Hopefully you will make a New Year’s resolution which includes building a business plan and in it, your personal and business goals.  You will also do a budget to make sure you can afford to execute what is in your plans.  Hopefully you are rested and as they say, “all dressed up and ready to go.”  You are also saying “Bring it on.”  My question is therefore, you know WHAT you want to do but HOW are you going to do it?

Chances are you have a list of projects and tasks you want and need to do.  It probably does not include answering phones, sending and receiving emails, reading articles and newsletters, attending conferences, staying on top of compliance items that affect your industry but numerous day to day activities that lead most entrepreneurs at the end of the day to say “Where did the day go?”  That’s the point of a Productivity plan.

A Productivity plan is an attempt to put some system into each day, week and month.  Whether you are the President of the United States or the unemployed person looking for a job, we all have exactly the same amount of time in a day.  While we may not always be able to control who we spend our day with, we can control how we spend it.  For example, do you know how much time each day you spend on email?  Do you respond to each email as it arrives?  If so, you are not being productive.  An email is a non urgent means of communication.  If it was urgent you would be using a cell or telephone.

The goal of a Productivity plan is to plan and manage your day, first, so you enjoy it and second, so you get the important tasks done while the less important tasks wait.  Closing down your email after all the messages are read and answered in the morning and then again in the afternoon allows you to be more productive…which is what a Productivity plan is all about.

As a business owner you have been taught to mainly work in months as this coincides with a financial period and allows you to close and then open a new set of financial statements with your book-keeper or financial analyst so you can review the success or shortcomings in preparation for the next month.

What other areas can you address to remain as productive as possible?  The starting point is to make a plan at the end of each day for the following day and roll it up at the end of the week.  Deciding what tasks you need to do in your business vary greatly from one person to the next as we all work from personal habits.  This is because not only are we in different businesses but also because we are in different industries and just as importantly, at different stages of a life cycle of our business.

If you want some help with what productivity tasks to accept, look at your normal work habits and decide how they can be improved, the tasks that must get done that slows down others, and even consider what you avoid doing or spend too much time procrastinating over.  This is where you can improve your productivity.

The best option is to either write your plan in a word processing document or a spreadsheet.  Making a written record and spending the time to define what needs to be done is the first step towards success.  Another important task is to make sure you allocate a priority – A for urgent, B for needs completing within a reasonable time and finally C for non urgent.

Finally, a Productivity plan is not about measuring results.  A Productivity plan is about defining AND agreeing what needs to be done with what urgency.  Measuring the results of your Productivity plan is important as it is by doing this we can see if we are moving forward and get a positive sense of accomplishment.

Check out my You Tube channel with over 35 short videos if you would like information about selling or buying a business – http://www.youtube.com/user/andrewrogersonsac

A lot of new business owners like to move quickly. They work through their decision to move into business ownership, do a little research, decide how much money they have, how much they can borrow and then start doing “it”…whatever “it” means for them and their business.

There’s no question that research and understanding your finances are important. Going into business requires money and what goes on around it. However, if you want to borrow money to help fund your new business you are going to need at least 4 things. If you can’t be bothered getting these together you will not be taken seriously by sellers, landlords, business brokers, lenders or other related parties. Or worse still, you’ll be taken seriously, asked for these documents and when they found not to be in order, your dream will be shattered.

These four things are your resume, your credit score, your credit report and your personal financial statement.

Each of these is important for the following reasons. For lenders to let you borrow money they want to see your resume so they can see you have the skills to manage the money they lend you. If you’ve spent the last 10 years of your career in the IT industry and now want to borrow money to buy a preschool, then you may not be taken too seriously. Build a strong resume so it highlights your management skills and be prepared to tweak your resume to support each loan application.

Second, if your credit score is 650 or less, you will struggle to get a loan. That may sound blunt but it’s the truth. The main purpose a bank is in business is to make money. They make money by giving loans to people who can pay them back. A low credit score is one of the tools a bank uses to decide whether you are worth the risk and therefore if you will pay back the loan, with interest. Yes, this is very simplistic but your credit score is very important.

Third, before you apply for a loan, get a copy of your credit report to make sure it’s accurate and there are no errors on it. There are a few reasons for this. Credit reports are notorious for errors. Imagine your frustration to have a great credit score, spend weeks building and executing your business plan, building relationships with suppliers, signing a lease on the perfect location for your person and a major vendor asks for a copy of your credit report to complete their paperwork and they find a bad comment on your credit report and they decline your request! All because there was an error on your credit report that should not have been there in the first place. Bottom line; let’s get this taken care of now so you have time to get things in order.

