Small Business Information

How To Ruin Your Business


If you're like the rest of us, you've spent a lot of time trying different things to make your online business come together. There are countless methods of conducting a viable marketing career, but there are also as many ways to destroy one as well.

A Lesson From ?The Apprentice? That Can Make You A Master


I have to admit, I was curious. When I saw previews of a new show called ?The Apprentice,? it made me want to at least watch the premiere to see what was going on. Immediately, I was hooked. The whole idea of candidates - from all walks of life, not just college grads fresh from their commencement ceremonies - vying for a position in one of Donald Trump?s organizations piqued my interest. What kept my interest were the real-life advertising lessons every business owner needs to be reminded of.

7 Card Tricks That Improve Your Personal Networking Power


CARD SHARK

Top Ten Tips for Leveraging Conferences for Big SUCCESS!


As I am preparing for my attendance to the CoachVille's Third Annual Coaching Conference, I have been considering how I can make the most of my conference attendance. These ten tips will support you in leveraging those conference you will attend in the future and for creating an unforgettable experience!

3 Ways To Make Certain Your Business Fails


Most small businesses incorporated in 2005 will fail by the year 2007. No matter the industry or the economic times in which the company was initially conceived, the fact remains that businesses fail on a daily basis due to general lack of knowledge and know-how. What follows are my opinion on three very common methods to ensure not only mediocrity but failure as a business entity in today?s world.

Shortcuts Will Kill Your Business


Think of your business as a living, breathing, organism. It requires you to give it a large portion of your time and effort in order for it to grow and flourish.

Serious About Writing A Business Plan... Start A Business Plan Library


Tap these treasures of ideas. The best money you can spend is money invested in your business plan education. Don't shortchange yourself when it comes to investing in your dream. Start gathering samples of business plans and collect business plan books and get a business plan library started, it can change your future. Here's what your library needs to show: that you're a serious student of business strategy and planning, finance and economics, selling, and writing.

Business Failure, The 8 Traps Causing Failure And The One Attribute Which Ensures Business Survival


It is estimated that 78% of all small business start-ups fail within the first twelve months years, and long-term survival is likely for only 22% of all new business start-ups.

Small Business - Is The Accounting Profession Ripping Them Off?


