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Redeeming gift cards and selling used items Let's start with the celebration! This is the 300th edition of Small Business News. This is the start of our 25th year of visiting your inbox on the first day of the month. We start the month with a bit of explanation regarding accounting. If your business sells gift cards, you will want to pay attention. Your accountant might not be explaining this to you. Our example is a customer who buys a $100 gift card. You may ring that up on the register but it is not truly a sale. Instead, the customer is giving you $100 in cash, a credit card, or a check. Your business now has a "deferred liability" to that customer for $100. Your balance sheet should show this $100 as a current liability, while your current assets will show $100 in your checking account. When the gift card is redeemed, you have a sale! That explains why the chain stores, mass merchants, and big box stores, promote so heavily your redeeming the gift card you received. They want to register a sale to satisfy their stockholders. The last news item for December comes from a visit to our favorite hardware store and a story referencing a new book written by Barbra Streisand. We went to the hardware store looking for grass clippers. We found several pair of used clippers for sale. Looking further there were other used items for sale; not an overwhelming selection, but items that a customer would not likely use very often. Streisand was on a program promoting her book and giving a tour of her home. As she showed one of her rooms of clothing, she showed a blouse and told how she had purchased it for $10 and that it was a used item. These two experiences are the basis for my sharing with you the suggestion of your looking at your business to consider if there might be additions you could make with regard to what you sell. Article of the Month - Checking for the Exits As we come to the end of the year, many small business owners take the time to think about next year. And with some, there are thoughts about leaving the business. Perhaps the reason is retirement while for others it may be the opportunity to do something else. This month's article is appropriately titled, "Checking for the Exits". We offer some thoughts of what should be considered before making that important decision. Book of the month - Pendulum by Roy Williams This month we have another book suggestion from a reader with a high recommendation for reading. Pendulum by Roy Williams talks about trends in values that society uses to judge what is acceptable. There was a peak in 1963 and an opposite in 2003. The author states that if you would like a peek into the future, this will be a good book for you to read. Internet Tool for Your Business - Speaking to several groups in the service industries this past month, there have been discussions about accounts receivable. Mentioned in the discussion was how people are excited when they get the sale but do not have the same excitement with regard to collecting their accounts receivable. While collecting the accounts receivable is the end goal, close attention should be given to how long it takes to collect those receivables. This month's calculator will perform the task of analyzing the receivables for you. Each month we highlight one of the 47 free tools on the Profits Plus website; we call them "calculators". While some provide analysis by numbers and ratios, some are assessments and others are self-examination questions. Many are downloadable while others, because of the complexity of the calculations going on behind the scenes, are a part of the website and allow you to print your answers. None of them require you to give any personal information nor are there any "cookies" tracking you or your information. Staff Incentive for Your Business Fort Smith, Arkansas is the home to the U.S. Marshals Museum. If you are in the area, it can easily fill a half-day with fascinating information about the marshals service. While having only recently opened, some of their staff have been there for several years. They have a tradition of recognizing the work anniversary date of each employee on social media. Each recognition has the employee's photo and a story of their work at the museum. It is interesting to note the many comments each posting receives. A bit of recognition goes a long way. And to prospective employees seeing a posting of someone celebrating a number of years of employment, it offers a sign that this is a good place to work. 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.
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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.
