Our very own Fred Crooks at CPA Corporation contributed to the book Six Steps to Small Business Success, a book designed to meet you, the business owner, right where you are. Whether developing a business idea or looking to sell an enterprise you have been building for years, this book can assist you in arriving at your destination. The following questions are developed and answered within the book as we take the journey with you in Operation: Rescue Main Street.
Step 1: Pre-Business Planning
– Have you selected the right business for you?
– Do you have a business plan in place?
– Do you have a strategic marketing plan in place?
– How do you coordinate business and family life?
Step 2: Start-Up: Finances, Budgets, and Numbers
– Do you have the right type of financing and business loans?
– Do you know what the key operating statistics are for your business?
– Do you know what your tax liability will be for the current year?
– Do you have the right insurance coverage?
Step 3: Human Resources: The People Factor
– Are you paying a fair wage and competitive benefits?
– How are you training your new employees?
– Are you managing your staff effectively?
– Do you know the right way to terminate an employee to protect yourself?
Step 4: Operations: Work Flow, Customers, and Sales
– Do you have systems in place so that your product or service is consistent?
– How do you manage your customers, grant credit, and respond to customer service issues?
– Do you have a sales and marketing plan in place, and do you adjust for market changes?
– Do you know when to expand your business?
Step 5: Building a Salable Business and the Sale
– Does your business run smoothly without you?
– What is your business worth?
– Who are the buyers for your business?
– How do you transition your employees to a new owner of your business?
Step 6: Transitioning to Life After Business
– What do you know about wealth management?
– How do you adjust to life after work?
– How do you pass on your values to your kids?
– How do you leave a legacy after you are gone?
Follow us as we take you through each of these processes and help you…dream big! Stay tuned for our first chapter!
Food for thought:
Dream big, but always break it down into small steps, because small steps are easy to achieve and a lot of small steps equal one big step and a lot of big steps equal your dream.