Ethical Business Builder’s Weblog

Blog about ethically buying, building, and selling businesses.

Create IMMEDIATE cashflow without spending any money…

Posted by ethicalbusinessbuilder on July 6, 2009

What I’m talking about are Maintenance Agreements, Privilege Programs, Preferred or Platinum Care Packages, etc. etc. Call them whatever you like, but if you want to get paid now for what you might have to pay for later you need to start these at your business. First let’s talk about the benefits so you’re fully convinced you need to do this right away.

  1. Immediate Cash – That’s right, increase your average dollar sale immediately and put more cash in the bank with virtually no expense (you will have to do some marketing, training, and have agreements to sign).
  2. Recurring Income – Depending on how you set it up, you can bill your customer for the whole package all at once or every month, quarter, semi-annually, or annually. Whatever works into your game plan. (More on this below)
  3. Your customer wants it! – When the economy is down, consumers rethink their purchases. One thing that they hate when they aren’t sure where their next check is coming from is large surprise repair bills. Whether that bill is for a refrigerator, computer, or pickup truck. There’s nothing worse than getting hit with an unexpected bill when your income is slow. Most will much prefer to trade a small monthly payment and the security that no other bills will come up, for the possibility of that “surprise bill” down the road.
  4. It’s simple – I’m in the middle of this project right now and though I’m consulting dozens of colleagues, the vast majority have never done this so I’m figuring out a lot as I go and so far there isn’t a whole lot to it.

Do you really need any more reasons then that? If you were going to implement any new program can you think of 4 better reasons than those? Me neither…

So what are the pieces to a good Maintenance Program. First let’s consider some common versions of these and who’s using them…  Best Buy, Circuit City, and just about every electronics company offers them now and you pay for them all right up front and for a terms from 1-3 years. Dell computer does the same thing with various time frames and various levels of coverage. When you go to buy a couch you can even get an extended warranty plan that covers rips, tears, stains, etc. etc. etc.  All of these require an upfront payment for the full amount. So asking for that payment up front isn’t too uncommon and is actually the norm.  Car companies do the same thing except they wrap that additional “investment” into your monthly payment. The pitch goes, “for an extra $24 per month if your $4000 transmission fails it’s all completely covered and we give you a rental car while it’s in the shop.” Now can I see a show of hands from the people who believe that all of these major organizations are implementing these programs and losing money in the process. My point is that if your business isn’t doing this you’re missing out on additional revenue and more importantly additional profit.

So what do I recommend?

  1. Keep it simple! Dell and the car companies have a complicated assortment of options from their basic to most advanced plan and they have dozens of people dedicated to creating, marketing, and tracking just those things. At your local car dealership they have a “business manager” who’s sole job is to sell you these add-ons. That’s a lot of complication. To start off simplify. This doesn’t mean that later on you can’t add more options to make sure you get every dollar, but keep in mind the more options, the more paperwork, the more training, the more tracking etc. etc. etc. To get started, keep it simple!
  2. Make it a “no-brainer” My marketing even says just that. That it’s a “no-brainer” that shouldn’t be passed up. Why? Because I priced my Privilege Program to cost LESS than the cost if they just paid for service/maintenance as needed. Why? Because some times people forget when it’s time for service and when we remind them they could put it off for weeks or months. When people have already paid for something they tend to not forget to get it. :-) Also, my costs for tracking people down for regular service and scheduling them become much less because now they are expecting (and wanting) to hear from us.
  3. Have an easy way to track it. Without the ability to simply manage, the progam can cost way more than it can make. Is your billing software setup for monthly, quarterly, or annual billing? (Quickbooks honestly is not very good at this) Do your work orders have a way to let your service tech’s know it’s a Privilege Customer? Can your customer service people tell they’re a Privilege Customer? Can your business manager easily track progress, related Profit and Loss, implement price changes, and even track the reasons why someone is canceling? If not, look into software for your industry that can or consider hiring a programmer to write you a custom database.
  4. Try for an up-front payment but have other options available. If you determine your Maintenance Agreement for your computer store, plumbing business, or bicycle repair shop is going to be $120 per year then allow them to pay $12/month (with a minimum term if necessary) or $35/quarter. Note that the further ahead they pay, the more discount the receive. Obviously only offer these options if your computer system can handle that kind of billing. After all, $12/month is better than $0/month. :-)
  5. Incentivize for your team. I’m a big fan of employee incentives so throw in an extra few bucks for each one they sign up. At the very least, tie their job description and performance to signing up X agreements per day or week.
  6. Train your team (over and over again). One lesson I’ve learned from running a business is that your team members don’t quite retain everything or take it real seriously the first time around. You have to bring it up again, and again, and again. That’s OK. That is your job after all. Granted if you have an incentive program tied to each employee signing up these agreements you might not have to repeat it so many times. ;-)

There’s your maintenance program outline. Get started today and start making more money tomorrow while making your customer’s happier than ever.

To your “increased profits during a recession” success, Bryan

Posted in Ethical Marketing, General Business | Tagged: , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

How to fire someone… The right way…

Posted by ethicalbusinessbuilder on May 28, 2009

As I mentioned in my last blog (yes, I know it’s been a long time but with restructuring our team I’ve been busy), after reviewing how I doubled profits in a year, I was going to review all that I did wrong. Actually, that would require a book not a blog so let’s start with the biggest problem.

