January 2020
Volume #21 Issue #2

What are you going to do to make your business better in 2020?

As I write this I am yet to experience any of those challenges the media is sure to produce leading up to New Years and in the first couple of weeks of the new year. While most of those challenges deal with us as individuals, let me offer a different twist and a challenge to your business. Remember the question; "How do you eat an elephant?" The answer was, "One bite at a time". Let's look at your business in the same manner. May we suggest your creating twelve small goals; one for each month. As an example, in January you could look at updating the job application you use. We have a sample on the Profits Plus website that could be a guide. Job application February's goal could be to change the way you hire people. Our business experienced a great improvement when we let the best employees do the hiring. The best wanted to work with people like themselves. It was a risk, but it did produce great results. Reading our staff incentive of the month in this month's Small Business News can give you an idea for ways to incentivize your employees. We offer a new idea each month and March would be a good time to implement this. April could be the month you study and get a better understanding of your profit and loss statement. We have plenty of articles on the Profits Plus website to help with that. May could be the month for learning the balance sheet. We have a lot of information on that on the Profits Plus website as well. Perhaps one month may be the one in which you decide to start reading business books. Another month may be when you begin to create procedures for your business. Procedures are where you create written guidelines to perform the many tasks in your business. Policies could be the goal of another month. The policies are where you create written things such as the dress code for your staff. Over the course of the year, you will have learned a lot about your business and made many changes that will affect your business in a positive manner. You can make 2020 finish a lot differently than it began. It all begins with one small step; or a bite if you are eating an elephant.

Article of the Month - Keeping a customer is as simple as that

This article was written because of a friend who manages an auto service center. He does not own it, but he is the reason many people do business there. The article can produce great results according to my friend as he gave the article to his boss who now approaches customers differently and they are busier than ever.

As an avid reader of trends in the industry, I find more and more companies utilizing technology and artificial intelligence as a part of their "customer service". My observation is a small business needs to seriously consider if these will help their business or if they make the business more like the competition.

Article of the Month

Who is visiting Small Business Converations this month? - Our resident expert on family business - Henry Hutcheson

If there are multiple family members in your business, the January Small Business Conversations will be a program you do not want to miss. Henry authored, "Dirty Little Secrets of Family Business", and comes from two legacy family businesses - Olan Mills Studios and Peerless Woolen Mills.

Book of the Month - Rocket Fuel

Gwen Bortner was our guest for the December Small Business Conversations program. She mentioned this book, Rocket Fuel by Gino Wickman and Mark C. Winters, as being very influential in her career.

We found Gwen to be a very interesting and knowledgeable person. We took her mentioning the book as a referral to read it. The book is about success and how it takes two types of individuals; a visionary and an integrator.

While I am still reading this book, I think I am seeing it in action as I have worked with a friend in our hometown to create a non-profit organization to benefit graduates of our high school.

I expect to learn from this book that all of us need to learn how to utilize those who work with us and for us, as well as how to use both sides of our brain.

Book of the Month

Internet Tool for Your Business - Days of Inventory on Hand

Is it just my inbox or are you also getting lots of emails from people wanting to solve all your business problems by offering an inventory control system and their consulting services?

Just as working with an accountant, before you consider working with anyone, you should do some work on your own to understand inventory. Let us offer one of the 47 calculators on the Profits Plus website. This is "days of inventory on hand" and it answers a question which is one of the KPIs (Key Performance Index) of business.

If you ordered no more inventory, how long would it be before you would run out of inventory. It is that simple. Use our free online calculator to determine the days of inventory on hand for your business.

You could look at what the number was six months ago, twelve months ago and two years ago to get a feel for what is happening in your business. Are you ever having to tell a customer you are temporarily out of items? Are you finding at the end of a season that you still have an excellent selection as compared to having a few left over items?

Knowing this number and paying attention to your inventory will help you to get the most profit from turning your inventory properly.

Internet Tool for Your Business

 

Staff Incentive for Your Business

Our monthly staff incentive column has brought you an idea of how to engage your staff. This month we are suggesting a unique way of creating your own incentives.

On an individual basis, ask each of your employees what they would do if they had a day all to themselves. What could you do to make all or part of that happen for that employee?

While our column has some good ideas, the best idea is going to be able to give part or all of what would make for their ideal day.

What's coming up in March that you can promote?

We read an article that said the part of an individual's budget that is getting the biggest increase is the spending for entertainment. This is why we created this part of Small Business News. What if your business were to create events to help people celebrate?

We contacted the authority on holidays - National Day Calendar - and share with you some events we have picked

Putting these together can be quick and easy, but should be planned in advance. As an example, as this is January 1 you should be looking at what you can do in March.

Examples of March events include:

March 3 - National Anthem Day
March 4 - National Sons Day
March 12 - National Girl Scouts Day
March 17 - St. Patrick's Day
March 31 - National Crayon Day

March 1-7 - Invest in Veterans Day
March 1-14 Procrastinator's Week (Or whenever it is convenient) 
March 22-28 - National Agriculture Week  

National Crafts Month
National Nutrition Month
National Women's History Month
National Music in Our Schools Month 

We want to thank National Day Calendar for this information. National Day Calendar -  Where the world gathers to celebrate every day.