Does your business have lumpy payments?

If your business doesn’t have enough cash, you will be under stress. That is something I experienced first-hand. When you don’t have enough cash, you feel pressure to take any client who shows interest. This is usually a mistake. Trying to be all things to all people is a downward strategy.

Most owners understand this. When you are under pressure to pay your bills, it’s hard to say no — even if the customer is outside of your target market. You need money, you take the business, and you often end up spending too much time serving the customer. And if you stay in this cycle, you put your business at risk. When you own a microbusiness, burning time is just like burning money.

Several years ago, I did some work with a graphic design firm, Gray Cat Studio. Michelle Bisceglia, the owner, had built a knowledge base working with specialty food manufacturers. She knew a great deal about the businesses and what made them successful.

When I first started working with her, she would take work from anyone. She often lost money when she went outside her knowledge area, but like many microbusiness owners, she was often short on cash.

We worked on developing her niche and I coached her in using a new word: No. Over time, two things happened. She was able to charge higher fees because of her expertise, and it took her much less time to complete projects. This allowed her to create a cash cushion, which made it even easier to say no to customers who didn’t fit her profile.

Two Paths for Microbusinesses

Ultimately, microbusiness owners have two choices. They can choose to remain a microbusiness, like Ms. Bisceglia, or they can do what I did in my previous business and move into the next level, the traditional SME. In both cases, understanding the drivers that create cash for living and saving is crucial. If you want to grow, you will not only need to finance your own living needs and retirement savings, but you also need to create cash for growth.

There is no good or bad about this decision. It’s truly about an owner’s preferences. Some people decide they want a bigger business, and some are happy just doing what they want without having to worry about managing other people.

If you choose to stay at the micro level, you need to understand that lumpy sales exist and you must have a strategy for dealing with them. You should have a plan in place in case you become disabled. You should have a strategy for saving for retirement, because you will not be able to sell your business.

What do you think? If you’re a microbusiness, what are your challenges? Have you decided to stay at this level?

Jacoline Loewen   See Jacoline on BNN, The Pitch  Author of Money Magnet Director, Crosbie Co.

Crosbie & Co.

150 King Street West

Toronto, ON

M5H 1J9

416 362 7726

The Asian Century will switch from 'quantity' of growth to quality

Will China perform as many experts say it will" Here is the journal of a recent trip to asia by a Goldman Sacks leader"

In the first decade of the Asian Century, much of the story has in effect been about the 'quantity' of growth rather than the quality and sustainability.

This is especially true with respect to China as I shall discuss in more detail, but also for India, Indonesia and others (if not, of course, in Japan where it has been and remains the absence of either). I introduce the aspects of my trip in this context because I think part of the challenge right now is that markets had become used to the drug of the quantity of growth in the region.

And importantly, in terms of our expectations, we never were and are still not, assuming that the same intensity of nominal and real GDP growth will continue.

For this decade, 2011-2020, for example, we are assuming that China will grow on average by 7.1%, down from 10.5% the last decade, and India 6.5% down from 7.5%. We are expecting the N-11 countries to see their real GDP accelerate to around 5.3% from 4.2%, but this would not be powerful enough to offset the softer Chinese and Indian growth in aggregate.

Let me re-emphasize that if China, India and the Asian N-11 countries achieve what we assume, their share of global GDP will rise sharply and the world will probably grow faster than previous decades, despite their softer growth rates.

 Jacoline Loewen   See Jacoline on BNN, The Pitch  Author of Money Magnet Director, Crosbie Co.

Crosbie & Co.
150 King Street West
Toronto, ON
M5H 1J9
416 362 7726

What forces a business to change for the better?

People just go to the office, grab a coffee, do the stuff they were trained to do 10 or 20 years ago, go to the meetings in their calendar and go home, its a wonder anything changes at all anywhere. 
New companies do new things sometimes, but then stagnate. 
The way of the world, with exceptions I'm sure, is sadly that external crises only stimulate change. 
You all must have seen the same yourselves for the new ideas you've seen. 
Once people are in the comfort zone that's it, they're staying there.
Buy Money Magnet, by Jacoline Loewen, learn new ways to find money for your business.

Jacoline Loewen   See Jacoline on BNN, The Pitch  Author of Money Magnet Director, Crosbie Co.
Crosbie & Co.
150 King Street West
Toronto, ON
M5H 1J9
416 362 7726

By definition, it is management's responsibility to maximize the value of the organization.

Yet growth is a confluence of issues (love that terminology). Yes, employees do get mixed messages but management (unless they are owners) are employees too. Complacency, ego and fear of failure happenign resulitng in the pink slip will all stop CFOs from changing the ways things get done.

There is no simple answer to helping a CFO look at risk and trade offs more but creating the right environment is a huge step in the right direction.

How do you do that?

Jacoline Loewen, Author of Money Magnet.

Jacoline Loewen   See Jacoline on BNN, The Pitch  Author of Money Magnet Director, Crosbie Co.
Crosbie & Co.
150 King Street West
Toronto, ON
M5H 1J9
416 362 7726

How can a CFO add value in a family business?

The role of the CFO, particularly in a family business, is to help gather up all the ideas flying around the company and work out the risk and reward for each potential project.  Often, these ideas originqte with a comment from the business owner who then forgets.  A CFO is needed to capture the ideas and try and get them onto one page in order to choose the priority. To explain it better, here is the CFO of a family business explaining his situation and how he added value.

Once whilst in a new role I inherited 50-projects, all of which had the opportunity to add revenue, save lots of dollars, or lose dollars.There was however no clarity over which projects would do which. 

I think the simplest answer to "What should we do?", is PROVIDE CLARITY (in addition to having the right structure in place), to leaders who are completely inundated with hundreds of competing priorities. 

To continue - I managed after some time and much investigation to get all of the 50-projects on 1-page with the 'Approximate $ annual return' and '$ return per hour invested' for each project. It brought amazing clarity to the situation. Some projects were canned instantly. Some had potentially staggering returns. 

Projects were then pursued in detail and prioritised accordingly via a stage-gate process. 

Another important enabler is DETAIL, proving to the boss that all angles have been considered. I cannot stress this enough. One criteria for allegedly great consultant ideas, for instance, could be 'Do I trust this consultant who is offering me this advice, and if so, why?'. 

All of this should help in some part to help clear the fog and enable leaders to focus on the best opportunities in an environment where everyone is doing more with less.

Jacoline Loewen, author of Money Magnet, weekly TV Show, The Pitch, BNN

Jacoline Loewen   See Jacoline on BNN, The Pitch  Author of Money Magnet Director, Crosbie Co.
Crosbie & Co.
150 King Street West
Toronto, ON
M5H 1J9
416 362 7726