My biggest mistake in my first year of business ownership was my avoidance with letting people go.  There were 2 reasons for that:

  1. The worst thing you have to do as a business owner is to let someone go. It’s not fun and if you have any heart it’s actually very emotional. Beyond that, while you’re training his or her replacement guess who gets to pick up the slack? That’s right, the owner or leader in charge of that position.
  2. I prefer to believe people are better than they actually are. I tend to believe I can educate, train, and help someone learn “anything”. After all, if it’s easy for me then how hard could it possibly be to teach someone else???  Well that’s just not how the real world works. People with the greatest intentions just may not have the talent or intellectual capacity to do what’s needed. For a great reference on that topic read First, Break All the Rules: What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently by Marcus Buckingham

Ironically, in the six stage of business that Brad Sugars teaches, building your team is the fourth step. In the next year, as I build my team so to replace me, I’ll let you know how that works. At this point it seems it would have been a lot easier to get the right people in the right places first… We’ll just have to see.

So I’m much more cognizant of my weakness at letting people go who need to be let go and in the process have learned the “proper” method to do so.

If you fire someone correctly, a few things will occur:

  1. You’ll maintain a positive relationship. In my experience several people asked for their jobs back a few months after I let them go so obviously they didn’t completely hate me. :-)
  2. He won’t file for unemployment. It affects your unemployment insurance rates for years to come so it’s worth fighting and preventing.

Firing someone is actually MUCH easier if you plan and prepare properly. Here’s what I suggest:

  1. Make up your mind! If you’re not 100% sure that it’s the proper thing to do, then you probably shouldn’t do it. You don’t want to get in an emotional situation where they talk you out of it. Make up your mind and stick to it.
  2. Gather performance information. Particularly related to poor performance. The reason for this is because if you “fire” someone with reason, they aren’t eligible for unemployment. Otherwise they consider it laying them off in which case they can claim unemployment. The second reason for this is that when you sit down with them, if they feel the need to feel indignant and question everything, you have all of your notes and information in front of you to stick to your guns.
  3. Don’t use the negative performance information more than you need to. In other words, you’re already ruining their day, no need to rub it in. Most people know they’re underperforming. At least 3 people I let go didn’t offer any resistance whatsoever and acted as if they knew it was coming (they all did).
  4. Don’t ever use the words “fire” or “quit”. Those are harsh words. Instead use the terms “let you go” or “resign.” Review my blog on NLP if you don’t feel proper word choice is important.
  5. Offer them a choice. If they just aren’t capable of doing the job you need them to, but they otherwise work hard, show up on time, etc. and you feel comfortable doing so, offer to let them choose to resign or you’ll have to let them go. Emphasize that in this job market it’s tough to get a job if they can’t use you as a reference. Moreover you can’t lie, so if someone calls to ask why they no longer work for you, you’ll be obligated to tell them they were let go and why. All 4 people I offered this option to decided to resign.
  6. Get any business items immediately. Whether its keys, tools, company credit cards, cell phones etc. Get them all immediately. It’s against the law to hold someone’s paycheck, but if your handbook says so, you can charge them back for any equipment they don’t turn in before their paycheck is ready.
  7. Offer to let them put in their 2 weeks notice. If you don’t have a gross negligence issue and you can completely trust that the individual won’t sabotage you and your business for their final 2 weeks, offer to let them work their last 2 weeks while they search for a new job. Make it clear that you don’t want to regret that decision and that you’d be willing to be flexible on their schedule if they have interviews. As an Ethical Business Builder, in instances where the person just can’t keep up with their work I prefer making this option available. In my business I only made it available to my office personnel and never to service personnel who have my trucks fully stocked with tools and parts to slowly sell off or steal with little oversight in their last 2 weeks.

That’s it. So far I’ve had to let 4 people go and haven’t had a single one even apply for unemployment. Two have asked for their jobs back and I hired a thirds father to work with me with no hard feelings (and he’s a GREAT addition to our team).

Properly preparing for this horrible part of being a business owner actually does make it easier and a lot more palatable. It’s eventually going to happen, so don’t put off letting someone go when you know it’ll will be better for your business, customers, other team members, and ultimately the individual.

To your team re-building success, Bryan

Posted in Business Psychology, General Business, Leadership, Team Building | Tagged: , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

How I nearly doubled profits the first year of my first business…

Posted by ethicalbusinessbuilder on April 19, 2009

My primary business was purchased April 7th, 2008. My goal was quite agressive in that I planned to double the business in year 1 and starting “buying back my time” in year 2. In other words, in year 2 I want to figure out how to keep growing the business, supporting myself, and not having to work 60+ hours per week. To be more specific, year 2 goal is to eliminate myself from the business almost entirely… I’ll keep you up-to-date on how to make that happen but for now let’s look at the year 1 summary…

Increase in gross revenue of 17% due mostly to a mid-year acquisition of another bordering franchise. Not quite  what I had in mind, however my unaudited books are showing an increase in net profit of around 95%!

Better than I expected on the profit side even if the revenue side was a bit lower than expected. Overall, a doubling of gross revenue maintaining profit margins or a doubling of profit put the same amount of money in my pocket and increase the value of the business the same amount so you can’t argue with that. :-)

So there are now 2 questions to answer:

  1. How did I manage to increase profits 95% in my first year?
  2. What would I do differently next time?

For this blog we’ll address how I managed to increase net profit 95%.

