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Understanding Your Small Business Carbon Footprint

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Beginning with a magnificent bang in the city of Philadelphia in 1970, Earth Day is a momentous modern celebration of our ancient home. From that celebration onward, April 22 and often the entire encompassing week have been dedicated to education and activism for the preservation of the Earth and its natural beauty. A modern term in the world of ecological and emission education is the term “carbon footprint” which heralds a turning point in the characterization and national understanding of our individual effect and contribution to carbon usage.

This article is not meant to give you a perfect figure of the number of tons of carbon your company uses; there are more than a dozen calculator tools and government resources built to do just that. This article, instead, is meant to put your emissions in realistic, human terms. “Carbon footprint” is a vague phrase; it’s time that the language of ecologists and scientists ought to be transferred to those who can make a meaningful difference: America’s small business owners. By coming to terms with the multiple layers and means of carbon uses in today’s small businesses, we offer the same hopeful goal as Earth Day’s founders: “to diversify, educate and activate the environmental movement worldwide.”

What is a Carbon Footprint?

Your business’s carbon footprint is an informed estimate of the overall greenhouse gasses emitted in order for your business to run regular operations. This includes any kind of greenhouse gasses your workplace emits as well as emissions justified by your business, meaning, emissions that only happened because your business asked for them to be. There are five main gasses that go into a carbon footprint: Carbon dioxide; this gas, as you likely know, occurs by combustion of any kind of fossil fuels. Methane is another greenhouse gas but is largely found in the farming industry or landfills. The next is nitrous oxide which is off put by large amount of agriculture and the production of commercial chemicals and pesticides. The final two gasses to consider are hydrofluorocarbons – primarily produced for use in refrigeration, air-conditioning, insulating foams and aerosol propellants – and sulfur hexafluoride which is most frequently offset by producing electronics and semiconductors as well as processing magnesium.

Carbon emissions are commonly separated into three “scopes” which demark the amount of direct agency you and your business have for that certain type of emissions. For the sake of clarity, we have separated all relevant types of emissions into two categories: direct emissions and indirect emissions. Direct emissions are those you and your employees have the immediate, tangible choice to reduce or turn off i.e., these are the switches you flip. Indirect emissions are those that you and your employees consent to and supplement the running of your business.

Direct Emissions

Facilities Emissions: This is the type of emissions we think about the most. When you turn on the lights, the heat, the AC, HVAC systems, refrigerant systems, or any other on-site power-drawing mechanism, this constitutes your business’s facilities emissions. This is equally the easiest type of emission to calculate and find a firm figure for. Power companies generally keep very specific records of your usage for billing reasons, but you and your employees can use that same information to meaningfully calculate how much power you use monthly, annually, or even daily. Importantly, however, when you turn on the lights, of course, there isn’t a smokestack above your office blasting out greenhouse gasses; the greenhouse gasses required to run your basic facilities are processed off-site but are still actively drawn by you and your employees.

Manufacturing Emissions: Workplaces that manufacture products and process raw materials will inevitably produce carbon emissions. If your business has machinery which wholly uses fossil fuels to run, that directly contributes to your total carbon footprint. Determining your overall fossil fuel use onsite will likely be the simplest emission type to find out on this whole list. How much petroleum do you buy monthly, or annually to run your machines? The amount you use is, then, the amount you emit to do business.

Travel Emissions: Travel emissions constitute emissions for all fuel-powered movement required for you to do business. When your employees commute to work, the greenhouse gasses emitted by their cars or the buses they take are required for your business to run smoothly. Also, any kind of business travel by car, boat, or plane contributes to the overall required emissions for your business. Another element to consider is if you employ couriers or last-mile delivery drivers; this is another type of travel emission in that your business requires these emissions in order to continue daily operations.

Indirect Emissions

Deliveries to or from Your Place of Business: Unlike direct travel emissions, these are emissions that  you or your managers commission on behalf of your business. If your company exports products that  are delivered by a trucking company, those contribute to your total indirect contributions, as the emissions would not have occurred if not for your consent. The same is true for any kind of deliveries made to your workplace; even if you don’t own the vehicles making deliveries, these emissions still contribute to your overall indirect carbon footprint.

Partner Manufacturing: Any manufacturing done on your behalf is considered part of your carbon footprint. In the proliferation of offsite manufacturing and international manufacturing hubs, this means that businesses may have to do considerably more work to find out the emissions from their partners compared to in-house emissions.

Treatment of Waste Produced by Your Business: This is another abstract calculation that, while difficult to find a specific figure for, knowing can lead to meaningful changes for many businesses. Beyond the garbage in the bins taken away by municipal services, consider what kind of packaging and tags your products have. These elements will undoubtedly become waste immediately after customers purchase those items. Tags and wrappings made of certain plastics have the potential to enter landfills or dumps and produce greenhouse gasses, emissions that would not have occurred without your business. With this in mind, any kind of trash or waste that begins with your business and either ends in a landfill or is treated by incineration is, indeed, part of your carbon footprint.

