[vc_row row_height_percent=”0″ overlay_alpha=”50″ gutter_size=”3″ column_width_percent=”100″ shift_y=”0″ z_index=”0″ css=”.vc_custom_1551170563683{padding-left: 50px !important;}”][vc_column column_width_percent=”70″ position_horizontal=”right” position_vertical=”middle” overlay_alpha=”50″ gutter_size=”3″ medium_width=”0″ mobile_width=”0″ shift_x=”0″ shift_y=”0″ shift_y_down=”0″ z_index=”0″ width=”1/2″][vc_custom_heading text_size=”h3″]It is what will make you more successful; because it is an activity that can dramatically affect your bottom line and at the end of the day it has been, is, and always will be, about the money![/vc_custom_heading][/vc_column][vc_column column_width_percent=”70″ position_horizontal=”left” overlay_alpha=”50″ gutter_size=”3″ medium_width=”0″ mobile_width=”0″ shift_x=”0″ shift_y=”0″ shift_y_down=”0″ z_index=”0″ width=”1/2″][vc_single_image media=”75888″ media_width_percent=”80″ alignment=”center” shape=”img-round”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row row_height_percent=”0″ overlay_alpha=”50″ gutter_size=”3″ column_width_percent=”100″ shift_y=”0″ z_index=”0″ css=”.vc_custom_1551170543013{padding-bottom: 50px !important;}”][vc_column column_width_percent=”70″ overlay_alpha=”50″ gutter_size=”3″ medium_width=”0″ mobile_width=”0″ shift_x=”0″ shift_y=”0″ shift_y_down=”0″ z_index=”0″ width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]As an entrepreneur your time is limited as you work IN your business day in and day out. Hey, you have to make money, right? The one aspect of most small businesses that gets neglected is the bookkeeping piece of the business. The problem is that bookkeeping is vital to the ongoing health of any venture. Having accurate information available in a timely fashion is so important. Decisions have to be made and those decisions can only be made if the owner has the right information at his fingertips.

Entrepreneurs make mistakes when it comes to bookkeeping. It is usually one of the following:

• Collecting all their receipts and storing them in a box for year-end when the accountant can figure it out
• Buying a sophisticated accounting software program and……
• Hiring someone else to do the work

Each one of those has its own set of problems; so let’s look at them one at a time.

If you leave your bookkeeping until the end of the year, it is going to cost you a lot more money than if you stay on top of it month in and month out. Accountants are expensive. They’ll have tons of questions and you’ll have to answer them.  Building financial statements from the contents of a shoe box is not the most practical or profitable way to go. You are going to be paying out a lot in fees.

Accounting software programs like QuickBooks and Simply Accounting are programs that take a long time to learn. Unless you are prepared to take more than a few night courses you’ll never really understand how to use them. When you make an entry in one of these programs all sorts of things happen as all different accounts are affected. Make a wrong entry and look out.  These programs and training for them is not cheap.

If you hire someone to be your bookkeeper you better hope that they know your business. They’ll make assumptions based on their limited knowledge of your business and your industry. If they make a mistake, who is going to catch it? You? Nope. You are paying them to make your life easy, remember. When there is an error, it is going to be your problem not theirs. And don’t forget, you are paying them.

Now you know what NOT to do, what is the answer? You have to be your own bookkeeper. Sorry. I know you didn’t want to hear that, but unfortunately I have learned by experience that it is the only way. Is it a bad thing? Absolutely not. It is great because by being your own bookkeeper you stay on top of your businesses’ financial health. You know what is coming in and what is going out. You know everything. And as I stated earlier having accurate information is what you need.

Where do you start? You need to:

1. Set up a spreadsheet to track your revenues
2. Set up a spreadsheet to track your expenses
3. Set up your payroll whether you are a sole proprietor or if you have employees
4. You have to keep on top of your bank account through online banking
5. You need to set up a schedule for your government remittances

With these simple things in place you will be able to manage your business and at the end of the year email your financial summary to your accountant so he can generate tax returns for both you and your business and do so quickly and at a lower cost than expected.