  1. I knew and watched the numbers. A few of the numbers I watch were listed in my blog on weathering the economy. Possibly the most important number at my business was the average revenue generated per day per technician. Nearly doubling that number has increased our profits a lot with zero increase in overhead.
  2. Converted our revenue generating team members to partial commissions. So the question that comes to mind is why aren’t they full commission? Because our small business can’t allow each team member to “specialize” enough to just generate revenue and I haven’t taken the time to figure out a better more “incentive-based” method of compensating.
  3. Cut overhead. We had 4 different phone companies and am still working on getting that down to 1. With Quickbooks we’ve been able to cut our accounting expenses a few hundred dollars per month. Started using Quickbooks Payroll to save about $100/month over Paychex or ADP with much more flexibility and control. Adjusted payroll to more accurately reflect work. In other words a few pay decreases were warranted.
  4. Cut costs of goods sold. We compiled a computerized list of all of the parts we sell and use (still a work-in-progress) to track who we purchase them from and have started shopping around for the best combination of price and quality for the parts we sell.
  5. Acquired another business to leverage economies of scale. The business was acquired cheaply with non-standard financing in a territory that had been underutilized and never marketed for a long time. We converted the Payables, Receivables, and Customer-service into our current location with minimal increases in overhead compared to a separate office and staff just for that small business.
  6. Cut personnel to only what’s necessary to be profitable. This will also be on my lists of things I would change. By nature I’m a “nice” guy so letting someone go is tough. However when it’s necessary it needs to be done quickly and decisively. The easy way to know if it’s being done is if you provide benchmarks, procedures, and responsibility lists and a team member isn’t holding up his or her end of the bargain it’s time to move on. This is also paramount if you want your business to run on its own.
  7. Created processes, procedures, responsibility lists and checklists. You can’t increase productivity and you can’t determine if your paycheck-for-work trade is worthwhile if you and your team members don’t have exactly what’s expected of each team member in writing. It seems sad that the team members who just go the extra mile without prompting are few and far between.
  8. Sold more to existing customers. We simply increased our marketing to current customers for upgrades and recurring service.
  9. Tracked marketing and started cutting out the bad. The cuts, yellow pages for instance, have just started since it takes some time to gather that data so in 2009 we should be leveraging our marketing even more. We also started using lead-tracking software to make sure no leads were getting forgotten or missed.
  10. Integrated real-time GPS units into service vehicles. “Inspect what you expect” is how one business owner phrases it. If you expect people to work 8 hours per day and not stop off for multiple lunch breaks or go home, it’s best not to temp them with “no one will ever know” opportunities.

Obviously a lot more things have been done – like integrating weekly team meetings and simply having management at the business every day – however those were the 10 that most quickly came to mind as I started reviewing the last year.

Beyond that, the absolute most important part of buying a business you’re going to grow rapidly is to wait for the business that needs a similar list of things to fix. If you buy a business that’s already “perfect”, which mine certainly is not and we’ll address that in the next blog, what choices do you have for growth? Your only options then become to increase prices, sell to more customers, or sell more products to current customers. And that stuff is hard work! :-P

In summary, if you’ve read through my blogs for the last year, you realize that last year has probably been the most educational year of my life. The nice part about that, compared with my years getting an engineering degree, is that I learned a lot and got paid to do it. :-D

To your success, Bryan

Posted in General Business | Tagged: , , , | 6 Comments »

How your business can be #1 on Google in 10 minutes for FREE

Posted by ethicalbusinessbuilder on March 1, 2009

It really is that easy… I own a few small brick and mortar businesses and I’ve done it… Even better, I even got my business to the top listing for most of the important keywords that I’d expect my customer’s to be searching for…  But I’m not being completely upfront about the difficulty of this task. In reality, it took me less than 10 minutes of to get my business to the top Google search listing for my first chosen set of keywords.

I’ll save the time of explaining the value and importance of getting to the top of Google listings with the details of how nearly 80% of all searches are performed on Google and about 2/3 rds of Americans research household products online before purchasing. Instead, I’ll get right into it.

  1. Go to Google.com
  2. Type in the keyword you expect your customers to use most often followed by your city and state. For example “hot tubs, springfield, ma”. If you have a yellow pages listing, chances are a listing for your business popped up somewhere on that page as a “Local Business” listing alongside a map displaying where you’re located. If your business doesn’t pop up, you’ll have to login to your Gmail account and go to http://www.google.com/local/add/ to create a listing for your business.
  3. Click on “More Details” next to your listing.
  4. Click on “Edit” and a balloon will popup in the map on the left hand side.
  5. Click on “Edit Details” inside the balloon.
  6. Now you can update your webpage, phone number, address, and company name, however what’s even more important are the “Places” listed at the bottom. You need to make sure ALL of your crucial keywords are listed in those boxes. Don’t be afraid to group multiple keywords in each box separated by commas.
  7. Click Preview
  8. Click Save

I wasn’t keeping exact track of the time, but in between 48 hours and 1 week my business listing went from non-existent to the top (and only listing) for my products in my city. It updated much more quickly in Google Local which you can access from maps.google.com, than it did with Universal Search directly on Google.com. My business is a rather niche business so that helped, however I have no less than a dozen competitors in my city. If you already have competitors who are savvy to this trick (or more likely just have the keywords automatically integrated from their yellow page listings) then you have to get creative and add more and better keywords to your “Places” listing.  I couldn’t find out exactly what criteria Google used to sort the Google Local listings, though this blog gave a few useful suggestions. If you know any more about what criteria Google uses to rank search results for Google Local I’d love to know. :-)

To your online marketing success, Bryan

P.S. I added my businesses to the local Yahoo business listings and move to the top of the search results even more quickly. Even though only about 13% of internet traffic uses Yahoo, it’s still worth the 10 minutes of your time. Just go to local.yahoo.com. Search for your business, click Edit Listing and update your information. You will need to create a Yahoo account if you don’t already have one.

