Business Owners Share: How I Will Grow My Business This Year
Word count: 738
Business Owners Share: How I Will Grow My Business This Year
To be more successful , business owners often look back at all they accomplished in the past year. What did they do well? What strategies and changes did they make that resulted in growth? And what should they consider doing differently in the coming year to reap even bigger rewards?
We asked small business owners what resolutions they’re making in order to build on their past successes, and this is what they told us.
1. Identify goals that affect your bottom line.
Looking back on 2018, Francis Rusnak of Windy City Solutions discovered it’s possible to set goals for external purposes that don’t necessarily move the business forward. He calls these kind of goals, “vanity goals.” These are designed primarily to look good on paper and impress others; however, he says, vanity goals aren’t nearly as important as “production goals,” which have a direct impact on the business’s bottom line.
For 2019, Rusnak resolved to maintain a 20% ROI on each house his company flips, rather than focusing as much on the total number of homes he flips.
2. Create year-long action plans for company goals.
As a business owner, it can be tempting to focus on short-term wins instead of focusing on big-picture goals throughout the year. Paul Davis, CEO of creative agency Paul Davis Solutions, LLC recommends putting consistent effort towards his firm’s annual goals. The key to achieving them he says is developing specific, measurable action plans for how to achieve them. If your goal is generating $1 million in sales, for example, it’s critical that you then determine what you need to do to attract that amount of business. That might mean making 10,000 sales calls over the next 12 months, or 40 sales calls each work day, he says.
In 2019, he resolved to make those big goals a reality by breaking them down into daily action-oriented tasks and tracking them.
3. Base business decisions on data and analytics, not gut-feel.
Many business owners develop a sixth sense about opportunities that may help guide their business. Matthew Ross, co-owner and COO of RIZKNOWS, which operates several internet properties, realized, “Sometimes I act ‘impulsively,’ just because I want to move on to the next thing.”
Though money does love speed, Ross has resolved to rely more on data and past performance metrics in order to aid business decisions.
4. Document standard operating procedures.
To be able to hand off tasks to others, it may be helpful to stop and document how certain tasks should be completed. Dustyn Ferguson of coupon and rebate site Dime Will Tellsays that until now, he didn’t feel his company needed to build standard operating procedures (SOPs) in order to get things done.
To grow beyond its current size, Ferguson now sees how documented systems and SOPs will be necessary for the company. “Our New Year’s resolution was to start creating standard operating procedures for the main areas of our business … which should lead to more growth, better organization, and overall better business processes.”
5. Reduce workplace interruptions.
The worst enemy of productivity is interruptions, says Cristian Rennella, CEO of el Mejor Trato. Throughout 2019, he intends to do something about reducing workplace interruptions in the form of needless internal meetings by banning them.
“The objective is to eliminate interruptions at work as much as possible,” he says, explaining that a 30-minute meeting takes up much more than just 30 minutes — there’s the prep time and the time needed to refocus post-meeting, says Rennella.
6. Create efficiencies by delegating.
Jason Lavis of UK-based Out of the Box Innovations Ltd. recognized last year that he was trying to do too much himself. “It’s impossible for my company to grow unless I start to delegate.”
For 2019 Lavis resolved, “To look at every aspect of the business and see if it can be taken care of by someone else. Doing this will free up time for me to win new contracts and plan for growth.”
We’re so far into the new year that yet. As a business owner, you still have time to shift your focus to accomplish your business goals and to help ensure you end 2019 on solid footing. Take some time to set resolutions for your business that inspire you, and then take time to think through your approach on how to make them a reality.
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Improve Your Bottom Line by Compensating Younger Employees Creatively
For business owners, it can be hard to attract and retain younger employees — especially when they are expecting and asking for more.
Google searches for the term “employee experience” have increased 130 percent over the past five years, according to a 2018 report published by IBM and Globoforce. The same study found organizations that scored in the top 25 percent on employee experience netted nearly three times the return on assets when compared to organizations in the bottom quartile.
Positive buy-in from employees means potentially more productivity and more revenue for the business; however, keeping employees happy can be difficult.
Many companies have gravitated towards a Silicon Valley, “work hard/play hard” mindset. In these environments employee perks help with retention. Many employees, however, want forward-thinking rewards from a company. These often include an environment that embraces gender equity and the ability to work on a flexible schedule.
Here are some things to consider to improve your bottom line this year by compensating your younger employees more creatively.
Offer a flexible schedule or telecommuting options.
