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News of the day - What's ahead? Over the past year, we know that we "ratcheted up" the Small Business Conversations program that we host each month. Held on a Thursday evening at 8pm eastern, we find an expert in small business management who will donate an hour of their time to visit with you and I to learn more of what they know that will help all of us in our businesses.
The January guest was Ken Banks - a member of the retail advertising hall of fame.
Our February guest will be Ron Freidman who will be helping us introduce the 47th calculator on the Profits Plus website. This calculator will show you how to increase your profits by being able to substitute a gift card for a discount.
March is the annual celebration of the Small Business Development Centers across the country and we anticipate having one of the state directors along with the national president of SBDC.
And April is scheduled to have Steve Drake. While Steve has owned a company that specializes in association management, we are going to talk about what associations, trade magazines, manufacturers and wholesalers need to be focusing on with regard to your business. (It is not telling you about their new products, programs and pricing.)
The program is free; we even pay for the phone call if you choose to call in for the live event. And our special guest expert is not selling anything during the program.
You can listen to the live program online and download it from the Profits Plus website or any of more than a dozen podcast services.
Article of the Month - Creating a cashflow chart This month's article is one of many I have written on the most important tool your business can have - a cashflow chart. While you need to have a monthly profit and loss statement and a balance sheet, both of these documents are historical. The cashflow chart is different as it is looking into the future; it is your profit and loss statement recreated as a projection with one awesome addition. While it does tell you about profit, it also tells you about "cash on hand".
You have likely learned that profit and cash on hand have little to do with each other. Not only does the cashflow chart tell you how little they are connected, it tells you how to plan for each.
While you may enjoy the article, we know you will love the idea of having this additional management tool at your disposal.
Book of the Month - Living it up The guest for the December Small Business Conversations was Pam Danziger who is an expert on affluent customers. During the visit, Pam mentioned the book, "Living It Up: Our Love Affair with Luxury". This book by James B. Twitchell, as well as the writings of Pam give guidance on how to market to these money spending customers.
Purchasing this book from your local retailer is a wise investment of your money as is the investment of your time in reading the book.
Internet Tool for Your Business - Determining your "acid ratio" It is easy to get lost in all that "tech speak" that bookkeepers, accountants, bankers and others can tell you. Not to make light of any of them, but acid ratio is one you would want to pay attention to. It looks at business over the next year and how strong your business will be regarding the ability to pay bills.
The link below will take you to the calculator on the Profits Plus website with additional information as well as the ability for you to perform the calculation on your business.
Staff Incentive for Your Business You have an employee who has achieved a goal you established for them; perhaps someone has done an outstanding job or something you want to recognize them for. At the same time, when recognition is given, it can help to inspire other employees if they see how the first employee is recognized. Let's give them something to talk about.
We suggest your using Lyft or Uber to pick them up and bring them to work. At the end of the day, use the same service to take them home. It is an effective and inexpensive way of saying, "thank you".
And your other employees are sure to notice and talk about it.
We want to recognize A Carrot A Day by Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton, whose book provides the basis for each month's incentive idea.
What's coming up that you can promote? - Give your existing and potential customers a reason to celebrate. We collect information from National Day Calendar and share certain events that we know you could include as a part of your promotional efforts.
We are adding this new feature to help you create events for several reasons. Your customers will enjoy a fun connection with your business. You can easily use social media to promote the event. You will get the benefit of your event getting a tie in to events that local and national media promote. Our favorite example is that of chocolate pie. Yes, there is a chocolate pie day. If you are a grocery store or restaurant, it is a natural to tell your customers of the event and invite them to do business with you. Other businesses could do a joint effort with the restaurant or grocery store.
Putting these together can be quick and easy, but should be planned in advance. As an example, as this is February 1 you should be looking at what you can do in April
Examples of April events include:
April 2 is national peanut butter and jelly sandwich day
April 7 is national beer day
April 11 is national pet day
April 20 is look alike day
April is lawn and garden month and jazz appreciation month
Boys and girls club week is the third week of the month as is coin week.
We want to thank National Day Calendar for this information. National Day Calendar - Where the world gathers to celebrate every day.
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MAY 2024
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With over 25 years of frontline experience Tom Shay is America's leading Small Business Management Expert. He's a "Must Have" for your next event.
Small Business
The May Small Business Advisory is titled "Planning for a successful accountant" and is appropriate for many with the April 15 tax deadline having passed.
Did you work with your accountant? Or, did you just give them a bunch of papers and wait to receive a completed tax return?
Successfully working with an accountant requires a partnership. This month's Small Business Advisory gives suggestions of how to make this happen in 2024.
Small Business
We see that many small business owners have too much of a focus on the "top line" of their income statement.
Increasing revenue is great, but it is not a cure all for any challenges your business is facing. And sometimes, incresing revenue can create a challenge.
Who is your customer? Some small businesses have no focus. Their customer is whoever calls or walks in the door.
And some small businesses have determined which customers, in sufficient numbers, they should spend their efforts to attract.
The article of the month shares an old Southern rhyming couplet about business; "The bertter you niche, the more you get rich."
Lean Startup by Eric Reis is our suggested book for May.
As the title suggests, the reader of the book would be someone that is starting their business. However, we see more value than just that.
Perhaps you have been in business for many years. We think this book could give insight to items, and methods, that a small business owner should think about with their business today.