Posted in Ethical Marketing | Tagged: , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

A few more ways to get tax-free money from your business…

Posted by ethicalbusinessbuilder on February 21, 2009

As I’ve pointed out before, when dealing with customers, team members, suppliers and even the tax man I’m not at all a fan of doing anything “under-the-table” or unethical. So keeping that in mind, here are a few ways to get tax free money from your business.

  1. Credit Card Rebates – This would be the ever popular cashback, rewards, points, and travel credit cards. The IRS currently has no provisions for rebates of any kind so this can easily add hundreds (if not thousands) of dollars in cash, gifts, or travel expenses into your pocket tax-free. I personally have 3 rebate cards. One from American Express, one CapitalOne visa, and a Discover card. The rebates range from 1-5% and in about 8 months of random purchases (both personal and corporate) I accumulated over $500 in rebates. My personal preference is to receive cash rebates so I can spend the money wherever I want however I’m looking into travel rebates since I tend to travel a lot.
  2. Purchase Rebates – These are the rebates you find at large retailers where you buy a fax machine and can receive a $50 mail-in-rebate. Guess what? The total expense is deductible and when the rebate comes in the money is yours. Check with your accountant (cause I’m definitely not one).
  3. Marketing – This is one of my favorites. A few weeks ago I sat down with my accountant and asked about my business sponsoring a race car at the local track. Turns out it’s 100% deductible. The racecar (or motorcycle), repairs, gas to get there, parts, etc. etc. can all be written-off as marketing expenses. If you are always racing something like me, then you really shouldn’t let this tax-free racing budget pass you by. Of course your race vehicle needs to advertise your business.
  4. Personal Development/Training – My accountant just educated me on this one recently. Currently I have 2 businesses that are about 4 hours apart with a total territory that would take me about 12 hours to circle by driving. Add to that the possibility of another business about 4 hours away in a different direction and the benefits of flying become quite obvious. So I’m working on getting my personal pilot’s license so I can fly myself around for business and also a bit just for fun. Just like with a company car, you need to figure out how much of your time is truly business and how much is personal and allocate the proper amount of your flight instruction and flying lessons through your business. Of course that would be a direct, pre-tax, business expense.
  5. Gifts – Not sure if this varies by state or is just for federal however my accountant informed me that a performance based incentive of up to $400 can be awarded to all employees without claiming it as taxable income each year. This can be in the form of a gift or simply cash. Hopefully you’ve performed well enough in your business to earn such an award. :-)

It seems like I’m learning new, creative, legitimate ways to benefit from owning a business on a weekly basis so as I learn more I’ll post them. If you have any great ways to lessen your tax burden legally please let me know!

To your success, Bryan

P.S. I’m not an accountant and everyone’s situation is different, so make sure you check with your accountant before starting any of this. :-)

Posted in Business Accounting, Business Ethics | Tagged: , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Skip business school, buy your first business, and make it a franchise…

Posted by ethicalbusinessbuilder on January 24, 2009

If you’ve never run a business before, no matter how many blogs or books you read, or seminars or classes you attend, you have a lot to learn. There are just too many things to deal with to pick it all up without actually doing it. For that reason, the first business you own should be purchasing an already established franchise.

Until I owned a franchise business I never quite understood why this is so important. Firstly, I’m assuming you’re buying the business to rapidly build it (less than 2 years) and either sell it or keep it for cashflow with minimal input from you, the owner. If you prefer the hardwork and pride of building your own business from the ground up over 20,30, or 40 years, then by all means do that. Based on that assumption, let’s break up your “building” efforts into 2 basic categories: Front-End and Back-End

  1. Front-End – This simply means your sales and marketing. What are you doing to generate leads, convert those leads to customers, increase the amount each customer spends with you, increase the number of times those customers come back, and get those customers to tell their friends? That’s a quick summary of the front-end of any business.
  2. Back-End – This is talking about what you do once the sale is made. It includes inventory management, delivery of product, servicing customers, dealing with customer service issues, paying billings, billing customers, collecting payments, leading your service team and everything else that isn’t directly associated with your sales efforts.

So when looking for a business to buy, the ideal situation would be to find one with a strong “Back-end” system but weak “Front-End” system. That means when they make a sale they do so consistently, accurately, and predictably. Every customer knows what to expect. Their inventory is managed well, bills are paid on time, customers are billed accurately, and money is collected efficiently. However the business is not real good at creating or closing leads. It’s even worse at taking advantage of referrals and letting customers know all of the goods and services they offer. They have a great, well-maintained, database of current customers, however they fail to know how to utilize it. Why is this the ideal situation? Because if you’re developing guarantees, Unique Selling Propositions, and other direct and specific marketing to set you apart from your competition, you better be able to back it up. For that reason, if you have a weak back-end that MUST be addressed first. If however you have a strong back-end, the only thing left to do is grow the business through improvements in your front-end sales machine. You can put in less effort building the front-end then the back and reap 2-3 times the reward in less time. It’s very difficult to grow a business while improving the back-end, however the whole point of improving the front-end is to increase sales and profits.

