New Business Direction LLCAs we move into the fall season and the final quarter of the year, it’s a perfect time to commit to a project in your business that will help you reach the year’s end in better shape. Here are five ideas:
1. Back-to-School Time
If payroll expenses are one of the higher costs in your business, then it makes sense to boost your team’s productivity and maybe also your own. Fall is back-to-school time anyway, so it’s a natural time of the year to take on a course, read a business book, or hire an organizer to help you get more from your workspace.
If you spend a lot of time doing email, consider taking a course on Microsoft Outlook® or even Windows; learning a few new keystrokes could save you tons of time. If you need more time, look for a book or course on time management. Look for classes at your local community college or adult education center.
2. A Garage Sale for Your Business
Do you have inventory in your business? If so, take a look at which items are slower-moving and clear them out in a big sale. We can help you figure out what’s moving slowly, and you might even save on taxes too.
3. Celebrate Your Results
Take a checkpoint to see how your revenue and income are running compared to last year at this time. Is it time for a celebration, or is it time to hunker down and bring in some more sales before winter? With one more quarter to go, you have time to make any strategy corrections you need to at this time. Let us know if we can pull a report that shows your year-on-year financial comparison.
4. Get Ready for Year’s End
Avoid the time pressure of year’s end by getting ready early. Review your balance sheet to make sure your account balances are correct for all transactions entered to date. You will be ahead of the game by getting the bulk of the year reviewed and out of the way early.
Also make sure you have the required documentation you need from vendors and customers. One example is contract labor that you will need to issue a 1099 for; make sure you have a W-9 on file for them. If we can help you get ready for year-end, let us know.
5. Margin Mastery
If your business has multiple products and services, there may be some that are far more profitable than others. Breaking these numbers out to calculate your profit margins or
contribution margins by product or service line can help you see the areas that are adding the most income to your bottom line. Correspondingly, you can determine if you have any items that are losing money; knowing will help you take the right action in your business. Refresh your financials this fall with your favorite idea of these five, or come up with your own fall project to rejuvenate your business.
Some numbers need reviewing on a daily basis, and one example of this is cash. When cash is coming in from a number of places, it’s great to have a daily summary of what was collected.
It’s also great to make sure all the collections hit your bank account so you can feel confident that no errors were made along the way. A daily cash reconciliation report will serve both needs very well.
A daily cash report will vary depending on the type of business you have, but it will look like a combination of a bank reconciliation and a sales report wrapped into one.
If you are managing your cash closely from day to day, then this report will help you stay sane. You’ll need two very brief spreadsheets to get started. The first one below is your daily sales from all sources. Your accounting system may be able to generate this.
| Today’s Sales | |
| Cash | $300.00 |
| Checks | $600.00 |
| Total Bank Deposit | $900.00 |
| Mastercard Visa | $400.00 |
| American Express | $200.00 |
| Total Credit Card Due | $600.00 |
| PayPal | $100.00 |
If your accounting system is up to date, all you’ll need to do is pull the cash balance and adjust for today’s activity. The following day, you can double check your accuracy and adjust accordingly using the last two rows.
| Daily Cash Report | |
| Book Cash Balance | $5,000.00 |
| Deposit from Today’s Sales | $900.00 |
| Merchant Deposit | $600.00 |
| Less Checks Written Today | ($1,200.00) |
| $5,300.00 | |
| Expected Bank Balance Tomorrow | $8,300.00 |
| Actual Bank Balance | $8,300.00 |
| Explain any differences |
If your accounting system is not updated in real time, you’ll need to start with the bank balance and correct it for uncleared transactions as well as list today’s activity.
| Daily Cash Report | |
| Bank Balance | $5,000.00 |
| Deposit from Today’s Sales | $900.00 |
| Merchant Deposit | $600.00 |
| Less Checks Written Today | ($1,200.00) |
| $5,300.00 | |
| Checks Still Outstanding | ($3,000.00) |
| Deposit from A/R Paid | $5,000.00 |
| Expected Bank Balance Tomorrow | $8,300.00 |
Using these formats, you can easily extend them to cover the entire week. This way, you’ll know what your cash balance will be from day to day.
If you see the value of this report for your business and would like help creating it, please reach out.
Have you ever been in a situation where there’s no internet and you needed it? Or perhaps you’re at a hotel and don’t want to pay the extra $15 per day for wireless internet. If so, you’re not alone, and luckily, there’s a gadget for just about everything. This time, it’s a gadget you probably already have: all you need to do is whip out your cell phone.
iPhone
Your cell phone can act as your wireless modem. Plug the iPhone into your PC using your USB connection. Go to Settings on your iPhone and one of your settings will be labeled Personal Hotspot. Tap it and toggle it to “on.” Set a password.
