Welcome to the February 2006 edition of our
newsletter! In this issue you will find a
listing of our upcoming events, updates
about the On Target Program and articles to
help you run a better business.
Be sure to check out our Quick Links
in the lower section of the right hand
column for the Business Tip of the
Month!
Also note our new series of Tele-classes
starting this month in the Upcoming Events
section!
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Upcoming Events |
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Businesses Getting Results
Teleclasses and web seminars are
offered each month starting in
February! We offer at least one
teleclass or webinar each month -
some fee and some free!
February's Teleclass is February
23, 2006
The Four Ways to Grow Your Business
Presenter: Linnea Blair,
Advisors On Target
When: Thursday, February 23, 2006 -
4:00 PM Eastern (3:00 PM Central,
2:00 PM Mountain, 1:00 PM Pacific)
Where: Web Seminar/Teleclass (90
minutes)
Cost: Free
Register Here
Click
Here for Details
Special Informational Teleclass
February 28, 2006
From time to time we also try to
bring you information from other
sources that we believe would be
helpful or of interest to you. This
month’s special interest teleclass
is an informational call about
QuickBooks Merchant Account Feature.
Of note: PDCA and QuickBooks have
teamed up with a special offer that
may interest you if you take or wish
to take credit cards as payment for
your services.
Process credit cards directly
into your QuickBooks using your PC
or tablet
Guest Presenter: Rozzie Brilliant,
Intuit
When: Tuesday, February 28, 2006 -
1:00 PM Eastern (12:00 PM Central,
11:00 AM Mountain, 10:00 AM Pacific)
Where: Web Seminar/Teleclass (60
minutes)
Cost: Free
Register Here
Click Here for Details
Dates are set for the
On Target Spring Conference!
May 4 - 6, 2006 at the
Kona Kai Shelter Pointe Resort
on the bay in beautiful San Diego!
- May 3, 2006 - New Member's
Orientation Session
- May 4, 2006 - Office
Manager's Workshop
- May 5, 2006 - On Target
Conference Day One
- May 6, 2006 - On Target
Conference Day Two
Download Conference Invite
On Target Conferences are held in
conjunction with Summit Workshops
for contractors who belong to, or
are considering involvement with,
both On Target and Summit
Is your company "On Target" for
business success in 2006?
This is a great time to get involved
in an On Target program, and get
your business on track to meet your
2006 goals!
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Resolving Employee Conflicts |
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As a business owner you expect and
hope that the great employees that
you have taken such trouble to hire
will all get along. Even in the best
companies, issues between employees
still arise.
Intervening in employee disputes is
a risky action and, often as not,
ends up with the business owner or
manager alienating both parties. A
better way to proceed is set up a
policy that will enable management
to listen to any employee with a
grievance, yet still encourage those
with disputes to do everything they
can to resolve it among themselves.
This should be a formal policy,
stated in writing. It should also
become a part of employee
orientation and be incorporated into
the company’s policies and
procedures manual.
Be a mediator – not a judge
While it’s preferable to allow
people to resolve their own
disputes, if that doesn’t happen or
if the conflict is affecting their
performance or the business itself,
then you will have to play a part.
In this situation make your role one
of mediator rather than as judge and
jury. Have a plan and work to it or
you’re likely to make things worse.
Guide them through a simple process
that makes them think about why the
problem arose and what they can do
about it. Begin by seeing each of
the parties separately. Here are
some of the questions you can use to
be sure and get their side of the
story:
- Ask each of them what has
been said and done
- Ask each of them why the
other person feels that a
dispute exists
- Ask each of them if any
other co-workers are involved
- Ask each of them what they
feel would end the dispute
Make careful notes and when the
sessions are over compare records to
identify the major points of
difference or misunderstanding.
Bring the parties together in a
neutral environment
Now that you’ve familiarized
yourself with the parties in the
dispute and how they feel about the
key issues, bring them together in a
location outside the work area of
any of those involved. Summarize
their respective positions and try
to get them to be objective about
their position as well as that of
the other person.
If it’s a realistic idea, propose to
both parties their own solutions –
the answer they each gave about what
would resolve the dispute for them.
Start from those positions and try
to work them both towards a middle
ground that will probably be a
compromise but hopefully will be
acceptable to each of them. Point
out where the parties have seen
things the same way and try to build
an agreement from those foundations.