Ok, so let’s get back to a franchise. Why is it helpful to cut your teeth on business with a franchise? Well the reality of business is that it’s impossible to only work on back-end or front-end alone. You’re constantly working on improving both and that’s where a franchise comes in. Generally a franchise, through much testing and measuring, will tell you how to run your back-end very precisely. They’ll tell you what to say, what to wear, how to produce, order, install, and/or service your product. You’ll have a large support system of people to help you address problems when they arise. In other words, most of your back-end is already setup.

Moreover, a good franchise, is also providing the necessary resources for the front-end. They provide marketing materials such as radio and TV ads along with direct mail pieces or newspaper ads. They’ll tell you what to put on sale when and while you’re too busy working on your business to come up with new ideas they’re producing new and exciting products for you to present to your customers. Sure you may pay 2%, 4%, 6%, 8% or more in gross revenue to your franchisor but in most instances that investment in learning is well worth it. And that’s exactly how I would view it – an investment in your education. Where else can you make good money and learn all the ins and outs of a well run organization? In fact, if I had the choice between attending business school or just using that money to buy a well-managed franchised business, I’d buy the business every day of the week. They’ll provide me with the tools and certainly the experiences I need to learn about business. After 4 years of running a business do you think you’d be more prepared for the “real-world” than your counterparts with a business degree?

Obviously, that was a rhetorical question. Their is one last important reason to make your first (and maybe second and third) business(es) franchises – Name Recognition. As Brad Sugars says, the most expensive thing in business is buying your customers. That’s right, your marketing dollars are simply you buying customers. If you’re buying a franchise, someone has already been marketing to your future customers for 10, 20, 40, or 60 years. They know and recognize the name. If you’re buying an established franchise in your area (versus bringing one in for the first time) that investment of someone else into your customers and area will ultimately make your cost for acquiring new customers less. Does that make sense? All well-established, professionaly run franchises will provide that benefit. Don’t underestimate it’s power. In my personal situation, without that name recognition my business would be a LOT smaller then it currently is.

To your success, Bryan

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The old fashioned way to make $1,000,000 per year…

Posted by ethicalbusinessbuilder on January 17, 2009

Let’s face it, few of us are going to come up with a business model to rival Bill Gates (Microsoft), Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook), Tom Anderson (Myspace), or Larry Page and Sergey Brin (Google). Even fewer of us, given that brilliant idea, have the resources, connections, and outright talent to make our first business a multi-billion dollar enterprise over night. Yes it’s possible. However so is winning the lottery, getting attacked by a shark, and getting struck by lightning. The old fashioned way of creating an income of $1,000,000 per year is a bit different. The most common path requires you to own your own business. So your goal should obviously be to own your own business. That million bucks per year will be nice, however the true blessing of being a business owner is control over your most valuable asset – your time.

Now let’s clarify our goals by answering a few questions:

  1. How much money do you want to make?
  2. How much time do you want to spend working once your business is done?
  3. How much time are you willing to spend building a business?

1. How much money do you want to make? Let’s say you want to make a million dollars per year. That’s over $83,000 per month, $19,230 per week, and $2740 per day. Would that satisfy you? If not, add your number in here. It helps to figure out and visualize EXACTLY how you’re going to spend your $2740 per day. The mind doesn’t know the difference between dreams and reality so start conditioning your mind now for that lifestyle and it’ll be a lot easier to get there.

Now that you have a target, here’s how you’re going to get it. Become a master at business and start searching for great businesses to buy and grow. If you want a million dollars, all you need to do is own a business that does $5 million in sales per year with a net profit of 20%. Twenty percent of $5 million is $1 million. Or find a business that does $10 million in sales with a net profit of 10%. Ten percent of $10 million is again $1 million.  I wouldn’t look for a business that can’t accomplish at least a 10% net profit.

2. How much time do you want to spend working once the business is done? – Some people like to work and there’s nothing wrong with that. I work extremely hard right now, but it’s not because I have an unhealthy infatuation with it. If I had a trust fund I’m sure I’d be investing in businesses but I’d also be traveling, racing, engineering, and spending a lot less time working… Eventually I’d like to work less than 10 hours a week without ever coming into the office. How about you? If you’re going to buy a business and be the service leader, sales leader, and customer service representative then you’re never going to get out from under it. The only things that can truly be done remotely are marketing and communications…  If you’re an owner taking on more then marketing and communication with your leaders then either plan to delegate or find another business. The other option is to sell your business once completed and live off of interest or rental properties…

3. How much time are you willing spend to build a business? Let’s face it, if you want to make a million dollars per year, it will probably take a bit longer than if you’re happy with $100,000. So if you’ve educated yourself, have some money saved up, have some decent connections, and already know how to negotiate, you can probably be making $100,000 per year within 2-3 years. Less if you’re really good. To turn that into a million per year will probably take another 5-7. Michael Masterson even wrote a book called Seven Years to Seven Figures: The Fast-Track Plan to Becoming a Millionaire which is worth a read. Realistically if you can do what you want with $10,000 per month, then why keep on working to make that $80,000 per month? Do you really need that much to enjoy life? If so, go for it.

