22Feb 2018 by Fred Crooks No Comments
How to judge your business success

How to judge your business success

Business Advisory, Fundamentals, Small Business
Once you’ve checked your business vitals (see our previous post, Why You Need to Regularly Check Your Business Vitals ) the next step in assessing the health and performance of your organization is to begin comparing your key business metrics with your competitors.Now, every industry has its own challenges, and its own means of measuring success, but there are a few universal standards that can be relied upon when making such comparisons.In particular, you should look at gross profit and break-even analysis.Gross profit is rather simple - it’s your sales minus the cost of goods sold (the direct cost of the production of goods sold or service provided).The break-even analysis, however, is a little more complex. It is designed to help you analyze the various aspects of your business to…
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14Dec 2017 by Fred Crooks No Comments
Is your business ill?

Is your business ill?

Business Advisory, Small Business
When a doctor first examines a patient, they’ll typically check their vital signs. This includes the pulse or heart rate, body temperature, respiration rate, and blood pressure. Taken together, these help indicate the state of the patient’s essential body functions. If any - or all - offer some cause for concern, the doctor can start diagnosing the patient more thoroughly, before suggesting a course of action... And now we’ve arrived at the part where you’re wondering why we’re discussing basic medical practice. Well, this idea of ‘vital signs’ is something that can be comfortably extended to your business. Your company’s financial health should be examined regularly to make sure there are no underlying maladies that will only grow worse if left untreated. Knowing What to Look For These financial ‘vital…
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20Jun 2017 by Fred Crooks No Comments
The Four Biggest Questions You’ll Ask Yourself as a Business Owner

The Four Biggest Questions You’ll Ask Yourself as a Business Owner

Uncategorized
There are many reasons for starting a business.  Perhaps you’ve spotted a gap in the market. Maybe you’ve grown weary of working for someone else. Or it might just be the fulfilment of a lifelong dream to be your own boss. No matter your reason for taking the leap as an entrepreneur, you will encounter a number of concerns as you progress. It’s important that you know how to recognize and handle these concerns so as to avoid derailing your business. In dealing with many small and medium-sized businesses over the years, we have been able to distill some of these concerns down to four of the most common questions. At some point in your business journey, you will find yourself asking a variation of the following: How will I…
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21Mar 2017 by Fred Crooks No Comments
The Benefits of SBA Loans

The Benefits of SBA Loans

Business Loans
Last month we explored the types of loans available to businesses (read here). Now we explore the benefits of SBA loans. SBA loans are partially guaranteed by The U.S. Small Business Administration. They offer a variety of loan programs for very specific purposes, from Small Business loans and Microloans to Real Estate & Equipment loans and Disaster loans. Depending on where you are with your business, and if you fulfill their criteria, you can borrow money from the SBA for a number of different reasons. These include: Purchase of real estate Building renovation Equipment purchase Inventory purchase Business acquisition Expansion of an existing business Business startup Refinancing of an existing debt; or Supply working capital SBA loans typically have lower interest rates and fees than the more conventional loans from…
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18Jan 2014 by William Simi
The 3 Bottom Lines – Mastering Business Fundamentals

The 3 Bottom Lines – Mastering Business Fundamentals

Business Advisory
The name of our Blog has raised some questions from readers.  What do we mean by the “3 Bottom Lines”?  We’d like to take credit for the concept but we can’t.  It was first articulated in an excellent little book by Chuck Kremer and Ron Rizzuto called Managing by the Numbers, A Commonsense Guide to Understanding and Using Your Company’s Financial Statements.  In their book, the authors use a focus on the three essential metrics of profitability, operating cash flow and return on assets or equity to frame their discussion about how business owners can use their financial statements proactively to evaluate business performance and make important strategic decisions about the future. Most people are familiar with the concept of Net Profit as a means of measuring business success and,…
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