Leased Assets & Franchises: For a business to meaningfully calculate its carbon footprint, all sites and franchises that act under your direction also are your indirect emissions. In leased assets or properties in which you are the landlord, any and all emissions created by your tenants or leaseholders when they are at your relevant property are likely part of your business’s carbon footprint. For example, if a tenant in one of your buildings or a location you franchise uses AC systems that you authorized the installation of, that output was (indirectly) justified and led to its happening because of your business. By the same logic, your business has the potential to install more efficient systems while the tenant or leaseholder likely does not; this means that you, the business owner, are indirectly responsible for those emissions.

Reduction Plan

Gloom and doom abound: you and your business likely produce some amount of avoidable greenhouse gasses, but what now? No, you don’t have to close your business and reenter the wild woods to repent your ecological sins. Businesses in tune with their overall greenhouse gas usage are also the most equipped to create an achievable reduction plan. Find those emissions you can most directly control and start there; in what ways can you make processes more efficient or streamline operations to reduce overall emissions? Then, once you address direct emissions, move on to the emissions which are emitted by third parties on your behalf. Be sure, also, to set a timeframe for your reduction plan so you can tangibly see if your plan is working or needs updating; consider starting with a one-month reduction plan and then moving onto a more ambitious year-long strategy.

Fear is the Mind-Killer and Carbon is the Earth-Killer

Frank Herbert, one of the principal speakers at the first Earth Day, said to a crowded Philadelphia auditorium “I refuse to be put in the position of telling my grandchildren, ‘Sorry, there’s no more world for you. We used it up.’” By learning more about how you and your business directly use carbon-spawning products and processes, we can advance the lengthy process of adjusting emissions and usage to better protect our Earth. Demystifying the process of carbon emissions is the next major step in the existential fight for Earth; by simply taking heavier considerations toward the processes in your business that contribute to emissions, progress is forthcoming.

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Tips for Styling, Sourcing, and Selling Company-Branded Merchandise

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Consumers who choose to shop at small businesses often take genuine pride in it. Patronizing a small business is (more times than not) a deliberate choice to avoid a big corporate name or support those businesses that give the community individuality, flavor, and spice. Small businesses ought to be proud of their community and vice versa; a great way to show that pride is through branded company merchandise. While making company merchandise is now easier and cheaper than ever, small businesses that are committed to quality and detail-oriented service are the least likely to slap a jpeg on a white tee shirt and call it a day. There are several ways to source, style, and sell high-quality branded merchandise sure to impress your most loyal customers.

Styling Your Merchandise

While your company likely already has a logo or at least a design for your letterheads, merchandise is a great time to explore new or more intricate designs to associate with your business. There is an inherent value to using the same imagery between your merchandise and the actual signs and logos visible at your business but unless your logo is already stylish enough for a shirt, you will likely benefit from partnering with a graphic designer.

There are a near-infinite number of online graphic designers that work freelance and by contract. There are so many freelancers out there that a few clicks can drown you in an ocean of seemingly qualified designers; consider narrowing your search to designers with past experience in textiles and tee shirt designs, or maybe even designs in your industry. That may shrink the option ocean into a more manageable option lake. Start your search at reputable freelancer marketplaces like fiverr or freelancer.com and expand from there.

Once you’ve found a designer that seems to meet your needs, have an introduction over the phone, Zoom, or if feasible, at your actual place of business. The objective of your early meetings should both be to decide if they are the right fit for you as well as give them all the necessary background to create a design which captures the essence of your business. Be certain to tell the designer specifically what types of merchandise you want to make e.g. textiles, ceramics, and/or papers, as that will inform their final product.

Depending on the terms of your contract with a freelancer or by whichever means you have secured a design for your merchandise, the next step is getting that design on a shirt or a mug!

Sourcing Your Materials

 While all-in-one tee shirt companies have been on the digital market for several years, these options are equally notorious for making quick, bulk, and often lower-quality products. Company branded merchandise for small businesses is a great means for small businesses themselves to patronize more small businesses in their communities. Consider partnering with a local printer or silk-screening company to manufacture your merchandise. If you want to sell sewn baseball caps or more intricately stitched merchandise, however, your local options may be more limited. The same can be said about ceramic companies, as most multi-kiln factories manufacture in India and China.

High-Quality Online Sourcing Options

Shopify: While Shopify largely operates as a print-on-demand company, its design tools and quick turnaround for bulk orders makes them a great option for either selling merchandise in-store or online.

Teespring: Teespring is uniquely upfront about the quality of the textiles used to make your custom shirts. Teespring allows users to individually choose between basic Hanes tees and far more premium sources like Next Level tees.

Custom Ink: Custom Ink is an old favorite (and old reliable) choice for custom tees shirts. Their online custom shirt builder tool is user-friendly even to non-designers and their pricing models allow for lucrative discounts when buying in bulk.

Be certain to order a mock-up of each product before making a full order. While mock-ups will likely be complimentary when working with a local partner, you may have to go out of your way to pay for a mock-up or sample if you choose to work with an online company.

