Avoiding The Economic Down Fall Trap

Those who have built empires during economic down turns knew the ultimate key to their success was to move beyond their fears and think ahead. Those great entrepreneurial leaders overcame the temptations of resorting to the scarcity mentality that so many are now being overcome by.

There is a powerful mindset that the leaders of yesterday built today’s modern metropolis upon. That mindset is an unwavering and solid state of being. This same mindset has created more millionaires and billionaires in the last 5 years than in any other time in history. To get there, first one must eradicate the unseen and unconscious accomplice that stops so many people dead in their tracks when they hear bad news. One day you think everything is great and then a bit of bad news comes through and you instantly allow your emotions to take a downturn for the rest of the day and continue to feed into the reactions of everybody else as they move in the same direction.

Do you think those who built empires during economic downturns allowed themselves to get caught up during times of questionable economic affairs? No! Instead of allowing themselves to get swept up in the down current or even trying to swim against it, they pulled themselves out of the raging waters by changing their way of thinking. By confronting their unconscious fears and keeping the mindset of “absolute certainty” that they would overcome all adversity, they positioned themselves into a state of being that power, courage and prosperity could not resist.

We are living in a time of unlimited information, human achievement and limitless wealth. Absolute certainty of overcoming all adversity is one way to overcome the unconscious accomplice known as fear. Absolute certainty has made great leaders even greater. It has shocked those who achieved their greatest heights of success when they thought it was impossible. It has shown the way when at first there appeared to be none. Absolute certainty that you will overcome all adversity will always feed and empower the true essence of who you really are.

Nick Taylor

About the author:

Nicholaus R. Taylor is a business and personal breakthrough consultant. He is president of Advanced Insight Consulting and the author of “The Morpheus Protocol” how to eliminate subconscious blocks, self sabotage and addictions. His website is http://www.advancedinsightconsulting.com

Business Valuations “What is a business worth”

Determining the value of a business is the first step in the process of selling or buying a business. The value of a business is related to the risk involved. The ability to generate an income stream and the value of the tangible

 

An expert valuation report is based on the standard valuation mythology, combined with knowledge and of the valuation expert. The specific purpose for the valuation and size of the business will determine the scope of the report and the depth of the research required.

 

Here are the basic factors that influence the value of the business.

 

• Value of the hard assets
• Recast cash flow analysis: normalize earnings
• Review factors that can impact future earnings
• Calculate and apply external factors discount
• Analyze intangible values

 

The final step of the valuation reports is to make sure the suggested price for the business passes the sanity test:

 

• Will the income cover dept to service?
• Will the cash flow provide the new owner with a reasonable salary?
• Can the cash flow provide for future equipment requirements?
• Will the cash flow provide for future fluctuation in the business Cycle?

 

What to do if you want to sell your business at a later time

 

It is important to sell your business when you are ready and the time is right. Every business owner should prepare an exit strategy. Unless you plan on passing your business onto a family member or liquidate the business, there will be a time when you will want to sell your business. The following items will get your business will increase market value and marketability of your business.

 

Increase your sales

Sales, sales, sales to a business are like location, location, location is to real estate. Sales are the key elements that a buyer is looking for in a business that is for sale. Buyers are hesitant on purchasing a business with declining sales and will offer rock bottom price for the business. Once a business owner decides to sell they need to keep focusing on running the business.

 Develop a strong management team

Besides removing yourself from the business, develop a strong management team. The expression “People are the most important thing in a business” could not be truer when it comes to selling your business. A buyer can analyze the financials and the equipment and inventory to determine the economic value. One of the major factors that will move the value up or down is the quality of the employees.

 

Replace family members working in the business with other employees

It might be great having family members working with you and build your family relationship. But it is a huge detriment when it comes to selling your business. Even if the family members agree to stay on after the sale the buyer has concerns such as the perceptions that he family members is not always the most qualified employees, and that they are paid more then the non-family member employee. A buyer might not feel like they are getting the most qualified person for the job.

 Reduce the amount of personal perks in the business.

Most small business owner “live” out of their business. If they hire a good accountant their net income from the business is usually quite modest for purposes of their tax liability. By no means does this mean the cash flow to the owner could not be much higher. So what are we talking about here. Personal perks. These personal perks can include: health insurance, auto insurance, meals, entertainment, travel, etc.