There’s really only one trick to this… If you HATE business then forget about it. You’ll never be an expert at something you hate and obviously to achieve these goals you have to become an expert. If you only kinda like business then go for it. You’ll be amazed at how much more you’ll enjoy it when you start making regular deposits into your bank account. :-)   Keep in mind, the business building doesn’t have to be your life – it’s just a means to an end if that’s what you want it to be. Determine what you want right now, though, before you get started!

Now that you have your clearly defined plan, you need to put it into action. Sell your PS3 and X-box, get rid of your television, and get to work. If you aren’t willing to make the sacrifices that provide you with the knowledge you need to make this goal a reality it’ll never happen anyway. The old fashioned way isn’t easy. It’s real work but with a real payoff. In my mind I’d rather work 80 hours per week when I’m in my 20’s so I can have some freedom later in life then work 40 hours per week for the next 40 years and have “nice” stuff all along the way. If you’re not willing to make that sacrifice, then just stop now and enjoy your 40 years in the work force. That doesn’t make you better or worse then me – just different. Granted, in my first 9 months at the businesses I’ve purchased I’ve spent over a month out of the office on trips. Some were business trips and some were vacation. I worked during all of them with the help of some technology, however I also had a lot of freedom to do other things. So, though I work really hard when I’m in town, I haven’t exactly given up my youth for the promise of a bright future. Life’s too short for all that. I have more freedom and time to enjoy life now then I have ever had while working for someone else.

Just today when I was coaching 1st and 2nd graders basketball, Andrew walked up to me and said “Coach, you should get a job like my dad.” “Oh really who does he work for?” “I don’t know but he can work whenever he wants he just has to let his boss know.” “Wow, that’s awesome Andrew, but I don’t have a boss.” His eyes got real big like only a 7 year old’s can – “So you can work whenever you want?” Laughing, I responded simply, “Sure.”  A 7 year old understands the greatest part of being your own boss is your freedom – do you?

To your success, Bryan

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How to prepare your business for running without you…

Posted by ethicalbusinessbuilder on January 2, 2009

As a business builder, the goal of every business you buy should be one of 2 things:

  1. Resell it quickly (within 12 months) for a substantial profit.
  2. Keep it as a great cash producer with minimal work on your part.

This blog is going to focus on one of the most important parts of achieving step 2 above – getting your office used to running without you! For this to happen, you MUST set a goal of being out of the office for at least a few days (preferrably a week) per quarter. If you’ve never done that before, choose a week in the next 3 months and write it on the calendar right now! Seriously, if you don’t make the commitment to be out of the office right now you may never do it. Don’t worry. You will not be 100% prepared for the office to run by itself the first time. Or the second time. Or maybe even the third time. However, each time you’ll learn what your team relies on you for. As you learn more and more what items they just HAVE to call you to take care of, you will immediately know which items you need to create procedures for to replace you. If procedures won’t cut it, you need to pay someone else to make those decisions for you.

Now let’s look at what’s necessary for you to leave the office while your business keeps making money. Firstly and most importantly, you cannot be the one responsible for direct customer interaction. Whether that means taking care of customer service issues or selling your product, if you’re the only one capable of that, then you have a problem. You need to learn how to replace yourself right away. OK, so you’re not looking to retire so what are you allowed to do? Anything that doesn’t require you to actually be in the office. In other words, all of the tasks that can be done or maintained remotely.

A few of those items that I work on regularly when I’m out of the office are the following:

  1. Paying bills – I do this with Quickbooks Pro and Wells Fargo Online Bill-Pay. I can pay my bills electronically from anywhere. My office administrators put all the bills into Quickbooks and scan all of the bills onto my server so I can actually look at every Purchase Order, Order Confirmation, Packing Slip, and finally the Invoice before I pay anything.
  2. Working on marketing - whether it’s updating the website or working on new direct mail campaigns all I need is internet access and my laptop to work on almost any marketing our company might be doing.
  3. Reading and responding to emails – This can always slow down your “productivity” when you’re in the office so a few quick minutes in an airport or in the morning before you hit the beach can help you remain “productive” all day as people are reading and responding to all of the emails you’ve sent out.
  4. Keeping an eye on daily, weekly, or monthly tasks – Since I’m the Team Leader at my business there is no one else to take over management functions while I’m not there. For that reason, all of the girls who work in my office email me their “To-Do” list every evening before they leave. That way I can review and update it at my leisure. I also review our service schedule, inventory, receivables, payables, customer complaints, new leads, and a host of other things remotely. One girl in my office compiles the reports weekly and emails it to me so all I do is read them and make decisions – No matter where I might be sitting when I read those reports. Check out the “Know your numbers” section of my blog on weathering the economy for a better idea of what numbers I watch.
  5. Staying in touch with team members – Whether that means calling, emailing, or reviewing performance there’s a whole lot you can do to make sure everything is “business-as-usual” when you’re not around.
  6. Finding new business opportunities – If you aren’t ready to retire with all the money you have in the bank, you should always be researching new opportunities. As a matter of fact, the number one reason you need your cashflow business to run without you is so you have time to invest buying, building, and selling other businesses.

