She calculated that, when taking all paperwork into account, she spent roughly an hour on each transaction no matter how large or small. Are your people as efficient as they should be? Intellectual capital is proprietary information and in-house knowledge of technologies, materials, processes, and markets useful to an organization. Leaders have the courage to change themselves first when things aren't on target.
Here's what no-one tells you about Finance
Thousands
fail in business
every year when an idea put into practical operation would have tided them over the trouble and opened the road to a competence. Everyone
likes to poke
fun at the government (hey, what are governments for, anyway?). To
expand and grow,
you have to market and sell, get referrals, present winning proposals, offer unique products, and then provide great customer service. A
short-term loan may
be for 90 days and used to finance receivables so you can get a big order out the door.
Can Research and Development Make a Difference to your Bottom Line?
Imagine
that it s
five years from now. A
manager often lacks
such specific knowledge but has generalized understandings of personnel, training, motivation techniques, evaluation, product distribution, compensation, and budgeting. The
Small Business Administration
(SBA) is devoted to helping small-business people get started and run successful businesses. But
there s no
reason that only serial entrepreneurs should get the benefit of regular business-planning sessions.
Seek referrals from other business managers
If
you re starting
a fine restaurant, for example, and your chef graduated at the top of her class from the Culinary Institute of America, play that front and center. This
amazing talent pool
is at your disposal. Where
do you want
to be? This
is extremely important,
because you don t want to gain numerous unhappy customers who could become anti-ambassadors for your brand.
A lazy person's guide to Sourcing
Is
it beneath your
social station to handle butter and eggs? They
are doubtful about
the character or standing of some man with whom they are or may become heavily involved. This
will show you
care and get them to call, refer, or buy from you when the need arises. Likewise,
you ll want
to explain the key, appropriate positions of your team members.
How will you staff the business?
Stay
flexible and silent
about what you believe the venture is worth until you are in serious negotiation. Even
if you don
t learn anything new, getting a firm handle on your goals and objectives is a big help in deciding how you ll plan your business. Increasingly,
companies large and
small have been trying to trim the number of suppliers and customers they deal with and develop deeper and stronger relationships with the ones they keep. It
s tempting to
noodle around with the numbers until you come up with the desired result.