Each business is different; but the principles are the same. You collect revenue from sales and pay out money to suppliers, staff and the government. If you do things properly, you’ll not only run a good business, you’ll make money. Why? Simple. For example, if you see that you are not charging enough for your product or service, you’ll change pricing immediately rather than waiting until the end of the year when it might be too late.

Bookkeeping is one piece of business that is most quickly either ignored by a business owner or given away to someone else to worry about. Now you know how wrong that is. Bookkeeping is just another task that you as a business owner have to be responsible for and be happy about it. It is what will make you more successful; because it is an activity that can dramatically affect your bottom line and at the end of the day it has been, is, and always will be, about the money!

 

Paul Morgan, Plan2Profit, 1-844-752-6776[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

[vc_row row_height_percent=”0″ overlay_alpha=”50″ gutter_size=”3″ column_width_percent=”100″ shift_y=”0″ z_index=”0″ css=”.vc_custom_1547526820019{padding-top: 50px !important;padding-bottom: 50px !important;}”][vc_column column_width_percent=”70″ overlay_alpha=”50″ gutter_size=”3″ medium_width=”0″ mobile_width=”0″ shift_x=”0″ shift_y=”0″ shift_y_down=”0″ z_index=”0″ width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]Having a good Business Plan, a solid pitch deck and being well prepared landed a client of ours $87 million USD. Yes, that is a lot of money and he secured that funding with a Plan2Profit 20-page Strategic Business Document. Again, 20 pages got him 87 million dollars.

In general, when you present your business plan to an investor or lender, there is no guarantee how much money you will receive – if any at all. Raising money for your new business or for your existing business is a complex process and it is very time consuming; but if you do it the right way, you will be in a better position than most others.

The number one thing you must always remember is that your business plan is for the reader.

Background of this client

Our client was in the oil and gas business in the Midwest and he had leased a large tract of land in Indiana that had massive reserves of untapped methane gas.  Using new horizontal drilling technology he had an ambitious plan to extract the methane and either sell it as compressed gas, convert it to fuel for sale or convert it to methanol to power an electricity plant. He also had plans to build a self-sustaining micro-grid facility that could deliver both clean electrical power and year-round organic produce from a large greenhouse operation.

Before he employed our firm to help him with his business plan, he had retained the services of two other Business Plan Writing firms to help him with the project. They both produced massive documents for a large fee that no reader would ever start reading let alone finish or could understand. The writers didn’t understand the business themselves, so just crammed their plans with lots of useless information that no reader could ever fight his or her way through.

We were then contracted by the business owner for the same purpose as the other two. We look at what we do differently. We clearly understood what the client wanted. He didn’t want a business plan, he wanted to get funded. The business plan was a means to an end and not the end in itself.

After working together with the owner, we produced a Business Plan that secured his business a first round of funding of $87 million from investors in China. They said that when they read the plan they understood what he was trying to do and how he was trying to do it and the financial projections were easily understood.

So how did we do it!

Let’s walk you through the process we followed in dealing with this particular client.

#1 – The Discovery Call

The process with this client started with a simple “discovery call” to help us to understand his business, where he was at and where he wanted to be. I challenged his assumptions, and didn’t stop talking to him until I understood the business clearly. Heck if I didn’t “get” it, how was the reader of the plan ever going to “get” it.

#2 – The Financial Forecast

I asked him a series of questions designed to identify his revenue streams, projected sales, and costs of production, labor costs, and all other associated expenses. That then enabled us to develop the first draft of his financial projections.  Our goal was to develop a financial projection that was representative of his unique business idea and one that someone who didn’t “know” the business could understand.

By building a quality financial projection for the business, we proved to the reader – and the business owner – that the project was viable and sustainable.  It also proved that his business had the ability to pay down the debt it would be carrying.

Building the Financial piece with our client was a collaborative effort. In the end, our client understood where each and every number came from. This was important because he would have to defend his numbers in front of a potential investor.

#3 – Identifying the Start-Up Costs

We then identified the money he would require to start his business and identified those costs down to the penny. If you are asking someone for money you can be sure they want to know how it will be spent. Please read this blog to understand what start-up costs are. Identifying your Start-Up Costs before opening your business.

