by Leif Jensen | Oct 18, 2017 | General |
The advertising landscape has been changing for the better and worse for small businesses. Mobile ads are growing fast, but they don’t work well for all products and services. Especially those that require something more than a simple click of a button Accounting and...
by Leif Jensen | Oct 17, 2017 | General |
Currently we have two giants that dominate the new ad world; Google and Facebook . Between the two of them they control about two-thirds of all digital ad spending; Facebook only controls18% of the market, while half is under Google icy grip. They...
by Leif Jensen | Oct 16, 2017 | General |
I am working with a client that will be closing its business down because they did not follow all of the necessary rules and closing the company is easier than dealing with the resulting consequences according to their attorney. They already have a new company...
by Leif Jensen | Oct 11, 2017 | General |
During a meeting a client was sharing their spouse’s situation. Their company had been small for a long time and make really good money. Then the decision was made to go bigger. They made the infrastructure changes and bulked up the support staff in...
by Leif Jensen | Oct 10, 2017 | General |
I was having lunch with someone I have done business with before. They had been able to assist where those who were supposed to help me would not. So I was surprised when he had left the company, because it was not for another position with another company. When we...
by Leif Jensen | Oct 9, 2017 | General |
This year some of our clients have been taking longer to get us their information. This is not a good trend; we only have so much capacity beyond our existing monthly work. Not to mention this is when some of us take our vacations. At the beginning of August,...
by Leif Jensen | Oct 4, 2017 | General |
A client’s business has been going through a bit of a transition lately. So we pulled together a monthly and annual listing of their data going back four years; this was to ease the monthly comparison for longer term trends and the annual was just for more basic...
by Leif Jensen | Oct 3, 2017 | General |
A client recently received an audit letter. The IRS apparently did not like the fact that they were able to deduct medical expenses. Now the letter stated that they were also looking into their charitable deduction and mortgage interest. But the IRS receives...
by Leif Jensen | Oct 2, 2017 | General |
With a quarter of the year remaining, now is the time to look towards the year end for tax issues and year end planning. First businesses should be making sure that they have valid up to date W-9’s for all of the Independent Contractors that they utilize. I am also...
by Leif Jensen | Sep 27, 2017 | General |
At times it seems that I have the same conversations over and over again. This occurs when I am meeting with someone who wants to start a business and they already have a preconceived business entity in mind. For those who have been around the block a few...
by Leif Jensen | Sep 26, 2017 | General |
I have a client that is frustrating the hell out of me. A couple of years ago the clients stopped receiving rent checks on their rental property so there was no return on investment (ROI). I strongly encouraged them to address the issue immediately. I was...
by Leif Jensen | Sep 25, 2017 | General |
I have recently opened an account to start a dividend investment strategy. The focus of this account is maximizing the yield of the account. One stock that I have in the account is Oxford Lane Capital; I bought a 100 shares at $109.48. But I am currently looking...
by Leif Jensen | Sep 20, 2017 | General |
I recently rewatched the movie “The Founder” the biopic of Ray Kroc and the beginning of McDonalds. What truly struck me was that originally the initial costs of a McDonald were minimal. The franchises were achievable for lower middle class people. ...
by Leif Jensen | Sep 19, 2017 | General |
“I think the great leaders find partners who basically can exploit their weaknesses but not, kind of, dance on their strengths. Instead of hiring weaker versions of themselves they hire people that are tremendous experts at what they’re not.” – Donny Deutsch ...
by Leif Jensen | Sep 18, 2017 | General |
I have quite a few clients that have been have been purchasing gold and silver coins. Granted we are not talking Scrooge McDuck quantities but more than the average person has. They are not expecting an impending apocalypse but they like to have the coins and bars. ...
by Leif Jensen | Sep 13, 2017 | General |
It is always interesting on how businesses cope with under or over capacity. I had heard that one owner of a printer shop that had opened a restaurant. The employees of the print shop were trained to work all aspects of the restaurant. So that when the...
by Leif Jensen | Sep 12, 2017 | General |
I was recently looking at a new networking group. Since it is a new group I am finding the dynamics very interesting. Most Networking Groups in my experience have fallen into one of two groups; the first is for local personal referrals. Typically any...
by Leif Jensen | Sep 11, 2017 | General |
The FCC had approved plans in 2016 to bar your internet service provider (ISP) from selling your collected online activities. But Congress quickly voted to repeal these changes. So your ISP is making money selling any and all information collected on you to...
by Leif Jensen | Sep 6, 2017 | General |
I was recently at a meeting for Next Level Northwest a business accelerator, there was a presenter who was talking about her business and casually mentioned KPI’s. I don’t think the room took much notice. I don’t think that they took much notice because not...
by Leif Jensen | Sep 5, 2017 | General |
How long and often are you working on your business, versus working in your business? What I mean is, if you are working on your marketing plan, networking or writing blog postings or paying your bills; you are working on your business. If you are...
