Is your business organized to meet customer needs effectively and efficiently? Is your management team focused on meeting customer needs? Are you having an impact on the customer? What do they believe about your company? Have you asked them? Your customer beliefs about your company affect their actions which has a direct affect on your… Read More »
Vision and Direction
The first time I visited my client’s two locations in China I immediately recognized the symptoms of the lack of a clear vision and direction. The team was working hard every day without a clear understanding of what the end results should be and why they were doing what they were doing. This made it… Read More »
Strategy does not need to be complicated
In graduate school, one of the instructors (a business person, not a professor) told us something I have never forgotten. He said that business was relatively simple and amounts to this: Find a need, fill the need, and collect a check. Then he added: Don’t screw it up in the middle because most business owners… Read More »
MAKING MONEY EVEN DURING a PANDEMIC
Last October 2019, a local banker called me with an opportunity and asked if I could meet with a company that had been losing money for a number of years and was in trouble. When I met with the owners of this company I discovered that they had a business consultant working with them trying… Read More »
Your Balance Sheet Is a Snapshot in Time
Recall that your P&L, or income statement, is like a movie in that it covers a period of time within your business. Your balance sheet is more like a snapshot in time since it is taken on a particular date in time (for example, December 31, 2019). The balance sheet is a record of the… Read More »
Net Income Is NOT Cash
Many business owners tell me they are making money, but they have no cash in their accounts to work with. Too often business owners look at the net income (profit) on the bottom of their P&L and think they are making money and have cash in their business. Reality says otherwise. Remember that profit is… Read More »
Cash is NOT King
We have all heard that “cash is king.” The origin is unclear, but it has been attributed to Pehr Gyllenhammar after the global stock market crash in 1987. At that time Mr. Gyllenhammar was CEO of the Swedish car group Volvo. The maxim is used to reflect the belief that cash is more valuable than… Read More »
Are you struggling to survive in your business?
Many businesses are currently struggling to survive as a result of the pandemic. Often there are many reasons for this condition but one of the most important is the lack of adequate cash flow. Without cash your business is destined to struggle and eventually die. There are only four ways to get cash in your… Read More »
The Virus Is Changing Our Shopping Lists
I read an article in the April 24th issue of the Wall Street Journal that examined the way that the pandemic has changed not just the experience of grocery shopping but what we buy. It reminded me of a joke I heard recently: I have discovered a new restaurant—it’s called the kitchen. But I… Read More »
Don’t Let Uncertainty Paralyze You
We are currently facing tremendous uncertainty as a result of the economic impact of a nationwide shutdown of business. This uncertainly about the future creates a great deal of stress and causes us to focus on the immediate situation rather than the broader possibilities that may become available to us. In his recent article for… Read More »