How to make sure your business is “running without you”.

  1. Leave the office – But don’t just stay at home. If you’re in close proximity to the office both you and your team member’s will be too reliant upon you.
  2. Try not to answer your phone – Let it go to voicemail, listen to the voicemail and respond appropriately. If possible, respond via email or text.
  3. Make yourself available via email (IM if necessary) – I prefer written communication because it’s short and to the point (no time for small talk) and because it’s all tracked. Someone can’t tell you you never told them to do X or Y.
  4. Have access to important information on your server – Whether that means having your invoices, inventory, schedule, or incoming leads on the computer. Whatever is important to you, you need to make sure you have access to at all times. If you can’t get to your important information from anywhere at anytime you’ll never be able to work remotely.

Have you ever had one of those days where you have a list of things to accomplish and at the end of the day the list hasn’t gotten any shorter? You just worked on “little things” all day. It’s amazing to me how many of those “little things” take care of themselves when I’m not around… In my experience if I leave the office for 2 days or 2 weeks, if I’m keeping up on things day-to-day while I’m gone, my list of “catch-up” work when I return is the same length. The list is limited to the items only I can handle. There are no “little things” on my list to catch up on… Every time my list consists simply of the things only I can do. (With the goal being to shrink that list with every trip.)

Since I track customer complaints AND testimonials if there were problems created by me not taking care of those “little things” I’d know about it, too. ;-)

So make a commitment to be out of the office!

To your “remote management” success, Bryan

P.S. When you go to sell your business do you think it’s going to be worth more or less when you show the buyer that it can be managed, to a large degree, while sipping red wine on the balcony of your hotel in Italy?

Posted in General Business, Leadership, Team Building | Tagged: , , , , , | 4 Comments »

What your small business needs to do to weather the economy…

Posted by ethicalbusinessbuilder on December 17, 2008

It’s amazing what lessons we learn in tough times that are quickly forgotten in times of growth. Below is my list of necessary remedies for ensuring your business can thrive in a tough economy.

  1. Have cash available – Check out my blog about cashflow first. In essence, if your receivables are high or you have an issue with billing or you just have a slow month, make sure you have access to cash so you don’t have to miss payroll. That doesn’t help team member morale much. Discipline yourself to build up a company savings account with at least enough money to cover 1 payroll. Another way to help cashflow is to pay for performance instead of just hourly or flat salary.
  2. Improve Marketing – Don’t cut back on your marketing unless that marketing isn’t producing results. More and more people are skipping the Yellow Pages and going to the internet. Or they’re going to the yellow pages simply to get your phone number once they already know who they’re going to call. How much are you spending on yellow pages? Is it paying off? Invest time into making your website better if that’s an area that drives leads. Try some direct mail campaigns. Place an offer along with your radio and print ads to measure the response. If it’s working invest more money into it. If it’s not, cut or eliminate it completely. Focus on referrals!
  3. Cut Expenses – Use better technology (VOIP, Quickbooks Payroll, Online bill-pay, online backups). Improve employee efficiency with detailed procedures and performance based incentives. Search for better deals before purchasing anything. Shop from multiple vendors and keep a database of vendors available for each part so you know where to get the best deals.  Find out from ALL of your vendors if they have quantity and pay-quickly discounts (i.e. pay in 10 days to receive 2% discount instead of in 30). Cut out some of the owner perks if necessary.
  4. Ask your team for help – It’s a team and they’re all working with your customers every day. What can they bring to the table as potential cross-marketing, upgrade, and add-on opportunities that you’re not taking advantage of right now? Get everyone involved so they “buy into” new programs. At the same time, work to improve the productivity of your team.
  5. Sell to your existing customers – They know and trust you so how else can you help them?
  6. Know your numbers -Taking a page from Michael Masterson, each leader should only have 3 numbers to focus on.
    1. Your office leader needs to know total receivables, outstanding payables, and bank balances.
    2. Your sales leader needs to know # of outstanding leads, # of new sales, and average dollar sale.
    3. Your marketing leader needs to know # of leads coming in from each marketing project, # of sales from each project, and average dollar sale.
    4. Your service leader needs to know # of work orders completed, # of work orders outstanding, and # of customer complaints.
  7. Acquire competitors and/or complimentary businesses – If you have the top 6 under control, it’s time to really take advantage of the economic climate by acquiring more businesses. Competitors are perfect since you can cut out nearly all of their overhead expenses by absorbing them into your business. Generally if they’re for sale they haven’t done as good of a job as you so they should be ripe for new marketing, cross-marketing, add-ons, up-sales, etc. A complimentary business can help you do the same thing. You may not get as many synergies as quickly, but with a complimentary business you can now sell the service your new business provides to your existing customer base and vice versa.
  8. Avoid starting a business – When you start a new business, you have a lot of expenses up-front and NO customers. You have no immediate cashflow, no systems, no marketing, no referrals coming in, no name recognition. Nothing. By relying on an established business as your primary source of cash you don’t have nearly the time invested as starting from scratch. And on day 1 you have sales and money coming in.

There are lots of “little things” you can work on to improve your business to make sure it’s resilient in times of economic slow-downs. However, don’t get bogged down in the details! This was a quick overview of just the most basic things every business should be doing. Obviously all of this is true in good times and bad so when your business starts picking up, don’t forget to stick with it!

