Archive for the ‘News and Events’ Category

Is it Time for You to be a CEO?

January 29th, 2024

Monitoring vs Doing it Yourself.

When does an entrepreneur know when to let go of things?  When is it time to delegate?

That wonderful scary word “Delegate” Do you have anyone to delegate your work to?  Do you trust the person to whom you are delegating the big responsibilities of the company?

No one and I mean no one cares about your business more than you.  So what is a proprietor to do?

Let go?  How much do you let go? And how do you let go?

I have seen owners let go and the person to whom they entrust their business failed; and then they said,” See I am the only one that can run my business.”

You can’t let go until you train staff and put monitoring and checks and balances in place.

Time:  When to do it? When your sales are high enough to accommodate sufficient staff to delegate jobs?

Jobs:  List the positions necessary to let go. Customer Relations (Sales), Operations, Financial.

Who: Sometimes employees are good at their job in sales or operations but they are not good at managing people. So make sure the right people are on the bus. (Jim Covey book Good to Great?)

HOW:  MONITORING AND HAVING CHECKS AND BALANCES IN PLACE.

Sales (Customer hand off and weekly sales meetings and reports)

Operations (On-site Managers, weekly operations meetings and reports)

Financial (Bookkeeper, Part-time CFO, make sure you limit signing, passwords and transfers of bank money.)

Congratulations.  You are a CEO.  Welcome to the world of monitoring and paperwork.

              (You can still take a walk in the plant or visit the construction site but you should not be fixing the machines and building the home yourself.)

              There are perks to being a CEO.  Maybe you can start taking weekends off.

              You are always available for emergencies.

              If you train your staff well, the company should run smoothly without you.

THE PERFECT BUSINESS

July 18th, 2023

THE PERFECT BUSINESS: Does it exist?

Is your business perfect?

Does it seem like just when you get one of the aspects of business running perfectly, something else happens?

So how many things have to be perfect at the same time? An editor told me once that I couldn’t list more than 10 things because he didn’t want to overwhelm the readers.  They wouldn’t finish the article.

Here you go:

Unit Selling Price must be right price.

Gross Margin must be the right %.

Right quantity must be sold each month. Are you at full capacity?

Sales Total Revenue – Do you have More Than Enough to cover expenses?

COGS/inventory/Quality – Right amount in each category. No obsolete or slow moving inventory or damaged inventory.

Selling General Administrative and Overhead – Right amount of support services.

Right Staffing – right people on the bus in the right seat? Management Staff?

Right Selling Commission structure.

Freight – monitor Freight Cost – right amt either included in price or as an add-on.

Profit Mix – Right products both custom and mass production, expensive and economical.

Cash Flow – monitor cash flow with 12 week planning to predict expected borrowing or investment of excess cash flow.

Accurate Information to make management decisions.

Data available in real-time.

Strategic Planning – is it documented and measured?

Marketing – do you know your target market audience?

Branding –  Do you have the right eye catching logo?

Website and Social Media – Do you need all or none? Just pay for the ones you need.

Advertising – right lead generation, right advertising direct, on-line presence.

Right Customer Relationship Management Software     

Perfect CEO and Executive Leadership

Forward Thinking Board

I didn’t number it until the end. 21 items that must be executed perfectly. That’s why you are the CEO.

DJIA 12.31.2022

January 10th, 2023

DJIA 12/31/2022

I haven’t written on the DJIA year end numbers since 12/31/2019.  Between semi-retirement and the pandemic, the time has flown by.

Where are we at?  Should we be concerned about the stock market?

First of all, I am not a stock broker or a financial advisor, any comments made by me are just observations and not advice.

I have been tracking the annual year end number of the DJIA in my blog since 2010.  I have gathered a lot of data.  I love looking at trends.  I always say numbers tell a story.  So what is the story DJIA is telling us?

In ten years, there has been fantastic growth in the market.  Some real, some just hype.  Many are saying, “oh no my 401k is down”.  The DJIA is down, but look how far you came and is it real?

2013, 2019 and 2021 scared me when the growth was too unrealistic.

2022 does not scare me.  It has gone down but not dramatically.  It is the most it has gone down in a while but still in the single digits in percentage points.

The experts say this is a market correction.  I believe them this time. What we have to watch for is the trend.  I check in with you again next year.

2010         11,5772017       24,824
2011         12,2182018       23,327
2012         13,1052019       28,491
2013         16,5772020       30,606
2014         17,8232021       36,338
2015         17,4252022       33,147
2016         19,9428.8% percentage change from 2021.

Right Price depends on the Size of Your Company

December 15th, 2022

Is your company experiencing losses that you never had before?

Your accounting department is telling you, “You need to raise prices.”  Your sales department is telling you, “You can’t raise the selling price or you will lose your customers.”

What do you do?  Now you have to determine if this is a minor storm that you can weather or is it the beginning of the end and you have to get out before you don’t have a business to sell.

