The Top 10 Reasons Your Staff Wants to Quit

From an employee’s perspective, management often conducts itself in ways that make no sense. When the economy is slow, jobs are few and far in between or people are fearful, staff will tolerate management behaviors and policies that are nonsensical (in their eyes) or they judge are harmful.

But when staff gets together for lunch and they start critiquing management, these are the Top 10 Reasons Why Staff Quit.

10. “My boss is arrogant and believes his own press clippings.” As a result, staff feels taken advantage of..

9. “My manager micromanages rather than trusting staff to perform.” Staff hates the boss and looks for ways to resist being over controlled.

8. “My manager is crushing my drive and desire.” Hired because they were smart and energetic, the manager is afraid that she will not be seen as the shining light (the reason for success) and crushes the very qualities that made the new employee attractive to hire (and desirous of joining).

7. “My boss guesses what is needed without resorting to data or facts.” Maybe he has the facts, but they sure aren’t being communicated leaving the impression of “It’s my way or the highway.” There are a lot of new roads being built in this country and staff will leave rather than be abused.

6. “I’m treated like a child.” Look, there are often generational differences between how managers and employees work. Younger workers may have “know-it-all” attitudes and unfamiliar techniques using technology to accomplish tasks. Staff feels misunderstood and resent their boss.

5. “Manager promotes someone from a different function who does understand the job and how to be successful.” Staff does not believe they can learn from this person, judges her to be an anchor around their department and resents that they were passed over for promotion.

4. “My boss is extremely critical.” The only way they interpret their boss is pleased is in the absence of nit picking.

3. “I get ideas lobbed at me with little clarity and I have to figure out what is really wanted.” Staff is caught between a rock and a hard place and doesn’t know the target of the task or have a clear idea of what needs to get done.

2. “I don’t have sufficient resources to get the job done.” Fitting 10 pounds of stuff into a five pound bag is pretty tough. Imagine you’re the ten pounds and have to get squeezed in there! Staff often believes they have inadequate resources to get a job done.

And the number one reason your staff wants to quit:

“My company is grossly underpaying me.” Show me the money! Staff can read job ads online and learn what their real value is. As much as they may love you and their work, eventually people realize they need to pay their bills and start to think of leaving.

Your staff, the ones you are mistreating or taking for granted are your competition’s staffing solution (just as theirs is for you). Rather than taking their continued employment for granted, motivate them, excite them, coach and encourage them and they will go do anything for you (at almost any price).

How to Quit Your Job

Do you to know without ending up on the street? In a nutshell, you need to avoid the self-employment trap, think like a business, and create multiple passive revenue streams.

Avoid the Self-Employment Trap

If you quit your job and hang up your own shingle, you might work harder for less money. You may enjoy working from home or choosing your own clients, but you might end up living from client to client without building any real wealth.

Many self-employed people I know suffer from feast or famine. They spend lots of time and money marketing their services and get lots of clients. They get really busy doing the work and stop marketing and then their prospective client pool dries up.

If you set up your business so that you do everything - marketing, sales, bookkeeping, operations, and fulfillment, then you are limiting your success potential from day one. You will spend lots of time on non-income generating activities and may get frustrated and burned-out in a short time.

The real key to successfully creating wealth outside of a job is to avoid the mistake of trading one boss for another boss. You need to stop trading your time for dollars. Stop thinking like a wage slave. Look beyond earned income.

Think Like a Business

There are many problems with earned income. The biggest one is that you are trading your time for money. If you stop trading your time, the dollars stop coming. This is a huge problem if you decide to have a baby, get sick, want to take an extended vacation, or are ready to retire.

The IRS penalizes self-employed people who operate as a sole proprietorship with a hefty self-employment tax. How can you avoid this? Well, I am not an accountant or CPA, so I am not giving legal or accounting advice, but I have learned to think like a business. Before you quit your job, interview local tax advisors to educate yourself on different business entities and tax strategies. Start thinking big.

Build a Company with Multiple Passive Income Streams

You need to build a company that works for you. My best advice on how to quit your job is to build a business that offers multiple streams of passive income in addition to your earned income. There are so many exciting ways to design your income portfolio. It requires imagination, courage and planning.

Structure your business so that your daily activities are fun and challenging. Identify the things that you don’t enjoy or are not good at and find other people to do these activities – outside partners, independent contractors, or employees.

How to Quit Your Job

My advice for how to quit your job is to avoid thinking that you have to do everything yourself to make your new enterprise run. Think big! Set up systems and structures that work for you so you don’t have to work so hard. Incorporate and make the tax system work for you. Design your work around multiple passive income streams to support your active work. And finally, have fun!

Networking

Put join a group on your to do list with a big underline, star and happy face. You’ll be glad you did for more reasons than you can count. And the advice is coming from this confirmed non-networker who, in 20 years of business, considered networking a colossal waste of time. The old dog is here with a new trick.

Business networking groups bring together people who, most times, are self- employed, successful entrepreneurs or corporate folk paid truly paid for their efforts. (see commissioned salesperson) The types of businesses these networkers represent vary, but the commonality is they meet to share, learn and become better at their craft.

The networking meetings are held at times that are fairly convenient even for the most type A business owner. Early morning, mid-day or evening are the popular meeting times and all involve food of some type, contests, and sometimes cocktails.

There is a networking etiquette that is a mix of business sense and remembering what your mother taught you. Be nice. Smile. Be genuine. Don’t show up looking to dazzle everyone you meet with your slick sales pitch. To be sure, meet a lot of people, hand out a lot of cards, but give before taking. Listen more than you talk. Question more than you answer. Care about someone else and their plight.

What’s in it for me? That’s the common question in many business conversations. Here’s what you get by joining a networking group:

New contacts--what business can’t use more contacts? The fellow businesspersons you meet might be able to use your service. They also know lots of people and aren’t shy about recommending you.

You look like an expert to your customers. As you meet new professionals, you won’t hesitate to recommend them to your customers to handle tasks you don’t. Your stock will rise appreciably with your customer for being such a willing problem solver.

Education. The meetings always revolve around a guest speaker who will bring to you valuable information about topics ranging from accounting to law, sales to hiring an employee and much more.

Friendship. Everyone can use more friends. Imagine playing golf with those that share your passion.

Advice. Ask around and fellow networkers will be glad to dispense it for free and many have already faced the same situation you now have.

Find a local networking group and get involved. It will be one of the best decisions you ever made. Go ahead. Write it down. Your to do list is waiting.

Recruiting Excellent Job Candidates

Six Easy Search Tips to Get the Cream of the Crop
By David Leonhardt

An independent recruiter, recruiting agency or executive search firm is charged with tracking down excellent potential candidates for available job positions. Despite the fact that there are innumerable people seeking positions of employment in the 21st century, it often seems to a typical recruiting agency that qualified men and women are few and far between.

Here are six easy tips that recruiting services, staffing firms, or executive search firms should keep in mind when on the hunt for outstanding potential job candidates in the 21st century.

These tips are equally applicable to companies undertaking their own search without the help of recruiting agency services. Indeed, the headaches associated with finding qualified personnel is magnified for a company undertaking its own recruitment efforts.

1. Post an Ad on an Industry-specific Job Board. Oftentimes, a recruiter will take a scattershot approach to finding candidates that are worthy of consideration for an available position. They broadcast far and wide the fact that a certain position is open and available, in big city newspapers and on major Internet job boards.

If a recruiting agency were more thoughtful about its recruitment efforts, it would realize the benefits of positing an announcement of an available position on an industry-specific Internet job board. By posting in a selective and admittedly limited manner, recruiters and staffing firms would be reaching out precisely to the pool of people most likely to be qualified for an open position.

One excellent tool for finding industry-specific job boards can be accessed at:
http://www.onlinerecruitersdirectory.com/jobboard.php

2. Use Recruiters that Specialize in a Given Field As with advertising, choosing an effective recruiter might be just a matter of targeting, particularly for a managerial or executive position. These positions can be very hard for in-house personnel directors and human resource managers. While these people do have responsibility for hiring, the search for a new employee with skills beyond the norm for their company can best be targeted by a professional executive head hunter.

The same can be said for specialized fields, such as accounting or information systems. In-house human resources staff might know all about pharmaceutical skill-sets required for a multitude of research and administration positions, but they might rarely have to deal with hiring staff to track money or to keep the computers functioning. That's when recruiting agency services specializing in IT or in accounting can come in handy.

3. Develop an In-House Referral Program. In many instances, exiting staff members can help speed up the search for quality job candidates. Employees often have contacts elsewhere within the industry, some of which may be looking for a change of employment.

By cultivating this internal resource, a personnel director can develop a wealth of ready information about prospective employees who might well serve the organization as valued employees.

