In last week’s post on Laying a Financial Foundation, one of the tenets mentioned was: Choose Advisors Carefully.
Entering an arrangement with an advisor, whether contractural or not, is similar to a marriage. No, you’re not going to spend the rest of your lives together sitting on the front porch in rocking chairs while one shouts and the other one keeps saying, “What?”
But, you are going to work very closely together. You want that relationship to be the best experience for both of you.
Here are some questions to ask yourself and them before you “put a ring on it.” [continue reading…]
Purchasing for your business is inevitable.
But are you getting caught in the trap of using excess time and resources to save a couple bucks?
It happens all too often.
“If I just search for a better price, it’s worth the effort. Right?”
Wrong.
When I briefly worked for a Fortune 500 company implementing technology into businesses, some of my clients would boggle my mind when it came down to making decisions.
They would spend hours researching on the web between buying from my competition or me… for the same product.
Most of these times would be because of a price difference under $10. While I will agree that $10 is $10 and these decisions can add up to a healthy sum of money, what could those two hours be better used for?
[continue reading…]
While discovering something you’re passionate about and launching into business can be exhilerating, many small business owners don’t pay enough attention to core financial tenets surrounding the fiscal management of their business.
Let’s face it, very few of us have any formal financial education. Even fewer know much about business finance.
Most of us are just someone who discovered a skill or talent and wanted to build a business around it, came up with a brilliant idea and had the guts to take it to market and see what others think of it, or a “techie” that can program something cool that others want to play with.
Regardless of why we jumped into this crazy game of entrepreneurship, we have to remember we’re running a business and a business has a scorecard — that scorecard is our financial performance.
If you’re a savvy entrepreneur you know you must be working with financial professionals including a strong accountant, bookkeeper and maybe an in-house finance manager or CFO depending on the size of your company. But you can’t leave control of your company’s finances solely in the hands of advisors or employees.
Control starts with a basic understanding of several tried-and-true tenets. Understanding and applying these tenets will give you a leg up over most entrepreneurs and will ensure you work more intelligently and strategically with your financial advisors. [continue reading…]
Are you financially fluent?
Starting today, and every Friday for the foreseeable future, we’re going to talk finance.
Since we here at The Edge of Innovation don’t know exactly where your financial education lies we’re going to start from the basics and build from there.
Let’s jump right in…
Wait! Before we begin I want to remind you of the two great financial dangers:
“I already know that.”
AND
“This is too overwhelming.”
Routinely when I work with business owners I hear the phrase, “I already know that.” The objective, of course, is not whether you already KNOW, it’s whether you currently APPLY.
For those of you who are financially fluent, rather than dismiss these basic financial lessons in the beginning blog posts, make the committment to challenge yourself on whether you are actually applying these principles to your business right now.
If you are one of the more inexperienced when it comes to financial fluency, it’s important for you not to gloss over these lessons and arrive at the conclusion that it’s too overwhelming.
Much of business comes down to a financial score. And when you don’t score well, you don’t have a business. At least not for long. Therefore, it’s imperative you know the financial score of your business and your personal wealth. (Which, by the way, are not one and the same)
Now let’s get started… [continue reading…]
Business owners benefit financially from their companies in two ways:
1) From the long-term appreciation of company value.
2) From payouts in the form of salary, benefits, and dividends.
Far too often small business owners focus on the latter rather than the former.
The key question to unlocking the true financial potential of your company is…
Am I solely concerned with creating an income stream or am I maximizing the long-term value of the most important asset I’ll ever own?
In last week’s post on Laying a Financial Foundation, one of the tenets mentioned was: Choose Advisors Carefully.
