Business Sanity Blog

Blog Continuation

2008-12-15T20:56:09-05:00

This blog is now continued at: http://business-sanity.com/blog/see you there!

The importance of good bookkeeping practices

2008-12-08T22:44:16-05:00

Jennifer is a dentist in private practice. She was anxious to look at improving profitability, and personal income; and was a bit stressed over some business expenses she had to make in the upcoming months. She had scheduled a meeting with a financial planner, and he had asked her to bring along some information that she couldn't put her fingers on.

As we spoke, it became clear that even though she had been in business for over 15 years, that she had never focused on her business finances. And although she came to my office prepared to roll up her sleeves and work, there was little we could do, because her record keeping was somewhat haphazard.

It took a month or so, but with the help of a good bookkeeping service, we got her up and running on Quickbooks pro.

Once this was done, it was easy to sit down and analyze what was happening. We looked at overhead, profitability, payroll, her patient roster, health insurance payments, receivables, payables and cash flow. Here's what we found:

1. She was spending lots of money on an advertising, but had little to show for it.

2. Her overhead expenses had increased substantially over the past year, but sales had gone down.

3. Way too many of her accounts were past due.

4. She was carrying too much inventory.

Knowledge is power. Armed with this information, it was easy to see what had to be done to get her business back on track.

Do you know what needs to be done to help your business?

Susan Martin

Overcoming Sales Phobia - Live Workshop

2008-08-21T11:13:30-04:00

Many of my clients are professionals who excel in a particular field. And although their talents are numerous, and they deliver great services and products, they often get stuck around the idea of selling themselves,

Which leads me to a story about a client I'll call Brendan. Brendan was a talented furniture designer with a wonderful sense of style and taste who had a lot of success during his 12 year tenure at a well known NY furniture design company. Unfortunately, his firm was taken over by a larger company, with their own staff of designers, and he was laid off about 4 years ago.

Because of the layoff, Brendan decided to open up his own firm, and started his company with a batch of initial orders from some loyal customers who followed him. But as time went by, it was apparent that he needed more than these few customers to sustain his business. And although Brendan knew what he had to do, he was unable to get past his fear of selling himself, and when he called me last spring, was in desperate need of additional orders to keep his company afloat.

If a fear of selling yourself is holding you back, my upcoming workshop is tailor made for you, details follow below:

When: Tuesday, Sept. 23rd from 7:30-9PM

Where: Park Slope Food Coop, 782 Union St. Brooklyn NY (bet. 6th & 7th Aves.) 2nd floor meeting room

Free, Non Members are welcome!

Click here for more info. about my Overcoming Sales Phobia workshop.

If you'd like to be notified by email of future workshops, sign up for my workshop notification list.

Susan Martin, Sales Coach New York City

Running your business doesn't have to be a struggle...

2008-08-20T11:48:00-04:00

On the surface, Daniel was a successful attorney. He had a wonderful family, nice car, lived in a beautiful house in a great neighborhood, he was very bright and outgoing. But inside, Daniel was worn out and stressed.

Torn between his law practice and his family responsibilities, he worked ridiculously long hours, rarely took a vacation, and went through 3 different assistants in the last year. His kids barely recognized him. His clients were frustrated, because he wasn't finishing their work on time. He hadn't sent out an invoice in 3 months, and his cash flow stunk. He felt as if he never had time to focus on his client's work, as he was always fielding phone calls and meeting with clients. His wife barely spoke to him.

Daniel kept a list of what had to be done, but found that it often went out the window as soon as he walked into the office each day. Instead of tackling his to do list, he got caught up in interruptions and accomplished little by the end of his very long days.

This all came to a head last winter, when in an attempt to finish an irate client's work that was way overdue, he lost track of time and forgot that it was his wife's birthday.

When Daniel called me, he was at his wits end. He knew that he had to do something, but didn't know where to start.

We talked about what wasn't working and analyzed why. We worked on his schedule, and blocked out specific times to get client work done, uninterrupted. We developed a solid job description for the type of assistant he really needed, then selected the right person and trained them. We finally started using the time tracking program he had spent all that money on the year before, so invoicing was easy and got done each month.

Nine months later, Daniel is a changed man. He's in control of his schedule. He still works late, but comes home several times a week in time to eat dinner with his 6 year old twins. He's hired a new assistant, his invoices are going out on time, and cash flow has improved substantially. He has a new system for keeping track of his caseload, and now his assistant schedules appointments with clients only during certain hours, so that he has large blocks of time to complete client work. He recently returned from his first a 2 week vacation in years, and was able to really relax.