4. Search Resumes Posted on Job Boards In addition to advertising on an industry specific job board, a diligent personnel director or recruiting agency will want to take the time to search and consider resumes that have been posted on job boards.

Often, a person pounding the pavement looking for employment may not have the time to take in and review all of the various available positions that have been posted on a every job board. This is even more true if a given prospect is a highly sought-after candidate, who might be still busy in a current position of responsibility.

5 .Use a Directory of Recruiters. Because there are so many different type of recruiters in business in the 21st century it can often be difficult for in-house human resources staff to pinpoint the recruiter that will be best able to meet the needs of a given employee recruitment campaign. But there are resources available, such as directories of recruiters.

One such directory is:http://www.onlinerecruitersdirectory.com

By using a professional directory, in-house human resources staff will be able to identify the most appropriate resources for their company and for the recruiting task at hand. Even staffing firms can benefit from such a recruiters directory to seek help in a specialized field they don't often work with.

6. Don’t Rush the Process. Finally, while it is an overused saying, “Rome wasn’t built in a day.” In the same vein, 99 times out of 100 there is no need to rush the process of seeking, identifying and hiring a new employee, particularly an executive level employee.

A personnel director should take his or her time to identify, screen, interview and hire the best candidate. Throughout this process, a human resources manager or specialist will rely on the services and support tools identified in this article.

By using these tips, in the long run the best possible candidate for a given position will end up being hired, and the company will benefit from the best possible employees.

Choosing A Business Tax Service

There are a number of ways that you can find tax services companies. The yellow pages is a good place to start for companies in your area but, depending on where you live, the list of names may be extremely long. It is a good idea to ask your friends, colleagues and business partners to recommend the tax services that they have found helpful and efficient in the past. Then you can call the tax services professionals that you have on your list and discuss your requirements.

The first step in finding the best tax services for your needs is deciding what level of help you require. Perhaps you simply need someone who can file a simple tax return but has to wade through your slightly disorganised accounting documents, or maybe you have a number of employees and need
assistance sorting out their tax withholdings or you may even want all of these tax services, and more. The size of the tax services company may also be an issue. You may want one person to be able to perform all of your tax work, especially if you are only a small business owner or you may want a team of tax professionals and you want to find tax services that have a number of specialists available. Once you have identified the type of tax services then you can begin your search more easily. Your available tax services budget is obviously going to be an issue but you should try to allocate as much money as possible to ensure that you can afford the best possible tax services. Remember that you can incur heavy fines if you have incorrectly filed your tax return or are late paying any type of tax that your business is liable for.

Apart from professional qualifications and references one of the most important points to consider when assessing which of the tax services companies you want to use is whether you feel comfortable with the person you are dealing with. At the end of the day you are going to trust them with your financial records and it is essential that you feel that you can depend upon the person.

Every business, at some time, needs the help of some type of tax services at some stage. Large organisations usually have their own tax services department with accountants and tax lawyers but small companies often have to hire tax services on a regular basis to help keep their tax returns and other issues in order. It is important to know how to find the best tax services, no matter what type of business you are involved with.

9 Strategies for Writing Accounts Payable Procedures

You have permission to publish this article free of charge, as long as the resource box is included with the article. If you do run my article, a courtesy reply to sean@bizmanualz.com would be greatly appreciated. This article is 1,067 words long including the resource box. Thanks for your interest.

The Cash to Cash Cycle
Part Four of Series

Part One: http://www.bizmanualz.com/articles/01-05-05_inventory_procedures.html/?ART78

Part Two: http://www.bizmanualz.com/articles/01-11-05_accounts_receivable.html/?ART79

Part Three: http://www.bizmanualz.com/articles/01-18-05_Sales_Marketing.html/?ART80

Next Week: Complete Cash to Cash Cycle

The white flag is just a nose away…toward the Million dollar prize in cash savings for your business…

So far, in Inventory and Accounts Receivable, we've found $250,000 each in cash savings. Then we found another 250K in Sales and Marketing. And so, now, Accounts Payable is the final process within the Cash to Cash Cycle - and also the final $250,000.

The cash cycle is undoubtedly the single most important process to optimize for any business – from when you spend money to when you get money.

Circling the Cash to Cash Cycle

So let’s tie this back to accounts payable - the event that pays for the liability incurred by purchasing, which is for inventory required by manufacturing to meet demand. Sales generate this demand that creates the accounts receivables, which is turned into cash. And now we have come full circle and completed the discussion on the cash to cash cycle.

Increasing the Velocity of Accounts Payable Processes

Your accounts payable is a bit different than the other processes we have examined so far. The first three processes we looked at represented processes where the focus was on reducing the size of assets (inventory or accounts receivable) or expenses (marketing) and increasing the velocity or cycle time. But in accounts payable our focus is on increasing the size of the asset, while maintaining a solid credit rating - and increasing the velocity of the process.

Now let’s look at how to find $250,000 in accounts payable savings. If your organization has $500,000 in accounts payable each month, then STOP! We can find $250,000 in savings right here. Where, you ask? Increasing payables by 25% will produce $125,000 in cash plus $125,000 from automating tasks, taking more discounts, and managing the process better.

Service Business Procedures Case Study

An organization with $600,000 in monthly payables needed assistance. We examined their payables process to understand and quantify workflow, paper processing and credit issues. Then we designed and implemented a process to increase their use of payables and discounts, improve their payables cycle efficiency, and tie it to their purchasing and receivable cycles. We then reinvested $50,000 back into an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) program to automate some of the processes that weren’t automated already.

The metrics we developed reduced their purchasing & payables expenses by 25% and increased their efficiency from 50% to 75% within 2 months of implementing the new procedures. With these new processes and reports, the company now tracks payables cycle efficiency and average days payables, rather than just bills paid on time or outstanding balance, as the measure of their payables effectiveness. The result: an extra $300,000 in cash plus a 50% increase in process capability (capacity).

But how?

Methods to Design Your News Accounts Payable and Accounting Procedures

• Eliminate Paper. The single biggest cost for any purchasing and payables department is paper, including: purchase orders, purchase order follow-up, small-dollar purchases, delivery tracking & receipts, and vendor payments. Utilizing paperless invoices, Web-based supplier self-servicing, centralized vendor files, automated workflows for electronic or imaged invoices (see ERP below), and payment methods, such as business credit cards, Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT), can reduce paper handling costs by as much as 90%.

• Integrate ERP Systems. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) automates the purchasing and payables functions, which allows a company to get more work done with fewer personnel. Also, electronic invoice matching applications save time in retrieving paperwork. It is estimated that an ERP system can annually save an organization $300 per million in sales.

• Increase Payment Terms. Negotiate payment terms based on receipt of goods or the invoice. This can add one week or more to your terms, which can be 25% of 30 day terms. Use EFT for just-in-time payments to maximize your payables terms and minimizing the impact to your credit.

• Take Payment Discounts. If you are getting 2%/10 net 30 terms, then consider taking it. This means you are offered a 2% discount if you pay within 10 days, instead of the normal 30 day terms. This translates into an 18% return on your capital, and for many organizations this is a good return on your investment.

• Review Purchases. Purchasing is a continuous process that requires continuous review. Consider: transportation charges, expedited fees, odd lot penalties, new pricing, new products, consolidating vendors, new vendors or buying groups, payment terms, and more. Communicate with your suppliers to improve the process. And review and monitor everything to account for changes in your environment.

• Communicate with Suppliers. Communicate with your suppliers to improve the process. Ask suppliers to submit their invoices electronically. This will save you time, resources and losses due to waste.

• Eliminate Disputes. Disputes with your suppliers are typically the result of a problem with your purchasing/receiving process. When disputes occur, review your purchasing procedures to ensure that they are producing the correct metrics and that you are not forced to pay for your mistakes.

• Reduce Errors. Overpayments, payments made to the wrong vendors, fake invoices, or even late payments represent a common problem for payables. Increasing your focus on error control, along with written procedures and audits, can reduce these errors considerably.

• Train personnel. Provide your accounts payable staff with regular formal training. This will arm them with better knowledge of frauds, negotiating skills, and an understanding of the economics of payables – which will result in improved effectiveness.

Accounting Policies and Procedures for Cash in the Bank

In the past few weeks, we have showed you four parts of your financial statements that will each contribute $250,000 in cash savings. The last hurdle was Accounts Payable, and we sailed through it. And now we have crossed our final goal: $1,000,000!

Time was - and is - the key. All you have to do is own it. And, remember, next week we will put together each of the four elements of the cash to cash cycle, and look at how it affects the working capital of your business.

