| After working with small businesses for the past 5 | | | | sells product, do you know what your margins are? |
| years, I have come to conclude that there are three | | | | How much profit do you make from the sell of each |
| crucial parts to each business: sales, production, and | | | | product? Can you afford to hold a "sale"? Success |
| accounting. Each one of these is extremely important | | | | can't be measured by the balance in the bank account, |
| to the success of your business. Just try doing | | | | because there are so many other factors that can |
| business without one of them... some of you may | | | | easily drain the account in no time. Then what? You |
| snicker, but there are plenty of businesses that are | | | | find yourself scratching your head and wondering |
| trying to run their business without proper accounting, | | | | what happened to your "successful" business. |
| production, and even sales. I am always awed at | | | | There are some great solutions out there for you to |
| those businesses that have gone a year, two years, | | | | take advantage of. You can take control of your |
| or even 10 years by basing their success off of the | | | | business and manage it by the numbers. Now, from |
| balance in the bank account with no system in place to | | | | my experience, most business owners are really good |
| account for their company's' actual performance. | | | | at two of the three areas in their business: marketing, |
| Sooner or later the debt obligations, or poor | | | | and production. The accounting side of most |
| management from lack of knowledge, catches up with | | | | businesses is lacking, to say the least. |
| them. I hope you don't fit into this category. | | | | I invite you to take a closer look at your business and |
| If you do, then I guess you can consider this your | | | | specifically the way you manage your business. Do |
| warning. I highly recommend that you seek out a | | | | you have proper accounting practices in place? How |
| professional bookkeeper or accountant for your small | | | | often are you looking at financial statements and |
| business. These professionals can help you take | | | | measuring the profitability of your business? I hope the |
| control of your business and help you see the | | | | answer isn't once a year, or "my CPA does that." |
| complete picture. One philosophy that I suggest for | | | | There is great potential out there in the marketplace |
| every business to operate by goes something like this, | | | | for any small business to succeed. It is my hope that |
| "It is impossible to control or manage anything that you | | | | you find yourself achieving the dreams you set out to |
| do not or cannot measure." | | | | achieve. |
| What does this mean to you? Well if your business | | | | |