I Can See Clearly Now
By We have all heard that “human nature” is one of the reasons we resist change. Reasons are better described as excuses, and business owners can’t afford excuses.
Complacency is a business killer, but fear not. Help is there, if you are willing to accept it. The next phone call, or knock on your door, just might be the answer to your problem.
Fear of the unknown
Change creates anxiety. You can reduce the anxiety for the short term by resisting change. Without change, anxiety from business problems will consume you and doom your business to failure. Don’t fear failure. Instead, …
Small Business Ethics
Moral standards play an important role in society. Is your business responsible?
Last November, in my main ethics elective at the MIT Sloan School of Management, I finally asked a question of my MBA’s that I should have asked weeks earlier: “How many of you grew up in a family business?” About one quarter of the 40-plus students in the room—U.S. and other nationals—put up a hand; in a class that routinely has a higher-than-average number of women—40-50% to a schoolwide 31%—more than half of those who put up a hand were women.
In the wake of the spectacular ethical …
Back To Business
Every business owner is confronted at some point during their business life with defining what is most important to them in running their business. The deeper we contemplate how to define success, the more we realize that success is a three pronged process.
The first and most important prong in defining success is how we reach the point of maximizing our cash flow in order to manage our business for profit, rather than manage for cash flow. Too many business owners spend the majority of their time worrying about how they are going to pay their bills rather than being …
Small And Medium-Size Business And Global Competitiveness
Is foreign trade important for American business? The quick and most definitive answer is a resounding YES!
Here is why:
96% of the world’s consumers live outside of the United States. Therefore, to reach them, exports are the key ingredient.
96% of all firms directly involved in exports are small businesses.
U.S. exports directly support an estimated 12 million good paying U.S. jobs. In fact, in almost all of the 50 states, small and medium-size business accounts for more than 70% of the businesses in that state that have foreign trade as a component of their business.
On a broad …
Playing Russian Roulette
If you do not have someone in your organization responsible for your human capital management, regardless of size, then it is only a matter of when, not if, it will cost you valuable time and money. This could have been prevented.
According to statistics, 30% of all business failures are due to employee theft and related forms of dishonesty. The Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has suddenly turned its focus inward, resulting in I-9 inspections and workplace raids on companies engaged in the construction, service and manufacturing industries.
“Raids carried out …
Outsourcing
For years the notion of “Made in China” has been a contentious sourcing alternative. Today, for small businesses it has become an absolute imperative to engage in the global economy in order to survive locally.
Under current market environments, many small business owners are disillusioned about the prospect of moving some or all of their manufacturing to China. They fear the unknown and the unfamiliar. However, the reality remains that in order to endure in the new global market economy we must re-evaluate and reengineer our sourcing and procurement strategies.
As a business owner, can you imagine paying an employee …
Best Friend & Corporate Killer: ‘Cash-flow’
There are many text book examples of formulas and various CFO philosophic differences regarding cash flow that I could review, but the relational processes that cash flow has on business are where many entrepreneurs lose their way and need guidance.
It is a simple fact that all human beings need nutrition to survive. The nutrition ingested as food is rapidly consumed as fuel. If you impede this nutrition for a significant amount of time, you will starve to death. The rule is simple—consumption must be balanced with replenishment in order to maintain stasis. The same applies to your company. Businesses …
Whims Of Stingy CURMUDGEONS
Inevitably, at some point during the lifetime of a small business, a necessity to borrow funds will arise.
Perhaps the business needs to add facilities or major equipment, enter new markets or grab more market share. Lack of capital does not have to stifle growth, but in many cases it does.
For example, lack of working capital may lead to a shortage of inventory because the company has missed out on opportunities to take advantage of key buys. This could, in turn, place the company in a position of not being able to meet customer demand. The results would place …
Business In Trouble
The early warning signs & a 7-step recovery program
All too often it isn’t until a business owner is faced with dire consequences that he/she is willing to admit ‘the business is in serious trouble.’ Don’t be confused — I am not talking about snags, hitches, setbacks, hindrances, quandaries, predicaments, obstacles or dilemmas. These difficulties are the daily stock-in-trade of all business owners. However, left unattended, they are the precursors of crisis. To state the obvious, the problem with ignoring, or delaying, the process of dealing with business difficulties is—the longer the delay, the longer it will take to resolve …
The U.S. Tax Court
The best defense is a strong offense. Taxpayers involved in transactions that necessitate a business valuation must be appropriately prepared to withstand an IRS challenge.
Over the past few years, U.S. judges have substantially increased their knowledge of valuation methodology and application. This is especially true of Tax Court judges. In 2005, the Honorable David Laro, a U.S. Tax Court judge, co-authored a book with the “father of business valuation, ” the highly respected Dr. Shannon Pratt, on the subject of business valuation and taxes. More frequently, Tax Court judges are applying their valuation knowledge to better scrutinize taxpayer testimony …