To your success, Bryan

Posted in Business Accounting, Ethical Marketing, General Business | Tagged: , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Nearly half of Americans think 2008 will go down as one of the worst years in American history…

Posted by ethicalbusinessbuilder on December 13, 2008

Wow. Were the past 12 months that bad for you?

As I was reading the Wall Street Journal on my Kindle this week I came across an article that references a Wall Street Journal/NBC news poll indicating that nearly half of the people surveyed think 2008 will go down as one of the worst years in US history. Since 90% of the respondents indicated that the economy has gotten worse in the last 12 months I’m going to assume that’s the primary reason everyone hates 2008. I must say, as a young entrepreneur who has put everything on the line to buy a small business and move across the country 8 months ago, I’m a bit shocked…

Here’s why I’m a bit shocked that people think things are so horrible:

  • I sold my house in Pennsylvania in about 3 months at a profit when I’d only purchased it 24 months earlier.
  • I easily got financing (at 95%) for my new place in New Mexico.
  • I’ve secured several commercial bank loans and still have access to low interest credit.
  • My business is about to have the highest grossing year of revenue in its 60 year history.
  • We’ve hired 3 new people this year and anticipate more growth in the next 12 months.
  • I bought and resold a motorcycle in less than 2 months at 30% profit this summer.
  • My personal net worth has increased more in the last 8 months then it has during the previous 25 years of my life.

Now the news isn’t all rosy:

  • At last count my stocks, mutual funds, etc. are down about 33% this year. However that doesn’t really bother me since most of my money is invested in other areas. Now I have an amazing opportunity to increase my stock holdings and take advantage of severely discounted businesses on the stock exchange.
  • I haven’t been able to sell my sports car. It’s a 2006 G35 coupe. Bright red. Not exactly the vehicle people “hunkering down” for a depression would be buying.
  • My debt has increased more in the last 8 months then it has during the previous 25 years of my life. However, the right kind of debt isn’t bad as long as it’s used for assets and they are appreciating.

So what does this all mean to you? It’s very simple, are you bracing for a recession, depression, or worse? OR are you finding the opportunities that are now greater than ever out there.

Right now you can buy businesses, houses, stocks and mutual funds cheaper than probably in the last 20 years. Particularly with the housing market, if you have good credit, with the tightening restrictions on lending, guess what’s going to happen? More people are going to have to rent. Housing prices are down and rental prices are going to start going up (rental rates don’t seem to have changed much in my area yet). Is there a more perfect formula for residual income and profiting from rental properties then that???

As Brad Sugars pointed out recently – In Las Vegas, where the housing market has been particularly hard hit, he talked to a realtor who said he’s getting killed because no one is buying anything. Shortly thereafter he spoke with another realtor who said he has more work then he knows what to do with. With all of the foreclosures, banks are scrambling for good realtors to sell for them.

Which guy or gal are you? Is it all doom and gloom or are you picking out the opportunities that are abound?

The possibilities that are created in 2008 may be the ones that allows you and I to create more wealth more quickly than ever before. And what’s the worst that can happen? You could buy a business and fail? You could buy a stock that goes bankrupt and lose your investment? You could buy a rental property that doesn’t get rented out? Well, here are a few quick ways to minimize the chance of any of those things happening.

  1. Buy a business – Make sure it’s a staple that everyone will need no matter what’s going on in the economy. If you have few or no competitors, even better. If you already own your business, buy your competitors and/or complementary businesses that can benefit from your current facilities and customer list to spread overhead between several entities keeping costs low. What’s your company’s niche??? The most important part is the PURCHASE PRICE. Buy it cheap. Make sure you tell the seller that the economy is horrible and they better take your offer while it’s still on the table. ;-)
  2. Buy a house – If you’re looking for a rental property and you’re not too worried about tax deductions, single-family dwellings are always the best to start out with. Young families and couples are abound so there’s always a need. And with the current credit markets those people will need to rent. Keep in mind, just like with a business, what’s unique about your property that will make people want to stay there? Again, the purchase price is the most important part. If you can keep your costs down with a low mortgage then your profits will be that much better. Make sure you tell the seller that the economy is horrible and they better take your offer while it’s still on the table. ;-)
  3. Buy stocks – I’m not a big fan of mutual funds. I bought my first one when I was 14 and never had great success. In essence you’re paying extra to have someone pick stocks for you and put them in a nice, neat little package. Do your homework. Learn about the stock market and particularly business valuation. Read The Warren Buffett Way. Buy stocks that have more cash on hand then their current market capitalization and also have strong cashflow. If you want to be even safer, invest in ones that are still paying a dividend. Historically they generally fair the best.

Consider this for a minute – retail sales after Thanksgiving this year are up 7% over last year! That’s right, last year when the stock market was soaring and everyone was making money and unemployment was low we bought less stuff at Christmas sales then we did in this recessed year of 2008…  Hmmm… are you seeing the opportunities yet?

Don’t be that guy who remembers when Buffalo Wild Wings and Netflix were trading for $21/share and if you’d have only put a few bucks into those stocks you’d be rich now… If you still think I’m a bit “off”, since the sky is obviously falling, check out what the greatest investor in the world, Warren Buffet, thinks about the economy.

To your success in making 2009 your most profitable year yet, Bryan

Posted in General Business | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

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