The final item is to build a personal financial statement. This document may be required by vendors, banks, landlords or other parties that you are planning on buying a business from. If you have this information prepared and ready to go it is one less task to worry about and having it prepared shows you are serious with what you want to do.

Starting a business is exciting, stressful, exhilarating, tiring, stimulating and fun to name a few things. A great business has strong foundations. To build strong foundations always look first at your responsibility and what you do so the rest will take care of itself when you get to it.

If you would like some free documents to help plan your move into business ownership, please visit my website, www.RogersonBusinessServices.com. Once the home page loads, choose the “Sample Documents” option from the menu in the black ribbon across the top of the page and help yourself to 21 documents including business plans, break even analysis, profit and loss projectors, balance sheets, loan amortization calculators and more.

If starting your business is in your immediate future you and are not sure where to start, there are five major areas I would suggest you consider. This article is just about one of those, which is the need to create a solid business plan, but the four areas to help determine your fitness for business ownership are as follows. First, are you a self-starter? Second, how well do you connect with other people? Third, how good are you at making decisions? Fourth, are you physically and emotionally ready to start and build your business?

As I mentioned above, this article is about area number five, that is, how well do you plan and organize. If you plan on going into business you should, at a minimum, look at the following. First, you’re going to need to build a business plan. Just as you’ve heard Look before You Leap, you should have heard “If You Fail to Plan you Plan to fail.” I think a business plan is one of the best kept secrets. Everyone knows you need a business plan but so few business owners actually put one together. And if you’d like to test this out, call three people you know who own and run a business and ask them if they have a business plan. I will be surprised if one out of the three does. And if you find one business person that does have a business plan either ask if you can borrow it to model off it, or if that’s too sensitive, ask if you can meet with this owner to go over yours as I would guess the owner that does have a business plan is successful. And it’s always good to talk to successful business owners.

Why is creating a business plan so important. It’s important for a number of reasons. First, converting ideas that are jumbled in your head and putting them to paper makes you focus and really think. I guarantee you will say to yourself a number of times, what you think is clear and makes perfect sense in your mind, completely changes when you have to take the idea and put it in writing. Second, putting it in writing makes you think not only of that question or problem, but the next set of thoughts that flow from that idea. For example, if your business plan includes the idea of creating an Operations Manual, putting this on paper will make you capture the idea so you don’t have to keep carrying it around in your head. It will also make you start thinking about the purpose of the operations manual. Questions will then come to mind such as, who its mainly written for, who’s the best person to write it, how often should it be updated and by whom, who should check to make sure it works and you need to make sure its backed up with the other business documents so it’s not lost. So, one simple idea to make an Operations Manual spun off about seven other needs. Third, it allows you to communicate the business plan or core idea of the business in writing to professionals such as third party lenders, attorneys and accountants, or key support people such as family and friends or key employees and others.

There are two types of business plans. The business plan for a brand new business will have different criteria to the business plan of an established business. However, both business plans include an Executive Summary that captures the essence of where the business is at and the direction, you as the owner, plan on taking it.

If you would like a free template for either type of business plan, please visit my website; www.RogersonBusinessServices.com. Once the home page loads, go to the black ribbon at the top of the page and and choose “Sample documents.” Items 7 and 8 are the respective business plans and come from documents created by SCORE or the Service Corps of Retired Executives. SCORE is a great, free resource if you are planning on moving into business ownership.

For more information about business ownership, visit Andrew’s website at www.RogersonBusinessServices.com

The reality of the current downturn in the economy is that many companies will need to restructure to create the private sector jobs President Obama is talking about. At the time of writing this article there is 7.2% unemployment or the good news, 92.8% full employment. That’s good news if you’re one of the 92.8% but bad news if you’re one of the 7.2%. And these are national figures so if you live in some States in the US the unemployment rate is higher.

Regardless of your local unemployment statistics, if you have lost your job or are concerned your company may downsize but you need to make some money to put a roof over your head, feed the family, buy the gas to get around plus all the other things you need to do in life, perhaps you are thinking it’s time to get off the employment rollercoaster. This means putting yourself in control so you can work the hours you want, work in an industry you want to be part of and ultimately be in control of your own destiny. If that makes sense, what are your options?

