August 2022
Volume #23 Issue #9

Can you choose whether the changing business scene makes you a winner or loser? We know so; if you are willing to change!

The August Small Business Conversations is being written after participating in a two day conference in Pennsylvania. The conference is then moving to the northeast, followed by the Rocky Mountains and then the midwest. The majority of attendees have businesses with a focus on service. There are some that are product oriented who "contract out" their service work.

We spoke with an attendee by the name of Joe. I am appreciative that Joe has attended a session I taught in the past and wants to hear more. The company producing this conference reminds me that Joe is big on education as he has attended this event for several years. Joe had several questions during the late afternoon session and again as a group of us had dinner together.

Joe expressed an open concern for the changes coming. In addition to all the screaming the media is doing about an economic downturn, Joe's industry is constantly experiencing changes in what and how they do business because of changing regulations.

My question to Joe was, "why do people buy your service?"

"Peace of mind", was his answer.

"How so", I asked. My work keeps their home safe was the answer.

"And if they trust you with this important factor, they must have a lot of confidence in what you do", was my reply. "What else would they trust you with?"

They want a home that has clean water; clean air. Your work is a combination of both efforts both inside and outside. There are many aspects to their home and lives that in Joe's service work. There are opportunities to remove the concern someone could have about their life and the lives of their family members.

One last example, last week someone left a flyer on our doorstep. Whether by looking around the area, or because a vendor shared information, this flyer mentioned our having a generator for our home.

"You depend on that generator in your time of need. Shouldn't someone look at that generator every year to make sure you can depend on it working when you need it?"

We have our checkup for the generator scheduled now. The point of this example and the conversation with Joe, is that any change in the economy is going to produce changes in people's lives. If the main trust of your business is one that would suffer in an economically challenging time, what are you doing today to change, or add, products and services people will need.

If your customers are going to be at home more in a challenging economy, what can you offer to help them enjoy their home with this additional time? If you sold new cars and people are buying fewer new cars, what can you do to help them enjoy and utilize their current vehicles?

This is not a matter of simply saying that you have refused to participate in the challenge. It is a matter of your seeing the changes that are coming to your customer's lives and adding, or shifting, your business to be in the right place at the right time.

Article of the Month - Properly stating your profit

This morning I received an email from a product/service business owner who is concerned about the money they are making in their business. Revenue looks great and has been growing for the past six years. They ask a good question; are we making the profit we could be making in our business?

They send an Excel version of their profit and loss statement for me to examine. We will go through it together, but there is a concern I have initially; their profit and loss statement has just over 300 lines of information. When printed, this is going to be multiple pages.

After a couple of hours visiting on the phone, they understood the value of a profit and loss statement that is easier to read and make decisions with.

This could be a version of information overload. Let me invite you to read this month's article of the month. And as you do so, take a look at one of our online calculators (one that we will be sharing with this owner) that will offer an alternative way of arranging the profit and loss statement into a format that is easier to read and easier to make decisions from. On our website, follow this link: calculator_logical_profit_and_loss_statement

Article of the Month

Who is visiting Small Business Converations this month?
Stuart Kehler to discuss what you are paying for credit card processing

Unless your business is a "cash only" business, you are likely losing a chunk of your profit to the bank card processor. Perhaps you pay a fee for each transaction in addition to a fee that is a percentage of each transaction.

Dick Calio, our resident expert on point of sale systems, contacted us to suggest Stuart Kehler as our guest. Dick told us that Stuart had worked with some businesses in which Stuart was able to save sizable credit card processing dollars for the business.

That got our attention and now we want to introduce Stuart to you so that you can hear how he did this for each of the businesses. And as this concern was a point of discussion with the group we just spent a couple of days with, we want all the more to share this possible expense saving guest with you.

Watch your email for the announcement later this month.

Book of the Month - The alchemist by Pabulo Coelho

The book suggestion for August ties into the conversation we had with Joe that was our news article. This month's book is a story of listening to yourself. After all, you did listen to yourself when you got in business. We find too many people who, for unknown reasons, think that after making the decision to start or purchase a business, that this "listening to myself" is something to be put away on a mental shelf because its' task is done.

There are still dreams to be sought after; there are many signs along the highway of life (and business) that are there to be seen and considered as we travel along. This is a story of a boy named Santiago, and his learning. He has a story to share with us.

Book of the Month

Internet Tool for Your Business - Return on Equity

Another person from this week's conference. I met a lady who started her business a few years ago with a mere $2,500. Last year her sales were over $3 million! Quite an accomplishment in a short time. And while I did not get to hear more of her story, I am confident that over these years she has put additional funds into the business.

As smart as this lady is, I am confident she performs an exercise that is the one we are offering as the Internet tool of the month. With whatever amount of money, and other assets you have put into your business, you have created equity. What is the rate of return your equity is producing. We are sure she knows hers, and we suggest you use this free online calculator to know yours.

Each month we highlight one of the 47 free tools on the Profits Plus website; we call them "calculators". While some provide analysis by numbers and ratios, some are assessments and others are self-examination questions. Many are downloadable while others, because of the complexity of the calculations going on behind the scene, are a part of the website and allow you to print your answers. None of them require you to give any personal information nor are there any "cookies" tracking you or your information.

Internet Tool for Your Business

 

Staff Incentive for Your Business - Breakfast

Again from this conference, an owner shared how to engage their staff, open communication lines among employees, build a culture, and develop a team feeling. Their crew goes to breakfast together once a month. They start their workday a bit late because of this but this has been a very profitable investment for this business owner.

This has been an awesome educational tour after just the first stop. By the time you read this, we will have made it around the country and visited with many more. I love meeting these awesome business owners.