Selling Your Merchandise

Your company merchandise should meet customers where they shop: if you are a primarily brick and mortar shop, selling the merchandise alongside your products is a no brainer. There are, however, some benefits to selling your merchandise wholly online. If you end up drafting your merchandise on a large online platform like Shopify or Teespring, you can take advantage of the platforms’ print-on-demand business model; this means that instead of buying merchandise in bulk and potentially over or under evaluating demand, these platforms will print only as many shirts, mugs, etc. as are requested by your customers. Be mindful, however, that print-on-demand services often take considerably longer to ship to customers compared to already printed, bulk-bought shirts. Since customers will have to order their merchandise online, your small business would likely need to already have a strong online customer base to use print-on-demand successfully. Between these two methods are more than a few compromises but the choice between either model will likely be simple for small businesses in the moment

If you choose to sell your merchandise on-hand at your business, consider setting up a test run. Instead of ordering 100 to 1,000 shirts, perhaps order 25 or 125 respectively. While customers will likely be enthusiastic about merchandise when asked hypothetically, whether they will buy the merchandise in the moment is an entirely separate variable.

Merchandise to Match Your Business

The last thing your company merchandise should look like is a cash grab. Delicately sourcing your textiles and using a design you are proud of are simply a must; the people who are most likely to buy and wear your merchandise are equally the customers and clients who patronize your business the most. Merchandise is a great way to create another potential revenue stream, while giving your customers an easy way to show their connection with a brand they love.  Added bonus – anytime a customer wears/uses your branded merchandise, it’s free advertising for you! 

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Building Better OKRs for Your Small Business

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Developing an Objective and Key Results plan, otherwise known as an OKR, is a well-accepted trend in bigger corporations but hasn’t caught on nearly as fiercely in the small business world. OKR plans are a lean and direct way to keep your business goals front and center, something that small businesses ought to do more. The 4th Annual Staples National Small Business Survey found that more than 80% of small business owners don’t keep track of their business goals. The same survey found that 77% of those same small business owners had yet to achieve their original vision for their small business. Any business owner knows that it isn’t enough just to want to grow your business. Growth comes with concrete plans and one of the best ways to develop those plans is with OKRs.

Elements of an OKR Plan

OKRs are metrics that encourage growth through alignment. The best OKRs probe at a business’s weak points and focus on them relentlessly.

Objectives: Your OKR’s “O” needs to be a concise but targeted plan of attack. Beyond general growth, what does your business want to do or become? Talk with your staff and do some introspection yourself about what you’d like to see change in your business five, or ten years down the line. The best “O”s are snappy phrases like “Maximize Digital Sales” or “Revamp the Customer Experience.”

Key Results: Key results must be tangible changes you hope to achieve because of your new objective. In the case of the “Maximize Digital Sales” objective, some useful “KRs” could be: “Increase Sales from Company Website 30% Compared to Previous Year;” “Overhaul Website Appearance by the beginning of Q4;” or “Decrease Digital Storefront Bounce Rate by 30%.” As you can see, Key Results must be bound by a deadline and/or quantity. Without those measurements or deadlines, OKRs become a wish list rather than a company credo for growth. It’s much more manageable (and tangible) to increase sales by 30% rather than just generally increase sales.

Why Use OKRs?

Well-developed and pointed OKRs have the power to inspire and empower a workforce to make seemingly insurmountable change in your business. OKRs are a great exercise in, and means to normalize, talking about the future of your business. As inevitable as the future may be, talking about the distant future isn’t necessarily a common practice in small businesses. It’s enough work balancing each quarter; talking about five or even ten years is a luxury for many small businesses. By breaking down your major goals into smaller, manageable, and calculable OKRs, your business is actually setting itself up for major growth – maybe even growth you didn’t think was possible.

Building Better OKRs

Genuinely Share Plans with All Employees

OKRs aren’t meant to be presented to employees. OKRs should be developed alongside all staff members, as they’ll be just as responsible for making your plans produce results. Consider setting aside time for a series of meetings introducing what OKRs are and then asking employees to bring their own ideas into consideration. After your team puts together a meaningful OKR plan, set aside a regular time for meetings specifically discussing OKRs. These plans shouldn’t exist in the background. The only way OKRs can lead to actual growth is if your team is aligned and actively engaged with their goals.

Failure Isn’t Failure

Even if an OKR doesn’t hit its mark, learning how to post-mortem a missed OKR is another great way to realign your staff. A missed OKR is almost just as valuable as those reached because you can efficiently dissect exactly what didn’t work. Use the information learned from misses to inform future ORKs.

Failed OKRs cannot lead to retaliation in any capacity. By tying OKRs to retaliation, staff may grow to resent their plans. Don’t let OKRs become a source of employee stress. This is obviously easier said than done, but an important step to getting your employees onboard with OKRs is proving that the plans won’t be used against them.

Never Discuss OKRs in Performance Reviews

If your business does regular performance reviews, treat them as a separate entity from your Objective and Key Results. The quickest way to turn your employees against their OKRs are to, in even a tangential way, tie those results to compensation.

OKRs should encourage increased productivity and results, but full completion ought not be a certainty. The best OKRs are on the cusp of what is possible for a business and force employees and management to get creative to find solutions. Not every OKR will be a raving success and that needs to be part of the growth process as well. If employees are afraid failed OKRs will affect their compensation-determining performance reviews, they will grow to resent the goals that should inspire them.

OKRs Shouldn’t Add to Employee Load

OKRs aren’t meant to be new responsibilities or bullet points for employee job descriptions. Your Objectives and Key Results ought to encourage your team to do their same work but in the direction of your OKRs. Everything employees already do should be in some capacity already serving the overarching OKR meant to overhaul your business’s output. If OKRs are getting in the way of an employee’s work, something is likely wrong with the OKR or its implementation in the business.