There's still more to do, but Daniel has made great progress.

If running your business or professional practice has become a struggle, contact me to schedule a free Business Sanity consultation.

Susan Martin, Business Coach NYC.

Is Your Business Running YOU?

2008-06-09T18:56:45-04:00

Is running your business a struggle?

Running a business can be very demanding, causing many business owners and professionals to react by jumping in head first and never coming up for air.

If your business has been taking over your life, please join me for a hands-on workshop that will help you increase profits, decrease stress and make running your business more fun.

When: Tues. June 24th 7:30-9pm

Where: Park Slope Food Coop, 782 Union St. (bet. 6th & 7th Aves.) 2nd floor meeting room

Free, non-members welcome.

Susan Martin, Business Coach NYC

Pain relief without drugs

2008-01-28T08:22:00-05:00

Back pain, neck pain, shoulder pain, knee pain, migranes, and sciatica are a way of life for many people. Chronic pain is so prevalent that it's rumored to cost the US economy over $100 million a year.

When it comes to pain, there are a myriad of remedies available, but few that really work.

Which leads me to the soft launch of my husband's new "no-frills" website: www.PainReliefNY.com .

My husband Alan Katz is what's known as an Alexander Technique Teacher. He works with people from all walks of life who suffer from both chronic and acute pain.

He helps people to get out of pain, and then shows them how to retrain their bodies so that the pain stays away.

His success stories are many, to name a few:

A teenager we'll call Maria came to Alan with a severe scoliosis. Her doctor warned that if she didn't have surgery her spine would snap under the weight of the curvature. He didn't want to operate until she stopped growing and there was a 6 month window before the operation took place. Her father who was a client, asked Alan if he thought he could do anything, he setup an appointment for her and 6 months later when she went back to the doctor, she no longer needed the operation.

An Osteopathic Doctor frequently refers patients to Alan who she's not having her usual success with. One such referral was a woman who had five herniated discs who could barely walk down the street without being in pain. After a couple of months, her pain was relieved to the point that she could do housework, get around town, and lead a more normal life without requiring surgery.

If you're looking for pain relief and live or work in NYC, give Alan a call at 212-691-8607 .

-Susan Martin

Entrepreneur business plan template

2008-01-17T10:05:00-05:00

I've also recently updated my site with a page all about my new entrepreneur business plan template. This template is a bit different (and better) than most that are available on the web, because I not only give you the areas to focus on, but tell you why they're important and help you to determine if the business you're hoping to create is right for you.

In addition, it gives you guidelines for creating your plan and teaches you what questions your plan should answer so that you can evaluate how effective your plan will be before submitting it to lenders or prospective investors.

It works well for both established businesses who need a plan or for those who are in just in start-up mode.

-Susan Martin, Business Coaching NYC.

Computing business profitability

2008-01-16T18:51:13-05:00

Hank ran a garment manufacturing company and operated on a tight profit margin. The seasonal ebbs and flows were a drain on his cash flow, but he was often so caught up in the everday stuff, that he rarely sat down and analyzed whether he was operating at a profit or not; until of course there was no money in the bank.

But let's not judge Hank, because he's not very different from many business owners. The day to day tasks and responsibilities of running a business, often cause owners and managers to shy away from anything that isn't causing a problem; yet...

If you've been shying away from dealing with your company's finances, I've created a page on my site that shows you a fast and easy method for computing business profitability.

Hope you find it useful.

Want to increase your business profits? Schedule your free coaching consultation.

-Susan Martin, Business Coach, NYC.

Want to keep clients? Give them what they need

2008-01-16T18:30:00-05:00

I've often dealt with a particular home improvement contractor named Don, who is a rare breed. He listens to what you want, then applies his experience and know-how, and comes up with the best possible way to do things; even when they're a little bit different from what you originally had in mind. I've been happy with all of the work he's done for me, and it's stood up to time and wear, because he focuses on doing what's right.

Unfortunately, when I wanted to put on an addition a few years back, he wasn't available. I did some research, and came up with another local guy, who came highly recommended.

But, even though I thought I had let him know exactly what I wanted, the results were somewhat lacking; because he failed to give me what I really needed. I'm in the process of getting onto Don's spring schedule to have him redo some of what the other guy did poorly...