#4 – The Written Part of the Plan

Given the amount of information we were given about methanol, combined heat and power and biogenetic gas, we could have easily written a 35-50 page document; but that is not what an investor is looking for. Instead, we wrote a clear and concise document that allowed the reader to know exactly, who they were, what they did, what they were looking for and it explained things to the reader in layman’s terms with no jargon and no silly graphs or pie charts.

We included 5 main sections in the written part of his business plan.

1. An Introduction that summarized their business concept and model.
2. The Purpose of the Strategic Document which was for funding, and what size of investment they were looking for and under what terms.
3. A Description of the founder and his team and what skills they offered to the project
4. A Comprehensive two-year financial forecast and a summary five-year projection
5. A Clearly presented elevator pitch.

Conclusion

It was that simple. Remember, as a business owner pitching your idea to an investor or looking for a loan from a bank, you are not trying to win a business plan writing award; instead, you are trying to secure funding. If you keep that in mind as you build your plan you will keep on point, precise and concise.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

[vc_row][vc_column column_width_percent=”100″ align_horizontal=”align_center” overlay_alpha=”50″ gutter_size=”3″ medium_width=”0″ mobile_width=”0″ shift_x=”0″ shift_y=”0″ shift_y_down=”0″ z_index=”0″ width=”1/1″][vc_single_image media=”75843″ media_width_percent=”30″ alignment=”center” shape=”img-round”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]With the legalization of cannabis in Canada and certain jurisdictions in the United States, there are real opportunities for entrepreneurs to jump in and capitalize on a business opportunity. Although governments will control supply and pricing, the sale of products will in some jurisdictions be left to private enterprise.  This is different from what we all thought was going to happen – especially in Canada – where the initial proposal was for government to act as retailers in much the same way as they do with government-run liquor and beer stores.

The private sector is now in a position to capitalize on the business of selling recreational cannabis and cannabis related products – oils and edibles as an example. Medicinal cannabis will still be controlled by the government.

Here are the steps you must follow:

Licensing

In Ontario, Canada as an example:

1. You must apply for an Operator’s license.
2. You must apply for a Sales’ license for a specific location
3. You must have your store management licensed – in other words all your management staff must be licensed.
4. Your staff must undergo training and be certified in the same way that liquor servers must have their “smart serve”

To receive these licenses, you must meet a stringent set of standards and each individual must be “squeaky” clean. There is a fee related to each application. The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario, AGCO, regulates the licensing process so go to their Website for these applications and keep yourself informed about the ongoing changes.

Location

Once you have secured the various licenses, you then can move on to securing a location. Most landlords are going to want to see your business plan. There is a lot of misinformation about the issue of legalization of marijuana and landlords are nervous about renting space for cannabis retail outlets. The government has set out regulations for distances from schools, the need for a separate outside entrance etc. and therefore the licensee must select a location that will meet or exceed regulations.

Note: You can make an “offer to lease” with a condition that you secure the requisite licensing.

Financing

If you have secured the licensing and signed a lease, you may also need to apply for a loan. Again, you will need a Business Plan. This plan will outline the process you will undertake to go from where you are now to where you want to be. The plan must be heavily weighted toward the financial piece as this will demonstrate to the lender that you understand the economics of the business.

Your plan needs the following:

• Overview
• Financial Forecast
• Start-Up Expenses
• Security
• Management

Note:    Your Business Plan serves two purposes:

1. It demonstrates to the lender/landlord that you have a “handle” on your business.
2. It shows you that your business is viable and sustainable.

Systems and Controls

After securing a licence, a space and financing it may be time to open for business. Being a business licensed by the government, you can expect to be monitored regularly and consistently. While there are hundreds of thousands of liquor licenses issued, there are a virtual handful of cannabis retail licenses expected to be issued. And since there will be a small number of licensees approved, those cannabis retail owner/operators can expect to be visited regularly.

You will need to keep an impeccable set of books. Having policies and procedures in place is also very important. Hiring help in these areas is imperative and will save you any hassles going forward.

Securing a retail license for the sale of recreational marijuana is a potential windfall for the operator.  Do it right! If you do it right, you will not only win today; but also win tomorrow.  You might get more outlets.