Transparency Breeds Productivity

A beautiful byproduct of effective OKRs is transparency between staff and management. If management and staff are all working toward the same central goal, teams are more likely to be on the same page rather than silo themselves. Beyond your regular OKR meetings, consider making a public spreadsheet that clearly shows how close you and your team are to achieving your OKR’s goals.

Make sure communication lines are clean and clear, going from manager to employee and employee to manager. If OKRs are chosen for employees instead of letting employees develop them alongside management, those OKRs will uniformly be less effective than ones developed with employee input.

No Business is Too Small for OKRs

The ultimate goal of Objective and Key Result plans is to foster sustainable growth in your business. While corporate giants may have popularized OKRs, the results of OKRs will be beneficial to businesses of any size. The philosophy behind OKRs is to align staff and management to a goal that is only achievable through alignment, transparency, and continuous hard work; and that’s what small businesses are known for.

Close up man hand scanning QR code with cell phone, woman hand pointing to QR code.

What you Need to Know About QR Code and SMS Payment Options

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It is now easier than ever to accept contactless payment from Visa, Mastercard, Discover and even American Express. Some new payment options, however, have emerged that your business may want to capitalize on. Not counting services like Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay which all work as NFC-enabled versions of customers’ existing credit cards, there are several new and re-emerging payment options that businesses may be missing out on. Services like Venmo and its parent company PayPal are P2P (person to person), meaning that customers can transfer money between each other, and more importantly, hold a balance similar to a bank account. More and more companies have also been accepting payment via SMS, leading several small businesses to wonder if they, too, should adopt the young technology.

PayPal, and more recently Venmo, have become massive money-moving tools and recently announced that their users can pay with their account balances via contactless payment. Accepting contactless payment beyond the big four card companies can be a big win for your small business but there are some additional steps and caveats you should know about adopting QR code contactless payment before you sign the dotted line. This article will explain the key details of up-and-coming payment methods including Venmo for business, PayPal contactless, and pay by SMS via Everyware so business owners can make a more informed decision as to whether or not these payment options will work for their business.

Paying by QR Code

While an exceedingly popular payment option in Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea, QR Codes are just taking off in the United States and Canada. Paying by SMS exploded in the countries it did largely because merchants took advantage of near-universally used messenger apps that doubled as virtual wallets. In recent years, two companies, which quickly merged into one company, have become the de facto kings of QR payment in the west; those being Venmo and PayPal.

QR Code payment functions through an intermediary app like Venmo or PayPal where merchants set the price on a tablet, terminal, or phone and have the customer scan the code with their phone. The customer will then be prompted to pay on their own device. PayPal and Venmo, however, do not operate equally and it is important to know the differences between the two apps’ rates and terms.

PayPal by QR Code

In order to take advantage of PayPal’s contactless QR checkout, merchants need a merchant PayPal QR code. Business owners can download their own QR code for free from this link. Once you have your unique QR code, either print out the code or set up a tablet at your point of sale that customers can scan when checking out.

Terms: PayPal offers rather competitive terms even compared to NFC-enabled contactless payment. Both guest and PayPal user transactions have a fixed fee for commercial transactions that is determined based on currency. The chart below lays out PayPal’s terms for USD.

  Rate Fixed Fee (Per Transaction)
QR Code Transactions $10.00 USD and Below 2.40% $0.05 USD
QR Code Transactions $10.01 USD and Above 1.90% $0.10 USD

 

Bottom Line: Adding PayPal contactless payment is a mostly harmless addition to your business that lacks an annual or monthly fee and offers competitive rates. One problem brick-and-mortar retailers may see is that customers must manually type the amount of money they are sending to merchants. Unlike NFC payment where the merchant inputs their price and customers scan their card, QR code payment via PayPal may cause slowdowns in long queues because of a need to double-check if customers have paid the proper amount. PayPal QR payment is likely a great choice for small businesses that are one-person operations like barbers or businesses in environments like outdoor markets. If you are a business with a brick-and-mortar facility, do your research to see if QR code payment may be more hassle than it is worth.

Venmo by QR Code

Venmo is actually owned by PayPal, but Venmo’s commercial transaction rates and payment options are slightly different from its parent company. To accept Venmo contactless payment at your business, you’ll need a free Venmo business profile. You can set up a Venmo business profile through this link. Once you have an account and have set up your QR code, if you’re interested in stepping up your Venmo presence at your point of sale, look into Venmo’s several QR kits with official QR code lanyards, tabletop displays, and stickers.

Small businesses that don’t have a dedicated point of sale can use their Venmo business profile as a virtual POS, great for contactless payment. Similar to personal Venmo accounts, merchants can set prices and charge customers as well as let customers initiate a payment. The Venmo QR code system allows merchants to manually select a price, show the customer their unique QR code, and have that price show up on the customer’s Venmo account. Once the charge is complete, the merchant will be immediately notified.

Terms: Even though PayPal owns Venmo, business profiles on Venmo have somewhat different transaction fees. Venmo’s rate is flat, unlike PayPal’s which splits its rate above and below $10 USD. Also, unlike PayPal which can use several international currencies, Venmo specifically deals in USD.

