Top 8 Things Business Owners Do To Crush the Value of their Business

Business Value Can be Managed if the Business Owner Can Manage Themself 

If you read too many business magazines you might find yourself believing that creating a valuable business is more luck than skill. Business value can be managed and if you manage the value you will become more profitable.

Small business owners often confuse business earnings or profit with the actual value of a business. All profits are not created (or valued) equally. A fundamental method of measuring the value of a business is applying a multiple to earnings. Take two businesses that have the exact same earnings of $100,000. Will they have the exact same value to a business buyer? No.

Caring for a Cause can be Good for your Business

Many business owners I encounter say they want to "give back" and will start doing so after they ...hit it big. I'm sure many of them mean what they say and I'm equally sure that many, many of them will never get to the point where what they've achieved is enough to start "giving back".

Should You make A Charitable Cause Part of Your Business Model Instead of Just a Part of Your Hopes?

There are many benefits to a business if they make a serious and genuine effort to support a charitable cause on a consistent and ongoing basis. A few well known businesses do this and many other lesser known companies do as well. Business charity is not only good for your communities..it's good for your business. Never underestimate the power of a good business plan.

Anatomy of a Successful Small Business Purchase

Although the names, location, types of businesses and other details have been changed for confidentiality purchases this Hub reflects real transactions in the world of buying and selling a business.

The Buyer

Susan, 45, had been employed in the corporate world for 15 years and had done well, worked hard and gotten good performance ratings. She felt like she would be with her company for a long, long time. She thought that right up until the moment when, on a Friday afternoon, she opened an email from the company CEO stating that the company had just agreed to be acquired and more details about what that means to individual employees would be forthcoming in the next few weeks and months.

How to Use an SBA Loan in Acquisition of a Business

When looking at businesses you might want to buy you should always keep in mind how you are going to finance the purchase of the business. Most small businesses are purchased using bank lender financing in the form of a small business SBA loan. This post discusses the Small Business Administration (SBA) loans that are available and what are the general requirements to qualify for an SBA loan. Keep in mind that specific banks may have slightly different requirements but the main issues will be the same across all banks. The SBA supports small business development centers throughout the U.S. which can provide information about the SBA Loan process.

What is an SBA Loan? What are the SBA guidelines for small business acquisition loans?

Commercial banks and the SBA agree to certain ground rules whereby if the bank adheres to the SBA loan rules, guidelines and regulations and makes a loan to a borrower under those rules, then the SBA will guarantee a significant portion of the loan (up to 90% in some cases). This SBA loan guarantee makes the loans very low risk for the banks and therefore the banks have an incentive to make these loans to small business borrowers. Not all banks participate in this program and it involves a lot of paperwork!

What do I need and what can I borrow?

Business Partnerships - The good, the bad and the ugly...

In my line of work we run into business partnerships every day and we are often the ones trying to figure out how to resolve the myriad issues, problems and crisis that revolve around the small business partnership dynamics. A wise person once said famously,

"Choose your business partner twice as carefully as you choose a spouse..because your spouse can only take half of what you have."

Business partnerships can be a wonderful thing, especially in the early stages in the life of a small business start-up. The sense of mission and teamwork can be addictive. But what we often see is that the business partners didn't really agree to anything before they become partners.

Often the partnership conversation goes like this:

Mary, "Bill, I have a great idea. I'm going to make ice skates that have training wheels."

Bill, "Cool, I have some free time, I can help. Want to be partners?"

Mary, "Sure 50/50"

Bill, "Awesome, let's go to Starbucks and noodle out a plan."

There you have it, you now have your business partner and, as long as the business doesn't succeed or fail things will likely be o.k. However, every business, over time, does exactly one or the other. It either succeeds of it fails.

Good Business Partnership Agreements are All About the "What ifs?"

The best business planning tool?

If you plan to be in business you'd better have a Business Plan. If you plan to start a small business this tool can be the difference between success and losing everything. If you think this Business Plan tool is expensive wait til you see how expensive it is to NOT have a well thought out and written business plan.