Business laws basics

A professional degree in Juris Doctor relates to a higher grade of studies in law. With business houses expanding in size and the legal issues gaining higher importance for day to day working of large corporates, demand for Juris Doctor professionals has been increasing. As the business interacts more with the society and their other counterparts need to resolve legal matters emerge simultaneously. All this has given an impetus to students aiming for career in law field. But a purely law background without any corporate experience may not be well accepted by business industry. Top ranked services in companies also demand a graduate in business organization along with lawyer’s degree.

As demand for combined degree in JD and business is being a preferred combination to build a rewarding career in law. Business and law schools at various places have joined hands to impart students with best career courses. At many places Law Schools providing degrees of Juris Doctor and business school providing Master in business administration present a cooperative program for the convenience of aspiring students. This opportunity to avail concurrent degrees in both fields is a stepping-stone for success of students. Students who cannot travel to different places at the same time have a best prospect of finding excellent professional training under one roof.

Surviving in the law field gets tougher from the day one tries to enter the school of law. Getting admission requires fulfilling entire formalities along with earlier creditable basic high school record, clearing the admission test for the law school and even recommendations from people. The same is applicable for business studies a student is required to prove his quantitative skills and efficiency in microcomputers to get admitted. A dedicated and hard work during the courses ensures students with excellent results which in turn to provide better career opportunities.

A law person has various prospects for different types of career that he would like to accept. Depending on his caliber and willingness to work hard a lawyer can decide upon practicing law in an exclusive law firm or he may choose to be an in house lawyer. An exclusive law firm requires an extensive knowledge of one particular area in law where as an in house lawyer is required to deal with entire aspects of legal issues that relate to the particular company in which he is involved.

While undergoing training in one of the law schools a student would learn about different aspects of law like civil law, criminal procedures, constitutional law, contracts, property, professional responsibility, basic federal income taxation, legislative and administrative interpretation and many others. The syllabus is cautiously devised to ensure that students receive exhaustive training to deal with maximum situation in the professional front. Similarly Masters Degree in Business administration imparts education in business for global society, corporate finance, managerial accounting, information resource management, strategic management, master’s project and other similar relevant courses. Anyone pursuing both law and business studies simultaneously has an advantage of studying some courses that are counted towards both degrees and hence a considerable amount of work is reduced for these students.

Thinks You Should Know Before You Bid On A Business

Whatever your reason for going out on your own, you must keep your reason in the forefront of your mind. If you forget your reason for starting your own home business, you will not be working for yourself for long.
Self-motivation is the key to success when you start a home-based business. You need to possess the ability to push yourself ahead. Your drive and determination will be reinforced with every new sale.
Remember --- your own business is a lot like a real job. Some people go to work to play, some go to socialize, and others --- most often those who are paid in a commission or tip environment --- go to work to work and to make money. When you work for yourself, your salary is directly proportional to your productivity.
In every home business, there are certain processes that we do over and again, please factor in the most important element concerning the cost of your promotions.
What element is that? Your time!
Value your time at a certain dollar amount, and figure in your time into the cost of your promotional accounting. Because too many promoters lose sight of this concept and spend 20 hours to generate one sale while using free advertising.
The level of success that you will achieve greatly depends on the time and effort you are willing to plow into your new home business. Your organization, planning and marketing skills, will all be put into practice when you embark on your liberating journey.
Most people have a misconception about having to spend lots of money in order to advertise their home business. When you start out, you honestly will not have much money available for advertising, and if you do, you should still spend it wisely.
It is important to understand what you expect to gain from your advertising
In order to make good decisions concerning how to spend your advertising budget, you must first have a good understanding of the different types of advertising and promotion available and what can be expected to be achieved by each.
However you choose to spend your advertising dollars, you should always track the results of your promotional efforts. No business can survive the long run without some form of consistent advertising.

You May Have A Successful Small Business Idea

You surely know that a small idea can lead to a great business success. The first movement is to think of an idea that would be suitable for the business market. After coming up with the idea, the next step is to put that idea into action. Of course, this is a very difficult step and having the idea is only the start of the journey. After that you will have to face many obstacles before being able to carry on with your business project. This is just the beginning of this process and there is a lot of questions you will have to answer before even start.

Some of the main aspects you have to concentrate on when you have business ideas are the abilities and gifts you can pour into the business. It is very important for you to be identified with your business project. Those ideas should be based on activities and actions you take pleasure in doing. For example, if we suppose that you dislike working in the open, landscaping business would not suit you. On the other hand, if you like working with children, setting up baby-sitting or tutoring business would be an excellent idea. In this case, without any doubt you business will be more successful because you will have put your mind, effort and also your heart on it.

Another vital step is to analyze the needs of a specific product or service in your region before setting up your business. Do people of your area need your product? Are there other business like the one you are planning to start? You should ask yourself whether or not you are the only one offering that service or product. If you are not, you will have to analyze the competence you will have to face. You have to think whether the service you are offering is one that customer would repeat, or if it is a one-time specialized service. Obviously, the former are more likely to succeed than the latter.

There are other aspects you have to take into account. These aspects are described below:

- One of them is that if the idea is unique, you will reign the market. But if there is much competition, it will be difficult to enter into the market.

- A second point would be if you can offer quality from the very beginning, otherwise, you won't succeed.

- Finally, you have to think about your capital to start your own business. There are many business ideas that require little investment and bring great profit. Some demand research, such as daycare service, and others need a large amount of money to begin the business. So take this recommendation into account before investing all your money in a small business idea.

Pay Your Children to Work for You with the Blessing of the IRS

Save on Taxes by Hiring Your Children

You've heard that you can't have your cake and eat it, too. But hiring your own family is one case when you can. Pay your minor or adult children to work for your business, then write it off as an expense.

Many people are confused about whether it's legal to hire their children and grandchildren. Follow my advice to satisfy both the IRS and employment laws - while saving on your own taxes. Assuming it's a true payment for services performed (and the paperwork is handled properly) it's totally legal and acceptable to pay family members.

Minor Children Save the Most Taxes

Child labor restrictions don't apply to a parent (unless it's in manufacturing, mining, or any hazardous occupation defined by the Department of Labor) - even under 16. I hired my own daughters from the ages of 7 and 9 without a hitch.

You need not pay withholding income taxes, payroll taxes (including Social Security) and Workmen's Compensation (in most states) until the child turns 18. Just remember to complete quarterly payroll tax returns, as you must for any employee. Forget about paying federal unemployment taxes until the child turns 21.

However, if your business is an S or C Corporation, you must pay Social Security and Medicare taxes regardless of their ages.

To Survive IRS Scrutiny

1. The children actually have to work
2. Pay them consistently
3. Pay them according to what you'd pay someone else
4. Keep detailed records
5. Issue a W-2 at year end and file a tax return for the child, even if no tax is owed

Example:
Wages paid to 13 year old child $6200
Less: Standard deduction for 2005 (5000)
Taxable income $1200
Tax Due (10% x $1200) $ 120

While for the parents:
Wages paid to the child $6200
Tax Savings (40% x $6200) $2480

For a net savings to the family of $2360

The income tax standard deduction is $5000 for every person in the country, including each of your minor children. So unless you pay them more than that, they won't have any tax obligation at all. And since they really earned it, the "kiddie tax rules" do not apply.

When hiring adult family members you can justify larger salaries. And they can participate in benefits like qualified retirement benefit programs and fringe benefits (like medical insurance and childcare).

Working for You Teaches Children about Managing Money and Saving

The income has to be earned by the child, so the amount needs to reflect the value of what's done. And the money does belong to them, even if it's being saved for college.

Many of the benefits of involving your children in your operation aren't tax-related at all. They're gaining practical experience, learning the value of work, and maybe how to carry on the family business down the road.

If you're wondering whether to trust my advice, I've sat on both sides of the desk. I worked for the IRS, and since leaving there have conducted almost a thousand seminars on financial planning and taxes. I speak to real estate and banking professionals all over the country, and have found that everyone wants to learn smart strategies that bring reliable financial returns - without getting them into tax trouble. In my opinion, hiring your family is one of them.

Don't hesitate to put the troops to work. When you hire your children you're teaching them skills they'll be able to use for the long haul. They're learning the value of a dollar - and how hard you have to work to earn them. And bottom line, it makes good financial sense as well.
© 2005, Chris Bird

FOUR SIMPLE STEPS TO BETTER RESULTS WITH YOUR RESUME

Is every job description you read the same? No.

Is every job you submit your resume to the same? Of course they aren’t.

If all these job descriptions are different, why do you submit the same resume?

Every day, people send the same generic resume out as though each position was identical and each employer was attempting to hire identical skills and attributes. Too often, the results they receive are like the broken watch that is right twice a day—hit or miss success.

They list their name, address, phone numbers and email address, list an objective, education, and chronology of experience with dates of employment. The resume includes some successes or accomplishments. This is their resume.

