Online business articles to help entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs who want to learn from the experiences of others can log on to a resource of links for small business owners -- a full listing of business articles.

Each one is completely free of charge but offers valuable resources and input on starting a business, accounting and bookkeeping, marketing, real life lessons, and there are a few articles dealing with international business.

Click here to read the full small business article listing.

Among the entrepreneurs featured are accountant Jackie David of Your Back Office, an accounting and bookkeeping firm in La Canada Flintridge. She serves businesses from Glendale and Pasadena to downtown Los Angeles.

Jason and Rodney Carr of Softline Home Fashions is also mentioned with a link to their article discussing real life business lessons of entrepreneurs.

Employee retention is smart cash flow strategy

Retaining good employees is a smart way to manage cash flow.

A quality retention program reduces expenses and keeps productivity high, says Jeff Stinson, president of Irvine, California-based Global Human Resources Outsourcing (GHRO).

He mentioned a GHRO client with 1,000 employees discovered that every 1 percent drop in turnover saved nearly $ 188,000 annually.

Stinson says one employee departure causes a drop in productivity, takes up the supervisor's time, creates a need to pay out unused vacation time and then creates costs related to the hiring for an open position.

He says an employee retention program should have the following:

• New hire orientation


• Strong performance management systems


• Up to date and fair employee policies


• Fair compensation and benefit programs


• Employee opinion surveys


• Quality supervisor/management training program

Stinson says a human resources audit can provide the framework for developing a strong employee retention program.

Market research services for cash flow

Market research services can improve cash flow since accurate information should pull together the data needed to increase sales.

Jim Cooper of Conscientia Research in Monrovia, California, says market research services help make strategic decisions.

Here’s an example:

A start-up food company is making an organic product like a new type of sourdough bread. They contact local health food stores and niche stores like Whole Foods or Gelsons to get shelf space. They do.

But they’re competing against larger bakeries that make sourdough bread which is readily available in all larger stores like Vons, Ralps, and Albertsons.

Why not choose a completely different type of bread that really can fit in to a niche?

A market research service could gather the data to show how to package their sourdough bread differently so it stands out on the shelf or in the aisle.

Maybe a different flavor bread altogether would be best like a zucchini-type bread shaped in the same style as sourdough.

The market research could give the bread company information needed to enter a market or create a product line that’s not already crowded and may generate a much more favorable return.

To read more on market research for companies, click on this article I wrote to Examiner.com or contact Conscientia Research through the corporate web site.

Managing Cash Flow through Innovation

Managing cash flow may mean learning how to make products or deliver services in new and better ways - especially improving on the position of the competition.

Innovation in business is a more profitable long-term than cost cutting, according to a 16 year study from Bain and Company. The findings are in "Managment Tools and Trends 2009" by Darrell Rigby and co-author Barbara Bioldeau.

The findings stated:

• Innovation continues to be very important yet tough

• 8 of 10 executives agree that "innovation is more important than cost reduction for long-term success'

• 6 of 10 believe they could dramatically boost innovation by collaborating with other companies and half say their entire organization is actively engaged in improving innovation

Another topic of interest was "our company will use this recession to improve our competitive position" 75% agreed while 9% disagreed.

The study was linked to on the Web site Strategyplus.org under "What's New: Management Tools and Trends 2009."

Another post worth reading is this one from June 2009 titled "Cash Flow in Recession" highlighting James Ellis, dean of the Marshall School of Business. He lauded innovation as a way of moving out of recession.

Cash flow, health care bill and the NFIB

Health care is a cash flow challenge for small businesses and so is the health care bill, according to the National Federation of Independent Businesses:

"It is shockingly clear that with its new taxes, fees and government regulation, it won’t a: lower your insurance costs and b: will most definitely increase the overall costs of doing business for small businesses."

Small business is commonly referred to as the engine of the economy. So why throw gunk into an engine instead of reviewing more of the modeling that the NFIB has done to show how overpowering legislation will hurt the economy?

We'll see if small businesses hire fewer workers, especially entry level workers, and avoid giving raises in order to grapple with the rising costs of doing business and managing cash flow.

Despite the vote, take the next months to educate your congressional representative and your employees on how the health care legislation impacts the ability to turn a profit and run a business.