  Rate Fixed Fee (Per Transaction)
Venmo QR Code Transaction 1.90% $0.10 USD

 

Bottom line: Accepting Venmo QR contactless transactions is functionally similar to accepting PayPal QR, but Venmo still has unique advantages over its parent company. Venmo sits squarely in between P2P payment mediator and social media. Venmo transactions are broadcast on the app like status updates on Facebook or Instagram. Accepting Venmo at small businesses is a great way to increase brand awareness and generate some free marketing.

 

 

While PayPal is most popular for online retailers and small businesses, Venmo truly puts the “person” into P2P as the app is commonly known for friends splitting bills and other social occasions. If your business is frequented by younger consumers or is too small to support a full-scale POS with the big four credit card providers, Venmo QR payment is likely a great way to make payment even easier for your customers.

Paying by SMS

Even though SMS predates even the QR code, using SMS for payment is still a relatively young option. While most SMS payment services offer a full suite of features including marketing and customer support options, today we will focus specifically on payment and whether implementing the system is worthwhile for your business.

Paying by SMS means that a merchant must send a message to a customer with an imbedded link that redirects them to a webpage where they can pay for a service. Many pay by SMS services also double as customer service platforms and can just as easily distribute refunds when necessary.

Everyware by SMS

Everyware is an all-in-one eCommerce tool with a payment system that functions more like invoicing than retail sales. Since payment is done via SMS it may be time-consuming to coordinate getting a customer’s phone number at a POS. If you run a business through Facebook, Twitter or websites that use Stripe for e-sales, Everyware is likely a dream tool. Even brick-and-mortar locations have begun adopting SMS payment parallel to traditional ordering by phone.

Terms: Compared to paying by QR code, paying by SMS has a slightly higher rate and fixed fee. This rate difference is likely due to the several other services that SMS payment tools include like message automation and marketing tools.

  Rate Fixed Fee (Per Transaction)
Relay SMS Transaction 2.90% $0.30 USD

 

Bottom Line: A big hit to pay by SMS services like Everyware is that they have monthly or annual fees. Once again, this is because of the several services offered at once by companies like Everyware. Everyware does not disclose individual pricing deals on their websites and asks that interested merchants contact their sales team to set up a free trial.

Everyware is likely a useful tool for near-all ecommerce companies, but it is a harder sell for stores with a physical POS. SMS payment would likely be much more helpful in brick-and-mortar stores as an additional option for calling ahead or ordering early. As long as you can spare a staff member to quickly answer messages from customers the same way as you would treat a customer phone call, Everyware may be a helpful tool to increase sales.

The Future of Payment

The COVID-19 pandemic massively increased demand for alternative, contactless payment options like SMS and QR codes. Even as the pandemic wanes and customers are going back to their pre-2020 habits, these new payment systems have shown no sign of slowing down. Businesses that meaningfully adopt QR code or SMS payment systems into their business will likely find that it will only go to increase sales. If that comes in the form of customers who would text their order rather than call, or customers that share their visit to your business on their Venmo timeline, new payment systems are reflective of the world’s new consumers. Businesses that adapt first have the most to gain.

Good Business Vendors Relationships Can Help Your Business Grow

Optimize your business vendor relationships to grow profitably

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After customers, it’s typically business vendor relationships that hold the key to the success of your business. That’s because unless you’re using only thin air to create the products and services that you sell, you need vendors to supply your basic needs. Among other things, healthy vendor relationships can give you the benefit of:

  • Competitive prices
  • Liberal payment terms
  • Responsive and flexible service
  • Superior quality goods
  • Being ahead in line of other vendor customers for order fulfillment when supplies of a particular item are limited
  • Referral business
  • Market insights

When your business is new or not yet firmly established, getting some or all of those benefits can make the difference between quickly building a strong foundation for profitable growth, and a wobbly start. But you don’t need to bend over backwards to build strong business vendor relationships. That’s because vendors may have as much to gain from a good relationship as you do. After all, you value strong relationships with your own customers and do what you can to create them; it’s a matter of mutual interest.

Share Your Vision

The process of building rapport with vendors can begin with sharing your dreams and plans for your enterprise, particularly if there is something unique about it. Without revealing the recipe for your “secret sauce,” letting vendors know your basic game plan to grow and prosper can promote confidence and optimism that you will become an increasingly substantial customer worthy of attention.

On a more concrete level, pay your bills on time. Your suppliers aren’t in the lending business.  You can’t assume they have a cash cache to fall back on if you’re late paying your invoices. And even if they have plenty of liquidity, what vendors need most is confidence that you will pay when you agreed to, so that they can manage their cash flow accordingly and not worry about being stiffed.

Manage Your Business Credit Score

Also, keep in mind that how promptly you pay your vendors is a big factor in your own business credit score. That’s important for your business for the same reason that your personal credit score matters: It influences your ability to borrow, and the interest rate you’ll be charged. You might need to borrow occasionally to maintain a good payment track record with vendors, but doing so could more than pay for itself.

Another step that your vendors will appreciate, just as you would if your own customers did for you, is to give them some referral business. Naturally, however, you wouldn’t want to encourage your direct competitors to use your vendors.

And just as you’d like to be your customers’ only source for whatever you sell, your vendors would like to be your sole source for their products. The more you buy from a supplier, the more benefits you might reasonably expect in return. However, depending upon the nature of your business, putting all of your supplier “eggs” in one basket could put you in a risky position. For example, if a sole supplier runs into problems and you’re left without a ready alternative source.