In the days prior to computers when changing a resume required you to re-type different versions, this made sense. Today, when computers allow you to customize, spell and grammar check documents so easily, you are missing out on opportunities and costing yourself money by being lazy and not tailoring your resume for each opportunity you are interested in.

Here are several steps that you can do to improve your resume and get better results.

1. Each employer will be interested in different attributes of your experience. They often indicate it by the items they describe in their job ad. Emphasize the experiences that you have that relate to the skills being sought and the functions you will perform in the job they will ask you to perform. If you are applying for a staff position, emphasize your staff experience and minimize your management experience. If you are being hired to be a leader, write about your recent leadership.
2. Employers are more interested in recent work, rather than work you did many years ago. Use more space in your resume to highlight recent experience, rather than things you did before George W. Bush became President.
3. Like setting a goal where you make them specific, measurable, achievable within a specific period of time, describe your successes or achievements concretely. Reducing costs is a nice start but it is more powerful to describe something as reducing operational costs globally by 2%. Increased departmental sales by 27% resulting in . . . You get the idea. Use action verbs wherever possible (For more on this, read my article, Preparing an Effective Resume” on www.newyorkmetrotechnologyjobs.com).
4. Ask someone you trust to critique what you’ve written. Too often, people believe that they can do everything by themselves without asking for help. Ask a friend in your industry to critique what you’ve written to insure you’re on target and aren’t missing the mark.

When you go to a restaurant and order a meal, you have the expectation that it will be prepared in a way that will please you and be presented on the plate beautifully. Writing a great resume requires that you be the chef and prepare a meal that is both visually appealing and tastes great too!

Is Incorporating Your Small Business Best For You?

There comes a point in time when every small business person
contemplates on whether to incorporate their business or not. A
lot of times small businesses start out sole proprietorships,
and then become incorporated as the business expands and
develops. Small business incorporating can be a difficult
decision, and with this article you’ll gain a little bit of
knowledge on the advantages and disadvantages.

There are many advantages to incorporating your small business,
but limited liability is one of the biggest advantages. When
you have sole proprietorship to the company all the liability of
the company is on the owner. When incorporating the business,
your only liability is to however much you invest in the company.

With sole proprietorship, all of your personal belongings, such
as car and home, can be turned over to help pay the debt of the
business. As a shareholder in the business, you have no
responsibility whatsoever for the debts of the business, that is
of course unless you give a guarantee.

Another advantage to incorporating a small business is the
ability to raise money so much easier. With the ability to
raise money much easier, this increases the odds of the
corporation growing and expanding. Yes, you’re saying any sole
proprietorship can borrow money and incur debt like any
corporation. However, with a corporation you can sell shares
and raise equity capital, which is a big advantage in that you
generally don’t have to repay equity capital and it has no
interest.

There are many tax advantages with becoming a corporation that
you can take a look at as well. Some of these advantages
include income splitting, potential tax deferral and more.
Along with the reasons above, a corporation can have an
unlimited life. The life of a corporation is not dependent on
particular individuals, but the company as a whole. With this,
the company has the opportunity of lasting forever just as long
merges with another company or goes bankrupt.

Now that I’ve buttered up the idea of incorporating your small
business, let’s take a look at some of the possible negatives.

As you incorporate your small business, there now will be two
tax returns to file each year, one for your personal income and
one for the corporation. This may not be a huge deal, but
unlike a sole proprietorship a corporation cannot deduct its
losses from the personal income of the owner. Plus, having
another tax return is the last thing another business owner
wants to deal with.

As a corporation is much larger and more complex then a small
business, therefore the cost to create one is much higher. Just
to set up the corporation will cost a lot more, then you have to
tack on the increased maintenance fees, accounting fees, and
more.

As with everything else, a larger business means more paperwork
that must be taken care of. Corporations must keep a minute
book, which contains the corporate bylaws and minutes from
corporate meetings. Reports and tax returns must be completed
neatly and in a timely fashion. All of the business bank
accounts and records have to be kept separate from personal
accounts and assets. That may sound like a load, but that is
just the start of the increased paperwork that comes with the
territory of incorporating your small business.

While there are many advantages and disadvantages to
incorporating your small business, the decision ultimately goes
to you. It is a decision that could make or break your
business, therefore much more research is recommended. However,
small business incorporating should be a thing that suites you
and others associated with you best.

MORAL ARMOR'S Economic Warning for Americans

For years we’ve suffered under recession, prompting us to ask, When will it end? My answer is, “It’s only the beginning.”

Historically, recessions are the result of high interest rates, pushed up as the result of loose money policies. Recovery comes when citizens begin to spend more wisely, save money and pay off their debts, but not this time. Never before have credit policies been so loose for so long, and there has been no decrease in consumer debt. It’s still on the rise, but Americans are NOT fundamentally to blame; immoral monetary policy is.

Banks used to consider a safe loan applicant to have a 36% or less Debt to Income Ratio (debt divided by gross income). This percentage is a time-proven figure indicating the financial health of an individual. Now, during the worst economy in twenty years and with no signs of recovery, our banks gladly loan to applicants with a 56% Debt to Income. What has changed? Are banks suddenly more generous? I don’t think so. One good question to ask is, Why are banks willing to accept the additional risk? But the real question to ask is, Where is this money coming from?

Not one in a thousand Americans knows the true nature of our banking system, so they have no idea that what happened in 1929 is about to happen again. Nor do they know that it was done deliberately then, and is being done deliberately now.

We have in this country one of the most corrupt institutions known to Man, and I refer to the Federal Reserve. Since it’s inception in 1913, every dollar created has interest being paid on it as if it were borrowed. This debt cannot be extinguished without destroying the currency itself, and has spawned a nightmare of debt that presently amounts to over $360 Billion in interest paid per year, accounting for half the personal income tax of the nation. Due to this, America is forced to create $7 Billion daily to cover the $1 Billion it pays in interest daily due to the Federal Reserve System. This is where the public comes in.

Federal Reserve bankers have to find a way to spend $6 Billion every day while masking the inflation it causes. Throughout the nineties it was done through real estate and the stock market. Now it is almost exclusively being put into real estate. How on Earth could so many mortgage companies be offering interest only, no money down, multi-hundred thousand or million dollar loans with high applicant debt ratios?

Here is a hypothetical example of what’s going to happen: Your mortgage banker tells you that with a 56% debt ratio, you can afford a $300,000 home, no money down. You secure the loan at 4%, costing $1432 per month. A few years later, you’re thrown out of work for three months. Back payments amount to $4296 plus late fees, legal fees, etc., and another $5k on cars, credit cards and everything else. Unable to catch up, you’ll try to refinance, but interest rates have moved up to 7%. A $310,000 loan now costs $2062 per month—more than you can afford, but banks will have tightened lending policies back to 36% and you no longer qualify for the home you own anyway. Accounting for all other debt, you now qualify for a shocking $360 per month. You are trapped, and the new bankruptcy laws they pushed for will never let you walk away.

You owned this home in a perfect numbers scenario, but any complications—unemployment, salary reduction, interest rate increase, debt ratio change, bruised credit rating, depressed home values--and you’re cooked. One mishap and every financial measure works against you. Your financial angel has suddenly become your greatest enemy. Welcome to the Federal Reserve System and their freshly engineered worldwide depression.

If you were to approach the housing market fresh, you would find that you only qualify for a $55k house now, along with the market of buyers you were hoping to unload your balloon-house on. The bank forecloses, auctions it off and you’re personally responsible for the difference, which could be massive. Bankruptcy is right around the corner, and deplorably, you are the only one who will be held accountable. You will then be a debt slave as the Federal Reserve intends, and game over.

My advice is to get as financially stable as you can. Mathematically, our situation is much worse than that of the Great Depression. No matter how generous these bankers appear, pare down monthly outlays to 36% D/I or less. Set aside three to six months of mortgage payments in case you become unemployed. Make sure you can ride out the storm.

We are coming to a point in American society to where it’s either them or us, and mass awareness is the key to our survival. Most believe the Federal Reserve is a part of the government, but it’s just a name. The Fed is a private corporation set up for private gain, with a dark history of stock market crashes, financial panics, political manipulation and ultimately, mass poverty and hunger riots. Our struggle is not new: currency control has switched from public to private hands EIGHT times since our country’s inception, and needs to be reclaimed by the people, one last time.

Don’t think you can play helpless and expect our political leaders to protect you from financial calamity; they never have. You must become Morally Armed on your own. Don’t be coaxed into believing the system is optimized for the good of all. The Federal Reserve System is not an equitable institution, and it was never intended to be. They believe if they have us strung out on debt, we are no threat to them. Let us prove otherwise.