Organizational change and cash flow

Making major organizational changes may not help cash flow if the same root problems exist.

Creating change doesn't mean the bookkeeper will balance the ledger more effectively and that cash will start rolling in the door and the CPA will give a thumbs up at the next audit. The idea that change doesn't produce desired results caught my attention today. I was reading a speech from Paul Light who gave a speech to the Citibank Board Leadership Forum in 2004. Here are the remarks that caught my attention:

"We are drowning in change right now. Hardly a moment goes by without some new idea for making your organization’s faster, leaner, smarter, meaner.

"Private companies are constantly implementing new ideas and then reporting on failed implementation. The failure rates of change are extraordinary. Seventy percent of mergers and acquisitions – no worries here at Citibank – 70% fail to measure up to the original profit and loss projections. And you’ve got TQM [Total Quality Management], which is often under-implemented, and so forth."

His remarks are published on the Web site, Center for Nonprofit Management.

Before undertaking changes, focus on the ones that will do the most to generate cash flow. This is another reason an activity like market research could be a wise strategic investment.

Click here to read: Industry Market Research and Market Intelligence

Paid Market Research

When creating change in an organization, make sure it's strategic change and there is objective data to back up the decision-making process.

Improve cash flow using a Professional Employer Organization

Companies can improve cash flow by using specialists for tasks like human resources outsourcing which is one of the tasks of a Professional Employer Organization (PEO).

There are several strategic reasons to use a PEO:

• PEOs know HR laws and the latest employee-related regulations
• PEOs can steamline a HR workload for the busy owner or manager who wears many different hats in a small company
• PEOs can reduce employment costs and lower insurance premiums
• PEOs can offer solutions on Worker’s Compensation
• PEOs can offer input on one specialty area such as retirement plans or health plans

If you’re considering the type of PEO to use, check their credentials with industry trade associations such as NAPEO, the National Association of Professional Employer Organizations, the largest nationwide trade association for professional employer organizations. The organization has about 400 PEO members in all 50 states.

If interviewing potential PEOs, ask them what clients they've had, how they operate and how much money they have saved companies.

Using a PEO can free up the tasks facing a busy owner or manager of a company even a company that has as few as 15 employees.

Most PEOs will usually give a no-cost assessment on how they'll move forward and how they'll improve efficiency. One PEO rep told me, "guess how much it would cost a company to fight a lawsuit they could have otherwise avoided" or reduced insurance expenses.

Cash flow tip: hire HR experts to save money and time

A cash flow tip I've discovered is spend the money to hire HR experts in order to save money and time.

From Professional Employment companies to HR consultants and placement companies, spending the money can help an executive avoid hours sifting through resumes trying to determine the best fits for a company.

Claudia Shah of EE Connections, LLC in Glendale, California says those who use her agency and agencies like hers will save time and money.

“When a company used to advertise for a position they could get 5 – 10 resumes. But with unemployment in Los Angeles County reaching 12% companies who advertise for positions will now get 500 resumes,” she said.

“With that volume, how do you know how to screen the good candidates?”

She described how a person who was vice president of operations in a company eliminated the HR department. The VP thought she could handle the HR load.

Ms. Shah says what looks like a cost-savings may end up costing the company more money and take a qualified person away from what she does best.

“Why should an executive of a company spend 8 hours a day for 1 to 3 days when an outsourced staffing firm or other human resource firm can step in and handle the job in a more cost-effective manner?”

Consider outsourcing HR or hiring functions as a strategic cost of doing business. Outsourcing HR or hiring could save money in the long-term.

Cash flow begins with people

Cash flow in a company begins with employees, owners, managers and stockholders.

A company that has people who feel included will be more productive and, in our legal climate, will become less litigious.

I'm going to write a series of articles on diversity in the workplace after speaking with Dr. Sangeeta Gupta who helps companies "achieve cultural competency."

She told me that diversity means more than racial and cultural acceptance. It includes gender and generational acceptance, too. Think of mid-career workers who change jobs and start over at the lower half of the corporate ladder. They may have to report to someone 10 or 15 years younger (or even younger).

Sangeeta also mentioned that young professionals coming out of college and entering the work force need to learn why appropriate dress is important.

