More Good Advice for Small Business

Quickbooks is more than a bookkeeping program, there is also advice for small business.  April Maguire wrote a short article regarding Key Performance Indicators (KPI) and which ones are the most important to track for small business.  In the previous post, Brian Fleming noted how essential it is to be data-driven.  This post shows what data is useful.  Not surprisingly, the first and most important KPI to track is cash flow. The following article provides useful insight for the small business

Great Advice for Small Business

Sabrina Parsons, CEO of Palo Alto Software, wrote an article for Bplans that provides 10 great points for Small Businesses to follow in order to succeed.  While the first point is critical (and well-known, that is, cash flow is essential), it is point number two that is of particular interest: you need to develop a data-based culture: "The more you can track data and use data to make business decisions, the better your decisions will be. Business always requires some “gut feel” decisions but

Motivation

Motivation is essential if you wish to succeed in pretty much anything you do.  The issue, however, is precisely that: getting and, just as importantly, staying motivated.  If you are trying to get in shape, write a book, complete a course or start a business, being motivated is key. How many New Year's Resolutions fail (often within days)?  How many people are still working on their first book but haven't made it past Chapter 2?  How many people joined a gym only to burn out within 3 weeks

How to Capitalize on Your Epsilon Results

Small business owners love Epsilon Your Business Evaluator.  It is easy to use, provides useful information along with charts and graphs, and gives good tips on how to address problem areas, including 'hidden' issues that owners were previously unaware of. But, the questions often asked is: what's next?  What do I do?  Where do I go from here? Epsilon YBE is the first, and most important, step to set you on the Path to Profitability.  It's hard to make progress and set goals if you don't know

How important is having a good plan?

Are business plans overrated?  Are plans, especially for the small business owner, overrated?  We hear about success stories and how many of these entrepreneurs not only did not have a business plan, they didn't even know where to begin!  The had an idea, a product or service and simply marketed it.  Most experienced setbacks, financial issues, and various frustrations, but they prevailed and eventually made it. There are always those that can rely on gut instinct, those that have a vision,

Know Your Competition

How well do you know your competition?  If you are like most small businesses, not very well.  Sure, there's the one rival that's outbid you before, or the competition down the street, but for the most part, your competitors are the last thing on your mind.  Better to focus on sales and delivery than to worry about possible competitive threats.  Besides, you've been in business for a while and there hasn't been a problem before. Or has there?  How do you know when sales aren't materializing