Many employees don’t want a 9-to-5 workday. Allowing employees flexible schedules or telecommuting options may be seen as a good benefit to younger employees. Consider this if you have employees who are parents that are juggling daycare constraints. Or if your company is in a high-traffic city where commuting on off-peak times or telecommuting might be a benefit.
Even though 40 percent more U.S. employers offer flexible workplace options than they did five years ago, according to Global Workplace Analytics, only 7 percent make it available to the majority of their employees.
Upwork, headquartered in Mountain View, California, has “Work Online Wednesdays”. This perk allows their employees to work from anywhere as long as they are online. Blinds.com, a 150-person operation in Houston, allows call center employees to telecommute, as well as other staff members. Before employees began working remotely, Blinds.com set up training sessions to help employees learn how to maximize their home office productivity.
Have gender equity.
According to the “Winning the Fight for Female Talent” report by PwC, 50 percent of women say there’s a pay gap between equally qualified male and female counterparts.
Creating gender equity may help attract and retain key female talent. The report found three traits which make a potential employer more attractive to female employees: Being given fair and equitable compensation to their male employees, having opportunities for careers progression, and an atmosphere of flexibility and work-life balance.
Many companies are following this trend. Social enterprise firm Equileap pulled publicly available data from 3,000 companies around the globe across a variety of sectors with a market capitalization above $2 billion. General Motors was identified as one of only two global businesses with pay equality across the entire spectrum of business with no overall pay gaps in the company. It also has an equal number of men and women on its board of directors.
Consider on-site and off-site offerings.
On-site childcare, gyms, nap rooms, yoga and massage sessions are some of the additional perks companies are offering to attract and retain talent. Twitter offers acupuncture and improv classes to its employees. Blinds.com brought therapy dogs into their office to help employees during a stressful month.
If you don’t have options on-site, consider a stipend to help reduce the cost for your employees.
For example, Eventbrite offers its employees $60 wellness stipends that can be used for a variety of healthy options from juice cleanses to gym dues. Microsoft’s StayFit program reimburses employees $800 annually ($66.66 a month) for gym memberships and fitness programs.
Evaluate parental leave.
American millennials are taking a lead from their European counterparts, according to Forbes, and want paid maternity and paternity leave — the longer the better.
Birthing mothers typically receive an additional 6-to-8 weeks under salary continuation for medical leave. Breastfeeding moms also get access to a 24-hour lactation consultant. They can also ship their breast milk home for free if they are traveling.
Netflix takes a European-approach with one year of paternity or maternity leave for parents. They couple this leave with the ability for its workers to return to work on a full or part-time basis.
Give stash instead of cash.
Unscratched lottery tickets and gift cards are ways to reward positive employee behaviors without handing out dollar bills for a job well-done.
Sure Amazon and Starbucks gift cards are good standbys. But you should also consider other options – maybe a gift card for a car wash or a manicure. Experts suggest you ask your employees what they would value the most to to determine the best fit. Don’t assume you know.
Training and teaching.
SMBs don’t always have time to train their staff adequately, and employee development may be a key factor in retention. Consider offering to send an employee to a national conference or paying for Lynda.com training.
Offer to bring in guest speakers that employees would like to hear and then sponsor a lunch. Make this a reward to whoever does something above and beyond. Make it even better by allowing them to earn the right to choose the next speaker.
Bring your … to work day.
In the past many parents would bring their kids to work once a year. Now the “kids” want to bring their aging parents to work to show them what they do. They also want to bring their pets, kids, or significant others.
Cement-making Ozinga Bros in Mokena, Ill. and Cornerstone OnDemand, a cloud software company in Santa Monica, Calif. both allow employees to bring parents to work. The 22-person PR firm, EvolveMKD in New York skews towards Generation Z and Millennials and morphed its parents night into a family night.
Give the gift of time.
Personalized perks can make a big difference. Consider gamifying the options so once a week or once a month an employee earns a unique reward. Rewards could be anything from getting a longer lunch break or the ability to leave work early on a Friday. Or maybe it’s offering an hour or two of flex-time or the ability to work from home once a week.
The software company Salesforces gives employees seven paid days off per year to volunteer on the project of their choice. REI employees get two paid “YAY Days” a year to go outside and do something fun.
Regardless of what creative perks you offer, pick benefits that align with your company values and will make your employees feel appreciated which will help them to work harder and grow your business.
Get Your Construction Business Ready for the Spring
If you’re a contractor or own a construction business, you’ve likely been wondering what the this year will bring in terms of revenues and opportunities for growth. While many forecasts are calling for a slight economic slowdown in 2019, construction starts are still expected to hold relatively steady. As you look ahead to warmer months, here are three things to review as you prepare to ramp up your business this spring.