In her work, she equates handling a diverse workforce will lead to greater profitability.

I'll be quoting important lessons learned from Dr. Gupta and how she assists companies in manging a diverse workforce to achieve inclusion and continue on a healthy pattern of cash flow which benefits all involved.

Cash Flow Tip: Filing for a Productive Office

Filing and organizing an office reduces time and factors in to the time=money equation.

Filing requires self-discipline, a vision for categorizing information specific items, and the courage to throw away pieces of paper or magazines that aren't going to be read anymore or haven't been read in months.

Here are some tips:

#1 The files accessed most frequently should be the ones closest to the desktop and given priority on being kept up to date.

#2 Toss out excess information. Make it easier by reminding yourself that most magazine articles or newsletter articles you might want to keep are found online or in the library. A really good article that sits buried under piles of paper may be well written and contain useful information, but how much good is it doing you?

#3 Set aside one hour per week to read outside of normal work assignments. Skim through articles and either file them right away or toss them.

#4 Ask for help - this may be difficult to ask a colleague. For the home office, the cost of hiring some one to come in help may be an expense that pays off in the long run.

#5 Archive old files and projects. Put them in a box, label them and take them out of an active file drawer.

While there may be many other tips for a productive office, these five are basic and easy to follow on a regular basis.

Evaluating Cash Flow and Profitability

Take time to evaluate your cash flow by looking at business profitability for the remainder of the month.

Here are four main categories to evaluate your cash flow and corporate fiscal responsibility.

Admin
Are corporate goals in alignment with available resources?
For larger companies, do department heads know what is expected of them, their teams and what obstacles are they encountering?

How were finances in the previous quarter?

If you've made financial commitments or investments, do you know when a profit will be realized?

Are your taxes and payroll needs in order?

Tax alert for the month: Third quarter estimated taxes are due September 15.

Production
Are there any expected delays in production? Does the team work smoothly? What do you expect to achieve in production during the upcoming quarter July - September?

Is there a smooth workflow or if bottlenecks are discovered what can be done to alleviate them?

How is overall morale?

Marketing and Sales
Are marketing goals clear?

Is the right message being used in the proper media and sent to the right audience?

Is the marketing department excited about social media and really using it effectively?

Is the sales cycle lengthening or staying consistent?

Pause while its early in the month to review and tackle challenges that can derail profitability.

Business Cycles and Recessions

Business cycles and recessions go together just like business cycles and profitable times.

Whether you're starting a business, expanding a business or managing a business, here are some ways to make sense of the current business cycle and recession.

#1 You control your cash flow
Whether you like federal economic policies or dislike them, there's not much you can do to impact the day to day decisions made in Washington, D.C. Yes, you can vote, write letters to your congressional representative and write opinion pieces but don't think your success or failure is completely dependent on forces beyond your control.

Think about what you can do to increase your customer base, cut expenses, manage your cash flow effectively.

#2 Sweat the Small Stuff
The reality of recession is the businesses in the middle hurt worst. That statement is according to Dan Kennedy in his December 2008 newsletter. However, he writes that all businesses are impacted by the need to retain customers. The big chains may lose customers because of the small stuff such as the counters at Starbucks cluttered because of the clutter from impule purchase items. Small stuff matters a lot.

A company that sweats the small stufff and is managing their business cycle well in the recession is Chik Fil-Et even though they're closed on Sundays.
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#3 Educate yourself
Learn some key economic terms and a bit about history. Here's an excerpt from an online article about recessions and business cycles by Christina Romer.

Burns and Mitchell defined a recession as a period when a broad range of economic indicators falls for a sustained period, roughly at least half a year . . . .

expansions and recessions occur at irregular intervals and last for varying lengths of time. For example, there were three recessions between 1973 and 1982, but, then the 1982 trough was followed by eight years of uninterrupted expansion.

The 1980 recession lasted just six months, while the 1981 recession lasted sixteen months. For describing the swings in economic activity, therefore, many modern economists prefer the term “short-run economic fluctuations” to “business cycle.”

Finally, to navigate the current recession, make sure your skills are sharp, fix the snags in your business operation, and concentrate on offering value to customers and those who work with you. That's the best way to move through this business cycle and the current recession.

Resources for Starting a Small Business

Resources for starting a small business are available for free.