On your PC, view your wireless internet connections, and the name you’ve given your phone will show up. Click to connect and enter the password you set on your phone.
Voila, internet!
Android
If you have an Android, tap More… and select Wireless and Networks, then Tethering and Portable Hotspot. Check Portable Wi-Fi hotspot. Tap Portable Wi-Fi hotspot settings and you can edit the Wi-Fi network name, and choose a password.
On your PC, view your wireless internet connections, and the name you’ve given the Wi-Fi network will show up. Click to connect and enter the password you set on your phone.
Fees
Ask your cell phone network provider if this hotspot feature is included in your package or is an extra charge. You may also have to call then to enable this feature.
Once you’ve used this once, you’ll be hooked. You now have a new internet access alternative anywhere you have cell phone coverage.
Sales tax laws are constantly changing, and sales tax audits have increased since states and local agencies have become creative about finding new ways to generate revenues. If you haven’t made any changes in your sales tax procedures in a while, you are probably at risk.
Taxability
From state to state, the taxability of items varies. For example, data processing services including web hosting and graphics are taxable in Texas but not California. Because of these intricacies, it makes sense to consult an expert in this area. Some states have been taxing certain services for many years now.
Nexus
The new buzzword in sales tax is “nexus,” which simply means presence. If your business has a presence in a state, then certain items you sell could be taxable. “Presence” is a little gray, but here are a few examples of some characteristics that the courts have decided prove nexus.
- If you have employees or contractors working in a state, you are liable to collect and remit sales tax. This can play havoc if you hire virtual or remote workers. Even if they are part-time, you have nexus in that state.
- If you outsource inventory fulfillment in any way (think Amazon sales), you have nexus in states where there is a physical warehouse that houses your products.
- If you own business property in a state, you must file sales tax.
- If you participate in trade shows or are a public speaker, you have nexus in states where the conferences are held.
The Risk
If you fail to collect taxes where you should, the risk is easy to calculate. Take the potential taxable sales times the sales tax rate, and add any penalties. The numbers get scary if you’ve been in business for several years.
Let’s say your annual revenues are $5 million. You didn’t realize that your Texas sales were taxable, and this amounts to 10% or $500K. Your tax liability is $41,250 per year. If you have been doing it wrong for five years, well, you can add it up. Add penalties on top, and it’s not a small amount. It can wipe out your entire year’s profit.
Sales tax liability becomes more important if you plan to sell your business. A traditional valuation will always include a sales tax risk analysis. Even if you don’t plan to sell, the odds of you getting audited or a disgruntled employee blowing the whistle can be too much to risk.
If you want help calculating your risk or assessing nexus or taxability for your business, reach out and we can help.
Unfortunately, spam is an inevitable part of today’s digital world. The bad news is if you have your spam settings set too tightly, you will lose good emails. If you receive new prospects via email, you may miss out on good clients and revenue. If you have your settings too loose, you have to take up extra time to wade through the spam emails.
Here are some tips and facts that can help you control it.
Anti-virus software
Desktop-based (not cloud-based) anti-virus software is a must anyway, and most have an anti-spam component that can be activated to mark spam and move it to a junk folder in your Outlook or email software. You can then periodically review and delete the items in the junk folder.
Web hosting software
Many website hosting packages come with SpamAssassin which you can set up via your website’s control panel. You can choose whether to delete the spam and you can set the level of deletion which is based on an email scoring system as to how spammy it is. Your webmster can help you set this up.
Third-party email
About half of all businesses have gone to third-party email solutions such as Google mail, Rackspace, Office 365, and many others. Many of these have built-in spam protection on their servers.
Gmail, which is free, is also very popular and filters the spam automatically. You can set up your gmail account so that it sends from your business email.
Challenge and response software
Some business owners have gone to a challenge and response software such as SpamArrest. All emails coming in require validation via a captcha (those boxes that have you prove you’re a person and not a robot by entering letters and numbers) on the sender’s part.
Old email addresses
Older email addresses are subject to more spam than newer ones. Also, if you use common emails such as info@yourdomain.com, you probably get more spam than most. Start over every 3-5 years with new emails. It is worth the time.
Too many email addresses
Spam will come in to all the email addresses you use, so if you have two email addresses, you may get twice as much spam. Keep the number of email addresses you use to an absolute minimum.
Scrapers
Avoid placing your email address on your website or in public forums where it can be “scraped” by robots that will place your email on lists without your permission. Even so-called reputable companies employ scrapers; it’s more common than we’d like to think.
Also, some of the more aggressive websites will capture your domain and/or email address from cookies, so beware. With Google Chrome, you can browse “incognito,” and we recommend you do that.
If you’re challenged with spam, try one or more of these ideas to save time.