Currency reform is the most important issue facing Americans today. How it plays out will determine whether you and your children eat or not, whether you have a place to live or even a future to look forward to. The major media will ridicule anyone speaking against the Fed, so to validate history’s greatest moral dilemma for yourself, just google “Jackson bank veto.”

America must abolish the Federal Reserve System to regain control over the economy and our government. For a concise history of world monetary policy and how it shapes world events, see Moral Armor. Then share this knowledge with your friends. Email this article to everyone in your address book and stay tuned for further developments. We’ll change the system together and bring a brighter dawn to Mankind.

Childcare Management & Daycare Software

Running a childcare facility can be an exhausting, 24/7 job. There are always kids to keep track of, records to update, fees to collect, bills to pay, reports to write, and so on. Often, your To-Do List seems both frighteningly endless and drearily cyclical.

If you're not careful, trying to keep up with all your duties could wear you ragged. You also run the risk of spreading yourself too thin. And that could spell the difference between delivering quality and substandard childcare.

Fortunately, Professional Solutions' ProCare software provides a way to streamline your operations. With this line of childcare management and daycare programs, you can quickly automate your facilities for maximum efficiency and minimum headaches. This means you can now instantly accomplish tasks that would otherwise take you minutes, hours or even days to complete. This also means that investing in the ProCare system can save you a fortune in wasted time, effort and money. It can very well be the soundest business decision you'll ever make.
Automation allows ProCare to simplify many monotonous and mundane administrative chores for you. With just a few keystrokes and mouse clicks, it can help you organize customer information into easily retrievable records. It can also help you perform other time-consuming duties, such as scheduling, bookkeeping and generating reports, in practically no time at all.
ProCare knows that the decision to automate your center is no small matter. This is why ProCare willingly provides you with a free software demo (available for request at http://procaresoftware.com/demo.shtml that will walk you through the system. This gives you a firsthand feel of the features and benefits without having to shell out any funds.

ProCare is a completely customizable software package solution. With the comprehensive ProCare Family Data program at its very heart, managing child and family data becomes swift and simple. Other optional modules can be purchased as add-ons to this core software. Each module is intended to target a specific function, such as accounting or attendance tracking. While the Family Data software is a must-buy, you only pay for the add-ons that you want or require. ProCare can therefore be designed to meet the individual needs of most any preschool or daycare. It can even be designed to fit most any budget. A pool of well-trained and dedicated ProCare consultants are always on hand to help you pick out which features will work best for your particular center.
Once you choose and install the ProCare package best suited for your needs, you're ready to hit the ground running. Its intuitive interface guarantees ease of use, with absolutely no learning curve necessary. Even computer novices will be able to successfully navigate through the application's user-friendly menus and functions. So from the moment you fire up your software, all you have to worry about is what you're going to do with all the time you'll save.

For an entire decade now, ProCare's business solution expertise has given childcare professionals more time to focus on what really counts: nurturing and caring for kids. Isn't it time you automated your center the ProCare way too? For more information on Day Care Software, please visit http://www.softwareperfect.com/

Five Leadership Secrets for Challenging Times

We consistently face new and ever growing challenges in the workplace such as reorganizing, downsizing, and “left out sizing.” We are faced with the question, “How do we lead in this storm of change?” It may seem difficult at times and the decisions we make define our short-term and long-term outcomes. I will share with you five leadership techniques guaranteed to keep you on track during these difficult times.

1 Integrity.
I put this first because the lack of integrity will make or break you as a professional, as a leader, as a person in the long run. The lack of this will turn yesterday’s heroes in today’s villains. For example, “MCI was the apple of the business community’s eye. High revenues, high profits, and high growth; MCI was beating the competition hands down.

Then it was discovered that there were gross accounting irregularities that accounted for the astounding profits. You see, management made a decision, “Do I continue to sustain good growth and be able to look at myself in the mirror or do I cook the accounting books and spend the rest of my time covering up this integrity deficiency? The real shame of the MCI situation was that AT&T, Sprint, and others in the industry had to cut costs and lay off thousands of employees to compete with MCI’s false numbers. The lack of integrity at MCI not only affected the company but also the livelihood of thousands and the industry as a whole.

I was recently speaking with a recently retired City Council member who is well respected in the community. I asked her what the secret was to her success while on the council? She mentioned that one of her political adversaries said to her, “While you were on the council, I didn’t like the way you voted, but I respected the way you voted because you were consistent with your votes and had the city’s best interest in mind.”

Ask yourself what decisions that you make are right for the long term? Be consistent in your actions, whether it is with management, your team, or your family.

2. Knowledge.
With change happening faster and faster every moment, it is extremely important that you gain the knowledge to master these changes. You owe it not only to yourself, but to your team and management. As I always say, “It’s not having the right answer, it’s that you have the right answer faster than before.” Many times during my teambuilding programs a student will say, “I didn’t know where to find the answer.” Then I will say, “That is an unacceptable answer.” Because part of being a leader is acquiring the skills to find the right answers. With the Internet, classroom and online training, mentors, etc., the knowledge is at your fingertips.

Challenge your team members to use the same resources to acquire the knowledge to master their challenges. By acquiring this knowledge, you will be able to navigate your team through the ocean of change and achieve your goals.

3. Decisiveness.
You have seen them. They wait for information, then more information before making a decision. Then they need more information to support the information they already have.Then they need a committee to analyze the information. Then they wait for the perfect time to make the decision.

Well, you know what I mean. Anyone you know? Make the decision! Good things happen when you take action; you grow, you adapt, and your team grows. There is no perfect time to make a decision. Leaders make decisions based on past experience, putting into action the decision, and staying and adapting the decision if needed. But make the decision. The worst quality you can show your team is indecision. What do you think your team sees when you can’t make a decision? Make the decision and go for it.

4. Vision.
This is the ability not only to see what is the present - anyone can do that - it’s the ability to see the future. Outstanding leaders can not only see their team for what they can do now, but what they can become, and paint the picture for them. These leaders are consistently communicating and coaching their team members to that vision. One of the best ways, and least used methods, to convey your vision is the team meeting.
Every meeting should start out with the team vision, mission, and goals; and the rest of the meeting should tie into the vision. For example, the motivation portion of the meeting should tie into the vision, the information portion of the meeting should tie into the vision, the training portion of the meeting should tie into the vision, etc. Also, invest time to develop your team members’ personal visions and show them how they can accomplish their personal goals by tying into the overall vision. By consistently communicating the vision, your team will move with purpose, feel they are personally making a difference, and achieve their goals sooner.

5. Unselfishness
Stephen Covey, in his successful book Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, wrote that a true leader must be a servant to the ones he or she leads. The leader must be able to “give of oneself for the good of the team.” In other words, be unselfish in words and action. Be unselfish in praise of others, in public, especially in front of management.
Be unselfish in the ability to take time to listen, really listen to your team’s concerns. A recent management survey said that the average time management invests doing “pure listening” to employees during the year is a mere two hours- just two hours! What was meant by “pure listening” time was listening with eye contact, acknowledgement, and not answering the phone while listening, not speaking with another person while listening, etc. Be unselfish in the ability to help your team. Whether it’s the ability to readily assist with a difficult telephone call, jump in and remove road blocks for team members, or “be there” for a team member during challenging moments. Believe me, your team will remember those moments and excel for you.

Now I challenge you to put into action just one of the leadership techniques I mentioned above to achieve your vision, your mission, and your goals in the future.

Recruiters: The Challenges of Executive Head Hunters

Once upon a time, head hunters were no more than common cannibals. Some people still view them that way, but executive recruiters are a vital link in a chain that keeps major enterprises functioning well.

The top positions at any organization dictate the fortunes of the company, the shareholders and the employees ... and often the communities in which they are located. A good executive head hunter can ensure that new company executives have the skills required for the position and the challenges ahead. He can also ensure that the right executive is chosen, one whose style will flourish in the specific environment of that company.

However, modern executive recruiters face challenges to be effective. I caught up with Esther Barzel, co-owner of the Online Recruiter Directory ( http://www.onlinerecruitersdirectory.com ).

Q: What are the main challenges of executive head hunters in today's business climate?

A: To start with, the geographic net has become much wider. A head hunter in , say, New York City or Toronto, can no longer rely on finding the right candidate right in town. In fact, the ideal candidate might be just minutes away by Internet, but he might be located in another country or even on another continent. We are looking at a new breed of executive recruiter.

Q: The Internet should make his job easier, right?

A: Yes...and no. He has to post requirements in more places and sift through more potential candidates to find the jewel he seeks. So his workload has actually increased.

Q: Plus, I presume, he still faces the challenges of yesteryear?

A: That's right. He still has to make contact with potential candidates, conduct preliminary interviews, set up meetings with the company, attend to minute details, brief the interviewer, etc.