Update your tech
Smart technologies, AI and automation continue to expand their influence on the construction industry. Some new opportunities to update your business technology include:
- Streamlining project management by using cloud-based solutions.
- Utilizing drones for site planning and survey data enhancement.
- Investing in smart safety equipment, such as wearables to track worker movements and fatigue levels.
- Updating your inventory tracking software to reduce materials waste.
- Using building information modeling software to streamline project design.
While some of these options are more hi-tech (and big-budget) than others, if you run a smaller firm, consider tech upgrades that can deliver a solid return on investment without a large outlay of cash. For example, updating your company’s website is something you may be able to do for a few hundred dollars, and up-to-date information and a fresh look might help attract new customers.
Review expenses and pricing
Construction materials didn’t get cheaper in 2018. Through July, prices had risen by nearly 10 percent over 2017’s figures, according to Associated Builders and Contractors. With uncertainty surrounding tariffs and foreign trade policy, materials such as lumber and fuel might become more expensive.
Higher prices means a higher cost of doing business and a potentially smaller profit margin. When planning for the busy season, consider how rising prices may impact revenues and cash flow, in both the short- and long-term.
Specifically, think about whether you’ll need to adjust your pricing to accommodate a jump in material costs. Would a price increase allow you to remain competitive in your local construction market? How would that price increase be received by clients? Will you enhance the value you provide as your rates rise?
At the same time, look for areas where you can reduce costs. Reach out to suppliers to ask for a discount or renegotiate terms. Recycle and repurpose materials whenever possible. Consider whether it makes sense to keep maintaining older equipment or replace it with something newer to reduce repair and maintenance costs. These kinds of changes may add money back into your cash flow and create a healthier bottom line.
Assess your capital needs
With interest rates projected to rise again this year you may want to pursue financing sooner instead of later. The lower the rate you’re able to lock in, the less your financing will cost over the repayment term.
Get clear on your needs and what type of financing may work best. For example, you may want to buy a new fleet of work vans or invest in a new backhoe. Or, you may just need cash to cover everyday operating expenses during the winter months if that’s your slower building season. Equipment financing might be more appropriate in the first scenario, while a working capital loan may be better suited for short-term funding.
Remember the ROI and the overall cost when considering financing for your construction business. Before taking out a $1 million equipment loan or a $100,000 working capital loan, estimate the potential payoff, either in preserving cash flow or increasing revenues.
You also need to be sure that the payments for an equipment loan, or any other type of financing, fit your business budget. And of course, review the interest rate and fees charged by different lenders to help you secure the best deal.
Are Credit Card Cash Advances Bad?
Do you use your credit card to make withdrawals for your business? If so, you might be making an expensive mistake.
Whether it’s a business card or a personal credit card, it’s time to think twice about using your credit card as a debit card. Here’s what you need to know.
4 Reasons to Think Twice About Using Your Credit Card for Cash
Withdrawing money via your credit card could be costly for these four reasons.
1. Cash Advance Fee
It costs more to borrow cash from your credit card than to make a purchase using your card because of what’s known as a “cash advance fee.” Depending on the terms in your agreement, credit card issuers could charge you either a flat rate fee or a percentage fee of the withdrawal amount — whichever is greater.
2. No Grace Periods
Like personal credit cards, business credit cards usually offer a grace period. A grace period is the time period between the end date of a billing cycle and your next credit card due date. Cash advance transactions typically do NOT have a grace period. Instead, interest begins accruing immediately upon withdrawal, resulting in a higher total interest charge on cash advances than you’d see on a purchase transaction.
3. Higher Borrowing Rates
Another expense to consider with a credit card cash advance are the potentially higher interest rates. Interest rates on cash advances may be higher than the rate charged for purchases on the card. Refer to the fine print in your credit card agreement or contact your card issuer for more information.
4. Potential Unlimited Personal Liability
Does your business credit card have a personal liability clause?
If you’ve provided a personal guarantee for your business credit card, you’re personally on the hook for paying off that credit card debt if your business fails. That debt could include all the cash advance withdrawals from that credit card. This is the case even if the way you’ve incorporated your business (for example as an LLC) protects your personal assets against business litigation.