My 16 year-old daughter said, ?Gee Dad! You look just like an accountant? And she wasn?t being complimentary. Accountants are perceived to be boring, stodgy and conservative. Over the years we?ve been the butt of many jokes. I?ve heard them all. Why did the accountant cross the road? Because he looked up the file and that?s what they did last year! Ha Ha! What do accountants use as a contraceptive? Their personality! Ha Ha!? Why do accountants become accountants? They don?t have the charisma to be undertakers! Ha Ha! What do they call an accountant at the bottom of the sea? A bloody good start! Ha Ha! I think I am the exception. That?s why I?ve begun to call myself a business strategist and counselor. ?You?re still an accountant,? says teenage daughter. I am still an accountant and I?m still as passionate about it as the day I started. Because accountants have an impact on people?s lives. The advice we give changes people?s businesses which in turn changes their lives. I?m excited in my role of accountant. Accounting is not stodgy. Accounting is exciting. Accounting is cool! My ambition is to become the ?cool dude of accounting?. (do they still say ?dude?, do they still say ?cool?. Remember that song: When I say, ?cool, man, cool, I don?t mean cool, man, cool, I mean you leave me cold, Jack?) We were throwing some ideas around with some of our clients as we do from time to time, looking for that unique benefit that our firm gives to our clients. That unique something that distinguishes us from other accounting practices. One said, ?You have helped me to improve my business. Not only am I making more profits and have more to spend, but I also have more time to spend away from the business. The more time I spend at home with my family the happier my life is. And the happier I am the happier my wife and children seem to be. When my wife is happy all sorts of good things happen ? even our sex life improves. That?s it! You can advertise that using Kelvyn Peters CPA and Associates improves your sex life? I don?t think so! Sorry, we haven?t accepted his idea. You?re completely on your own in that department, but we can help you improve your business and consequently your life. And your goal might not be extra profit but extra time for living! We know we can because we are doing it for others. We repeat ourselves so often because the truth is the truth and there is only a limited number of ways to tell it. You?ve heard this before. If you are spending every waking moment in a hassle about your business, there must be a better way. There is! Accountants have been ripping off their clients for years In 1973 I attended a workshop for accountants at the Finance Management Research Center then headed by Dr Keith Cleland. The workshop was intended to drag participants into the 20th century. ?Accountants have been ripping off their clients for years?, he told us. The 25 participants were shocked. These represented vibrant accounting firms from all around Australia, both large firms and small. They were at the cutting edge of the industry. Otherwise they would not have been at this kind of workshop. To a person they resented that comment and one fellow wanted to punch him on the nose. (It wasn?t me, but I would have held his coat). By the week?s end we discovered how we were charging high fees for things that our clients couldn?t understand, couldn?t use and didn?t need. At the same time we were neglecting the information that they did need to increase their profits and safeguard their businesses. 20 Years Later what?s Changed? I attended a week long seminar hosted by CPA Australia in 1993 which was to train us in ?client based accounting?. Dr Cleland presented the initial module. He did not openly criticize accountants this time, after all, it was the CPA?s hosting it, but he gave almost the same speech (same jokes, too) as he had 20 years before. ?These things aren?t taught in Universities?, he said, ?so the accounting profession has mostly ignored them. They have let small business down but things are changing?. Know-it-all, Kelvyn Peters had to jump to his feet and say that the doctor had said exactly the same thing 20 years ago. Where were the signs of change? Universities were still not teaching accountants how to help their clients. ?This seminar with CPA Australia and the suggestion they might make client based accounting a speciality is a good sign?, he replied. 10 Years Later? Nothing has changed. Our hopes have withered on the vine and small business must look elsewhere for help. Recently I was called in to assist an ailing restaurant. We were happy to work with their existing accountant. We?d rather do the fun stuff and let the accountant do the boring tax returns and compliance work. In this case the client insisted we take over the whole of the accounting function. The accountant was most unhappy. ?They are difficult clients?, he said, ?I have kept the fee lower than it should be and I have done extra to help them?. Indeed, he had! The financial statements were beautiful to behold with colored graphs and key ratios compared against industry average. (most accountants still don?t do that. I had advised that both wages costs and cost of foodstuffs were too high. Our focus was to form tactics to reduce them. ?But I had already told them that?, said the Accountant, ?what do they need you for?? I told him that the client knew the kitchen wages were too high and what he wanted was for someone to show them how to reduce the wages in the kitchen. ?I can?t do that?, he said, ?I?m an accountant?. I would have to camp down there in the restaurant to see what?s going on. And they wouldn?t pay the fee?. Yes they would. They were going to pay me. Most accountants see their role as being the provider of financial statements, cash-flow projections and tax returns, and there?s the rub. Each of these is a tool not an end in itself. It?s like giving the client a hammer and saw and telling him to go build a house. He needs more than the tools, he needs to be shown how to use them. Of course the client will complain about fees whatever the level if all he receives are not useful to him. Accountants generally are flat out preparing financial statements and tax returns. Meeting dead-lines. They haven?t the time to ?smell the roses?. Anything that doesn?t help meet a dead-line has to wait until later. Often its too late. I may still look like an accountant, even the cool dude of accounting, but there is nothing I like more than talking with a business owner about his business. There?s nothing a business owner likes more than discussing his business and planning to make more money. It?s great fun and he loves to pay me for it.

Building A Business That Works For You


Before you want to build your business, you need to know why you are in this business.

But This Is Just My Opinion


Hi, Charles...here, Your Cap and t-shirt guy From Texas. How are you doing today.

Keeping your Business Alive


As long as you eat and breathe you will stay alive. But is that really living? In a crisis that may be enough. If your business is in crisis - deal with it. But the secret to keeping your business alive is growth.

Build Credibility, Value, and Trust on a Shoestring


Setting priorities in your business? Your first job is to sell. Selling is - writing the orders; receiving the cash; feeding the beast. If you don't sell; the beast, (your business), dies. The impact of selling is immediate. You may love it, but it is a beast. You need to feed it and control it.

Advertising - For Small Businesses (Part 1)


Is it right for you?

Advertising - For Small Businesses (Part 2)


How to do it

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