Tips to Optimize Business Vendor Relationships

Here are some additional steps you can take to create strong business vendor relationships:

1. Pick a single vendor relationship manager.

Chances are, when you’re just getting started, that person will be you. Regardless, the point is consistency, to facilitate relationship-building and maximize the efficiency of interactions.

2. Get on the same page with expectations.

It’s important to ensure that you and your vendors have the same understanding of what it means, for example, to respond “promptly” to a request or inquiry, preferred communication methods, and so on.

3. Learn and try to address your vendors’ needs.

Beyond matters like timely bill-payment, a vendor might, for example, prefer that you place your order at a particular time of the week, use a particular order entry system, have a preferred minimum order size, or many other preferences. These might not be hard-and-fast requirements, but preferences that, if honored, will make the vendor’s life easier and can be done at little or no cost to you.

4. Give vendors a heads up about expected changes in your supply requirements.

Vendors have inventory management challenges too. If you’re expecting a decline or increase in your typical order size, advance warning will make it easier on your vendor.

5. Make time for face-to-face interaction.

Although this may not be possible for vendors based far away (except possibly at trade shows), getting in front of a supplier, sharing a meal together, can go a long way towards building a strong business relationship. This is particularly true in an era in which electronic communications have even replaced periodic simple telephone conversations.

6. Recognize that to err is human.

We are all fallible. Sooner or later a vendor will botch an order, send you an inaccurate invoice or even a defective product. Jumping down a vendor’s throat when it happens can sabotage your efforts to have strong business vendor relationships. And if a pattern of mess-ups begins to emerge, the strength of your relationship might determine how quickly the problem can be addressed, and your vendor’s willingness to make amends.

7. Help the vendor to improve its performance.

We’re constantly bombarded with customer surveys, and typically ignore them for lack of time to fill them out. But just as you’d like constructive input from your customers, your vendors probably would also appreciate some feedback from you.  And also like you, they appreciate both negative and positive feedback. This makes you a partner in the product or service quality improvement process, and strengthens your relationship.

There are no guarantees when it comes to vendor relationships. Sometimes you just have to put up with lousy ones, despite your best efforts to optimize them. But chances are good that you will succeed if you make a concerted effort. And when you do, you will have made a strong investment in your business and your long-term success.

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7 Mistakes New Small Businesses Make

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A great idea is only one part of what makes a business successful.

From not researching your market to not vetting or training your employees, there are plenty of pitfalls small business owners can make that could be easily avoided with a little knowledge and preparation.

Here are seven common missteps to avoid in your small business.

1. Not performing market research.

Making sure customers want your product or service enough to pay for it is an important piece of initial market research. So is having what you’re selling priced at a profitable point, and one that doesn’t price you out of the market.

The Small Business Administration (SBA) says low sales is one of the top reasons a small business closes. That’s why they recommend conducting market research before starting a small business by looking at the following factors:

  • Demand: Is there a desire for your product or service?
  • Market size: How many people would be interested in your offering?
  • Economic indicators: What is the income range and employment rate?
  • Location: Where do your customers live, and where can your business reach?
  • Market saturation: How many similar options are already available to consumers?
  • Pricing: What do potential customers pay for these alternatives?

It is also important, once your business has been established, to continually look into each of these areas to ensure that your product and services portfolio continues to be relevant and profitable.

2. Not preparing for a cash flow crunch.

Many small businesses face cash flow problems at some point in their early stages. In fact, WePay reported in May 2017 that 41 percent of businesses had experienced cash flow issues in the past year and 16 percent had experienced payment fraud.

Projecting when a cash flow disruption might happen and making sure you have access to funds, or enough in reserve, can be difficult. That’s why the nonprofit SCORE has a variety of free financial templates for small businesses, including a cash flow budget worksheet.

3. Not securing financing before you need it.

Even if you start with personal funds and cash from friends and family, sooner or later you probably will need additional funds.

While 57 percent of new businesses used personal savings, according to the SBA, 73 percent of small firms used outside financing. The key to securing financing is planning ahead.

There are a variety of options including:

  • business lines of credit
  • short-term loans
  • medium-term loans
  • short-term line of credit
  • medium-term lines of credit
  • SBA loans
  • equipment financing
  • merchant cash advance
  • invoice financing
  • crowdfunding
  • personal credit cards

4. Not having a website.

It seems almost unthinkable, but according to a Clutch business research survey, 29 percent of all small businesses in the U.S. still don’t have websites. And in the Midwest, 42 percent of small businesses still don’t have websites.

Websites like Squarespace.com and Wix.com make it easy to create your own business site without having to know coding.

5. Not hiring the right team for your culture.

Hiring employees with the right skillsets is important, but so is finding employees who fit with your company’s culture. Look for their passion for the industry, not just their interest in the position. Ask open-ended questions to get a sense of how they think, versus how they respond, especially if your company rewards creativity and problem-solving skills.

Some companies will have perspective employees do a “test run” before an official hire is made to help the job candidate and company decide if the fit is right. For example, why not try 30-days of contract work with a potential new employee before making them full time? Just be sure to check your local employment laws beforehand.