Q: What about follow-up?

A: Yes, there is, of course, follow-up required after every interview, both with the client and with the prospect. It's a busy job.

Q: So how does the Internet make life easier for an executive recruiter?

A: Now you have online communities and bulletin boards, such as Monster.com, where you can place ads for positions. This makes it somewhat easier to cast one's net. Directories like ours help head hunters attract clients, so they can spend more recruiting and less time on business development.

Q: Don't online bulletin boards and directories just mean the head hunter has to spend more time in more places?

A: Yes and no. Online resources are more easily searched than, say, paper. Our recruiter directory gives employers the chance to search by geography or by vocation, or by the type of position. This means they can find a recruiter that specializes in pharmaceutical sales, or who specializes in accounting, or whatever field. The head hunter spends less time answering questions from people who will never be their clients.

Q: And I assume it works both ways?

A: Yes, the recruiter gets resumes from only those people who are likely candidates for the types of positions he works on. The pharmaceutical recruiter, for example will not get a resume from someone whose background is in aeronautical engineering.

Q: Wow, that's a mouthful. I don't know if I could even repeat that.

A: Many executive recruiters could not repeat it, either. So the Internet is making it easier for them to receive resumes targeted to their field of expertise, saving them time...not to mention overexertion of their tongues.

On that humorous note, we thank Esther for taking the time to explain how the Internet is making life both more complex and easier for executive recruiters and head hunters.

Is It Necessary To Have a Business Plan?

Are you planning to start a new business? Or are you considering expanding your current business and require a bank loan or investment from outsiders?

If you are going to look for an investment of capital it is quite likely that you will be required to have a business plan. If you are starting a business, despite the work involved, a business plan can prepare you for the obstacles ahead and help ensure your success.

A business plan is something that many small businesses fail to create, however, many business owners are adamant that having a written business plan is one of the keys to their present success. Creating a business plan forces you to contemplate possible obstacles to your business and prepares you to find solutions that will help you to overcome them.

To find investors or get a bank loan, they will want to see that you have the experience or resources to run the business. They will want to see your projected income as well as your suggested repayment plan already laid out. Taking the time to do this is not only important for them, but it gives you a measuring tool to verify if your business is growing properly. You can gage your success on how close to the plan your business has actually performed. Perhaps you'll do worse, or perhaps you'll do better, either way it helps you determine how well your business is getting on.

If you have never seen a business plan before you may be concerned that is is too difficult a proposition for you to manage on your own.

While there are services available where you can hire someone to write a business plan for you, depending on your needs it may be wise to familiarize yourself with a business plan's layout. This will not only help you to provide the necessary information, but may encourage you to try your own hand at it.

There's a free tool at www.bdc.ca which will assist you in creating a business plan. Some of the topics you will be required to explain are your Market, Customer, Competition, Marketing Plan, Research & Development along with financial forecasts. You may consider hiring someone to help you with your financial sheets after completing the written part of the Business Plan.

Your Business Plan will become your guide and silent business partner - indicating where you need to improve and helping you stay one step ahead of your competition. Make it a priority to have this crucial road map for your business.

Five Reasons to Incorporate a Company Offshore

When it comes to the term ‘offshore’ used in conjunction with company incorporation, the term ‘offshore’ generally refers to any jurisdiction other than one in which the company incorporated will conduct the majority of its activities.

Usually such a jurisdiction has some degree of taxation or reporting benefit attached that makes it attractive to the company owner, and the concept of incorporating a company offshore will bring at least one of the following five benefits to a business owner: -

1) Ease of Operations – depending on the jurisdiction and the type of business activity to be conducted under the company name to be incorporated, the operating restrictions, auditing and accounting requirements and standards to which the business and its employees and directors must adhere are often far less restrictive offshore than onshore.

Exceptions to this rule are financial services based companies in many jurisdictions for example, who have to comply with extra regulatory legislation for the protection of the company’s clientele.

The advantage of easing operations particularly for a small or start up company is a reduction in operating costs and in the amount of time a company’s directors have to dedicate to form filling and report filing.

2) Reporting Simplification – this ties in with the first benefit; in the majority of offshore jurisdictions favoured for company incorporation the company activity reporting requirements are often far fewer and simpler as the business activities entered into by the company are conducted outside of the jurisdiction in which it is incorporated.

Furthermore personal information relating to the company’s directors and shareholders need not be declared in all cases or the extent to which personal information is required is far less intrusive.

3) Taxation Reduction/Negation – the reduction in taxation liability is one of the main benefits associated with investing offshore, opening an offshore bank account or incorporating a company offshore.

If you set up your company in a low or no tax jurisdiction you could potentially save yourself substantial amounts of money legally. Often the rules are that if the company incorporated in a particular jurisdiction never derives an income from the local economy it can operate tax free.

It’s therefore possible to use an offshore company in an overall international business structure and ensure profits are posted in the offshore jurisdiction and so no tax is liable! Many international corporations operate in this way and actually negate their tax liability fully.

4) Asset Protection – by operating a company offshore, i.e., outside the jurisdiction in which the company operates, it is sometimes possible to position assets away from the reach of any potential litigious action and also to shield business transactions from the eyes’ of the competition.

5) Personal Privacy Protection – the level to which a director or shareholder’s personal information is required, held, visible or investigated offshore is likely to be far less invasive and intrusive than onshore. It is also possible to appoint nominee directors and secretaries for offshore companies in many jurisdictions thus keeping the true company owner’s identity shielded.

The information contained in this article cannot constitute advice. Each individual’s circumstances are unique and whether or not offshore company incorporation is something that could benefit your business can only be determined with personal advice.

What's the difference between successful businesses and struggling businesses?

Have you ever noticed how some businesses seem to do extremely well, and go from strength to strength, whilst the majority just seem to muddle along?

Since starting my own business I've met many small business owners and what I've noticed is that the vast majority of them seem to just about get by, but few reach the level of success that they're actually capable of. Some of them end up failing altogether, some lurch from project to project, and some do OK, but never really achieve the success or lifestyle they envisioned when they started their business.

On the other hand, I know a handful of extremely successful service business owners, who are making high 6 and 7 figure incomes every year (and rising) - and yet they don't work longer hours, their products and services are not magnitudes better than their competitors and they aren't geniuses!

So what is the difference between the successful businesses and the struggling businesses?

In a word: Marketing

Whilst there can be other factors that affect the ability of a business or practice to be successful, such as the economy, trends, cashflow and product/service quality or innovation, the number one difference between successful high-flying businesses and their struggling counterparts is good marketing.

Here is the lament of one survey respondent which is typical of the angst felt by service business owners who know they do a good job, but who don't understand why they don't have a queue of clients at their door:

"We know our products and services are good - we get great feedback from those clients we've worked with - but we still have trouble getting potential customers to buy in. Our services offer real benefits to clients but we are not as successful as we should be when we see what other companies offer (not as much) and yet are still very successful."

If you offer a quality service or product that produces great results for your customers or clients, and yet you're still struggling to get all the clients that you want or need, or to charge the fees you deserve, you probably have a marketing problem.

What do highly successful business owners do that others do not?

The first thing that they do is to realise that their primary objective is to build their practice or client base. In the words of Michael Gerber (who wrote The E-myth) they "work ON their businesses, not IN their businesses". What this involves is making the time to work on the business - in particular on marketing and product or service development, rather than spending all of their time handling clients, delivering services and dealing with administration.

They also look for areas where they can gain "leverage". Simply put, this means gaining maximum return for every hour they work. Instead of trading hours for pounds or dollars, they find ways to do the work once and get paid for it many times. They find ways to market their services one to many, instead of one to one (thus reducing marketing and sales effort and time). They delegate those activities which take up a lot of time (but which don't add much value in terms of moving the business forward) or which they are not skilled in such as admin, accounting, website maintenance and copywriting.

They also develop a success mindset, understand their strengths and weaknesses, take risks, innovate, hang out with other successful people and build a support network around themselves.

But above all, they learn how to market their businesses and create a marketing system that keeps a steady stream of prospects knocking at the door, without taking up all of their time!

What it Takes to Succeed in Business!

Business if tough in today’s world! Most small businesses go bankrupt or are closed abruptly in the first five years. Over the course of the next five years many of the remainders also “pack up” shop and lock their doors. Why do so many businesses fail?

The reasons lie in three main spheres. Those spheres of influence can be labeled personal, customer, and operations.

The Personal Sphere deals with the owner’s personal motivation to start a business. For example, if an owner wants to start their own business, but isn’t willing to make the sacrifices necessary to make it thrive, then they are at a disadvantage when compared to other motivated businesspeople. When a business starts for the first time often it doesn’t have a lot of money. Owners are required to sacrifice time, money, and happiness to succeed. If you can’t do that, it is unlikely that such a business will flourish. Many times owners thought they could handle the hardship but once the novelty of “being your own boss” wears off they close the door.