Martin Cross, an expert patent translator, wrote about this issue recently on his blog Translating Patents. Written for attorneys, inventors and other translators, Martin's article explains that there are times when a patent he's translating has errors, omissions, or is poorly written, but if he were to try to "fix" them, and give them a gramatically proper, polished piece; he would inaccurately portray the original patent, and therefore not give his client what they need. Martin writes:

"Our clients would not be well served if we added matter to fill in the gaps in an incomplete disclosure, or if we took on the role of editor so that the translated claims seemed better supported by the specification than they were in the original. And though it might be tempting to unify disparate terminology, by doing so, we could be denying our client a useful argument against the patent or — if our client is on the other side — producing a false sense of security that risks being shattered by a more accurate translation when used in court." Read Martin's entire post here.

So the next time a client tells you what they want, and you think that they won't be happy with it, take heed; and instead give it the thought, time and effort necessary to deliver the results they really need.

-Susan Martin, Business Coach NYC.

Staying on track

2007-10-17T09:41:00-04:00

Roberta is a landscape designer and owner of a small landscaping firm. She has a nice roster of private clients and also sub-contracts for two local architects who keep her quite busy.

For the past two years, she's employed two full time and one part time designer and a landscaping crew to do the actual plantings and upkeep. As well, she uses the services of masons and carpenters, electricians and plumbers to help you with the new installations. She also keeps her hand in the actual designing, particularly when it comes to a select group of high profile clients she's been cultivating for years.

Although Roberta does have some staff, they were all creative or technical people. She had never felt that investing in someone to help her on an administrative level could be justified, she could just do them herself. As a result, things like paying bills, doing invoicing, returning calls, going over finances or even just keeping up with email and voicemail were overlooked. A creative person at heart, she avoided doing the more practical things and this has led to trouble.

When Roberta first called last June, she was a bit overwhelmed and hadn't had a good night sleep in months. Ever since the beginning of the year she had been frantically busy with drawings and plans for 7 luxury residence clients. She started construction on three of them as soon as the ground thawed. With spring also came the start of her landscaping maintenance business and jumped into this without a chance to catch her breath. And, both architects were hounding her to complete old projects and start others.

By the time she turned around, spring was over and Roberta realized that there was no money in the bank and lots of people to pay; since she had neglected to do any billing since February. Unfortunately, one of them was Uncle Sam, and he tends to get a little impatient, so there were some expensive penalties that had been incurred as well.

To make matters worse, things had not been going smoothly with the installations. A couple of jobs were backed up because she had failed to schedule a couple of sub-contractors, and a small project was completely overlooked, which lost Roberta a long time client. When pressed for details, she admitted that they were completing projects ontime only about 1/3 of the time.

We talked about all of the things that needed to be done. There was quite a long list of tasks that hadn't been attended to in many months, and it was apparent that there was no one and no time to do them until things got slow again next winter.

We looked at the list and thought about what she wanted and needed to spend her time on and started to develop a list of priorities. Roberta was neither qualified nor interested in handling the bookkeeping, invoicing, or bill payment and hated spending time scheduling the myriad of tradespeople necessary to complete new installations. To try to save money, she had been trying to keep up with it, but the time had finally come to officially fire herself from those positions.

The part time designer had a real knack for scheduling and details. Roberta realized that it made sense to offer her a full time position, in which she would spend about 15 hours a week just managing work flow and scheduling, as well as checking Roberta's messages and making sure that calls and emails were returned. Projects are now on schedule about 80% of the time, and improvements are still being made. The goal for next season is 95% on time completion. Both architects and several clients have commended her on the positive changes she has made.

She hired a freelance bookkeeper who now comes in twice a month to do the invoicing, pay the bills and keep the filing under control.

One of the hardest things for Roberta was to develop the discipline to take time to look at the big picture and make sure that all the areas of the business are being taken care of. But as our work heads into it's 4th month, she is making real headway.

She knows her priorities, has improved her delegation skills, given up trying to do everything herself, increased focus and productivity and feels as though she is indeed staying on track. Cash flow has improved and her bills are being paid on time, leaving Roberta more time to concentrate on the things she wants and needs to be doing. For the first time since January, Roberta feels as if the stress she's been living under is lifting.

Is it time for you to get back on track?

-Susan Martin, Business Coach NYC