7 Cash Flow Secrets Your Accountant Never Told You
November 13, 2007
Looking for ways to boost your cash flow? As a small business consultant, I make these recommendations to my cash strapped small business clients:
1. Shoeboxes are for shoes, not business records.
Pardon my candor but, you will never have a successful business if you don’t systematically track your income and expenses, who owes you money, and who you owe money to. This is absolutely crucial. You don’t have to have a big expensive computerized system, although a computer program like QuickBooks certainly does a beautiful job. You can keep track of everything with a pencil and paper if you like. But, you’ve got to track basic information in a systematic manner. Without this vital information your business cannot flourish and your cash flow will always keep you up at night.
2. Getting your customers to "show you the money".
The best way to get your customers to pay what is owed is to remove every possible excuse for nonpayment. Don’t extend credit unless it’s absolutely necessary. Establish credit policies to help determine who will get credit. Get an invoice into the bill payer’s hand as quickly as possible after the work is done or the product is delivered. Don’t be afraid to send a letter or statement or make a phone call reminding your customer his bill is due. Never be rude. Always be firm. Focus on preserving the relationship. If a customer has a legitimate gripe about your business do whatever you can to fix the problem.
What Gives DIRECTV System an Edge?
November 12, 2007
What Gives DIRECTV System an Edge?
by: Gary Davis
What Gives DIRECTV System an Edge?
When choosing a satellite TV service people tend to ask, what gives DIRECTV System an edge? First of all, a DIRECTV System uses nationally manufactured hardware in a patriotic and business respective way.
The DIRECTV System is adaptable to different needs for different kinds of people throughout the US. The DIRECTV System delivers high-quality digital experience unlike any other satellite TV service in the country with the latest in hardware possibilities.
DIRECTV System Uses Nationally Manufactured Hardware
All directly related satellite system hardware for the home owner that is used in the DIRECTV System is all manufactured inside the United States of America.
The point of developing a DIRECTV System is to make the life of the homeowner more relaxed when changing to a new service, for better rates and when they are unsatisfied with other services.
A DIRECTV System also does this with the intention of focusing more on programming and services rather than hardware manufacturing and control. The important part of a DIRECTV System is the solution for those kinds of people who just don’t have time to record their favorite shows, or get home in time to watch them live.
What To Do When Your Boss Is a Butthead
November 11, 2007
I’ve never worked for a boss I didn’t like or respect. Sure, some were better than others, but I never considered quitting my job because of a bad boss. Unfortunately, many employees aren’t so lucky.
If your boss is a total butthead, someone you’ll never get along with, admire or respect no matter how hard you try, there are a few things you can do.
Wait. Is your boss close to retirement or promotion–or even better–termination? If so, try to bide your time and wait until that happy event happens.
Bite your tongue. Keeping anger and frustration bottled up inside is not healthy, but neither is complaining about your boss at work. So if your family can tolerate it, vent at home instead. It’ll make you feel better even if it does nothing to help your situation. It may be tempting to complain about your boss at work, especially if coworkers are talking about the same problems. But resist that temptation! If your boss finds out that you are complaining about him, he’ll have a legitimate reason to take appropriate action against you and make your life under him worse than it already is.
Are You Managing to Lead?
November 11, 2007
For many people, the terms “manager” and “leader” are synonymous. In the business world, they are often used interchangeably, i.e. “team leader”, “team manager”, “project manager” - you get the idea. And why not? After all, leaders and managers do basically the same thing, right?
In some instances, there do seem to be commonalities between the two and management techniques are sometimes confused with leadership traits. However, there are, I believe, some key distinctions to be made that radically separate the two.
Here then, are what I consider to be some key differences between a leader and a manager:
1. A manager administers. A leader innovates.
Managers take policies and procedures and ensure that they are carried out. Leaders are constantly challenging the “status quo” to achieve bigger and better things.
2. A manager maintains. A leader develops.
As long as things are running smoothly, the manager is typically happy. The leader is never satisfied with the “status quo” or “the way we’ve always done it”. Leaders are constantly asking for more and bigger things - of themselves as well as those they lead.
3. Managers rely on control. Leaders inspire trust.
If You Do No Other Preparation
November 10, 2007
Far too often we see small businesses rush into doing things without planning and preparing. Unfortunately, marketing is a great case in point. Many small businesses set up shop and then hurry to get a brochure made up, develop a web site, and get out and start networking without much planning or preparation. And then they wonder why their results are so poor.
Maybe it’s for lack of knowing where to start. I’m not sure. But, if you do nothing else from a preparation standpoint for your marketing, I suggest you spend some time thinking about your best clients. Your best clients aren’t simply the ones who pay the most money, but also the ones you enjoy working with the most. Spend some time to create a profile.
1. Define Your Target. How do you describe your target market in terms of demographics and psychographics? Demographics are the basic facts like the kind of industry they’re in, size of company, revenues, geographic location, etc. If your target is individuals, then it means income levels, age, gender, education, etc. Psychographics deal more with things like the style, philosophy, and characteristics of your targets.