Your role must be to remain
objective and impartial. Even if you
personally feel that one of the
parties is ‘wrong’ and the other is
‘right’ your place is to help both
parties see things clearly and work
it out between themselves.
Ignore complaints that are
anonymous
Complaints that are unsigned or made
anonymously (telephone calls or
emails) must be ignored. Once an
anonymous complaint about an
employee is investigated it has been
given credibility. You become the
villain because you’re the one
making the accusations.
Information in this article is
sourced from RAN ONE, Inc
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Retirement – What’s Cash Flow Got To
Do With It? |
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Retirement - you may already have
a date in mind, a particular
birthday or after a certain number
of years in the CEO’s position, but
will the money be there to support
your retirement needs when the date
rolls around? Many people get to
their hoped for retirement date only
to find their finances are
insufficient and their dreams need
to be put on hold. Planning for your
retirement from the business should
be a long term and well thought out
process so that it can happen when
you want it to. There are a number
of steps you can take to set a
realistic retirement date.
First, you must determine what your
financial needs will be during your
retirement, and that means budgeting
for an unknown number of years. Some
financial planners use 70 percent to
75 percent of pre-retirement income
as a general rule, but this only
applies if your financial needs
actually decrease after your
retirement.
Similarly, a little forward planning
can allow you to minimize your
expenses and reduce or eliminate
many debts by the time you expect to
retire, for example, by paying off
existing mortgages and other long
term debt obligations.
Regardless of the post-retirement
income you think you’ll need,
experience shows that most retirees
find they need more than they
originally anticipated, so it’s
always wise to include a contingency
in your estimates of the income
required.
Still, for many business people what
they are really relying on is a good
sale price for their business as the
major contributor to their
retirement income. That means some
expert advice from an evaluator. But
there is still a piece of the jigsaw
missing – you could be taking the
opportunity of the years between now
and your retirement to actually
improve the value of your business
by improving its cash flow. As an
experienced business owner you’ll
have an appreciation of the
importance of cash flow. It’s always
referred to as the ‘lifeblood’ of a
company and rightly so, and it will
also have a major bearing on the
value of the business at time of
sale, and therefore on when you can
actually retire from your company.
Cash flow is what buyers want
The first consideration is that when
you’re looking for someone to buy
your business they’ll be looking
carefully at its cash flow. The cash
flow generated by the organization
is what gives the business its real
value. To put it another way, nobody
pays for ‘potential’; what they
purchase is a machine that makes
money.
It’s cash flow that will enable the
buyer to pay you for the business,
and that’s equally important if
you’re selling out to employees or
expecting a member of the younger
generation to take over and provide
an income flow for your years of
retirement. It’s absolutely
essential that you have a forecast
of your cash flow up to the time of
your projected retirement – and as
far beyond as estimates can be made.
If the forecast indicates that the
firm’s cash flow won’t be sufficient
to cover all your objectives then
you may have to do one of the
following:
- Set a later retirement date
- Phase out your departure
from the business
- Find a purchaser with cash
instead of financing a relative
into the business
- Find ways to increase the
value of the business so it
brings a higher sale price
- Reduce your retirement
lifestyle expectations
Take steps to improve your cash
flow
It might prove a painful reality
check, but preparing an estimate of
the business’ future cash flow is an
essential part of retirement
planning and a reminder that your
long term dreams rely on how well
you manage the business’ operations
to maximize it.
Information in this article is
sourced from RAN ONE, Inc
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Memorable Quotation |
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“Do more than is required. What
is the distance between someone who
achieves their goals consistently
and those who spend their lives and
careers merely following? The extra
mile.” – - Gary Ryan Blair
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On Target News
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Spring is just around the corner,
even if it doesn’t feel that way in
your part of the country! What does
that mean for you as a contractor
and business owner?
If you have been in a winter “slow”
season, I hope you have been working
ON your business, fine-tuning your
2006 profit plan and marketing
strategies, and getting ready to
move forward with “all systems go”
for your busier months just around
the corner!
Make sure that you are ready to move
with your marketing and hiring
systems in place now – don’t wait
until business starts to pick up –
you may have already lost the jump
on really making your plan work if
you are not ready to roll forward.
What do you want to achieve for
2006?
Give us a call, and let us help you
get moving!
On Target can help with options that
work for you!
- Business Performance Review
- Individual Consulting
- Small Business Program
- On Target Program
Find out more.... |
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