by Leif Jensen | Sep 5, 2018 | General |
I know just about everyone has a smart phone and uses it for both business and personal purposes. A number of people have their bank and credit card information entered and accessible on their phone. Nothing surprising here, a vast number of people have the totality...
by Leif Jensen | Sep 4, 2018 | General |
I recently had a client sell off their assets and close their business. They had chosen a venture that could be successful and they were marginally successful. But their margins were small, so they need a tremendous amount of volume to cover the fixed costs, let...
by Leif Jensen | Sep 3, 2018 | General |
I recently meet with a client and we were discussing the economy. She indicated that we are entering a period of a negative yield curve (or “inverted yield curve”) on interest rates. To better explain this, I found this definition on Investopedia.com: an inverted...
by Leif Jensen | Aug 29, 2018 | General |
What do you do to recover from a major misstep that had a significant cost? I was talking to a peer who works with a restaurant in my neighborhood. The original owner created a successful business but was getting older and wanted to step down. They transferred the...
by Leif Jensen | Aug 28, 2018 | General |
I have never been a fan of having partners. You have all of the responsibility of what they do in the business whether it is good or bad for the business. Wrapped up in an S-Corp gives you some protection, but I have seen too many go bad. But now I myself and a...
by Leif Jensen | Aug 27, 2018 | General |
Amazon has been vilified on social media lately, which is surprising since President Trump is also not a fan either. This mix would have trouble agreeing on the color of an orange, let alone agreeing on a common villain. According to a Business Insider article:...
by Leif Jensen | Aug 22, 2018 | General |
I just met with a client who is now ramping up their business. The initial plan was to set-up an e-publishing company. The client has a number of completed books, but felt that they were not good enough for “prime time” so there has been a deferred in getting the...
by Leif Jensen | Aug 21, 2018 | General |
I was at a networking meeting and one of the people there has just started their business, one of the steps in her start-up business plan was to sign-up for Seth Godin’s 100 day marketing plan. I confess I had heard of Seth Godin, I skimmed a couple of his books. I...
by Leif Jensen | Aug 20, 2018 | General |
I have been watching a couple of businesses over the last year and both seem to be missing the mark in getting their businesses off the ground. One is client who started a new business because he was forced to close one business that was marginally successful, but...
by Leif Jensen | Aug 15, 2018 | General |
“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...
by Leif Jensen | Aug 14, 2018 | General |
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...
by Leif Jensen | Aug 13, 2018 | General |
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...
by Leif Jensen | Aug 8, 2018 | General |
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...
by Leif Jensen | Aug 7, 2018 | General |
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...
by Leif Jensen | Aug 6, 2018 | General |
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...
by Leif Jensen | Aug 1, 2018 | General |
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...
by Leif Jensen | Jul 31, 2018 | General |
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...
by Leif Jensen | Jul 30, 2018 | General |
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...
by Leif Jensen | Jul 25, 2018 | General |
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...
by Leif Jensen | Jul 24, 2018 | General |
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...