Wow, can you believe that 2015 is half over already? Now that we’ve crossed the halfway mark, it’s time to see if we’re on track for our 2015 goals. To do that, we need to see if we’ve met our mid-year milestones.
Managing By Milestones
A milestone, in project management terms, is simply a point along a project timeline. It’s marked so that project managers recognize when that portion of the project has been completed. We can use milestones to see how we’re faring toward financial goals as well.
Assuming our business is not seasonal, we should have earned half of our target revenues for 2015 as of the June 30, 2015 income statement. If we’re falling short, we can recognize that and perhaps add some promotions or sales to spike revenues so that we can correct the shortfall before the year has ended. If we’re ahead of the game, we can see what is working so well and make sure to replicate it.
Either way, with milestones, we can be more proactive in reaching or surpassing our goals.
By the Numbers
Some of the numbers you may want to set milestones for include:
- Revenue to date
- Expenses
- Profit to date
- Debt paid down or debt taken on
- Assets acquired or sold
- Number of employees added or lost or both
- Number of clients added or lost or both
- Accounts receivable aging
Project Performance
Milestones don’t have to be numeric. You can also use them to determine if you’re on track with internal projects. Perhaps for 2015, your goal was to replace 5 PCs and convert your shopping cart software. You can set milestones to monitor specific phases of these projects or just monitor when you start and complete them.
Mid-Year Milestone Report
Document your accomplishments in a mid-year milestones report. It feels good to write them down, plus you’ll have a history of how much you accomplished as well as what worked.
The report can include the milestones as well as a narrative explaining the performance to date. If you’d like our help creating this report, please feel free to contact us.
Accounting for milestones can help you become more proactive toward reaching your business goals. Plus, it’s great to see how far you’ve come since the beginning of the year.
Cool Tech Tools: Customer Portals
If you have a business where you have to send documents of any kind to your customers, then you may benefit from a portal. You can save time on customer service and possibly postage and labor. You will also look most professional while increasing service delivery.
What Is a Portal?
A portal is software in the cloud that allows users to upload and download files from a secure space that only they have access to. For each client you have, you can set up a private virtual filing cabinet where only you and the client will have the key. Your client will have their own user ID and password into their area of the portal. There, they can upload and download documents. Some portals also have secure signature capability to help you take the paperwork out of obtaining signatures.
How Can I Use a Portal?
Think of all the paperwork that occurs between you and your customer, and that will give you several ideas about how to use a portal. If your business is data-intensive, you will definitely benefit from a portal; imagine moving all of those documents out of email and into a clean, private filing folder in the cloud.
Businesses that would benefit the most include:
- Any small business with remote employees: a portal can be where they pick up and drop off work.
- Mortgage companies where the loan officers are collecting a great deal of information for the underwriters.
- Construction companies: each subcontractor could access the schedule, estimates, material details, invoices, and certificates of insurance.
- Real estate agents to collect the details of home purchases and sales
- Accountants, attorneys, consultants, coaches, and other professionals who deal with private customer information.
- Web design, ad agency, and marketing companies
Types of documents and files you can upload and download from portals include:
- Contracts, estimates, and legal documents
- Invoices and credit card authorizations
- Instructions and training materials and aids
- Company policies and procedures
- Brochures and marketing materials
- Reports and spreadsheets
- Forms and applications, blank and completed
- Graphics, drawings, and photos
You don’t necessarily have to set up a portal for every client; perhaps it’s cost-effective to use a portal on your largest customers or vendors.
Where Can I Find a Portal?
One of the leading vendors in the portal space is Citrix Sharefile. You can find them here: http://www.sharefile.com/. Your industry may have specific solutions for you as well, especially if you have regulations such as HIPAA that you need to follow.
You may also have heard of DropBox and Box.net. These companies offer file transfer and don’t have a dedicated user area, so they are useful, but a bit different than a portal.
Look for software that provides each user with their own unique login, and that will distinguish the software as a true portal.
If you decide to implement portals for your business, you can private-label them with your logo and place a direct link to your portal login page for easy client access.
Using portals will keep your inbox cleaner, save time looking for lost emails and documents, and help you look professional in the eyes of your clients.
Just about every business relies on “word-of-mouth” marketing to get the vast majority of its clients. If this is true for your business, then it just makes sense to figure out how to boost your referrals from all sources. Referrals are almost always easier to sell and they keep your marketing costs low. But how can you do that?
The first step is to make sure that you know who your best current referral sources are. If you’re not already asking the question to new clients “How did you find out about us?” then I’d recommend you implement that right away.
If you do know the answer to that question for each customer, then you can make a list of your referral sources. Take a look at the list, and see what these referral sources have in common. Here are some questions to ask:
* Are they all customers?