If you are considering starting or buying a business it's a good idea to have the best tools. It may cost you a few bucks but it could be a cost that saves you many, many thousands of dollars.

A good business planning tool will also allow you to compare options from a consistent platform.

I think the best Business Plan Software on the market today is Business Plan Pro . (Yes, this is an affiliate link and we get a few cents if you buy it but, hey, give us a break, we did the research).

The best part about this software is it's intuitive and you don't need an MBA to operate it. The Standard edition is all most people ever need. It's a product that has been around for many years and it's very practical and efficient to learn.

As you can see the layouts are clean and easy to understand.



If you are going to get into business you need a plan that is logical, well thought out and proven. Trust me, if you go to your banker with a professional business plan your odds of getting financing improve dramatically. A plan like the one Business Plan Pro produces will be a requirement for any SBA loans that you apply for or pursue.

Here's a few fatal mistakes a good business plan can help you avoid.

The best time to have a business plan is before someone asks you to see it! Get ahead of the curve...get your plan.

Running a small biz is tough, but good and free advice is available!

Excellent info about employment practices for small businesses. The very best medicine is preventive medicine!

Take a look at this blog article by Attorney Alan Bush about overtime perils and pitfalls.

Click Here

Uncertain Times, Reason to Act or Reason to Wait?

I am often asked "when is the best time for someone start a business?". As you might imagine, the answer is different for everyone and even then, the answer is never 100% evident.

If you wait until the risks are minimal the time might may never come, if you leap when the risks are huge your chances of success are reduced. So what to do.......................

My advice is to make sure you have thought about the opportunity and the risks. Knowing that you can never really quantify the risk. Here are a few questions:

• If the business takes a year to get going what happens?
• How much of my own money am I willing to risk?
• How much of others people money am I willing to risk?
• Am I as smart as I think I am?
• Do I have a bullet-proof plan for the first 6 months? If not, why not?

The last item is critical, if you have a bullet-proof, well thought out plan for 6 months...and you can execute that plan, your chances of success go up dramatically. The reason is simple. A great and accurate 6 month plan means you know enough about your market and your customers to give you time to adjust to changes. The ability to adjust is an essential survival skill in business.

If you really want to start a business, focus on a well thought out 6 month plan. Review it with people who are in business, be honest and do your homework. If you've done all that and the opportunity still looks good...jump in..and welcome to the world of the entrepreneur.

What is Working Capital and why is it Important?

Many small business owners don't understand or appreciate the need to have a good handle on working capital and how it is generated or consumed by the business. Let's take 2 examples on opposite ends of the business spectrum.

First a Day Spa. At a day spa the customer comes in, pays for the services and then gets the services - no accounts receivables to collect...no money, no service. Also, a Day Spa sell lots and lots of Gift Certificates. With gift certificates the biz collects $100 for a gift certificate and has the cash for weeks, months, years or even forever before the service is delivered. That's called negative working capital. I get your money before I incur the cost of providing the service.

Now lets look at an office supply business. A customer calls up, orders 5 cases of paper for delivery at a cost of $200 and the customer wants you to "bill" them. Which means they will pay in about 30 days. This $200 order requires a lot of working capital...you had to buy the paper, pay the driver, pay the person who took the order all BEFORE the customer pays you the $200. All those expenses you had to pay out before the customer paid you needs working capital to pay.

That's why understanding working capital is critical, if you are in a business that needs working capital to grow you'd better figure out where the working capital is coming from before you start to grow. Many. many profitable businesses have gone out of business because they didn't account for, and plan for, the working capital needs of the business.

The hard work of un-fooling yourself...........

As I've written before, during the 1st quarter of the new year I find myself trying to take extra time to plan and evaluate. Some of this is an natural reaction to reviewing the financials in preparation for filling taxes. Some of it is just my reaction to something I've heard or read somewhere.

During a recent walk I was thinking about something I read in a blog article by Michael Hyatt, by the way, if you are unfamiliar with him I recommend his blog. He writes a lot of good stuff about business and some interesting stuff about managing life. In one of his articles he hinted at something that I reformulated for my own use. What I'm talking about is trying to identify the business and personal habits, processes or practices that I automatically assume make sense but on closer investigation I'll find out the idea either was never a good idea or it's an idea who's time has passed.

