Capital Strategies

There are 168 hours in one week. What are you doing with your time? Are you focusing on things that will move you forward? Or are you just checking things off your to-do list? Time management experts recommend making a list of duties, prioritizing them and completing the most important ones first. There are always multiple things to do, people to call, emails to return, meetings to attend, etc. However, even with my list making and organizational skills, there never seems to be enough time to do it all.  Sometimes at the end of a busy day, I realize that I didn’t make the progress I wanted.  Sound familiar? Recently, the founders of Life is Good , a $100 million clothing company dumped their email accounts.  They no longer send, receive, or read emails.  Wow.  Think of all the time they have to do other things!  And that was entirely the point. They realized that responding to email wasn’t moving their business forward.  It took  time...

A few weeks ago, Chris Blanchard , founder and CEO of Longdrop Cider shared some lessons he learned since launching his cider manufacturing business 18 months ago.     Here are my takeaways from his lively and thought-provoking presentation:   Be solutions focused.   When problems arise, don’t throw up your hands and panic.   Take a deep breath.   Calm down.   Think.   Then come up with solutions for fixing the problems.   Solve one problem at a time and move on.   Too often when there are multiple metaphorical alligators snapping at our heels, we tend to run away screaming.   In business, these alligators don’t usually have teeth and won’t eat you for dinner.   So focus on one problem right now and find the solution.   Then move on to battle the next alligator.   Don’t get stuck in analysis paralysis.   For some, doing research and analysis is comforting.   And for others, analysis is painful. ...

Ever wonder how bankers decide whether you can borrow money? Commercial lenders perform due diligence to understand your business, the industry you operate in, and your financial capacity. This is the logical “science” part of the loan decision process. But there is an "art" to the commercial lending process too.   Five general areas that commercial lenders consider when making a loan decision are: • Character: It’s all about you. Your past reputation with vendors, creditors and community. • Capacity: Does your business have cash flow to pay debt? Historical and/or projected income?  • Capital: How much cash have you or others invested into your business? • Collateral: What tangible assets can be pledged to cover your loan request?  • Conditions: What is happening in your industry? Overall economy? What are the risks?  Of these five areas, four represent the logical part of loan decision-making. Determining one’s character comes with pra...

Last week I did something I have never done before. I wrote a letter to the President of the United States. Now, I don't expect to get a response but somehow just the act of doing it made me feel a little better. What caused me to do this? I am so perturbed by the 1099 reporting requirement that was hidden in the Health Care Law. Not only have I now written to the President, I have also written twice to my state's elected representatives. A couple of them responded. One response was written in typical "legislator non-speak". He's an attorney so I would have been suprised if he stated a clear opinion. But I will continue to do what I can even if it is just write letters, make blog posts, tweet relevant articles, and tell everyone I know to do the same. I'm proud of what the Tea Party has done to get attention regarding how angry small town America is with what is happening to our country. I am sharing a copy of the letter I wrote to the President...

So business owners..... you thought doing your tax reporting was baaaaaaad before....well it just got worse. Here's the latest from the geniuses in Washington. Beginning in 2012, you'll have to keep track of EVERY EXPENDITURE OF $600 and more so you can send a 1099 to that person or business. And remember before you can fill out a 1099 form, you must have the tax ID number and correct address. Yikes! Can you imagine trying to get Costco's tax ID number??! Not to mention Chevron, Wal-Mart, Office Max, and every other Tom, Betty, Fred and Sally that you do business with! I have heard some dumb things...but this one really is the grand champion. This is going to increase the workload of every small business owner in America...and for what purpose? So the IRS can see if we are being honest? Once again, the Democrats have completely missed the boat and are tripping over dollars to pick up dimes. Yes, there are some folks that have "two sets of books" (one...

This is no suprise to anyone in business. Small businesses (and big businesses) need customers. Customers come from consumer confidence. Consumer confidence comes from employment (i.e. positive cash flow which allows businesses to create jobs). Employment comes from the free flow of money in the economy. But here's something that until recently many people didn't think about: Banks control the money supply in the economy. The Government can pump money into banks through low interest rates and programs like TARP but if banks can't or won't lend, then money doesn't flow in the economy. Thus creating the vicious cycle we see now. Okay, I know....that's pretty elementary. But here's the question I'd like to get an answer for: Can someone tell me why we haven't considered reopening the Resolution Trust Corp that resolved the problems during the S & L Crisis just a few years ago??? Banks would be able to lend and thus "jump start" t...

Have you ever really wanted to buy something yet the biggest reason you didn’t was the sales person? Maybe it’s me…but I like to be “sold”. Whatever the product or service is, I want the sales person to ask me questions about how I will use it. What do I like about it? What reason do I have for wanting one? What difference will it make in my life? How many others have I considered but not purchased? And why? And so on. What irritates me incredibly is when I tell the salesperson SPECIFICALLY what I want (in other words, I have made it EASY for him/her to sell to me). I’ve also said, “Look, I know something about this type of gizmo. And so I only want to hear about how I can use it for (name specifics). I know the product has many other features I may grow to love and use. But right now, for the sake of time, I only want you to tell me, can your Whizbang do such and so in this way”? The sales people I talked to must all be on salary because they would never make it on commi...