The three options of business ownership

If you think business ownership may be an option for you, there are basically three choices. Option one is to start your own business. This means you have to come up with a creative new idea, test it to make sure there is a commercial market for your idea, and then once you get enough feedback, build and execute a business plan. This plan not only needs to ensure you make enough money to pay the costs of running your business and personal needs but also cover any debt you’ve incurred while you created, tested and deployed your idea.

Option two is to buy an existing business that has any of the following three goals. Your first goal could be to find a business that’s not doing well, determine the reason it is underperforming and then put in place the changes to have the business head in a positive direction. Your second goal could be to look for a business that’s holding its own and simply take the place of the existing owner with the expectation of enjoying the life style of this business owner. The third goal could be to look for a business that’s growing well but bring your skill set, new energy and capital and either continue the growth of the business or considerably add to it.

The third and final option is to buy the rights to a new franchise. Just so I am clear, you could always buy an existing franchise and continue its current ownership but this is really a variation of option two above. New franchises are appearing on the market all the time in a diverse range of industries and formats. At last count I had franchises in 84 different industries such as accounting, automotive, animals/pets, beauty care, building materials, children’s education, clothing, transportation, travel, upholstery and wholesale etc while the formats range from Business to Business (B2B), Retail, Home based etc to name a few. The option of buying a new franchise tends to appeal to those who have worked in Corporate America but decide to look elsewhere for their future. The best advantage of a franchise for a new business owner is that it brings a system or business model that has had the wrinkles ironed out; similar to the model used in Corporate America. The franchisor has proven the business model, fine tuned the systems, built the training for the franchisee, knows what accounting systems to use and has these up and running and is looking to re-create these business models across the US and often into Canada and Mexico, and around the world.

Understanding risk

If you’re deciding whether business ownership is right for you, one of your most important evaluations will concern risk. We see this everyday with how we handle our money. We know we need an account to pay our bills and often use a checking/savings account combination. The money is very safe (backed by the US Government) and available whenever we need it. Because this money is needed for virtually immediate use our risk tolerance is very low. With that need taken care of our next decision involves putting aside excess capital that hopefully stays ahead of inflation but is only tied up for the short term of say 6 months to 2 years. For this option we look to CDs, Bonds or Treasuries which we also know are safe and meet our low risk tolerance. We also understand the importance of another form of investing and that’s regularly putting retirement money into a 401K plan or similar which is money invested for the long term of 10 years or more. We know this money is at a higher risk as it fluctuates in value on a daily basis with movements in the stock exchange. For this higher risk we require a higher return on investment. With those needs addressed, and if we have any additional spare money, we then look at other longer term investing options which includes buying shares in the stock market, buying corporate bonds, playing the foreign currency markets, trading commodities or some other form of investment we know and handle ourselves or pay a financial advisor to manage for us.

The bottom line is that you have many options with the final option you choose to make based on your risk tolerance. When deciding whether to start your own business, buy an existing business or buy the rights to a franchise, the level of risk will be one of the major decisions you need to evaluate. Your comfort with which option to choose will also depend on a number of variables. These include how much money you have to invest, the skill set the business requires and how closely this matches yours. Another major factor includes your financial status. Do you need to borrow, what is the condition of your credit score and, is your credit report acceptable to a lender? It may also ensure your background doesn’t preclude you from business ownership due to a criminal record or other circumstance.

What’s the next step?

If you’ve read the above and think business ownership is right for you or you would like to know more, your next steps are to become more educated so when you get to make that final decision whether you will or will not go into business ownership, you have as much information as possible. For this reason I have written three guides to help those considering business ownership. These guides are respectively called – Successfully Start Your Business, Successfully Buy Your Business and Successfully Buy Your Franchise: Expert Advice from a Business Broker. I’ve personally been in business ownership for 25 + years having owned and operated 5 businesses; two in my native Australia and now three in California. I still remember the fear and sleepless nights deciding whether to buy my first business and relocate to a new city with my 6 months pregnant wife. But as I look back, business ownership provides a wonderful set of experiences and skills I would never have known if I didn’t recognize and manage the risk that comes with business ownership. There is no question; business ownership is not for everybody. But business ownership is a skill to acquire and once it’s acquired brings about opportunities those working a job never see. Plus one of the rewards to it all is that it puts you in control so when you go through recessions you have the capacity to succeed.