Once I decided to take a look I couldn't believe how difficult it is to then decide which things to look at! I decided I'd look back at the prior week for some clues or direction. I had thought that the prior week was really pretty uneventful and not very interesting nor complex. But then I started breaking down the events and connecting the dots it got messy. I'm now convinced that many things are simple but few things are uncomplicated.

I then made the leap of logic that goes like this, "If I'm trying to figure out what I'm fooling myself about, then obviously I've already fooled myself and how will I recognize it?" Now what do I do?

It wasn't nearly as difficult as I thought. Here's what I did. I went to someone in our office and asked the brilliantly insightful question, "What do we do that's dumb?" Much to my surprise (and a bit of disappointment) they didn't need to think about it at all, nearly before the words came out of my mouth the person had listed 3 things.... bang..bang..bang!

To shorten this post I won't bore you with the details but here are the results of looking into the 3 things identified for me:

It's a new year, winter is raging and opportunities await....

This time of year I like to take several days away from my day-to-day business, hide out somewhere cold but with a good fireplace and sort through the current opportunities and challenges of my business. I make it a point to seriously limit email and phones so I can think more clearly without the usual "noise" of day to day activity.

I'm always curious about how (or if) other business owners do the same and what approach they take to an annual review or plan. Please let me know your routine and your success with it.

Here's my approach:

Thinking about buying a business? Here's a way to figure what is possible

If you want to own your own small business there are really only two ways to get into business. You can start a business from scratch, often called a start-up. Or you can buy an existing business from a business owner who is ready to sell their business.

There is much written about starting a business. The biggest problem with a start-up is in the time it takes a start-up to become cash flow positive and unfortunately many never become cash flow positive and they fold.

Buying an existing business is often a good choice. If you do it right you can be cash flow positive immediately and financing for purchasing a business is often very favorable. In a previous post I wrote about "Why would someone sell be their perfectly good business?" and it talks about why business owners choose to sell good businesses.

If you want to buy an existing, profitable, business you need to answer a couple of questions about your situation before you begin your search.

First, how much money do you have available for a down payment before borrowing any money from any banks, credit cards, etc. It will be very, very difficult to buy a good business without a down payment.

Second, what's the minimum amount of money you need to make from the business to live on once you buy the business.

If those two numbers are reasonably close to each other you have a decent shot at buying a business.

Here is a "typical" deal:

Business earnings (Seller's Discretionary Earnings)  $75,000
Selling Price of business   $200,000
Down payment    $50,000
 Earnings/Salary you need  $50,000
Get an SBA Loan for $150,000
Annual Payments for your SBA Loan $20,500 (10 years @ 6.5%)

Business earnings $75,000 - $20,500 (debt payments) = $54,500 to you the new owner.

Also, when thinking about your down payment there is a mechanism to use you 401(k) funds to buy a business without incurring early withdrawal penalties nor tax obligations.

If you want to be in business for yourself it's always a good idea to get informed and look at all your options.

Why would someone sell me their perfectly good business?

Often small business buyers wonder about this. There is an all too frequent buyer attitude that says "If it is a good business they wouldn't be willing to sell it to me!"
Here are some reasons we see business owner want to sell:

1. Divorce of husband and wife owners
2. Partnership disputes
3. Owner health issues
4. Kids don't want the business and the owner has gotten to retirement age.
5. The business has gotten bigger than the skills of the owner
6. The business needs professional management
7. The industry is changing faster than the owner wants to change (in this case the owner is always convinced the market is wrong and he is right).
8. The business is totally debt free and the owner doesn't want to take on debt to grow.

There are many other reasons that make sense to the seller, even if it doesn't always make sense to the buyer. the tricky part is, because confidentiality is so important it takes some work to locate a good business to buy. Finding a good business for sale and buying it from a seller who has a good reason to sell could be a formula for success in a business acquisition.