The Customer Sphere is one of the most important components of your business. Without customers you do not have sales, without sales you do not have money and without money you do not have a business. Many factors go into generating a good customer base. In the beginning you must have a cost effective marketing strategy that targets your intended buyers. This can be done by developing a psychological profile of your customer and then advertising in those places that they frequent. Because it is more expensive to get a new customer than it is to keep one you must make sure they are satisfied with your business and product. Keep in touch with them by sending them a follow-up letter with a survey.

The Operations Sphere is only second to the Customer Sphere. In operations you must have an appropriate method of reducing costs, keeping track of paperwork, and maintaining improvement. Operations can also take into effect the tax paperwork, accounting, scheduling of workers, benefits or any non-producing functions.

If all of these three components are well thought out and are appropriately designed you will increases your chances of survival. Failure to understand the integral details of your business and what it takes to succeed may mean failure in the long run. If you are having difficulty putting all the pieces together then consider a small business consultant.

Is It Worth Becoming a Partner?

It’s a fact of life in the Big Four :you are there to become a partner. This expectation may not be explicit in Big Four culture, but the undercurrent is undeniable. If your every decision is not focused on becoming a “member of the firm”, your career is in perpetual jeopardy. The whole reason for your being is to attain that status.

The mystique of the partnership is evaporating, and it could change the character and composition of the Big Four fundamentally. Yes, Mr. Dylan, the times, they are a-changin’. Anecdotally, more and more senior managers talk quietly – never publicly – about what their next moves would be. Those illicit conversations occurred in hushed tones away from the office – often emerging from frank advice offered to more junior staff members.

But, where do you go?

Many senior managers are considering VP and C-level positions instead of shooting for the partnership. Citing lifestyle desires (i.e. getting off the road), earning potential, and less politically charged environments, even top-performing senior managers are exploring careers outside the Big Four.

Aside from these internal pressures, up-and-comers clearly have concerns about the resilience – and costs – of the partnership structure. Once upon a time, the partnership buy-in was considered a pristine investment opportunity. The past few years, though, have called this perception into question.

It all started with Enron.

Many of the consultants and accountants in our community are still in pain from the collapse of Andersen – especially the ex-Andersen folks who have sought refuge at the remaining Big Four. Professionals who worked at Andersen, especially former partners, are acutely aware of the risks inherent in buying into the partnership. New partners, with fewer than five years as members of Andersen, were brutalized financially. Their buy-in loans were collateralized with their partnership units. The collapse of Andersen led to a negative equity situation for them; partners owed hundreds of thousands of dollars and could not divest their units to repay the loans.

A similar fear rippled through KPMG, recently. Under investigation for selling abusive tax shelters, KPMG settled with the Justice Department. The settlement included a fine of $456 million. While KPMG avoided the fate of Andersen, the resulting fine equates to around $300 thousand for each of KPMG’s 1,600 partners.

The declining interest in firm membership is supported by potential changes in firm organization. Accenture and BearingPoint have forsaken the partnership model, and both now trade on public markets. Doubts as to the protections of the limited liability partnership model are causing the Big Four to consider incorporation – instead of partnership.

Once recognized as an elite club in the accounting and consulting industries, the major partnerships are losing their mystique. The firms themselves continue to provide the best services available on the market, but the firms themselves are undergoing a fundamental shift. Every associate used to hope to grow up to become a partner. Senior managers could taste it – and would think of nothing else.

The Big Four’s preferred structure is under attack from the outside. Once considered an almost risk-free investment, we have learned from Andersen and KPMG the contrary. This investment risk is magnified by the erosion of protections offered by the LLP structure. Greener pastures lure talent from the partnership while the legal system lays siege to this venerable institution.

Outsourcing Is Picking Pace

BPO or Business Process Outsourcing is a very common and mushrooming phenomenon these days. BPO can be defined as the accomplishment of a business task from some outside agency. For instance a company can ask or hire an external agency to maintain its old records and accounts. The phenomenon of outsourcing was not so well established before a decade. Initially some of the relatively small and low grade jobs like old storage record of the company were outsourced in United States. Gradually with the budding success and confidence, valuable and crucial jobs like payroll accounting, human resource tasks – recruitment, training and development of employees joined the fray.

Outsourced jobs most often involve the ones, which need to be performed on a regular or daily basis. The companies now no more perform such tasks which they used to perform themselves. Like hiring of a consultant company for training of new employees, getting advertisements made from an advertising firm across the seas.

Outsourcing has many benefits. It allows a company to identify and focus on its core competencies. The company can outsource every other task that can be taken up by outside agencies and that requires significant time and energy (like training of new employees, making recruitments, marketing and manufacturing of products etc.). This lends the opportunity to the company to fully concentrate on its core competency.
Along with this the low cost factor is equally important. The companies in US and Europe by outsourcing their jobs in countries like India, Japan and China accrue huge profits in terms of cost saving. Such savings in cost are in the form of cheap and skilled labor, manufacturing or production of the goods etc. This in turn is a result of variation in salary structure across the globe.

Outsourcing proves quite worthwhile and beneficial during the period of slump in a country’s economy. When profits are under threat and it becomes imperative to reduce the costs, outsourcing is perhaps the best way to mutilate the costs without compromising on the good quality of work. Besides this BPO also liberates big companies of labor oriented problems or issues, thereby enabling them to be more focused and streamlined to enhance their work.

There are various sectors in which outsourcing is holding grips. These are Financial sector, IT, Telecommunications, Advertising, Courier Services and Customer Support Services. A case in point can be Spectra mind that undertakes many of the crucial tasks (insurance, telecom etc.) for clients in US and Europe.

But the outsourcing process is not acceptable to everyone due to its complementary disadvantages. People often believe that outsourcing leads to drainage of jobs. It is believed to create an acute unemployment for the qualified professionals of that very nation. Moreover there the threat of delayed work failing to meet the deadlines and targets and most importantly that of leakage of confidential information is always lurking in overseas outsourcing. The companies also do not get to confront or communicate directly with their key clients which makes them all the more dependent on their offshore agencies.

Like every other phenomenon, outsourcing in business too has tail of ethics attached to it. However, the truth is that it is one of the best ways for a company to expand, enhance its growth and minimize the costs. But a company should not be just enchanted by the merits of outsourcing but should also be considerate of its pitfalls.

How To Write A Quick & Relatively Painless Business Plan

If you've never written a business plan before, the idea alone can be overwhelming.

It doesn't have to be the nightmare of your imagination.

Traditionally, a business plan is used to secure funding from a lender or a potential investment partner. It serves as something akin to your business's resume, outlining the purpose and scope of your business, identifying the goals, marketing and management, and establishing a basic balance sheet.

Now, even if you aren't going to seek additional funding, even if you're going to grow your business by yourself from your office at home, you'd be wise to put together a business plan. Simply going through the process has value. It'll help you develop a clearly defined vision of what you intend to do with your business and how you intend to do it.

These are some of the questions you should already have asked and answered before you sit down to write your business plan:

== What "want" does your business fill, and what service or product will you be providing to fill that want?

== Who will be your potential customer (this should be an established, niche market with die-hard buyers).

== Why will people purchase from you as opposed to the business down the street (in other words ... what's your Unique Selling Position)?

== How do you intend to reach your customers? A storefront? An ad in the phone book? Direct mail? An Internet campaign? Selling door-to-door? A combination of these?

== Will you need additional funding and if so, how much will you need and how do you intend to secure it?

Okay, so let's take a look at what you'll want to include in your business plan.

Most business plans are structured to examine four primary areas:

1. Executive Summary - a decription of the business
2. How you intend to market the business
3. How the busines finances will be arranged and handled
4. How the busines will be managed

Let's take a further look at these.

Executive Summary: what the business will do, its Unique Selling Position, the business goals, its ownership and legal structure, your skills and knowledge and how they will benefit the business.

Marketing The Business: describe your product or service, identify your market niche, how big it is, and how you plan to reach it. Define your customer, identify your competition, detail your pricing plan, outline how you intend to attract and convert customers.

Financing The Business: estimate your start-up costs, project your monthly operating budget for the first year, outline your ROI (return on investment) and cash flow for the first year, project your income and expense balance sheet for the first two years, explain how you're going to compensate yourself, establish who will maintain the accounting records and how they'll be maintained, and if you're in need of funding, explain how much you need and how it'll be used by the business.

Managing The Business: how will the business be managed day-to-day, what the hiring and personnel procedures will be, how the products or services will be developed and how they'll get into the hands of your customers. You'll also need to account for equipment the business will need, and how insurance, rental agreements, etc. will be handled.