Importance of your Buyer Profile

Before you start looking at business ownership, know your Buyer Profile so it reduces your chance of failure or giving up because you are burnt out from the process. For most new business owners, naturally enough their goal is to find the perfect business. This makes sense but it only makes sense if you know what you want but I also think “perfect” is too high a standard. Businesses are dynamic and constantly changing. This is because it is primarily dealing with people, whether they are owners, family members, customers, employees, lenders, landlords or government agencies. Look for what you want, but make sure your criteria is not too high.

So how do you know what business to look for? The answer to this question is by building and creating your personal Buyer Profile. Most buyers are not sure where to start the process. From my experience from buying and looking at many businesses and working with a large number of new or potential business owners the first step is to start with yourself. Most buyers don’t do it because they don’t know what they are looking for and expect it will reveal itself to them as they start their search process. If this is what you choose to do it will increase your chances of failure as there is no such thing as the perfect business plus each buyers profile is unique. It is unique because there are so many variables. The variables include levels of education, amount of downpayment to buy a business, credit scores, credit report, business and life experiences, management experience, family support, personal situation such as being single or married with 4 children to support and most important of all, the location where you live and the opportunities available. If you come to your decision to look at business ownership and you are fresh out of college your frame of reference is really the subjects you studied in college and your life and business experiences. If you’re a 40 year old executive who has worked in Corporate America in the technology field for the last 10 years as a sales manager, but in your earlier years worked in retail books and the travel industry, you have much more diversity to pull from.

Your Buyer Profile is a critical starting point for you. I normally spend about two hours with each client before introducing any business opportunities to them as I want to get a basic level of understanding of the industries of interest to them and their preferred format such as whether they like retail, Business to Business (B2B), Food, Automotive or, Children’s services etc plus an extensive range of other questions. If the buyer knows what they do and don’t like it allows them to focus and thereby greatly increase their chances of finding the business they want.

If you would like more information about each of the books mentioned above, please visit the following website http://www.successfullybuyyourbusiness.com where you will find a brief description of each of the guides. If you would like some free tools to work with, please visit my website: http://www.RogersonBusinessServices.com/samples.htm. On this page there are some Excel and Word files such as a Business Plan, Sales and Marketing plan, Startup Budget planner and Cash flow projection etc.  Download and use these free tools as much as you need.

The rewards to business ownership for each person are unique and real. If you think business ownership right now with the economy in recession is not a good option, I would disagree. The economy is constantly changing and looking for new ways to invest capital and provide a return on investment. Some areas of the economy are about to explode such as health care, businesses in energy efficiency, the “green” industry and, new technology innovations to name a few. It will take time to research, create and execute a plan and then explore any other options available to you. Making the decision to take the risk is the hardest part. Once that is done, the rest takes care of itself. If you think business ownership is part of your future, learn as much as you can, accept it comes with risk and get on with it as the rest will be up to you. Whether you stay in your current job, find a different job because you aren’t enjoying what you are doing or move into business ownership, at the end of the day it’s still all up to you and how you manage the risks that come from each decision you make.

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines Due Diligence as “research and analysis of a company or organization done in preparation for a business transaction.” Some even look at it as a pre-marital background check and counseling. But it should be noted that dissolving a merger is much more difficult than ending a marriage if things aren’t as they appear.

Ultimately, due diligence is the process of being sure that things are as they appear before a deal is sealed. For someone considering a merger or the purchase of an existing business, the review of documentation and the answers to your due diligence questions are critical. There’s no doubt it is a complex process that can be time-consuming. But with so much on the line with any merger or acquisition, you don’t want to make a decision without all of the information. You want to be sure everything is reviewed and all questions are answered to your satisfaction.

During the due diligence process, an often lengthy list of documents should be provided. The list of documents should cover a range of areas, including:

• Legal structure and incorporation of the company
• Internal Revenue Service (IRS) records
• Insurance policy information
• Organizational structure
• Personnel policies
• Operations
• Capital and real estate
• Contracts, licenses, agreements and affiliations
• Technology and Intellectual Property
• Current or potential legal liabilities
• Marketing materials

Today more than ever, buyers are putting more emphasis on the due diligence process. And while the financial aspect is a key component, the due diligence process should also consider organizational items. Be sure to seek documentation and ask important questions about the company’s culture, strategy, leadership and competencies.