How to Calculate Your Credit Card Cash Advance Cost
If you’re wondering just how much a credit card cash withdrawal could cost, here’s how to figure it out
- Calculate the initial cash advance fee based on the withdrawal amount. For example, the fee on a $3,000 withdrawal from a card with a 3% cash advance fee is $90.00.Next, calculate the interest charges. Divide the annual percentage rate (APR) for cash advances on your card by 365. Then multiply that figure by the number of days you’ll carry the balance and the withdrawal amount. Based on the example above, a $3,000 advance at an APR of 21% for seven days, the calculations look like this: 21/365 = 0.00274 daily interest x 7 days = 0.019178 x $3,000 = $75.53.Add the interest charge to the credit card advance fee for a total cost of $165.53 (90 + 75.53) in charges and interest to take a $3,000 cash advance for seven days.
Alternatives to Business Credit Card Cash Advances
Luckily, there are less expensive ways to borrow money for your business.
- A business credit line gives access to funds as needed, and you’ll only pay interest when and if your business uses it.
- Equipment Financing and short term loans often have comparatively low rates, especially when they’re secured against collateral such as real estate, equipment, or machinery.
- Other business financing options include borrowing against your accounts receivables and invoices through revenue-based financing or invoice factoring.
Look into the other business financing options available to you before taking a credit card cash advance. Doing so could save your business a bundle.
To be more successful , business owners often look back at all they accomplished in the past year. What did they do well? What strategies and changes did they make that resulted in growth? And what should they consider doing differently in the coming year to reap even bigger rewards?
We asked small business owners what resolutions they’re making in order to build on their past successes, and this is what they told us.
1. Identify goals that affect your bottom line.
Looking back on 2018, Francis Rusnak of Windy City Solutions discovered it’s possible to set goals for external purposes that don’t necessarily move the business forward. He calls these kind of goals, “vanity goals.” These are designed primarily to look good on paper and impress others; however, he says, vanity goals aren’t nearly as important as “production goals,” which have a direct impact on the business’s bottom line.
For 2019, Rusnak resolved to maintain a 20% ROI on each house his company flips, rather than focusing as much on the total number of homes he flips.
2. Create year-long action plans for company goals.
As a business owner, it can be tempting to focus on short-term wins instead of focusing on big-picture goals throughout the year. Paul Davis, CEO of creative agency Paul Davis Solutions, LLC recommends putting consistent effort towards his firm’s annual goals. The key to achieving them he says is developing specific, measurable action plans for how to achieve them. If your goal is generating $1 million in sales, for example, it’s critical that you then determine what you need to do to attract that amount of business. That might mean making 10,000 sales calls over the next 12 months, or 40 sales calls each work day, he says.
In 2019, he resolved to make those big goals a reality by breaking them down into daily action-oriented tasks and tracking them.
3. Base business decisions on data and analytics, not gut-feel.
Many business owners develop a sixth sense about opportunities that may help guide their business. Matthew Ross, co-owner and COO of RIZKNOWS, which operates several internet properties, realized, “Sometimes I act ‘impulsively,’ just because I want to move on to the next thing.”
Though money does love speed, Ross has resolved to rely more on data and past performance metrics in order to aid business decisions.
4. Document standard operating procedures.
To be able to hand off tasks to others, it may be helpful to stop and document how certain tasks should be completed. Dustyn Ferguson of coupon and rebate site Dime Will Tellsays that until now, he didn’t feel his company needed to build standard operating procedures (SOPs) in order to get things done.
To grow beyond its current size, Ferguson now sees how documented systems and SOPs will be necessary for the company. “Our New Year’s resolution was to start creating standard operating procedures for the main areas of our business … which should lead to more growth, better organization, and overall better business processes.”
5. Reduce workplace interruptions.
The worst enemy of productivity is interruptions, says Cristian Rennella, CEO of el Mejor Trato. Throughout 2019, he intends to do something about reducing workplace interruptions in the form of needless internal meetings by banning them.
“The objective is to eliminate interruptions at work as much as possible,” he says, explaining that a 30-minute meeting takes up much more than just 30 minutes — there’s the prep time and the time needed to refocus post-meeting, says Rennella.
6. Create efficiencies by delegating.
Jason Lavis of UK-based Out of the Box Innovations Ltd. recognized last year that he was trying to do too much himself. “It’s impossible for my company to grow unless I start to delegate.”
For 2019 Lavis resolved, “To look at every aspect of the business and see if it can be taken care of by someone else. Doing this will free up time for me to win new contracts and plan for growth.”
We’re so far into the new year that yet. As a business owner, you still have time to shift your focus to accomplish your business goals and to help ensure you end 2019 on solid footing. Take some time to set resolutions for your business that inspire you, and then take time to think through your approach on how to make them a reality.