Business Advisory Archives » Page 4 of 5

17Nov 2013 by William Simi

10 mistakes that can cost you your business

Even the smartest small business owner can do dumb things now and then. Unfortunately, some mistakes can kill a company. Just ask Jeff Seifried, small business coordinator for the City of Aurora, Colo., and Peter Tourtellot, chairman of the Turnaround Management Association. They, along with other experts who prefer to keep their observations anonymous, have seen the best - and worst - of small-business operations. Here are 10 examples of common, but potentially deadly, errors committed by otherwise brilliant small-business owners. Don't make the same mistakes. Underestimating the importance of cash flow management Two woodworkers had a thriving business building interiors for retail stores. They did beautiful work and their customers were pleased, but it often took them 60 or even 90 days to pay the bill. Until the money…

14Nov 2013 by William Simi

Simple Accounting Tips for Small Businesses

Business Advisory, FREE Business Tools: Learn the Secrets

Do you manage a small business and are overwhelmed with dealing with taxes and invoices while trying to keep your business afloat? By following these tips, you can simplify accounting for your small business. You should first break down the accounting into smaller pieces and set easily attainable goals for yourself. Know that accounting is a time consuming process so splitting it into parts will make is more manageable. This will also help with your stress and anxiety about accounting since you will see the completion of your smaller goals. -Calculate minimum and ideal monthly profits Keep track of all invoices and calculate revenue each month to make sure you can successfully keep your business running. Calculating a number for the invoices will allow you to have an exact number…

06Nov 2013 by Fred Crooks

How to Generate More Money for Small Businesses

Business Advisory, FREE Business Tools: Learn the Secrets

Preparing for Small Business Saturday By: Fred Crooks, CPA On the Saturday after Thanksgiving, customers will shop in small businesses for Small Business Saturday. This new holiday was conceived in 2010 to promote sales in small business since Black Friday was such a huge revenue booster for the big–box stores. Small businesses were left out of the huge sale weekend and now they have a chance to join in on the fun. Last year American’s spent $5.5 billion dollars in small businesses the Saturday after Thanksgiving! This new holiday is making a name for itself slowly but surely. In 2011 consumer awareness measured at 44 percent and rose 23 percentage points the next year. Small Business Saturday with 100 million shoppers is still overshadowed by the 247 million shoppers who…

11Oct 2013 by Fred Crooks

Tech Financing: New Technology, New Financing

Business Advisory

By Fred Crooks In an era when tech companies can go through explosive growth spurts, financing options can be complicated. On one hand, going public can bring in necessary financing, but the scrutiny of Wall Street can limit the company’s freedom and bring new pressures to keep up with the quarterly earnings. When the pressure to show positive quarterly earnings is on, people tend to put quarterly earnings ahead of the long term growth of the company on the list of priorities. This tendency makes projects that require several quarters of investments that lack immediate returns, such as creating major new product lines, more difficult for publicly traded companies. Going public isn’t always the best option for growing cash-flow-positive tech companies, and fortunately there are other options available that allow…

02Oct 2013 by William Simi

Knowing Your Company’s Critical Success Factors Can Increase Performance

Business Advisory, FREE Business Tools: Learn the Secrets

KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) are measures of business performance. They are used to check performance against targets, or as benchmarks to signal areas of performance in need of improvement. They are, therefore, measures of a firm’s Critical Success Factors. In any company there may be dozens of Critical Success Factors and literally hundreds of KPIs to use to track your performance. Which ones are significant for any particular company at any particular time depends on what you are planning to achieve and what your current situation is, so a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) paradigm provides a way of classifying Critical Success Factors as in the Table below. factor example kpis MONITORING OPERATING STRENGTH: those factors that are the basis of continuing successful performance 1.Percentage of seats filled…

11Sep 2013 by William Simi

The Envelope System: How to Create a Budget to Reach Your Goals

Business Advisory

By Fred Crooks Creating a budget can be a tricky task. Allocating money to different areas of your life or business takes time and effort, and occasionally some deep introspection into your personal spending habits. Sticking to a budget can be just as tedious, particularly if you don’t have a great system for remembering how much money is budgeted for what. But creating and following a budget is a critical practice if you want to achieve success. Very few people achieve success in life or in business without a plan. Budgeting is exactly that: a plan – for your money. When you have a plan, it’s far easier to reach your goals than going at it blindly. How you create your budget depends on your goals. If you are working…

06Sep 2013 by William Simi

Healthcare Update

Business Advisory, Employees

Starting October 1, 2013, all employers must provide written notification to their employees about their health insurance coverage options under the new healthcare laws to take effect in 2014. Employers can send this information via email or regular mail. Also, starting in 2014, employers will have 14 days from the date of hiring a new employee to provide this information to the new hire. There are model notices available from the Department of Labor at the links below: If you do not offer healthcare insurance to employees, go to: http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/pdf/FLSAwithoutplans.pdf If you do offer healthcare insurance to employees, go to: http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/pdf/FLSAwithplans.pdf You or your employees can go to www.healthcare.gov to learn more about the new law. As always, we will do our best to keep you up to date on…

09Jul 2013 by William Simi

From Scouts to Managers

Business Advisory, FREE Business Tools: Learn the Secrets

We want to welcome Amelya Stevenson at e-VentExe as our guest blogger this week. She submitted this article to us and we think it is a great help for business owners. Attention managers! Here at e-VentExe, we are rounding up the troops and initiating our very own set of guidelines to becoming a superstar manager. Ever wondered what makes a good manager great? Sure, anyone can become a manager, but not everyone can be a great manager. Do your mind, body, and company good -- challenge yourself and commit to your important leadership role by taking the exclusive Manager's Oath. The Manager's Oath has three components: The Manager's Code, The Manager's Promise, and the Manager's Law. The Company Manager's Code As a Manager I will do my best to: -Be clear and concise,…

23May 2013 by Fred Crooks

Having Your Business Stand Out Within Social Media

Business Advisory, Marketing

By Fred Crooks Businesses worry on how to make themselves stand out within social media due to the Internet being a competitive place to have your business stand out in. With a few tips, you can have your business be more recognizable amongst your other competitors. Start by creating a name or URL that includes the search terms that you want people to find you by as well as having a catchy name that people will remember. You don't want a name that is difficult for people to search for due to the Internet being so broad. Make sure there is consistency within your name and URL if you are using different social networks as well as websites. On the social media sites, include a brief information paragraph about your business…

26Feb 2013 by William Simi

A Period of Reengineering: Your Current Business Situation

Business Advisory, FREE Business Tools: Learn the Secrets

Welcome to our guest blogger this month, Amelya Stevenson. Amelya is president of e-VentExe, a full service Human Resource consulting company. Born from the commitment to three core concepts, “employees, Ventures, and Executives,” e-VentExe operates under the belief that without the right placement, structure, and development of people, each business venture will have a difficult time succeeding in today’s competitive environment. We all know what the economy downturn has done to our businesses. The unexpected collapse of our financial health of our country just about wiped away many dreams and plans for our business future. Those companies that stayed open, our workforce changed and took a very different shape. Employees were laid off; those that kept their jobs had to wear many hats to get the job done. Depending on…

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