Start online through the Small Business Administration or at the local library where there are books utilizing paper!


I recently checked out Small Business for Dummies by Eric Tyson and Jim Schell. There is basic information, yet it is important to go back and review time and again. On the inside cover, there are 20 points for Small Business Success including Tip #9 "Solve your customers' problems":


"The besy way to satisfy your customers is not by selling them products but by providing solutions to their problems. Understand the difference."


Tip #11 "Put profitability first, rewards second":
"Find out how to measure your cash flow and understand your key financial ratios."


Small Business for Dummies is written as a reference book where each chapter can stand alone and provide advice making it quite practical and easy to use.


But one of the most important uses of the book is causing the prospective business owner to think about the service or product being offered and the market being targeted. Despite being in the "Dummies" series of books, the information is thorough enough to be useful even for the smartest MBA-degree earner.


I took out the book because I'm looking at launching my own marketing service focusing on helping craft marketing messages and writing marketing collateral.
Check out my web site Right Touch Marketing.

Cash flow, of course, is essential for the success of any business so researching using free resources for businesses is always a wise option.

Free Business Forms and Documents

Here’s a way to conserve cash flow by using free business forms and documents.

Starting a business and need business forms and documents? Or managing a project and you need project management documents? You can get free forms and documents from legal and business to creative at http://www.docstoc.com/.

Just like free videos are uploaded to YouTube, downloadable documents are available at docstoc.com. One document I just came across is a free cash flow business valuation model.

Docstoc community manager, Kathrine Ahn, told me they’re “focusing on just being the number 1 resource online for professional content.”

Documents are available for a number of categories ranging from business to entertainment. Users create profiles and then upload documents and can track different key stats including who has viewed your documents and how many times they’ve been downloaded.

It’s one way for professionals and businesses to market their knowledge and provide value to prospective clients and customers.

A new feature just added allows business plans to be securely uploaded and shared privately with investors. Ever tried attaching a large document with Yahoo? Docstoc has a one click application allowing users to email files without attaching documents.

Docstoc’s capital comes from investors including the co-founders/investors in MySpace and LowerMyBills.

While surfing around on information for the company, there was this article posted on the lifecycle of a start-up written by Jason Nazar, co-founder of docstoc.
Raising Money for a Startup.

Docstoc is another example of quality information available for free online. I’m a strong proponent of digging for quality, free material before pulling out the credit card or cash.

The U.S. Economy: Is it Good, Bad or . . .

If you're personally in great shape financially, the economy may seem wonderful no matter how bad it is. However, if you're down to zilch in assets and cash the economy may seem terrible no matter how good it is.

But I wanted to pass along this viewpoint from Patrick Toomey, President, Club for Growth.

As he notes, "we in the United States, and to a lesser degree the entire world, have just lived through the greatest period of prosperity in human history."

He cites some facts worth noting:

In the 1970s, the average unemployment rate was nearly 7%. It's been in decline ever since.

He also states that America is not in a manufacturing decline. "Total manufacturing output peaked in 2007! Yes, U.S. factories produced more last year than in any previous year in our history."

Toomey, a former Congressman, gave these facts during a speech in January at Hillsdale College in Michigan.

Business Innovation

This is a link to a post I wrote last August on business innovation when the url of this blog was still http://www.donbizblogger.blogspot.com/.

Business Innovation - What is it?

Now as I think of business innovation, I also think of one of the most basic ingredients that no business can afford to miss or skip.

Simply put -- be excellent at what you do. Even be great at what you do!

Be enthusiastic about what you do and treat your customers or clients with respect and care.

Maybe finding ways to be your best and excellent is itself a way to innovate. Or else it's a way to position yourself in the marketplace.

Ask yourself these questions:

1 What went well during the past quarter in our business? And what went well in June?

2 Now, what do we want to achieve in the next business quarter and what steps do we need to take in July to make that happen?

3 What do we do extremely well - or what are we capable of achieving and is that in line with the stated purpose of our company?

4 Do we have unsatisfied customers or clients and what can we do to keep them wanting to come back to us for more?

Stick to the basics. Do them well and then discover the little things you can do better. When pursuing what's tried and true then you might discover an innovative way of doing business.