Paul Morgan, Plan2Profit, 1-844-752-6776[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

The key for any person starting a retail business is to avoid the usual pitfalls. They think “how hard can this really be?”

I am sure there are many of you who have seen various retail businesses come and go.  Obviously, you want to be successful in your business or you wouldn’t be reading this post. The reason people make mistakes in business is that they do not do what they should do. They make decisions based on assumptions.

Recently, we spoke to Guy Kawasaki on The Daily Grind Podcast. Guy Kawasaki is an American marketing specialist, author, and Silicon Valley venture capitalist. He has been an entrepreneur, worked for Fortune 100 companies and he has been an advisor to many start-ups.

He identified his top ten+ list of mistakes entrepreneurs make when starting a business.

Guy Kawasaki: Many entrepreneurs believe that they will secure a share of the total market and in doing so they arbitrarily take a number like 1%. There are two fundamental flaws with this:  Firstly garnering 100% of any market is not that easy and secondly, no investor wants to hear that you are only going to get 1%. (Contradicts #1.)

My Comment: You need to clearly understand the size of your market. If you are an online retailer, your market is far bigger than if you have a shop in a local mall.

Guy Kawasaki: Businesses scale too soon. They assume that they will not only attract the “magic” 1% of the total market; but also, they will continue to attract more and more customers going forward. Mr. Kawasaki has never seen a company die because it didn’t scale fast enough; instead, what he has seen are entrepreneurs running out of money because their expectations were not met in the initial stages and rather than scaling the growth back; they just kept on spending on expanding their market.

My Comment: Every new business has to have a comprehensive Financial Forecast with benchmarks in place to guide you through the initial periods and gauge future needs.

Guy Kawasaki: Focussing on processes and not on sales.

My Comment: Nothing happens in business until someone sells something to someone. You can have the best procedures in place; but if you don’t have sales it doesn’t matter.

Guy Kawasaki: An obsession with partnering. Partnering to Mr. Kawasaki means two organizations trying to compensate for their individual weaknesses by joining forces. Partnerships to him mean nothing. Again, there is only one thing that counts in a start-up and it is sales. Entrepreneurs should only focus on sales. Sales fix everything. If you want to be left alone by your investors then meet your numbers.

My Comment: If you think that finding a strategic partner is the key to your success, you are wrong. If you can’t do everything in the early stages of a business, then you are not qualified to start the business.  Only after you are established and really busy should you look outside for help.

Guy Kawasaki: Pitching instead of prototyping. Entrepreneurs usually focus on the pitch to raise money. The key is the prototype. I would be more interested in a working prototype than a well-designed PowerPoint pitch. I can help people fix their pitch; but I cannot help them fix their prototype. If you show up with a prototype then you are showing the investors that you have a product to sell.

My Comment: This is the difference between an idea and a fully developed concept. You must have a fully developed concept or a prototype rather than an idea. You have to show your potential investors what you are selling and what makes it different from what your competitors are selling. In retail, it is the “thing” you have invented or an article of clothing or….

Guy Kawasaki: The optimal number of slides in a PowerPoint presentation is 10. You should present those 10 slides in 20 minutes. The ideal font size is 30 points or larger.

My Comment: We have created several PowerPoint presentations for our clients and every single client always wanted to put too much material on a slide. I think this is a great rule to follow. 10-20-30!

Guy Kawasaki: Entrepreneurs believe that they should accomplish things one step at a time and not move on to the next step until the current one is complete. For example, first you raise money, then you build a team, then you write the software, then you ship, and then you collect. Mr. Kawasaki believes this “serial” mindset does not exist. Realistically, it is all the processes moving at one time. It is a parallel process.

My Comment: You must be working on everything simultaneously. Every part of your plan involved is not mutually exclusive, it is instead interdependent. Marketing is affected by your forecast, and your concept drives your forecast, and your opening costs identify the money that you need.

Guy Kawasaki: Many believe that 51% ownership in a company gives them control of that company. They believe in board meetings and ultimately everything results in a vote during those board meetings. If they own 51% then they will win the vote. Mr. Kawasaki says that he has never seen this happen. The truth is, the moment you take outside money, YOU HAVE LOST CONTROL OF THE COMPANY and, by the way, it never comes down to a vote.

