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Budget, budget, budget… you know you need one, you know it’s a helpful tool when you use it, you know it helps you achieve your goals -  so, why the resistance to it?

An overall business budget guides the business owner-manager. It provides the owner a target to measure against throughout the year.  Regularly reviewing your actual results as compared to your budget allows owners to quickly determine areas where they must make immediate changes and to see what areas are tracking as expected.

When an overall business budget is broken down by area or departments, it allows the owner-managers to detail their desired spending results to employees who have control over a portion of the budget.  This provides the employees with a measurable monthly guideline and provides the managers with another objective measure of that employee.

So, what does it take to prepare a budget – A little research on past performance, some adjustments for current year expectations and occasional adjustments.  Once the budget has been entered into your accounting system, contemporaneous reports are easy to generate and point quickly and clearly to areas you need to address.

So, if you need help putting this great tool in place for your business, let us know.  It’s a tool you don’t want to live without.

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There’s nothing like a family emergency to awaken you to the important things in life!  Seeing my father struggle to recover from his emergency by-pass surgery a few weeks ago was a difficult and trying time for him and our whole family.  Fortunately, he is now recovering well.

This family emergency taught me many things; the main thing being the real temporary nature of our lives.  This is something we really don’t like to face, much less do any planning about.  But as I return to my office, I see where my planning worked and where I need to do more.

I was able let go of most of my work concerns while I was with my father because my team is well trained and we have a known method for who will take over what part of my job while I’m out.   The part I realize I need to work on more, is the part I assumed I would still be able to handle during such an emergency.  Hospitals have a way of taking over your life, a fact I was unaware of until this occasion.  So, I realize I now need to extend my emergency plan to include even responding to emails in my absence and having my other team members making client contacts that I would otherwise make.

Emergency plans for your business need to encompass many aspects and provide for temporary and permanent absences of all key managers.  Make a date and clear out time now to put together a clear plan for your staff to follow during an emergency.  Because the fact is: emergencies happen!

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What do you want from your business–what do you expect your business to provide to you?  That’s a basic, yet critical question that I like to ask business owners.    It is also the foundation of a good strategic planning process.  Unless the answer is clear and measureable, the business owner is likely to become frustrated when the business doesn’t produce at the level he expected.  We’ve found this to be especially true as partners enter a new business endeavor, or when partners change in an existing business. 

In a multi-owner business, all owners need to know what the other owners expect from the business.  If expectations conflict, making business decisions will be tough, or even impossible.  Clarifying expectations helps get everyone on the same page and assists in the communications, design and management decisions that guide the business.  It’s critical that every owner participates in an exercise to spell out their expectations.  If you and your partners take some time to discuss this issue, I think you’ll find a vast improvement in your communication which will drive greater achievement in your business.

Need help clarifying your expectations?  We can facilitate that discussion and help you move forward.  Give us a call:  916-646-8180.

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As we all take time to finalize our 2011 reporting, I find this the perfect time of year to do some critical planning for the new year.  As you’re reviewing last year, ask yourself:

• What were the top three changes we implemented last year?
•  Have the results been as expected? 
• If not, what needs to change this year?
• If so, what changes do we need to implement this year to continue maintaining or exceeding our expected results?

Planning is such a critical element in business and too often it gets shoved aside as we simply focus on the task in front of us.

We enjoy helping business owners with their strategic planning and we love hearing success stories!  If you have some success stories you’d like to share, call me and I’ll treat you to lunch so I can hear them.

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I love finding new mobile apps that make my life simpler.  My business traveling has become so much easier when I can just carry a small iPad with a few of the favorite apps I need for work.  While recently attending a workshop, I was introduced to a mobile app that would allow me to track my personnel and projects easily on my phone.  That was awesome to see.  At the same time it made me think; what type of mobile app should I be offering or using in my business?  Making it easier for customers to interact with us is a key part of customer satisfaction.  As I see mobile payment apps, and mobile information apps, I find these are growing in demand and are items that we all should be considering as we continue to find ways to make it easy for customers to work with us.  So, are you adding any new mobile apps in your business processes this year?