To properly address and evaluate all of the areas of the due diligence process, you want to assemble the best possible team of people. Work with that team, including your business intermediary, throughout the process to review and evaluate the documents and information you receive. It’s also important to keep an open mind. Be sure that you get all of the information you need, but don’t assume that you will find something wrong.

Although the due diligence process may take considerable time, it’s a critical part of any transaction and should be considered the foundation of the entire deal.

If you have a question about selling or buying your business, give Andrew a call today at (916) 570 2674.

This article is reprinted as a courtesy of the International Business Brokers Association^® (IBBA.) IBBA is the largest international, non-profit association operating exclusively for the benefit of people and firms engaged in the various aspects of a business brokerage and mergers and acquisitions. IBBA^® has 1,950 members worldwide, with corporate headquarters in Chicago, Illinois.

A business plan is a critical document for any business. PERIOD

SCORE – the Senior Corps Of Retired Executives lists the lack of a business plan as one of the top three reasons a business fails. Any creditable book on owning or running a business ownership states its importance.

If you put a business plan together there are two types. The first is a business plan for a brand new business with second type for an existing business. If you would like a free template to use for either business plan, please visit my website; www.RogersonBusinessServices.com/sample documents. Items 7 and 8 are the respective business plans and come from documents created by SCORE and are available for free.

To create the best business plan that you can, consider the following ten tips.

1. Complete all sections

Business plans take a little time to create. Don’t rush the process. Part of its value is making you take a thought in your head and convert it to a valuable and considered idea.

1. Focus on cash flow if the business plan is to support a loan application

If the business plan is to support a loan application to a bank, make sure the cash flow projections are solid and make sense. If financial planning is not one of your strengths, consider getting help from a professional so you get it right. Preferably work with someone that you will use on an ongoing basis in the business so they can provide continuous and consistent advice.

1. Include a Break-even analysis if the business plan is for a loan application

A bank is in business to make money. The bank therefore want to see from you that you understand there will be income and costs but more importantly, how long it will be before you get to a break-even situation and whether you have the resources to get there, and just as importantly, what buffer you have if it takes longer than you think.

1. Financials need to be realistic

Points two and three above also concern your finance, but this one is just as important and that is, make sure your financial projections are realistic. If the reader of your business plan doesn’t think your financial projections are realistic they will question the rest of the business plan, if they decide to take your business plan seriously.

1. Tell a story but don’t hype the story

This is not a marketing document for somebody to buy your product or service. It’s a document to explain the what, how, when, where, why of both the present and future of the business.

1. Write the plan to the person who knows nothing about the business

A business is a living and breathing entity that essentially has two main components; people and money. The goal is to explain in simple terms to anyone who reads the business plan what the business is about and what it stands for and how the thoughtful and proper use of both capital and labor will be successful and what help is required to contribute to that success, if the business plan’s purpose is to support a loan application. Remember, write the business plan according to the audience that will read it.

1. Keep the business plan business-like and professional. Not a place for humor or personality.

If the business plan is to support a loan application, most lenders are looking to see the direction of the company, whether their capital investment will be used wisely and that the business is something they can believe in.

• Make sure the details are accurate – don’t exaggerate

A business plan is a place to introduce and explain. Wherever possible, support opinions, thoughts or suppositions with facts and statistics; this is not the place for unrealistic exaggerations. Every business fits broadly into an SIC or NAICS. SIC stands for Standard Industrial Classification whereas NAICS stands for North American Industry Classification System. Reports and information about these industries are available and provide readily available data about an industry and the direction it’s going. Use this data in your reports to give credibility to the business plan. Your local library will help with getting access to this information.

• Be concise, clear and simple

This is a business document. The reader is not looking for a novel, they can get that from a bookstore.

• Be careful with the use of technical jargon

Technical jargon can speak to the sophistication of the business plan but it can quickly alienate a reader who is not familiar with all the terms. Use technical jargon sparingly or provide a simple and clear definition, if it’s important to use. Make sure the explanation is generally accepted; not the writer’s pet project. If in doubt, have someone removed from the business read the business plan and offer constructive criticism.

A business plan is not a static document. It ebbs and flows with the business and helps create agreement and keep things focused.