First you have to listen to your accounting department.  (Not anyone’s favorite thing to do.)  They are just telling you the truth.  What do you do with the truth?  Don’t bury your head in the sand.

You have to calculate how long you can sustain these losses.  Will you be able to raise the selling price to match your increasing expenses?  Many have done that during the pandemic and it worked.  There is a point where the customer will balk. They will stop buying anything that is not necessary.  However,  in my career, I haven’t found that to be true.  Sales of candy, cigarettes and lottery tickets always soar.

I believe that if you are still faced with this problem, maybe you are just not the right sized company in your business segment?  You know that limbo place of the middle child?  You’re not big enough to cut expenses to survive.  You’re not small enough to not fear competitive pricing.

You have to set a “Cut your Losses Point.”  If you can’t raise the selling price, your sales fall below this amoumt, and gross margin falls below this amount, you have to start selling the business.

This is a very sad decision that is being made by many long-time family businesses. That is why it is important to include this in your annual family meeting and annual strategic plan for your business.

Too busy to have your annual strategic planning meeting?  Maybe that is a red flag you should not ignore.

Looking Towards the Future

March 23rd, 2020

Now more than ever businesses have to be forward thinking.  Business won’t be able to look at their past financial numbers for direction.  Businesses must look at the futures resources: human resources, financial (money) resources, material and product resources.  Budgets are going to be more important than ever.  Everyone should be working on their Business Plan for 2020-2021.  This exercise will help you look at all aspects of your business.  Pipe-line analysis and Key Performance Indicator will help you navigate start-up.  For many small businesses, unemployment and/or employment is not an option.  Take this time to examine the future of your business.

Words of Wisdom – F.I.R.E. Financial Independence and Retiring Early

July 4th, 2019

F.I.R.E.

Financial Independence and Retiring Early

This plan promotes living frugally, spending less than you make and saving monthly in retirement funds.

This is also promoted as “gaining momentum” by Kristin Wong 11/2017 and it was just on TV morning show last week 6/2019 as something new.

Sorry but this is as old as the hills.  This is what every depression baby will tell you to do.  This is what your grandparents tell you to do.

Own your home by the time you retire. You will be on a fixed income whether it is your social security check alone or your social security check and pension income from your 401k.

All established 401k providers have a booklet that is very helpful for you to figure out how you live and what you need to retire.  This is normally a free service from your employer from 401k provider.

So…………….. What about my sole proprietor friends?

#1 Don’t be “Clever” and fool the IRS into lowering your annual taxable income to pay lower taxes.  The lower the income the lower self-employment tax you pay into the Social Security Fund.

#2 Put more than the allowable deductible amount announced by IRS.  Don’t let IRS determine how much you put away for your retirement.  Yes you may have to pay tax on it now but you won’t have to pay tax on it later when you are withdrawing.

#3 Live within your means.  Only get what you Need. Keep your credit card debt down.  This will allow you to have funds available monthly to put in your retirement account.

 

If you want to call this a new movement, go ahead, if it gets you to put money away for retirement.

P.S. To all my friends getting a divorce, do not sign off on your ex-spouse’s retirement funds if you have been married 15 years or more.  I had bad legal advice and made that mistake.  Go get good legal advice.

Good Bye Words of Wisdom – You are Worth it.

October 20th, 2018

thService Individuals Don’t Realize their Value.

I hear too many times. “ I can’t charge that much an hour.”

What everyone has to realize is that they are not paying for an hour of your time.  They are paying for your knowledge that you have developed over the years through education and experience.

THEY ARE PAYING FOR YOUR KNOWLEDGE NOT YOUR TIME.

Gerry recommends “The Alligator Business Solution”

August 4th, 2018

Gerry met Coach Roy Austin, CMA, CPA, MBA at the IMA 99th Annual Conference.  His philosophies are very similar to mine even though we live miles apart, went to different colleges and had different work experiences.  I guess it just shows you that we have more in common across the world.  Our obstacles and solutions are similar.

Home

Here is Roy’s links The Alligator Business Solution

Gerrys talks about Buying and Selling Businesses

July 4th, 2018

Gerry met many CMAs at the two speeches she gave at the Institute of Management Accountant Annual Conference held in Indianapolis, Indiana.  One talk was on The Buyer’s and Seller’s Tango and one on Cash Flow for Small Businesses made easy.  The talks were received well and many hope to apply things we discussed at their businesses.

 

Continuous Financial Improvement attends Bikeworks

May 21st, 2018

Rob and Gerry Pandaleon attended Bikeworks annual Gala for 2018. Donners were given medallion in honor of their support. Gerry’s husband Rob volunteers weekly at Bikeworks in the “Earn a Bike Program”where local children are given bikes to build and keep as their own.  Bikeworks gives safety and bicycle instructions.  After eight weeks the children get to keep their bikes.  They are expanding their program to include bike trails, etc.  For more information, go to www.communitybikeworks.org