 

EBITDA (Net income + Interest + Depreciation + Amortization) is the most common form of cash flow to a buyer. In small business, personal perks can often be a large percentage of the cash flow. Since lenders and buyers focus on EBITDA, it would be wise to reduce or eliminate personal perk, for a year or two before selling your business.

 

Sell off all unnecessary assets

Every business over time accumulates obsolete, duplicate or unnecessary assets over time. It is hard to sell a business with a high amount of assets that are not necessary to operate the business. By selling the assets the business owner gains from the sale of the asset and a better purchase price value that will make the business more marketable.

 Develop a strong sales team (if applicable)

Most businesses sell a product or service and each of those businesses can improve their sales with additional sales people. When selling your business the prospective buyer will be very interested in seeing what method you use to increase sales. If you, as the owner are the only sales person, some red flags are bound to come up.

 

Diversify your customer base

A buyer does not want the risk of buying a business with a customer data base of only a few concentrated customers. By diversifying you customer base, you will not only increase your chance of selling you business, it will reduce the effect of losing a customer. A good rule of thumb is to not have a customer with more then 20% of your business sales.

 

What’s Your NICHE?

Getting clear on what you do, and marketing that message with precision, is the key to modern business survival.

By Scott Carley

Who are you really?

That sounds like a deep philosophical question, and it is. But if you’re a business owner or salesperson, it’s a question you need to answer, because your survival is at stake.

Branding is important in any economy, but when times are tough you have to be particularly clear about what you do, and for whom. You don’t have the luxury of keeping pace with the crowd. You need to give prospects a crystal-clear mental image of how you can help them. You need to find your niche.

Finding Your Niche

Your niche consists of two elements:

1. The unique skills, background, and values you bring to your field.
2. The specific slice of the overall market you serve.

“But if I narrow my prospects, won’t I lose business?” No! You’ll gain business because you’re focusing all your marketing effort toward only those people who  need your specific products or services, instead of throwing a diluted message out to a broad generic market.

Getting specific about your niche also allows you to hone your message to razor sharpness, including a 60-second “elevator speech” that will make listeners say, “Wow, you read my mind! You offer exactly what I need!”

Networking your niche

There’s a reason chamber events, mixers, and referral networking groups seem to be everywhere in the business world. Word-of-mouth referral networking is how people prefer to do business. Think about it — when you need a product or service right away, would you rather launch a lengthy search or simply call a pal and say, “Who do you know who can help me?”

How do you differentiate yourself from all the other suits and ties in a packed banquet hall? How do you arrest someone’s attention long enough to get them to really listen?

That’s where your niche comes in. You’re not like the others. You don’t have a generic “We’re a full-service solutions provider for all types of business” ramble; you have a precise, targeted elevator speech because you know your niche. I don’t go around saying “I’m a business coach,” although that’s certainly true. I say “I show sales teams and business owners how to make more money by marketing themselves to a precise target audience.” And because I know exactly who my best prospects are, I can focus on a few targeted conversations instead of passing cards around to anyone and everyone.

It takes time, effort, and education to learn how to work your niche (professional guidance can be a great help), but once you get there you’ll wonder how you ever managed otherwise. As I like to tell my students, “It’s not Get Rich Quick — it’s a Get Rich Niche.”

What’s your Get Rich Niche?

SCOTT CARLEY is an internationally known business coach specializing in word-of-mouth referral networking and corporate time management courses. For one-on-one or group coaching sessions, visit www.GrowthDynamic.org online.

How to ramp up sales before the end of the year

Can you believe 2008 is almost at an end? This year went by pretty quickly and 2009 will be here before we know it. Now is the time to plan on ramping up your holiday sales before 2008 is complete.

With Thanksgiving and Christmas just around the corner you would think that some people are taking time off from doing business. Well, your right! You may notice that each year around the holiday season business owners start slowing down with their networking efforts so they can take time to be with family and friends. While they are taking time out from doing business they are doing something else. Spending money!