6. Not understanding your creditworthiness as a business.

Unlike your personal credit score which tends to be based on the same financial information across providers, there isn’t one single business credit score methodology that covers everything for lenders.

For example, Dun and Bradstreet rates businesses via a viability rating, a supplier evaluation risk rating, a delinquency predictor score, a financial stress score, a D&B rating and its most well-known Paydex score.

The Paydex score looks at your payment history for the past two years and rates your company. Scores range from 1 to 100 based on your promptness to pay bills.

A score of 80 to 100 is good. The reason, if you score an 80 it means you promptly paid your bills on time. Anything higher means you pay your bills before the payment was due. And, a score lower than 80 indicates a late payment.

Business credit scores help pinpoint your company’s creditworthiness by looking at how much credit your business has used, type of customers, and if you pay your bills on time.

There are plenty of other factors and systems including Equifax Small Business, which doesn’t give a single score, Experian’s Intelliscore Plus and FICO Small Business Scoring Service.

The better your scores, the better the lending rates and your borrowing power may be. Concerned about your company’s credit score? Here are some ways to start improving your business credit score.

7. Not learning the basics of accounting.

Most entrepreneurs don’t start a company because they love accounting. But without some basic skills, it can be hard to keep track of what is going on financially. Even if you offload everything to a bookkeeper, you still need to understand how to read financial statements, and understand what income statements and balance sheets are saying.

Thanks to mobile technology, business owners now have a variety of accounting apps designed for businesses that provide easy ways to understand your business’s finances and to keep on top of accounting.

Cutting Your Worst Clients Could Be the Best Decision for Your Business

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Spring brings a sense of renewal, as people set time aside to do an annual “spring cleaning.” These days, spring cleaning goes well beyond clearing out clutter and shampooing carpet. Successful businesses take it as an opportunity to review operations and find ways to be more efficient.

Here are ways eliminating your most difficult clients can help your business.

Following the Money

One area that could be bogging your business down is your client list. Some businesses subscribe to the 20/80 rule (also known as the Pareto principle) which suggests that 80 percent of your revenue comes from 20 percent of your customers. When applied to clients, this can also mean 20 percent of your clients are taking up 80 percent of your time. The 20/80 formula may not specifically apply to your business; however, you likely do have at least one high-maintenance, time-consuming client. Unless the money they’re bringing in is greater than the time they’re taking, your business can likely gain by cutting those clients.

Improving Your Customer Service

When you’re putting additional time and effort into making your most difficult clients happy, this means less for other customers. Difficult, time-consuming clients can be a drain on revenue. Especially if the amount of business they provide doesn’t justify the added attention. Additionally, you may find the endless stream of drama brought on by your worst clients exhausts your employees with the negative impact on morale felt by your other customers. Over time, you may begin losing clients and employees. You may not realize the overall impact the bad client is having on your business.

Freeing You up for Growth

In order for your business to grow, you need to win new business while maintaining your existing clients. When all of your resources are dedicated to making one or two difficult clients happy, you can’t spend time bringing in new business. By ending that relationship, you’ll free more resources up and potentially create the additional income necessary to grow.

Chances are, you already know which clients are consuming the vast majority of your business’s resources on a regular basis. But if there’s any doubt, do a full audit of your client base. Pull information on how many hours your employees spend on each, as well as your highest and lowest payers and those who consistently pay late. Then check any contracts you have in place to identify any termination clauses.

Bottom Line

Once you’ve made the decision to fire, you have options. One route is to announce a rate increase and take the risk that the client may agree to pay it. Use this approach only if you’d be willing to continue to work with the client at the higher rate. Otherwise, you should simply state that you will not be able to work with that client after a certain date. It’s possible you can refer a colleague who will agree to take on the difficult customer. A referral can often be the best option for everyone involved.

If you haven’t conducted a thorough review of your client base recently and identified those who utilize the most resources without compensating for them, spring is a great time to make that decision. If you provide sufficient notice and handle the termination as professionally as possible, you’ll be able to end the relationship on good terms.

How to Create a Year-End Checklist for Your Small Business

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The holiday season is always a hectic time for small business owners , but before January rolls around there are important housekeeping items to attend to. This quick primer breaks down what your year-end checklist should include so it’s business as usual come the new year:

1. Compile key documents

As the year comes to a close, it’s a good time to gauge your business’s financial health. Organizing and updating some basic documents can tell you where your business stands. Here are three key documents to focus on:

  • Profit and loss statement: Summarizes your revenues and expenses over a specific time period.
  • Cash flow statement: A record of cash intake and outflow for your business.
  • Balance sheet: Outlines your business assets, liabilities and equity.

 

Together, these documents should give you a balanced snapshot of how well your business is doing and what trouble spots you may need to address.

2. Review accounts, payable and receivable

Once you’ve run some basic reports, the next step is tying up loose ends with vendors and/or contractors. Look for any invoices that need to be paid and check your bank account to make sure that you have the funds to pay them. If not, reach out to vendors to see if it’s possible to extend your payment dates.

From there, review accounts receivable to determine if there are any payments owed to you. Send reminders to customers or anyone else who has an outstanding invoice. Check for accounts that are significantly past due and consider whether you’ll initiate collection actions or write them off as a loss on your taxes.