The Wealth Connection ? 2 Steps to Brighten Your Golden Years
November 9, 2007
Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes — Envision your life 10 or even 20 years from now. Where do you plan to be? What are you doing and with whom?
Most of us between the age of 35 and 50 years hope to be retired to some degree in 15 to 20 years or less. We see ourselves living on retirement funds enjoying life and family. I have never had a client tell me they see themselves penniless or sick. Yet, these same clients fail to have a full plan.
They may have a retirement fund at work and other investments but how are these performing? Did you plan a financial foundation? What does your Wellness Investment program look like?
Many people tell me they don’t have a financial foundation program or Wellness Investment program in place. Regardless of age and health it is never too late to start planning. It is better than no plan at all. In this article I will give you 2 of the 21 most important Wealth Connection Steps I offer in my online course.
Google Is Taking Over
November 8, 2007
Google Is Taking Over
by: Pawel Reszka
Google has come a long way since 1998. Wall Street values Google at over 100 billion dollars and that makes the company the biggest media company. Google’s search engine has become the most used search tool in the world and provides effective contextual advertising system for small and medium business owners. The company also has an income opportunity for many web publishers through their Adsense program which allows the website owners place Google ads on their site.
The company created a movement on the internet marketing scene where marketers are trying to get top rankings on Google and cash-in on the free traffic it provides. Many people use Google Adwords to promote affiliate programs and earn money from sales they generate. There are books being written about how to create additional income streams using Google. If you do a search online for “make money with google” or “make money with adsense”, it will bring up thousands of websites with information to help you get started. Many webmasters build websites specifically designed to display Adsense ads on it to generate cash. Google has become the American dream of many publishers on the internet by helping them monetize their website’s traffic. You can create your own Adsense empire that can generate thousands of dollars in revenue per month. Also by using Adwords people start earning money within hours.
How to Get the Right Clients and Avoid the Wrong Ones
November 7, 2007
If you are like most service professionals and small business owners one of your primary concerns is generating as many leads as possible. And that may be your biggest mistake, resulting in wasting time on unqualified prospects and working with too many clients you wish you didn’t have to.
Bill is a financial advisor looking for clients. Working from his stack of leads he picks up the phone and starts making calls. The first person he gets on the phone has lots of questions and it turns out is just looking for free advice. After a half hour Bill finally gets him off the phone. Bill’s next call finds a highly interested prospect. After forty-five minutes, he’s ready to sign her up, when he discovers she only has a couple of hundred dollars to invest.
At the end of the day, Bill has spent eight hours on the phone and still hasn’t signed up any new clients.
Do you ever spend time chasing leads that are just a waste of time?
Need A Sales Boost ? Try These!
November 6, 2007
The telephone is still the best and most effective way to reach people. It can help generate more sales and build your business. Unfortunately most people don’t like the telephone and don’t use it effectively. In order to become more proficient using the telephone, you need to follow some basic guidelines and then practice, practice and then practice some more.
Like everything else, selling by using the telephone has changed over the years. The hard sell approach doesn’t cut it today. With voice mail, answering machines, tele-zappers, and caller ID the old fashion way doesn’t work any longer.
If you are selling a high end product, trying to do it all on the first call doesn’t work. You need to go through a couple of stages to get your end result ? the sale. First you need to introduce yourself. Tell them about you, your business and your product. Next try to set up an appointment to go into further detail. Or maybe send some information before calling again. Moving one step at a time gives the customer time to become familiar with you and your product. It also gives your customer time to realize how important your product is to them.
Will Googles Gmail spell trouble for Email Marketing.
November 6, 2007
We wait with baited breath for the anticipated launch of Google’s Gmail - a fre*e email account, capable of storing50,000 short, text only messages. That was not a misprint.Your inbox would be a full gigabyte (1000mb’s) of emails.
Hot on the heels are Google’s rivals: Yahoo www.yahoo.comand Hotmail www.hotmail.com
Yahoo has increased the size of its fre*e email support to 100mb’s. Or, for $19.99 a year, your inbox can be 2 GB’s,twice the size of Gmail.
Hotmail has increased its fre*e email to 250mb’s. And you’ll soon be able to have 2 GB’s from them for $19.95 a year.
Now, on the one hand that’s great news for web-email users.Loads of space for cramming trillions of little emails or a goodnumber of emails with massive attachments. Also, web-emailusers won’t have to check their inboxes every five minutes,and it will reduce the bounces, too.
Right, that’s good news then! But on the other hand, and thisis merely my opinion of course; if most of the other web-mailsuppliers follow suit, to capture or hold onto their corner of the market, there will be a gazillion more megabytes of inboxspace for the spa*mm*ers. There will be thousands of emails waiting to be read, with filters filtering the filtered.