Priorities and Cash Flow Tips

Toward the end of each month, I'd like to offer reminders on how to plan for the upcoming month and possibly each quarter.

A little time invested in planning can save money or help with the best use of money for a business.

I'll start first with planning for businesses and then a little for family use. For businesses, I'm going to start with the bottom line first - going backward. These priorities for business are more for service businesses but can be adapted.

Business Planning

• Invoices
- are all invoices current? What money do you expect to come in during July?
If customers are behind on payments, who do you realistically expect to pay?


• Expenses
- do you anticipate any unusual expenses in the coming month?


• Production
- are you producing results effectively? List out the projects that are outstanding or may create a problem.


• Sales
- how is your sales cycle progressing? How many new proposals are currrently out?
depending on your business, you may set a goal for writing a certain number of proposals each quarter.


• Leads
- are leads flowing in, drying up, or do they need more maintenance to generate new sales leads?

Headaches at Work: Causes and Help

You’re sitting at your computer and you begin to feel the symptoms for headaches you know so well.

Are you powerless to fend off these headache symptoms as you rush to meet deadlines or do you have to keep relying on aspirin or prescription drugs?

Your headaches, whether at the office or working in the yard, might not start in the head.

Dr. Marina Banik, a chiropractor in South Pasadena, writes on her web site that headaches can start from spinal bones in the neck that aren’t supporting the head properly.

“You might not notice your reduced ability to turn your head,” according to what she has on her website, “But these subluxations [a stress response when spinal bones lock up] affect nerves, muscles and even the blood supply to your head.”

Dr. Banik writes that some are surprised to learn that their headaches are being caused by problems in their lower back. The upper spine compensates, putting the head off center, causing headaches.

So is the spine the source of all headaches? Not necessarily, according to Dr. Banik’s web site. The three most common causes are physical trauma, emotional stress or chemical toxins. Sometimes there may be a combination of factors. An examination process helps identify the most likely cause.

What can you do to ward off headaches so you can stay more productive on your job or even enjoy your times of recreation?

Paul Bacho, a certified trainer in Cleveland, Ohio, says simple exercises can help.

“Every 15-20 minutes or so, all you need to do is take your hands away from your desk, lean back in your chair and do a behind-the back stretch.

“Just put your arms around the back of your chair and try and squeeze your shoulder blades together so that you stretch out your chest muscles. At the same time, keep your head back so that you stretch out the front of your body.

“Whenever you do this (or any) stretch, try to hold it for three minutes.”
So what should you do if your doctor, someone at work or in your family tells you, “ah, it’s all in your head?”

Dr. Banik writes that the pain you feel is real. “And psychological sources of pain are common. However, this ‘diagnosis’ is often the last resort of health practitioners who have exhausted their possible explanations of the cause of your problem. In these cases, we’ve often found that undetected subluxations are likely culprits.”

While there’s no easy and immediate cure, Dr. Banik urges people with headaches or any ailment to eat properly, drink plenty of water, reduce their coffee intake and exercise regularly. And, above all, remain hopeful.

Business Productivity and Employee Health

Business productivity factors include employee health care

and that can impact the cash flow of any business.

Making sure executive, middle managers and hourly workers are productive is also a matter of putting care into controlling the cost of employee health. Large corporations will study employee productivity statistics and roll out health and wellness programs for each department head. Those managers become responsible for employee health.

But what about the small business owner who’s stretched in running a productive operation, especially in an office where people are mostly sitting and there’s no industrial work? Are there any health risks?

Dr. Marina Banik, a chiropractor in South Pasadena, California, says there are easy preventive measures to maintain good employee health standards that focus on bio-mechanics.

“One simple step is to drink water,” she says, “and another action is exercise. The discs in the vertebrae need to be hydrated while exercise helps the bones absorb nutrients.”

Caring for employee stress is another preventative step that’s an affordable health option for businesses.

Impossible deadlines, grieving the loss of a loved one, or struggling through a painful divorce will affect posture and that places stress on the vertebrae causing subluxation, the result of spinal bones with improper motion or position affecting nerve communications between the brain and the body.

Chiropractic adjustments can reduce the impact on the nervous system.

Healthy employees are one part of a healthy business operation and that leads to positive cash flow.