How many times have you heard someone say, “I’m just not a numbers person”? Have you ever been that person? It’s a common expression and an easy escape hatch to fall through when you’re staring at spreadsheets full of numbers and formulas. But it’s a phrase, and an attitude, that’s ultimately unproductive and stopping you from taking your business to the next level. Continue reading
As the April 15 personal tax deadline looms, you’re likely overwhelmed with short-term concerns about your business budget and your personal finances. You should also be considering two crucial longer-term questions: What are you saving for retirement, and where are you saving it? Continue reading
The season where we all start to look at our numbers will quickly be upon us. The end of the year. The context that those numbers are in matters, so take a deeper look this year until you understand what your numbers are really telling you.
Let’s say you brought in $200,000 of revenue this month. Is that good or bad? It depends. If you brought in $100,000 last month, it’s good. If your expenses were $400,000 this month, it’s bad. Everything in context. Continue reading
Posted by the Internal Revenue Service
FS-2015-22, August 2015
For anyone starting a small business, especially those who are self-employed, the Internal Revenue Service offers some basic information on filing, reporting and paying taxes.
Generally, one is self-employed if they:
Many small business owners start out thinking they will do everything they possibly can in their business to keep costs low, including doing their own accounting. Some have learned the hard way that small errors can add up to a big mess. Continue reading
When you think about the big picture of your business (thinking strategically rather than tactically) are you focusing on growth (most business owners do) when you should be focusing on increasing value instead?
We spend a lot of time talking about Business Growth – and for good reason. Growth is the most obvious, visible sign that your business is doing well. Given a choice, almost everyone would choose to grow versus choosing to get smaller. Business owners and clients bring up the topic of growth a lot – usually in the context of money. I need to make more money so I need to grow (i.e. grow revenue). Unfortunately more revenue doesn’t always mean more money to the business owner. Continue reading
I find business owners have a hard time keeping the gross profit margins on their product or service in mind when establishing pricing. To be able to maintain your gross profit margin, you need to know what your costs are. Continue reading
When you talk about your business with someone that might have an interest in loaning you money, or joining you as a partner, or buying the business, they will want to see the Cash Flow Statement. Continue reading
In Part 1 I mentioned that John McCarthy, computer and cognitive scientist who coined the term “artificial intelligence” stated…”he who refuses to do arithmetic is doomed to talk nonsense.”
Recently I wrote about KPIs, Key Performance Indicators. In Part 1 of this series, I presented a few ratios that might be your KPIs, or a part of your overall watchfulness of the numbers in your business. In this post I’m going to review some calculations to determine what typically happens in your business. There are four common methods of calculating a typical value: mean, median, mode and midrange. Don’t run – stick with me – it will be painless, I promise, and if you need more help, call for an appointment to work on the numbers for your business. Continue reading
Lots of small business owners start out thinking they will do everything they possibly can in their business to keep costs low, including doing their own accounting. Some have learned the hard way that small errors can add up to a big mess. Continue reading