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Business owners are busy people!  I know, because I work with business owners, and I’m a business owner, too.  I’ve been recently reminded of the importance of maintaining consistent marketing — along with all the other responsibilities I have from one day to the next.  It can be overwhelming.

Handling the wide variety of required tasks can be such a challenge for business owners and managers.  We sometimes fall into the trap of thinking we are the only person who can handle certain tasks.  That’s not always true.

There are many service providers available to do administration, bookkeeping, finance, marketing tasks, etc. , and they’re highly skilled at their jobs.  Because of their skill levels, they are more efficient, and probably produce better outcomes.  We often think the cost for this type of help is too great, but the true cost of not spending our time on our key functions as owners and managers is far greater. 

Take, for example, the business owner who is great at selling the product his company produces.  Every minute the business owner spends on issues other than selling, he’s costing his company opportunities.  Of course, he’ll have to be involved in some non-sales activities, but he should work hard to maximize the time he has available to sell.  This is the “highest and best use” of his time. 

What are your greatest challenges in keeping your focus on the key functions of your position?  What items have you already outsourced to free you up for the most important things?  Maybe we can help you find some resources to take a few more hats off the stack!

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Recently I’ve been hearing a lot about how businesses are helping their communities.  Many are reaching out to provide food, giving discounts to military service personnel and donating products and money to local charities. 

Lately, there seems to be an overall call for large corporations to start mimicking their small business counterparts and be responsible to society at large.  I heard an interview with Sir Richard Branson who said that businesses should be a means for doing good, and that business as usual is dead. 

I believe a healthy capitalist system requires businesses to be an integral part of the social fabric, especially in today’s global economy.  What do you think?

In putting this into practical application, what can local businesses do for our communities?  What do you think should be a minimum standard of corporate responsibility for fortune 500 companies?  What does your company do to give back to the community?  I’d love to hear your thoughts on these issues.

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It’s BONUS time!  As the year draws to a close, many business owners are thinking about whether bonuses will be given or about how much the bonuses will be.  The real benefits of a bonus plan, however, start at the beginning of the year –they help us set expectations for what we want our employees to focus on.

Determining an incentive bonus plan for employees is often a difficult task.  I recently had the opportunity to assist a client in developing their bonus plan. 

• Step one was critical:  Determine what performance behaviors/results could be measured and how they were to be measured.  Sales numbers are easiest to quantify and measure.  Quality factors to measure might be numbers of repeat customers, customer complaints, customer contacts, co-worker interaction, etc. 
• Step two followed in sequence:  Determine which performance behaviors the business owner wanted to incentivize.   How employees interact with clients can be just as important as the quantity of the employee’s production, for example.

 Once these questions are answered, it’s important to run the numbers and see how the plan would pay out at various levels of success.  We’re talking about real money here, so we need to be sure we understand the possible outcomes of our decisions.

A well-developed bonus plan can be a highly motivating tool for your employees, as well as rewarding to the business owner.  

Please share with me what you have found to be your most successful performance behavior factors for your bonus plan? 

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I’ve been reading Steve Jobs’ autobiography.  It’s quite fascinating.  Here’s what he had to say about starting a business: Start a company with the goal of making something you believe in and a company that will last.

As a business owner and advisor, I find that so much is involved in that short sentence.  When I consider the motivation that comes from making something I believe in – that’s hard to beat!  Even on days when it seems that all I do is fight to accomplish something, knowing that I believe in what I’m doing provides me with the strength to keep leading my company.  Then, when Steve Jobs writes about making a company that will last; this really touches on all of the methodologies, processes, and systems we put into place to make sure we deliver quality products and services repeatedly in our companies.  That’s a huge and ever-changing task, but I think it’s all part of what motivates us to keep improving.  So, what motivated you to start your business?  I’d love to hear your story.