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Why You Do Have Buyers and Don’t Have Sales You advertise a good price on a product that you don’t have in stock. Don’t Try to Solve a Problem That Doesn’t Exist
It is critical that you are very clear and specific about the problem that you are trying to solve. This is especially true if you are trying to raise money to start or expand your business. Unfortunately, over the years, I have been witness to too many instances where my client thinks they have the perfect solution, the very thing the market must have, only to have absolutely no success at all. Why does this happen? Continue reading «Are You Pushing a String Uphill?» Financial management is about your performance, the results you produce, and the numbers you use to quantify your activities. As the financial manager of your company—whether you are the CEO, the CFO, the VP-Finance or Treasurer—you are going to interact with all other areas of the business: operations, personnel, marketing, production, and administration. You will play a key role in setting goals and measuring progress towards achieving those goals. If the company fails to meet its corporate objectives, you will be called upon to help understand what went wrong and to suggest solutions to fix the problem. Continue reading «The Financial 14 Checklist»
Here’s an interesting idea I just read in a recent issue of Tips From the Top, the newsletter published by The Advisory Board, a small business management consulting firm. The tip was suggested by Randy Smith, of FORUM Systems Group in San Antonio, Texas: Continue reading «Take New Jobs for a Test Drive» This post was written by my good friend, George Walden II, a principal in the Houston office of Corporate Finance Associates. George has extensive experience as a middle-market investment banker, having successfully completed more than thirty transactions worth over $150 million. George is an excellent source of realistic yet practical advice on corporate finance. So read on to learn what George has to say about capitalization in these difficult economic times. During the last period of economic boom many companies expanded through debt financing. The logic was if one machine is making money then adding three machines will make three times the money. As long as the economy was strong and margins remained high this was viewed as good thinking. After all, even if the economy dropped, the value of the equipment, even leveraged, would be equity that could be used to raise capital in a downturn. Continue reading «Now is Not the Time to Be Under-Capitalized» This is the final post in a four part series of posts that summarize an article that first appeared in the March 1982 Small Business Report. This is what was discussed in the previous posts: Continue reading «Why Small Businesses Fail – 4 of 4» This is part three of a four part series of posts that summarize an article that first appeared in the March 1982 Small Business Report. In the first article (click here to read Article 1) I focused on financial pitfalls and excessive optimism as two of the many causes for small business failure. In the second post (click here to read the second article) I discussed the inability to change and rapid growth as two more reasons that small businesses fail. Continue reading «Why Small Businesses Fail – 3 of 4» This is part two of a four part series of posts that summarize an article that first appeared in the March 1982 Small Business Report.  I believe this publication is not being published anymore, but if you should know of this magazine and either its online or actual contact information, please let me know so I can give proper attribution. The first post in this series focused on financial pitfalls and excessive optimisim as two of the causes for small business failure. In this post we will talk about inability to change and rapid growth. Continue reading «Why Small Businesses Fail – 2 of 4» A few years ago, I worked for a management consultant named Joe Chojnacki. Joe established his practice in 1979, well before there was the plethora of information that exists today to help small business owners succeed, and well before there were many management consultants focused on helping small business owners. Joe amassed an extensive library of articles and books on the topic of small business management, and today’s post is a summary of an article that appeared in the March 1982 edition of the Small Business Report. I think this publication has gone out of business, but if anyone knows if it still exists, please let me know the website and address so I can make them available. This is the first of four posts that will summarize the contents of the article. Continue reading «Why Small Businesses Fail – 1 of 4» |
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