* Do they all have a profession in common? For example, are they all lawyers, massage therapists, plumbers, or pediatricians?
* Have you properly thanked each of these individuals? If not, you can send out a thank you card or take them to lunch with no other agenda.
The last question to ask yourself is “where can you find more of the same type of people that are referring you?” If you discovered that you get a lot of business from dog groomers, then you may want to consider visiting every grooming salon in your zip code. You may also want to present a speech to a dog groomers Meetup group that you find.
You really can be proactive about your referrals so that business comes to you more easily. Try these tips to boost your referral sources in your business.
If you need cash fast, there’s nothing like having a sale to increase your bank account quickly. Here are ten excuses you can use to tell your customers you’re having a sale.
1- It’s Your Birthday (or Your Business’s Birthday)
We all feel generous on our birthday, so why not have a sale on your special day. You can even tie to discount amount to your day of birth. For example, if you were born on the 14th, then you can offer customers 14% off.
Similarly, you can hold an anniversary sale on your business’s anniversary date. It’s a good way to let customers know how long you’ve been in business.
2- Your Partner Is on Vacation
If you have a business partner, you can use the excuse, “When the cat’s away, the mice will play.” You can pretend that your partner knows nothing about the sale, but has left you in charge and you’re going to have this sale. The customers will enjoy the reason and feel like they are getting away with something fun.
3- Holidays
Most stores have holiday sales, and you can too. There are so many unusual holidays that you can tap into just in case the holidays are at an inconvenient time. Here’s a website that will give you a list of special days, weeks, and holidays: http://www.holidayinsights.com/moreholidays/
4- The Full Moon
Why not? It might be the best sale you’ve ever had. The next full moon is July 2, 2015, and you’re in luck because July has a blue moon (when two full moons occur on one month) on July 31, 2015.
5- Small Business Saturday
November 28, 2015 is Small Business Saturday. It’s one day after Black Friday and the Saturday before Cyber Monday. Small Business Saturday is relatively new, but has been gaining momentum in the past few years.
6- Tax Holidays
In some states the sales tax authority provides exemptions for a few days on selected categories of items. For example, in August, Texas allows one weekend where sales tax does not have to be paid or collected on school supplies. You may not even have to mark down your items to generate a crowd for sales tax holidays. Here’s a Wikipedia page on it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_holiday
7- Old Inventory Items or Overstock Conditions
A great reason to have a sale is when you have old inventory items you need to clear out. Similarly, if you’re overstocked on certain items, a sale will help them move.
8- Your Kid’s College Tuition Is Due
You can have a lot of fun by advertising that you simply need to make your tuition payments. Customers will get a smile out of helping you out and relating to a familiar need.
9- The Stock Market
If the stock market goes up or down, you can have a sale based on its performance.
10- Seasonal Dates
Dates such as the first day of summer, Spring Equinox, or even April 15th, tax day (in the U.S.) can be potential sales days for your business. Think about seasonal dates related to your industry.
Try these ten ideas to get your sale noticed.
Do you have employees who need to work together as a team? Or perhaps you need to work as a team with your customers and vendors. When people of different backgrounds get together for a common goal, there are often four stages they go through before they become a true team or family.
Four Stages of Teams
In 1965, Bruce Tuckman noted that there are four stages in which teams evolve: forming, storming, norming, and performing. Two goals are crucial for teams:
- To reach the optimal stage, performing.
- To build trust, respect, and open communication during all four stages of the process.
Forming
In the forming stage, team members begin to get to know each other and what their goals are. This is a good time for the team to set ground rules that cover how often the team should meet, how they should communicate, and what their objectives will be. This is an ideal time for the team to assess their strengths and challenges.
Storming: Team Conflict
In the storming stage, conflict begins. The diverse points of view of each team member present as team conflict. Team members need some tools in this stage to avoid clashing egos and turf wars. Have team members actively listen to other team members’ viewpoints to better negotiate through the problem-solving the group needs to perform in order to get their goals met.
Don’t let a team get stuck in this stage because emotions that simmer under the surface will blow up.
Both active listening and assertiveness training are great tools to help teams learn how to manage the conflict and work through the issues that come up during the storming stage. Employees also need to learn how to deliver feedback and bad news in an effective, non-threatening way.
Norming: Becoming Complacent
The third stage of teambuilding is norming. In this stage, team members can become complacent and agree with the group to avoid conflict. The leader must challenge the group not to fall into this type of groupthink, which results in terrible decisions.
Performing: The Optimal Stage
In the final stage of teambuilding, performing, the group has found their synergy. They perform at their highest productivity and quality. They have built trust among team members to get the job done constructively and without personal conflict.
Which stage is your team in? Knowing the natural stages will help you move your team to the optimal stage, performing.