For more information about business ownership, visit Andrew’s website at www.RogersonBusinessServices.com

If you own a business and receive an unsolicited offer to buy your business please be careful. If your business is currently for sale be even more cautious. There are con artists that have developed a clever process of taking your business from you and leaving you not only with absolutely nothing, but totally destroying your business and leaving you in debt.

Here’s a basic breakdown of their process.

Their easiest target is to contact the owners of businesses for sale, usually via listings on the internet and identify themselves as acting for a private party or a small investment group. They are looking for businesses generally that have at least a $1,000,000 selling price.

If the business is being listed for sale by a business broker or intermediary, they will try to build a strong relationship with the seller. If they feel the broker or intermediary is an impediment to what they are doing, they then try to get the broker or intermediary out of the way by saying direct to the seller that the broker or intermediary is a hurdle to closing a deal.

Once they have a good relationship with the seller, they then make a strong offer with the condition they finance the deal over a short buy out period (say 6 to 10 months.) The offer will include a small down payment, say 10% down AND as a stock sale (not an asset sale.) Under this scenario, the seller holds all the stock of the corporation as collateral, and of course, the sale includes the cash, Accounts Receivable and other items per the Balance Sheet.

Once they pay the seller the 10% deposit, they then require signature rights to the business bank accounts, credit cards and other assets while the seller “trains” them in the day to day operation of the business for the agreed two to four weeks training period.

Once the training is complete, they then clean out the cash, run up the credit cards, factor the Accounts Receivable, may sell off some or get loans on the fixed assets (vehicles, etc.) and do not pay any payable/liabilities. They even sometimes fire employees, usually never paying any of the businesses (or employee’s) payroll taxes or other taxes. Then, they disappear in a month or so having cleaned out the company by taking everything as cash.

Bottom line: These scams really do exist. It’s another reason to make sure your business broker is part of a State Association such as the California Association of Business Brokers or association such as the International Business Brokers Association. If you are planning to sell your business in Sacramento, please give me a call so I can help you. If you are not in Sacramento and would like a referral to a business broker near your business you are also welcome to give me a call.

If you would like more information about the process of selling your business, visit my website; http://www.RogersonBusinessServices.com and order a copy of my book “Successfully Sell Your Business: Expert Advice from a Business Broker.”

Selling a business or buying a business is rarely a simple and straightforward process. When I sit down and try to categorize each of those experiences, be it from my own personal experience as a Business Broker in Sacramento or the experiences I’ve heard from the 14 Business Brokers that are part of my office, the different experiences tend to fit into one of the categories below.

The seller expects to:

1. Receive all cash up front;
2. Provide one week of training;
3. Provide the buyer with one day to do their due diligence;
4. Close the offer the day after the completion of due diligence;
5. Be paid five to six times the business earnings or discretionary earnings.

The buyer expects to:

1. Buy a business with 10% down payment;
2. Receive two months of training free of charge from the seller;
3. Have four weeks to complete their due diligence;
4. Work in the business for 30 days to “test drive” it;
5. Pay no more than one year’s worth of business earnings or discretionary earnings.

About where the seller and the buyer meet:

1. The down payment from the buyer is about equal to the business earnings or discretionary earnings;
2. Seller provides some financing;
3. Seller provides two to three weeks of training;
4. Buyer receives two weeks to complete their due diligence;
5. It takes 45 to 60 days to close the transaction if things go smoothly;
6. The business is sold between one to three times earnings with many factors affecting whether it’s one or three times earnings or something in between.

A Golden Rule that I stress to both buyers and sellers is that the best way to get a deal done is to put yourself in the shoes of the other party. If you think about how the transaction impacts your side of the deal you will more than likely convince yourself that the other party is not offering enough. If this happens you are not ready to buy or sell. For a transaction to occur, there has to be a willing buyer AND a willing seller.

If you would like more information about buying or selling a business, visit my website; http://www.RogersonBusinessServices.com. Alternatively, I’ve written a book on each subject and these books are available from my website or www.amazon.com – Successfully Buy Your Business: Expert Advice from a Business Broker and Successfully Sell Your Business: Expert Advice from a Business Broker.

Is it time to reject the recession and grow your business? Many economists are predicting that with GM filing for bankruptcy on June 01, 2009 that the economy has hit bottom and will start to improve. With this being the longest recession since the Great Depression and many “green shoots” in the economy starting to appear, it’s now time to prepare for future growth and not sit back and wait for it to happen. Besides, if you don’t do these things now when will you have time?