My Comment: People who put in the money have the control. What is 51% today may not necessarily remain at 51% because as the company expands and requires more $ your share gets diluted. Also, no one is going to put money into an organization if he or she doesn’t have a say in “how” and “where” and “when” it is spent.

Guy Kawasaki: Entrepreneurs believe that patents are defensible and make you bullet-proof. The most compelling reason to file for patents for start-ups is that it will make your parents proud. It takes 5‑6 years to file a patent. Just say in your presentation that you filed patents and that is it. Patents realistically will not help you because they have to be defended and that is a costly process and time‑consuming. If you are acquired someday, then the acquiring company will love it if you have patents.

My Comment: If you have developed a process or a “thing” that is unique then get it to market – be first to the dance. You are going to always have competition, but if you have “Kleenex”, then everyone else’s product will always be referred to as your brand name.  Perfect!

Guy Kawasaki: Hire in your own image. If you are an engineering person then you should be hiring a salesperson – People who complement your skills.

My Comment: Re-read the above; as no truer words were written.

Guy Kawasaki: Befriending your Venture Capitalist. If you get funded by a VC, VCs are not your friends. It is a business and they are in the business of making money. Angel Investors – maybe – but not VCs. Just make your forecasted revenue as it is all what they care about.

My Comment: This is business.  Keep your eye on the ball and deliver what you promised so that when you need more money, they will be ready and willing to invest in you again.  

Employee retention is one of the biggest hurdles that companies face today.

The tables have turned and the employment market in 2018 has become an employee-driven market. The labour market is so tight now, that many companies are finding it difficult to attract and then retain employees.

There are fewer people working today than there was 45 years ago. Therefore, there are lots of quality jobs out there but a smaller pool of talented workers to draw from. As a result, employers are finding it more difficult today to hang on to their great employees, because there are numerous options available to them.

You can recruit and train a person, only to have them be poached from you by a competitor within a year.

Losing any employee is a costly expense.

• First there is the cost of recruitment and then
• Second, there is the cost of training.

Top companies know the cost and are spending significant dollars just to keep their employees happy to reduce turnover.

To help you deal with this problem, we spoke to Todd Palmer who is a top staffing and recruiting executive in the Michigan area. He shared with us the four top reasons why people are leaving their jobs today.

1. They cannot stand their immediate supervisor.
2. They do not like their hours.
3. They are not challenged by their work.
4. They do not like their wage.

So, money is not as important as employers might think.

If you are hiring great people and they are leaving you; then there is a reason. You can’t recruit someone away from a company unless they want to leave.

As we mentioned in the beginning, we are experiencing full employment today; so, to get people to work for you and to stay with you, Todd strongly recommends that you create a defined working culture in your business.

So, what is a Defined Working Culture?

If you are in an accounting firm, in the tech space or even in the manufacturing industry, you need to hire people with a skillset. You need to define the skillset that you need.

Once you define that skillset, you then must find people that are a good cultural fit. To determine if candidates are a good cultural fit you first must determine your values. Write them out and then communicate those values to every member in your organization. Every hiring decision going forward should be based around your values to discover if the people you are hiring fit.

Creating a strong company culture is the most powerful tool for retaining employees. 

Salesforce is an example of a company that commits to its workforce and because of its commitment it has been named as #1 on Fortune’s “100 Best Companies to Work For” List.

Check out these articles, that were written by Salesforce,  to help you understand why culture and values matter– and to help you Build a Plan to Bring Your Culture and Values to Life, in your business.

• Once you define your values then you must LIVE those values.
• Of course, you still need to pay employees a competitive wage.

Employee retention is also dependent on the senior staff exhibiting strong leadership and that comes from the top.

In the last blog, I talked about styles of leadership.

You need to step back and look at the way you are managing your people. What worked for you 5-10 years ago, does not apply today. There are new people entering the workforce and they are looking for different things in a company. Employees want:

• To be treated with respect.
• To be listened to.
• To be trusted to complete their job.
• To be recognized as people as well as employees.

Progressive companies offer a fresh approach to retaining employees. If you want to be successful in this new employment market, look at those companies that are thriving and emulate them.