We’ve all heard the famous quote:
This was made famous by the 3rd US President, Thomas Jefferson. In all parts of life, this message can hold true………but let’s manipulate it in our favor a bit and focus on its implications in today’s business world. More specifically, let’s get past the employees, customers and vendors and concentrate solely on the business owner.
This is a fundamental business question for every small business owner. Over at Marketing Pilgrim, guest writer Jeremy Luebke posses the question “Can Your Business Exist Without You?“ In it, he outlines some fundamental “to do’s” that every business owner should consider.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics, a division within the Department of Labor, reported several weeks ago that less than 50% of small businesses successfully make it past 4 years of operation. In fact, only 44% of business owners can “hack it” through 4 years of operation. Nearly 65% of businesses successfully make it past the first two years.
Over at Yahoo! Finance, they feature an article about hiring family members and friends in the small business. When I first began reading the article, I almost choked on my lunch at one of the opening comments: “I’m a big fan of nepotism.”
Fortunately, the article went on to lay out guidelines for the small business owner who is seeking talent and is looking to family and friends as new employees. It’s a good read if you’re at the crossroads of staffing…..check it out.
A recent studyhas been released by The Social Science Research Network which examined the value corporate acquirers are putting on accounting methods and techniques. The study found that private business buyers put much greater value in private companies when financial records were being audited by a ”Big 4″ accounting firm:
“……….we find that enterprise values of private firms who have a Big 4 auditor are 19% to 25% higher than firms without a Big 4 auditor.”
When starting a business, launching a new product or executing strategic growth initiatives it is important that you throw a 1-2 punch. A wise man (my father ;-)) once said, “plan your work, work your plan”. This is a simple yet very complex concept. This idea can really carry over to all parts of life — family, friends, work, faith, health, play, etc. While we all have ideas and expectations we hope come to fruition, the responsiblity to act still rests solely on our own shoulders for us to take action and turn potential and actual.
Most people equate a business appraisal with a home appraisal. That is fair in that they share the term “appraisal” and both seek to find the value of an object/property. Yet, the approaches and complexities of the two disciplines widely differ!
We hope that our posts, advice and ramblings serve as useful nuggets of information for you, Mr. or Ms. business owner.
Get involved! Share your thoughts! Raise some eyebrows! Lay your opinions on us! Just don’t put us to sleep with pointless musings. 
If your business caters to a local, geographic audience then a question always top of mind is “How do we reach more customers in our city?”. There are a multitude of answers and the degree of these will vary based on your type of business, who you’re talking to, and what your goals are. In general, it is critical that you integrate a strong marketing mix into the equation. Traditional examples would include direct mail, yellow page advertising, networking events, partnership opportunities, event sponsorships, etc. In today’s rapidly evolving world of technology and internet, an untapped market that has significant upside to small business owners is search engine marketing and advertising.
If you have ever owned a business at any point in your career, you have most certainly asked the question, “what is my business worth?”. Well, did you get an answer? If so, was it legit or pie in the sky? Did you make a guesstimate or did you CPA give a number?
