Increase Productivity, Not Payroll

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While interviewing hundreds of small business owners and employers, I came to realize that the single largest challenge for small businesses is to find and keep the right employees. In fact, a Columbia University study estimates that replacing a lost employee can cost 150% of that person’s annual salary. That’s a high price to pay, [...]

Keep it in the Family: Tax Advantages to Putting Your Family to Work This Summer

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Summer’s almost here – are you ready to put your kids to work? Got a spouse lounging around the house who needs something to do? Is dad retired and underfoot? Round them all up and put them to work… and the IRS will reward you with tax breaks that can really add up. Teach Your [...]

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Will Your Company be Bankrupt by 2014? Edward Altman Knows (and so should you)

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You may not know Edward Altman, but he knows whether your company will be bankrupt in the next two years.  Altman developed a deceptively simple formula that calculates the financial strength of a business and accurately predicts the probability of bankruptcy more than 90% of the time. The formula, called Altman’s Z Score, needs just [...]

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Don’t Be Shark Bait: Tell an Investor What Your Company is Worth Now… and Later!

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The ABC reality TV show “Shark Tank” is incredible.  Each week, contestants are offered millions of dollars for a piece of their company.  They have about 30 seconds to say yes or no.  It looks simple, doesn’t it? Behind the scenes, it is anything but simple — and the business owners are the most likely [...]

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We Now Interrupt Your 2012 Tax Season… to Discuss Your 2013 Taxes (7 Tax Law Changes You Must Know Now)

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OK, nobody loves tax season.  If you’re feeling stressed out by the looming April 15th tax deadline (or the just-passed deadline for company taxes!), take a break.  Forget 2012 taxes for a moment and instead look ahead to April 2014.  Why? Because the tax code has changed effective January 1, 2013 and what you are [...]

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American Greed: The 10 Worst Corporate Scandals of All Time (infographic)

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We’ve talked about Shark Tank… Now let’s talk about the other Business-Meets-Reality TV Show, “American Greed”.  Check out this amazing infographic: “The Ten Worst Corporate Accounting Scandals of All Time“. More than $250 billion vanished!  Can you name the perps?  When you’re finished, take a moment to look at your own business.  Is it fraud-proof? [...]

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Put a T.I.G.E.R. in Your Office: 5 Things Your Business Dashboard Must Do

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There are hundreds of ways to look our business – we can spend hours staring at financial statements and ratios. But financial statements alone won’t help us make progress…what an entrepreneur really needs is a map. A great “business dashboard” can be that map, showing us not just where we are, but also where we [...]

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Your Money or Your Wife: The Danger of Mixing of Love and Business

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I was 27 and struggling with my first start-up when I met my wife. She seemed like the perfect addition to my growing company. She worked without pay and never complained when the job kept me at the office until midnight – because she was there too. I told this story to Charley Moore, CEO [...]

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Cash When You Need it Most: How to Use Your Customers Credit to Borrow Money Now

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Employees won’t wait for payroll and landlords don’t want to hear about your cash flow when rent is due. Sure, cash is a problem.  But if you have Accounts Receivable, you already have the keys to unlocking more cash. Here’s how you can get the cash when you need it the most: The Root Cause [...]

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6 Ways Tablets (Should) Power Your Business

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Small business success means being more productive than the competition: Faster, better, cheaper. And there’s no tool that will make a business faster, better and more productive than a tablet computer. If your business is not tablet-ized, now is the time. Don’t shudder when you think about splurging on a fancy gadget and learning new [...]

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Screaming Won’t Help when Too Much Cash Kills Your Business

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I’m embarrassed to tell you that I actually screamed at a salesman over the phone today.  It takes a lot to get me worked up, but in this case I broke.  I simply wanted to PAY this guy, and he could not take payment over the phone. ME: “What? No invoicing?  No credit card?  No Paypal, SquarePay, [...]

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6 (Legal) Ways to Fix Year End Financial Statements

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The sun has set on 2012 and your year-end financial statements look a bit gloomy. Maybe you are showing a bad loss – or maybe too much profit. You need financial statements that will impress your banker, incur less tax, and better position you for profits in the new year. But how? Fortunately, accounting rules are flexible enough to [...]

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The Least Fun You’ll Have this Holiday: Year End Tax Planning

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It’s a shame, really, that we have to interrupt our joyous year-end holidays with gut-wrenching year-end tax prep… So to minimize the pain, I’ve put together a quick list of the 6 things I think you should know this year.  Put down the fruitcake and eggnog for just a second, and be sure your business [...]

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The Cheapskate’s Guide to Employee Benefits: 3 Ways to Cut Costs and Keep Employees Happy

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When companies look to cut costs, employee benefits are one of the first things to go. That saves money, but hurts morale – right when you need your team to pull together and work harder. Fortunately, there are ways for you to cut expenses and provide some excellent employee benefits. Here are 3 great ways to [...]

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Loan Applications: 4 Things to Never Tell your Banker (by guest blogger Rob Severson)

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In my 40-year career I have met with 100’s of business people seeking loans.  It is the fun part of what I do. But I’ve also seen some common mistakes that entrepreneurs make, particularly when talking to a banker. Sometimes I think bankers speak a different language than entrepreneurs.  Be very careful that what you say is [...]

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