So here are eleven tips to be ready for growth:

1. Let’s start with you
If you’re running a business that sells products you are used to counting your inventory. If you are a service business and don’t have inventory you understand the concept. So this idea is simple, let’s start with you. What do you need to be ready for the growth of your business – a vacation to freshen up your energy levels, some training to learn that piece of software you always wanted to know how to use, an accounting, sales and marketing or Social Network Media course.

2. Do some audits of the business
Let’s make sure we are “business ready” so when things get busy we don’t waste opportunities. Items to check in this category include your lease; when does it expire and is it worth re-negotiating with the landlord now or hiring a professional to help you do this? Update Training Manuals and Employee Manuals. If you don’t have either of them, now’s the time to do it or hire someone to do it for you. Answering the same question from each of your employees is not only repetitive but a waste of time. Making sure your manuals are also legally compliant is a good business investment. This audit can also include the corporate records of the business.

3. Review your business insurance
This idea is an extension of the above. If you’re doing a business audit, talk to your insurance agent to see what changes you need to make. You’re probably concerned some policies have gone up but it’s possible some have gone down or you can lessen coverage on some items to better handle your premiums.

4. Talk to your employees and get them motivated
The recession has been tough on everybody. Being the owner of the business we tend to think it’s been tougher on us. However, your employees have been concerned about losing their job, cuts to the numbers of hours they work, reduction in overtime or bonus’ plus their own standard of living. It’s time to re-engage them; check where they are at and what they see. Perhaps it’s time to hand them more responsibility so they can grow as the business grows but this may require training. Let’s get that training going and building a team spirit.

5. Upgrade your office equipment
If you’re working off outdated equipment and its holding back your business, now’s the time to upgrade. If the new equipment is sophisticated there will be a learning curve involved. Now’s the time to get on with it. And if you do it now, you will be ahead of your competition.

6. Upgrade your computer network
The technology experts suggest changing computers and software every 3 years. If this is critical infrastructure for your business operations now’s the time to do it. After all, we are in the 21^st century and technology is dynamic so let’s use it to its fullest extent.

7. Upgrade your accounting system
Your accounting system is the financial life blood of your business. If you are working off old software that you’ve been threatening to upgrade, now is the ideal time. Changing systems requires proper research and validation, building a strategy to move to the new version and the associated training. Now is the perfect time to look at this option.

8. Talk with your customers
Here’s a novel idea – talk to your customers. I mean really talk to them. Find out how they are doing, how they are feeling and their view of the world. Perhaps they are thinking of spending a little more as they see things are turning around. And as they are one of your customers and already buy from you, they may be willing to buy something else you sell but didn’t realize you carried it because they were too busy to ask.

9. Update your website
For a lot of businesses, the website is the gateway customers use to decide if they want to do business with you. If your website has broken links or hasn’t been upgraded in a long time, now’s the time to have a professional refresh all your products and services and train you on any new technologies they recommend.

10. Contribute locally in your community
There are plenty of opportunities to help in your community. In fact, local communities are desperate for help. Find something that’s important to you and get involved as your help is needed and will help put your issues into perspective.

11. Create or make a communications plan
What do your employees say when they answer the phone, write in emails or when they meet customers face to face? What do your sales brochures say that you give to your clients? How about your website, business cards or advertisements? Do your current communications sound tired, bored or uninterested? Now is an ideal time to revisit what you communicate and how you communicate the products and/or services in your business.

Is selling your business in the back of your mind? Now’s the perfect time to work through that option. Selling a business requires thought and planning. Building an exit strategy includes positioning your business correctly, not only for potential buyers but also how this impacts you personally with tax and personal financial planning issues. With unemployment so high, buyers will be looking for options other than returning to Corporate America. If you’d like more information on possibly selling your business, visit my websitehttp://www.RogersonBusinessServices.com and buy my book – Successfully Sell Your Business: Expert Advice from a Business Broker. This 144 page book takes you through the process from start to finish on the steps to selling a business.

In summary, there are many things we can spend time on improving our business. These should all be in your business plan. If you haven’t got a business plan, now’s the time to create one. If you want a free template, visit my website http://www.RogersonBusinessServices.com/sample-documents and download option 8.