Holiday Reading Ideas for a Better Business

My New Year's resolution (well, one of them anyway!) is to provide more tools for small business owners to start or buy a business, then grow it profitably and sell it! As part of that I am kicking off the New Year with a specific book recommendation. Although I can't say I agree with everything in this book it is loaded with ideas that might help get you focused on creating a business that you run, instead of a business that runs you.

Making Money is Killing your Business contributes greatly to the argument that running a business by the seat of your pants is not always a great idea.

A core and unique concept of the author Chuck Blakeman is that a business should throw off money and time. If you start thinking about your business this way I think it will change some of your decision making. In an earlier post, 'Tis the season...  I warned about creating an atmosphere in your business where you are cynical about your business and you lean on an "it's me against the world" view of ownership.

This book gives clear ideas and examples of how to mange that natural tendency.
Don't get hung up in the references to a specific industry. Analyze the concepts and I think you'll be able to apply improvements to your business quickly. Good luck and let me know what you think about the book.

‘Tis the season for presents…..want to give yourself one?

This post is for all the hard working business owners and those who one day hope to become business owners.

Far too many business owners live in a constant state of stress. Their reasoning is “it’s a good stress”. I’m no doctor but I doubt that stress 24/7 is really good for your health.

What do small business owners worry about most? Here’s my list based on discussions with thousands of business owners:

•  Cash flow – too many bills at the wrong time.
•  Employees – too many need baby sitters, not bosses!
• Customers – Is perfection a reasonable expectation?
•  Family – Why doesn’t my family appreciate me working 7 days a week? After all, I’m doing it for them.

Ok, here goes. You knew it was going this way didn’t you. The Uncle Joe talk…..you know, the uncle who told you exactly what he thought about your hair brained thinking when you were 12 years old. Well, I’m your Uncle Joe.

Here’s my recommendation for your New Year’s resolutions for 2011.

1. Stop feeling sorry for yourself.
2. Stop using your business as an excuse for not doing the family things that you just don’t want to do. Helping your family hate your business is not a good plan.
3.  Start thinking about your cash flow problems before you have them instead of waiting until you have them.
4.  Give your employees written and detailed systems so they know what you expect and how to do it. Believe me, they’d rather not listen to your rants any more than you claim you don’t want to give your rants.
5. Only promise your customers what you KNOW you can deliver… then do it. Most unhappy customers are created by you. Did you tell the customer what to expect? Did you deliver? Did your employees deliver (see #4 above)?

There’s your simple 5 step program to giving yourself a Christmas present that will benefit you, your family, your employees and your customers.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Small business owners and risks related to employees work claims

This morning at a meeting I was talking to an employment attorney I know and the topic got around to small business employment practices and the risks that small business owners might not realize they are taking.

Among many items we discussed 3 stood out. Many small business owners we meet with are unaware of the consequences that could result from their lack of attention to human resource (HR) legal issues. Here's my list and my take on each one of the topics the attorney reviewed. Obviously seek competent legal advice before taking any actions:

1. Getting Confidentiality Agreements from employees - I rarely see businesses that have taken this step but I have seen many, many cases of businesses who were damaged and could not go after the offender. The more important the employee the more important this could be.
2. Documenting overtime practices, payments and procedures - failure to properly pay employees for overtime can have expensive and painful consequences. Those painful consequences could, in some cases, go to the business owner personally, without the corporate shield so many depend on.
3. Making sure that employees who are not paid by the hour are classified, managed and have responsibilities that are appropriate for the hourly exemption requirements in employment laws. According to the attorney, just because a business owner and an employee agree to weekly pay, instead of hourly, it doesn't necessarily mean the business owner is not obligated for other expenses and claims which may include back pay for overtime and the significant penalties that could be assessed.

This is a good time of year to start reviewing your employment practices and get good advice from an HR professional or attorney. Also, this is not just an issue for big companies. If you have employees you have risks, generally it's wise to spend a little money now to avoid a bigger problem later.