That's it. In a nutshell.

If you'd like to see some free sample business plans to get a better idea of how they're structured and how they read, here's a good source for you: http://www.bplans.com/sp/businessplans.cfm

Do you think that your workload is hampering your killer marketing activities?

You need an extra effort not the extra workload. Today when competition is high and consumers have many options to choose, an extra effort towards improvement of your product, managing your customers and taking care of other aspects of your business will give you advantage over your competition. You need to multiply your time may be you can keep your margin low, but will give you more volume and increase in your turnover.

Most SME’s start well during there initial stage of launching the business but looses its consistency do to pool of workloads on its day today life. It is often seen that hiring more employees gives extra load on limited earning resources resulting less revenue than expected. You need to put more efforts on Marketing and concentrate on your other activities so that you can do business with an ease. Outsourcing is one of the solutions for small and medium business entities too, that give them more opportunity to utilize there valuable time on marketing and other efforts. (Provided they get an honest an able outsourcing partner.)

Outsourcing is hiring a third party service provider to participate as a team member in your organization and share your workload. You may need to outsource your projects to save your time and get an expert professional to do the job for you. It is helpful to you in terms of, managing and multiplying your time so that you can focus on other important activities of your business needs. This is another effective tool to stay ahead with your competitions. By sharing your workload you get enough time to manage your business and think of its better promotions. You can outsource many things mainly your daily business activities i.e. accounting, document processing, Web site maintenance, Secretarial work, or other works need manual operations as well as marketing services. Below are some reasons to give an idea about benefits of outsourcing.

1.You save time in finding, interviewing and selecting the new employees by hiring an agency or search for your own.

2.You save time on providing them proper training as well as they need to adjust with your work culture too.

3.You can save your time, which you need to do all time-consuming paperwork requires hiring a permanent employee to your organization.

4.You do not need to buy extra equipments for your existing setup.
5.You save cost in your daily office expenses as well as recurring employee charges i.e. Taxes, Insurance, Medical, leave and many more.

6.You can utilize your time in better way and can deliver better output for your business.

7.If you are a contractor, you can hire a subcontractor and focus on more orders.

8.If you are marketing professional you can double your marketing efforts and can have a wider reach.

9.You will be giving the extra efforts, which all are needed in present competition, to develop your business and getting more volume of works.

10.You will be getting a professional who has expertise in his own field and can deliver you better output.

There are many more reasons why you need to outsource your projects. Today time management is an important aspect of your business. There are many instance of SME’s growing to a large business houses simply multiplying there existing time.

Managing Your Home Based Online Business – 2

In the first part of this series of articles, on managing your online business at home, I wrote about the many management responsibilities and functions you have rolled into one if you have your own sole proprietor business, with no staff. Your management task is perhaps the most difficult of all. You have to manage yourself, in all those different areas of your business such as finance, marketing, purchasing and computing.

I believe that if you think of your new home business as having different areas of management for you to concentrate on, you are more likely to succeed long term. If you can adopt some of the techniques of good management, you will end up with a more sound business that will stand the test of time. You will be a better decision maker, and it is decisions that dictate the progress or downfall of any business. Decision making needs to be unemotional and as scientific as possible, but as much as anything needs to be based on common sense. Good management is often a matter of common sense, and that is why I believe you, whatever your background, can run a successful business limited only by your ambitions.

The other virtue you will need in abundance is patience, and this an area where you definitely need to manage yourself. Impatience brings emotion into your decision making. It also brings self criticism, or criticism of others, when none is either deserved or necessary. Patience, realism and common sense combined will contribute greatly to making you a good business manager. With those three attributes, you will be well placed to learn the skills of management in the context of your own small business. You will be able to learn how the different functions of a business relate to each other and interact.

That is not easy, but over time, if you apply yourself, it will all fall into place. This is where patience is vital. Your age or background do not necessarily matter. I know that in my late 20’s I did not really understand business and how it all fitted together. At 30, I knew I needed some sort of professional qualification, and I decided on management accountancy. The syllabus was tough, with 18 exams over 2 and a half to 5 years. What surprised me was the variety of subjects to cover. There were exams in company law, business law, economics, corporate planning, marketing, production, decision making, cost accounting, management accounting, mathematics and statistics. Each subject was very different. Then, at the end, I suddenly realized that all of them knitted together. The ones I hated (law) and loved (marketing) all had a place in the scheme of things.

You, of course, have no need to study or be an expert in all of those things. But it does help to at least be aware that some of them are, in their own way, critical to your success. If you are taking a long term view of things, which you should be if you are serious about having your own home business, you have plenty of time to learn about those subjects that are most critical for your business:

Finance

Whatever your business, this is a very critical function for you to understand and manage, so when it comes to learning all you can, financial management is a priority. Much of this is again common sense, and realism, and there are many tools around to help you keep good financial records. But as I mentioned before, it is decisions that dictate the progress or downfall of any business. All decisions you make will have a financial impact on your business. However, good financial records alone will not bring the reward of better decision making. If you want to maximize the profits of your home business, you may find it helps to have other, non-financial records to aid your decisions. I will discuss this more in part 3 of this series of articles.

Marketing

Marketing is what I love most about business, and it is equally important to finance in all free enterprises. With an online business, the marketing side is an ever moving area of expertise. Offline, marketing has long since stabilised. Online, it has not stabilised at all; it is still developing and evolving. You need to be aware of what’s happening in the world of internet marketing, what has happened, and what is likely to happen. Always remember, though, there will always be a financial impact of your marketing decisions. You are obviously prepared to take risks, as you have started or are starting an online business at home. As the manager of your business you will need to balance the financial and marketing conflicts as they arise. You have to strike the right balance. If the finance director in you is too risk averse, you may stifle the growth of your business. If the marketing director in you is too cavalier, and unrealistic about sales prospects, you may ruin your business in one or two rash decisions. More on this in part 4.

Computing

If you are working online full time, or even part time, you will always need to be looking out for developments in the arenas of software and the internet itself, and maybe at times hardware. You may come across software that either improves your efficiency, makes life much easier or takes you into a new and better way of working. This is another area where knowledge is power. You need to be competitive, and sometimes you will come across new software that will make you more competitive. Try to keep abreast of things in the software marketplace, as it affects your business.

Time Management

While not a function like finance or marketing, when you work at home alone you will find that time management becomes key to your success and enjoyment of working from home. It is a subject you should always be aware of and make conscious decisions about. I will write more on this topic in part 5.

The above are just the key areas where you need to view your business from a management viewpoint, and the list of course is not exhaustive. However, pay attention to these from a manager’s perspective, and you should benefit in the long run. You will take the leap from being “employee” to “boss”, even if you are the only one you can be “boss” to.

The Fun Of Starting A New Business

So you had that fantastic business idea, the one that's going to be wildly successful and make you a fortune - even better, you actually did something about it and started your own business. Good for you! Not everyone gets that far. Most people sit and day dream about what they might do if only ....

"The world is full of dreamers, there aren't enough who will move ahead and begin to take concrete steps to actualize their vision" - W. Clement Stone

But you got over the biggest hurdle, that first step and you actually created something.

Well done - you did more than most. Now you have the day to day details of running your business so how do you keep going?

There are several things to look at here:

1. What are you good at and what do you enjoy doing? Make two lists - one of the jobs you like and one of the jobs you don't do very well. Take the second list and have a look at what you might outsource or automate. Do you love doing those accounts or would your time be better spent in forward planning while your accountant does the sums? Must you personally reply to every enquiry or could you create a FAQ which you can post on your website and refer people to by autoresponder? In the early stages of your business you might find you don't have the money to pay someone to do the jobs you hate. Could you swap skills to get the help you need?

2. Why are you doing this? You need to be motivated to start a business and keep it going. The best way to do this is to know what the effort is for. What really moves you to get up in the morning and do what you need to do even when you don't really feel like it? Write your reasons down. Find pictures of that house, or that holiday and put them where you can see them.

3. How do you deal with those bumps in the road? Not everything you do will be perfect - sometimes things you've tried will be a disaster - it's the way you react to problems that matters. If you curl up in a ball and give up at the first sign of failure you'd better not be in business. It's all about attitude.

4. Have a plan and stick to it as far as possible but be prepared to be flexible and open minded. Sometimes the most unexpected opportunities come and you need to be ready to seize them. - as Joe Vitale says 'Money likes speed'.

5. Get a mentor - learn from someone who has done it. Someone to bounce ideas off and who can encourage you when things get tough is invaluable.

And most importantly, never let anyone put you down and never be afraid of failure:

"It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who, at worst, if he fails at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat" - Theodore Roosevelt.

Don't ever forget that!

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