As business owners we struggle to increase sales, reduce costs, retain good employees, etc. This has been especially challenging in 2010 and looks to be only marginally more productive in 2011.

At year end (typically the holiday season) is when employees generally get some feedback on their performance or are recognized for their contributions throughout the year. How do you recognize your valuable employees, strengthen team comradery, keep everyone motivated for the upcoming challenges and still balance the other important priorities?

-Are you planning a company holiday party?
-Will there be any employee bonuses?
-Will there be any cost of living increases?
-Do you perform annual performance reviews?

Not all recognition needs to be monetary. According to Abraham Maslow (you’ve probably heard of his heirarchy of needs) – After we have achieved saftey, clothing, food, housing, and social interaction; we are most motivated by praise, awards, decorations, and gifts, along with desire to work/act as we please according to our talents and interests. We all want to feel like we contribute to the success of the business – we are part of something bigger!

Creativity is key. You can find ways to praise, recognize, and motivate your team!

Ask us the question you are dying to know the answer to! Submit your question in the contact us section of our web page. We will reply!

Here is a list of questions that every business manager should be able to answer with an unqualified yes. They relate largely to the fundamental need of identifying and understanding your competition, and if you find yourself giving a no answer to any of them it means you could be short of valuable information that would provide you with a competitive advantage.
Do you know who your competitors are?
Do you know where they are and how big they are?
Would you be aware if any new competitors entered your market?
Do you regularly monitor your competitors advertising and promotions by looking for their advertisements, visiting their premises and looking at their websites?
Do you talk to your suppliers about your competitors and gather information about what they are buying and what quantities they purchase?
Do you encourage your employees to keep an eye on marketing activity by your competitors and pass any good ideas on to you?
Do you keep up to date with technological developments in your field and will you know if your competitors adopt new technology into their business?
Do you know the statistics of your marketplace – what your share of market is and what market share is held by each of your major competitors?
Have you conducted a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis on your business? Are you prepared to deal with any competitive threats that might be identified?
Do you know what opportunities exist for you to grow your business ? either by taking business away from your competitors or by expanding into new market areas?
Do you know what is happening in the legislative environment that might affect your operations such as new laws relating to workplace safety or product standards that could pose a threat to you or mean that you will have to change the way you conduct your business?
Do you regularly research your products against those of your competitors?
Are you able to respond quickly if you find your product offers fewer features and benefits or needs improvement?
There may be a lot of work involved in finding the answers to these questions but, a business that knows and understands its rivals has a much better chance of being able to withstand competitive onslaughts and to formulate strategies that will take business away from others in its industry.

The difference between death and taxes…….congress can not make death any worse!

On the surface, it looks like it addresses several concerns for each taxpayer segment, from the unemployed to taxpayers to businesses. Hopefully it will provide the additional stimulus needed to ward off recession and fuel growth. It’s appeal varies depending on whether you share Democratic or Republican ideologies.

Two things stick out to us:

#1 – By maintaining the Bush era tax-cuts, it should eliminate the uneasiness created by “fear of the unknown”. Consumers and business owners did not know if their tax liabilities where going to go up in 2011; and this resulted in causing most of us to “hunker down” and wait to see what happens next. Hopefully this fear is eliminated and we can get back to business – banks loaning $, businesses investing in capital, and unemployment dropping.

#2 – The balooning National debt. This deal adds between $700 – $900 billion to the deficit. How soon before the debt is too large to manage? Are we prepared to pass this burden to our children in order to let them figure it out?

It’s never easy! We need strong leadership to make the tough decisions that have to be made. We need to work together to save our future! The world is watching!!

It happens to all of us, we get busy surviving the challenges of the day. The problem is that this happens routinely and eventually we get stuck doing things a certain way. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but are we doing things as efficiently and effectively as we could be? Left un-vetted, ad-hoc processes can evolve into “the culture” of the business. You’ve heard it before – “That’s the way we’ve always done it”.

As business owners we need to step back and question the various processes and procedures that are operating within the business. Are they relevant, effective, or efficient? This is difficult when you are living within the realm of consciousness that created them.

That is why we need someone from outside the organization to provide a fresh look into the inner workings of the business. They can challenge “That’s the way we’ve always done it”, and provide alternative options. Options that have been reviewed and customized for our specific businesses.

Business management consultants are an excellent resource for providing a business review.

State of Indiana tax returns filed, by year.

2008 actual – 5,011,850
2009 est – 4,822,400
2010 est – 4,740,800
2011 est – 4,745,400
2012 est – 4,784,800
2013 est – 4,832,800
2014 est – 4,871,600
2015 est – 4,899,600

5 years down the road, we still do not get back to the 2008 level of tax returns filed.

Click here to learn how to improve your cash-flow!