One of your company’s strongest assets is its ability to assemble an Annual Operating Budget and Cash Flow Estimate and to determine financial requirements for achieving revenue goals. In order to make wise, financial decisions, it is imperative to know your breakeven point, your direct labor costs in relation to your cost of goods sold, and your monthly cash requirements.  Acquiring operating performance data, on a timely basis, strengthens your ability to better manage your business.

Reliable operational plans, budgets, and forecasts –that are accurately produced–are (more…)

Communication problems can lead to lost clients, lost projects, lost proposals, and lost revenue. Taking the time to “brush up” on frequently used business terms, and their meanings, is an important communication task. All stakeholders of any enterprise should be aware of the importance of effective communication at all levels.

Whether you are consulting with your accountant about your business finances, negotiating a contract with a supplier, or making a presentation to your staff, understanding and speaking the language can help you… (more…)

Competition existed long before strategy. As we trace the evolution of strategy, we find that the founding principle is still in play today: Strategy is about achieving the competitive advantage! If there were no competition, there would be no need for strategy. Gaining a sustainable edge over your competitors, as efficiently as possible, is the #1 priority on any businessperson’s “to-do list.”

Strategy is a deliberate search…a search for a plan of action that will develop a company’s competitive advantage and compound it. The difference between you and your competitors is the basis of your competitive advantage. The objective of your competitive advantage strategy is to enlarge the scope of your advantage, and that happens only at someone else’s expense. (more…)

Strategic planning is by far the most important task of any management team. Unfortunately, far too many entrepreneurs believe that strategic planning is an exercise meant only for big businesses when, in fact, strategic planning is equally applicable and critical to small businesses.

The start of any new product/service, program, or change initiative is always a stressful situation. Instead of simply jumping in blindly, it is more prudent… (more…)

To develop a small business into a successful enterprise demands more than the passion that you may have for your business. Fortunately, or unfortunately, facts speak for themselves! Over half of new businesses fail because the entrepreneur is unable to translate his passion into practical business skills. Running a small business requires that you become a “jack-of-all-skills.”

Having solid business strategies are valuable, but without a set of fundamental business skills to implement them, the strategies remain dormant. It is important to assess the skills that you have, the skills that you will need to learn, or simply the skills that you will need to improve. (more…)