you have a “Financial Dashboard” that you use to monitor your business?  The purpose of the Dashboard is to monitor the success or lack of success of the business.  The ratios that you monitor should be directly...

Compliance vs Trusted Advisor

I recently had some work deferred with a client because their Treasurer wanted to stay with the minimal accounting compliance that was already in place under their supervision. When we met with the client there were all sorts of concerns, a strengthening of the...

Fear

What do you have an active fear in your business?  Is it making the next payroll?  Is it finding that next client? Is it having enough cash to cover your mortgage?  DO you have more than one fear? All small business owners have them.  It does not matter if they are...

Phishing

I know a victim of a phishing expedition, kind of. They received an e-mail form a colleague that they have known for years.  But apparently the e-mail felt off, ever so slightly. They actually went into contacts and sent an e-mail asking if the party had just sent me...

Activity or Capacity

As a small business owner you find yourself perpetually busy. There are always a million little things that you never seem to find the time to get to. Are you at your capacity or is this just activity? Those things that you tend to work on first, are those things that...

Missed Opportunity?

We were reviewing a practice that was up for sale.  There were a tremendous amount of positives associated with the firm such as the number of clients, the initial location and movability of the base. But, the average tax return fees were at a commodity levels, less...

How to start a career – Patton Oswald

I took my wife to see a Q&A session with Patton Oswald, she is a fan.  I found points of the dissuasion to be very relevant to potential entrepreneurs. Repeatedly people would come up and ask how to get into the industry or be discovered. I thought his response...

Staying relevant

Companies are being creative in how they strive to remain relevant in our rapidly changing world. When behemoths like Bank of America and UPS are in reality multiple businesses, small businesses need to be on guard constantly, looking for ways to be innovative and...

Fractional C-Suite does it makes sense for your business

You are no longer a start-up you have been in business for a number of years and the business has grown nicely.  But it is also getting to the point where you are spending more time than you wish on the administrative side of the business, which you do not enjoy nor...

First Step in a business

When we are meeting with a potential new client, we find that they have already taken some steps in starting a business without asking or being asked any questions, let alone the right questions.  They have created an LLC or a Corporation already in place. We believe...

ROI vs ROI for the small business

ROI can be defined a number of ways, the two that I am referring to are: ·         Return on investment ·         Reliability of income When running a small business both of these definitions can be key influencers are most likely ignored. Return on investment, small...

Two Classes of Stock

I find it interesting when public or private companies have two classes of stock.  The purpose it always for the same reason, for the power of the company to be under the control of just a few. I have worked with clients of Wrigley stock, the employees were issued...

$0 to $10,000,000

When I am talking to prospective clients they are sometimes surprised when they ask about our other clients. We work with a wide variety of clients some are start-ups and others are multi-generational companies.  They all need to be flexible and need to change with...

Academic approach to business

I was introduced to a small business owner a while ago who seemingly was approaching their start-up from a completely academic manner, or in other words they read some books on how to start a business and then started a business. What was odd is that this is not...

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