3. Prepare your final quarterly tax payment for the year

January 15th is the deadline for filing your last quarterly tax payment for the year. That payment is based on earnings from September 1 through December 31. Underpaying quarterly taxes or paying them past the due date can trigger penalties and interest so it’s a good idea to figure out what you’ll owe sooner rather than later.

4. Organize payroll

If your business has employees, you’ll want to review and update your payroll records before the year is out. Make sure you’re withholding and reporting Social Security, Medicare, income and disability taxes accordingly so that you can process employee W-2 forms on time. You should also decide whether you’re going to give bonuses to your staff, what form they’ll take and when you’ll hand those out since that can affect your tax filing for the year.

5. Track your inventory

Keeping tabs on inventory is important because lost inventory means lost profits for your business. If you run a retail store or a service-based business such as a salon, for example, you’d want to spend some time doing a thorough inventory count to see if it matches up with your sales records. While you’re at it, look for items that may need to be marked down or written off because they’re not selling well or they’ve exceed their sell-by date.

6. Review your insurance coverage

Insurance is designed to protect your small business from losses associated with liability claims or physical damage to your premises, inventory and business vehicles. Take a glance at your policy to see if there are any gaps in your coverage. Review your coverage limits and deductibles to see if those need to be adjusted. For example, you may need to increase your coverage if you recently invested in an expensive piece of equipment.

7. Update your goals

Setting annual goals for your business gives you a road map of what you need to work towards over the next 12 months. Look back at what your business has done over the last year and think about what it is you’d like to achieve going forward. Use that as a template for creating a list of goals for the new year. Be specific and include actionable steps whenever possible so you have a clear-cut plan for taking your business where you want it to go.

Strategic Funding provides needed operating funds to small businesses. Strategic Funding has helped hundreds of industries including: restaurants, personal services, construction, medical, manufacturing, agriculture, retail stores, automotive, and food stores.

3 Questions to Help Determine if it's Time to Hire a CFO

3 Questions to Help Determine if it’s Time to Hire a CFO

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Your business is growing faster than you ever thought possible. Sales have never been higher and your products are flying off the shelves. The problem? You are clueless about your cash flow, you have investors knocking on your door, you haven’t made projections for how your business will be doing a year from now (never mind five years) and you are too busy to dedicate time to the financial intricacies of your business operations.

Sound familiar? If so, it might be time to hire a CFO.

“There is the cliché that many companies go out of business the year after they achieve record sales,” says Arnold Lee, managing director of CFO Growth Advisors, a Bay Area firm that provides part-time CFO services. “When a company is growing rapidly, they grow out of the way they are doing business every three, six, and twelve months; and if they haven’t designed a strategic financial model for moving forward, they can get into trouble.”

Still not sure you need a CFO? If you say yes to any of the following questions, it may be time to start looking:

Is your company in rapid growth mode?

A period of fast growth is a signal to enlist the help of a CFO. That person can help you speak with your board of directors, provide financial projections and handle meetings around outside investment and potential acquisition.

“If you have any institutional investors on your board, you better have a CFO because they will want monthly meetings and there are expectations in terms of reporting,” says Ryan Keating, managing partner and founder of Keating Consulting Group, an interim CFO firm in San Mateo, California. “If you want to raise money, a CFO can be a huge help. That person can help you navigate the first meeting, second meeting, what to do when you get a term sheet and so on.”

Are you struggling to manage your company’s finances?

Every entrepreneur starts his or her company with the mastery of a skill—usually to build a product or service better than any other company on the market. This skill doesn’t always involve financial expertise. And while you may want to handle it all on your own, it pays to have a frank conversation with yourself about items that may be falling through the cracks. A CFO can help catch those items and steer your company on a path to profitability.

Do you have a cash flow problem?

“Cash is the life blood of a business,” says Madhur Dayal, founder and CEO of JMD Financial Partners, an interim CFO company based in the Bay Area. “When a company gets more complex it can help to have a finance arm to make sure you have the funds you need to continue to grow and the ability to make projections.”

CFO help doesn’t need to cost you a fortune, even at the interim level. Hourly rates can vary wildly so be sure to shop around, but as Dayal says, help is affordable for even the most cash-strapped companies.

“There are ways to get the help you need; some of our clients pay $500 for us to be a sounding board,” he says. “A little can go a long way.”

Now that you’re convinced you need CFO help, its time to find the right person for the job. Here are a few things to look for in your search.

Similar “stage” experience

Focus on a candidate who has experience working with companies at your similar stage, advises Keating. Going through a seed round? Find someone who has done that a dozen times. Need to talk to your board for the first time? There are plenty of CFO candidates with that experience. Find them and start the interview process.

Cultural fit

The best CFOs are strategic partners who work in tandem with the CEO of a company. This is a person you need to like enough to invite to dinner and respect enough to be open to their criticism.

“One of the biggest mistakes I see is that people like to hire people like themselves,” says Dayal. “You want them to complement your skills. You don’t want them to be a ‘yes man.’ Hire someone who will talk you through the reality of your business and you will be well on your way to a successful partnership.”

Kapitus provides needed operating funds to small businesses.  Kapitus has helped hundreds of Industries including: restaurants, personal services, construction, medical, manufacturing, agriculture, retail stores, automotive, and food stores.

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