Yes, even in questionable economic times like now people are still buying things and going out. As you can imagine consumer products companies and service providers are preparing to ramp up sales by customizing their ads to suit their target audience. They do this every year and it pays big dividends. In just a moment I will go over some creative ways to ramp up your sales if you sell a consumer product but let’s also take a look at those who provide a service.

So now you may be saying “but Nick, I provide a service!”

That’s even better! Why? Let’s take a look at the buying habits that are created by the holiday spirit.

During the holidays people get stressed. Stress makes people do things like buy stuff in order to fulfill their sense of self accomplishment, get a massage, seek therapy or finally complete a task that has been bugging them for the past several months. Think about it, if for the last 6 months your roof has been leaking and one day you pop open the newspaper and see an ad that says “Roof still leaking? Take advantage of our holiday special and get it fixed at half price! Call now, this offer wont last!” you will feel compelled to get that pesky roof leak fixed pretty quickly.

People feel a great sense of self accomplishment by getting things done and this is where you can ultimately help them. And remember don’t think about “selling” your products or services. Think about it in terms of “fulfilling your customer’s needs” instead. By focusing your mindset in this way your products and services will sell themselves. Your real job is to position your products or services in front of your audience. The product or service will do the rest.

Customizing your ads

If you are a service provider begin your ad with the common problem or need that you can fulfill. Next, connect with your audience through the holiday spirit and let them know about the special you are running and the problem you can solve with the service you provide. At the end let them know that just like the holiday your offer won’t last and they need to take action! See the example roof leak ad I wrote above.

For those who sell consumer products begin with highlighting the problem that your product will solve. Example “Dry, frizzy tangled hair?” Next utilize the holiday spirit and let your target audience know about the special you provide. “Take advantage of our holiday special and get two for the price of one on our all natural hair conditioner” Next is the call to action. “Bring this coupon into the store for your amazing discount. This offer won’t last so act now”

These are examples and if you look at the majors who play the products and services game they know what they are doing and it works.

This is an excellent time to utilize your products and services abilities to help people through the holidays. Get on the ball now because like I mentioned before, the holidays will be over before you know it.

If you would like help with ramping up your sales before the end of the year get in contact with me now. I specialize in putting together ads, marketing, sales and business organization.

And yes, I am offering a holiday special on my usual fees so get on the ball and take advantage of my services now because time is of the essence!

Nick Taylor - President

Advanced Insight Consulting

www.advancedinsightconsulting.com

512-902-4962

Self Sabotage – The law of internal resistance

Have you ever had a deal fall through and just couldn’t figure out why it didn’t happen? Or maybe you just couldn’t get yourself to do something that you knew had to be done yet something inside of you posed a force of resistance. You know deep down that something has to change in order for life to be more fulfilling. Once you try to change though, that force of resistance keeps springing back up. There are new technologies out there to help like visualization and positive thinking. These are great tools and work well but only under one condition… these tools work best only when that underlying force of resistance has been eliminated.This force of resistance is what helps us forget important documents on the way to a meeting, places road blocks in our way when we are trying to accomplish something, encourages us to eat more fattening foods soon after we break a diet, encourages people to drink more alcohol than ever after they have decreed they would never drink again.

Every person you know of has had to deal with this force of resistance. We developed this force of resistance over time by taking on certain beliefs that were instilled within us during childhood. When we become adults with responsibilities and ambitions our underlying beliefs set in even stronger making it harder for us to achieve what ever it is that our underlying belief says won’t happen.

After working with more and more clients I have found that the older we get the stronger this resistance becomes sometimes leading people to think there is no hope for change, but there is. After a decade of working with people helping them eliminate their force of resistance it never seizes to amaze me that no matter what age someone is, the technique I show them still works fast and the effects last. There is typically no need to keep coming back for the same issue. Goals in life become clear in our minds eye and progression works its way toward finding us instead of us seeking it. Once these blocks known as internal resistance are removed life becomes more fulfilling, exciting and adventurous.

If you are at a milestone in your life and the time for change is now, contact me for more information.