Small Business Taxes..the Whole Enchilada for Year-End Planning

 Guest Post by Carol Olson, CPA  - DRDA, LLC

Small Business Jobs Act of 2010

The Small Business Jobs Act of 2010 includes a number of important tax provisions for businesses large and small. While a few of the provisions take effect in 2011, the majority of the provisions are effective retroactively for the 2010 tax year.  Following are some of the major provisions:

Bonus Depreciation. Bonus depreciation has been extended for 2010.  You can deduct 50% of the cost of qualifying new business assets as well as depreciate the remaining basis of the asset.  Bonus depreciation of up to $8,000 may be taken on passenger automobiles.

Section 179.  The Section 179 deduction has been increased to $500,000 for property placed in service in 2010 and 2011.  The $500,000 deduction is limited if a business acquires more than $2,000,000 of qualifying property.  The Section 179 limit for large SUVs ($25,000) remains unchanged.   Normally, Section 179 expensing only applies to tangible personal property used in a trade or business.  For 2010 and 2011, a taxpayer may elect to treat up to $250,000 of qualified real property as Section 179 property.  Qualified real property includes qualified leasehold improvement property, qualified restaurant property and qualified retail improvement property.

Interesting Small Business Tax Information

Time to start [preparing for 2010 and 2011 tax issues...the IRS never sleeps! Here are a few small business tax items that may apply to you. Talk to your CPA about them.

Deduction for Start up Expenses Increased.  For 2010 only, the amount of start-up expenditures deductible in the current year increased to $10,000.  Any remaining start-up expenses can be deducted ratably over 180 months.

Self-Employed Health Insurance Deduction.  For tax year 2010, health insurance costs for a self-employed taxpayer and his family are deductible in computing 2010 self-employment tax.

Small Employer Health Insurance Credit.  For 2010 through 2013, the health care act provides small employers with a tax credit for providing health insurance for their employees.  The credit is limited to businesses with no more than 25 full-time employees with annual full-time equivalent wages averaging no more than $50,000.

 

More to come. It's time to start your tax planning.

Consult with your CPA before making decisions.

When is 95% less than 20%? When the 95% is wrong!

In my day to day activities I meet with 250 - 350 small business owners a year who are considering selling a business for one reason or another. In discussing their business the topic of customer service is brought up by me. The reason it is discussed is because significant value is added to a business with a loyal and happy customer base.

New 1099 Rules effect on Small Business

    This post provided by Paul Ikard, CPA

March 17, 2012  - Some of the below rules may have been modified, check with your CPA before taking any action.

Businesses and not-for-profit organizations are accustomed to IRS rules that require them to report certain payments on annual Form 1099 information returns. However, the recently enacted healthcare law imposes surprising new Form 1099 reporting requirements. Complying with them may add significantly to your organization's paperwork burden. While the new rules don't apply to payments made before 2012, it's not too early to start gearing up to deal with them.

Current Rules in a Nutshell


Background: For many years, businesses have been required to report various payments on different versions of Form 1099. For instance, when a business pays $600 or more during a calendar year to an independent contractor for services, the business must issue the contractor a Form 1099-MISC that reports the amount paid that year. The business must also furnish a copy of the Form 1099-MISC to the IRS. This reporting procedure helps contractors remember to include the payments on their tax returns, and it helps the IRS ensure that income is reported. Under rules now in effect, other types of payments that businesses must report on Forms 1099
include:
1. Commissions, fees, and other compensation paid to a single recipient when the total
amount paid in a calendar year is $600 or more.
2. Interest, rents, royalties, annuities, and income items paid to a single recipient when
the total amount paid in a calendar year is $600 or more.
When a Form 1099 is required, it must show:
The total amount for the calendar year;
The name and address of the payee;
The tax ID number (TIN) of the payee (For privacy reasons, it's okay to show a truncated
TIN on a 1099 issued to an individual);

Contact information for the payer; and

The payer's TIN.

If your business doesn't have a payee's TIN, you may be required to institute backup federal income tax withholding at a 28 percent rate on payments under Internal Revenue Code Section 3406. In most cases, the rules summarized above apply to payments made by not-for-profit organizations since they are generally considered to be businesses for Form 1099 reporting purposes. If a payer inadvertently fails to issue a proper Form 1099, the IRS can assess a $50 penalty. The penalty for each intentional failure can be $100 or more.