Nick Taylor

Business & Personal Breakthrough Consultant

Advanced Insight Consulting

www.advancedinsightconsulting.com

Common mistakes that small business owners make & ways to overcome them

Small businesses can make up 80%-90% percent of a city’s commerce base. Statistically a small business will only survive 2-5 years before it closes its doors. There are many common mistakes made by small business owners. Entrepreneurs have a very hard time making some one else rich while they work hard in order to slowly move up the ranks to gain some sort of ownership in the company or at least to executive status

I will list some of the most common mistakes that small business owners make resulting in the eventual closing of the business forcing the entrepreneur to go back to working the daily grind.

Starting a business they are not passionate about: Many entrepreneurs start a business thinking that just because the products are selling for others means it will be lucrative for them. The truth is that if you are not passionate about what you are doing it will not be rewarding. Success is a state of mind and if your business is not fulfilling, success will be hard to attain.

Possible solution: If the small business you have started is making a good living for you be sure to get the business to a level where it works on its own and you do not have to show up everyday unless you want to. This way you can plan well for your next business venture doing something you ARE passionate about.

Starting off undercapitalized and with out a business plan: Many small businesses are started with out a plan and on a shoe string budget and often times with out a planned budget at all! Running a business costs money weather you do it from home or from an office, there will be expenses to cover like marketing and advertising, rent and overhead.

Possible solution: Put together a well defined business plan so you can truly understand your business, your industry, your market and a strategy that will help you gain your market share. After putting together a well defined business plan you will have a much better grasp of what it takes to run a business successfully earning the profits you desire. Next you will be able to approach a possible partner or angel investor who would be willing to invest in your business now that it has a plan.

Starting off with out marketing plan: One of the most import aspects of a successful business is having a well thought out and researched marketing plan. Your marketing plan helps you understand who your target market is, where they are located, where they buy, why they buy and how to position yourself in front of them in order to maximize your exposure to your target market.

Possible solution: Create a marketing plan ASAP if you haven’t already! This is a crucial element that will determine the survival of your business. If you are putting together a marketing plan for your first time it is best to work with a market research specialist that you know of personally or locally. If it is some one you know they may cut you a break on your market research cost, otherwise market research reports can get expensive. Either or, it is worth the investment to get a marketing plan done. It will save you lots of time and energy from blindly testing what you THINK is your market.

Trying to do it all themselves: Many entrepreneurs are do it themselves kind of people. This attitude will kill a business faster than just about anything else. Entrepreneurs need people to help with the tedious tasks that they are not qualified to do and do not like doing any way. Many small business owners I work with start off wearing too many hats. As a result they spend a lot of time getting little done and it ultimately hurts their bottom line.

Possible solution: Figure out what you don’t like doing and are not qualified to do and get help! If you are working with a small budget you can place an ad at the local University seeking interns that are studying what ever it is you need them to do. For example let’s say you need some marketing research done and implemented. You could place an ad seeking a marketing student who is looking to get more real world experience in marketing. Be sure to ask the University how they can get course credit while working for you so the intern not only gets real world experience but course credit at the University as well.

If you can relate to some of the above small business owner challenges now would be the time to take action. There are multiple solutions to multiple challenges and taking a step back to get the 5000 foot view can help you get your business prospering more than ever.

Nick Taylor – President

Advanced Insight Consulting

www. Advancedinsightconsulting.com

Electronic Media

How to Look Ahead at Electronic Media While Staying a Little Behind

From the very first moment that radio waves were transmitted for public use, our destiny as a progressive society in the United States was sealed.  We will inevitably become a mostly paperless society.  You see it more and more every day…your creditors nudging you to pay electronically, internet shopping sites abound, e-mail for free, new forms of storage that hold huge volumes of data available to everyone.  And this is just the beginning.

Read more

Top 10 Homepage Design Tips

1. Emphasize the unique nature of your site and what it offers that’s of value to users. Stress how your services differ from those of your direct or ‘key’ competitors. This is one of the most important issues in homepage design, and one of the least followed of all the guidelines. Websites typically hide their offerings in generic “marketing blurbs” that make very little impression on prospective customers.

Read more

What’s a micro-preneur?

What’s a micro-preneur?

If you do everything in your business and have no help, if you’re chief cook and bottle-washer, you are a micro-preneur. Now, don’t get me wrong. There’s nothing wrong with doing everything yourself-I used to run my business that way. If you can handle bookkeeping, returning calls and e-mails, marketing, networking, AND doing the actual work you got into business to do, great!

Read more