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PLAN
OR NOT TO PLAN, THAT IS THE QUESTION... |
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Planning in general is something that many people avoid like
the plague, and most especially business planning. Who
needs a business plan anyway? So many people out in
the world, people who should know better, will tell you the
reason you need a business plan is to get a loan or other
funding for your business. When I hear that statement
it is like fingernails on a blackboard as it makes chills go
down my spine.
The reason you
need a business plan is to make your business succeed.
If you don't succeed you cannot pay back any loan or
investment so what is the point?
In general terms
most business people will spend many times more effort
planning out a vacation than they will their business and
isn't that interesting? Their business is supposed to
pay them consistently, and pay them well but they have no
plan. Oh, I have it all up here as they point to their
head and my thought is; yeah right... Do you know
anyone who would wake up one morning, grab his/her family,
load them into the car and announce they are headed off to a
two week road trip for vacation without any previous
discussions? I don't either, but I see people all the
time do exactly that when they start a business.
Let's look at
some facts. I don't recall where I've read these over
the years, but they come from a variety of sources from
government agencies to colleges. Over 90% of the
businesses that do well have a business plan that they use
and modify.
Let's compare
that number to the 75% of businesses that fail in the first
two years of their existence and only a minuscule percentage
have a business plan. Tell me, is there a clue here?
Those with
business plans have an excellent chance of doing well while
those without are almost certain to fail. Into which
category do you wish to go?
One size does not
fit all either. You can go to many business planning
classes and learn lots of stuff about writing what the
instructors will call a "good business plan". I always
ask, what is a good business plan? A good business
plan is one that works and makes your business a success.
There is no other answer! If it is a three-ring binder
full of what instructors call "good" and your business
fails, is it a good plan? I think not.
A good business
plan is a living, breathing and ever changing guide book for
how to operate your business. It sets down in writing
how you will do business, with whom and how you will
interact with customers, employees and vendors.
There will be
many more articles here in SBN about business planning so
subscribe to us and tell others to do the same.
Remember,
business success is much more about who you are than what
you do.
IT IS THE WHO
NOT THE DO!
There are some
excellent books on our web site and yes you guessed it, on
the
Books & Software page. These books have been
reviewed and I believe provide you an excellent to run your
business. If you combine one of these books with the
software called Business Plan PRO (also on that same page),
and combine them with some good business coaching you can
develop a superb business.
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HOW WELL DO YOU KNOW YOUR
CUSTOMERS? |
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I ask people this all the time and I usually get the same
answer, "oh I know them very well". However, when I
ask them the two following questions they tend to convulse
and sometimes admit they don't know them.
These seem like
fundamental questions and most business owners have their
perception of the answer. Unfortunately their
perception is virtually useless because it is the customer's
perception that counts.
So, why don't you
go meet with your customers and ask them those two
questions? I get a diverse set of reactions when I ask
that one. Oh, I couldn't do that, or I already know,
or I do that all the time, or they keep buying from me don't
they?
Some of that is
true, but an underlying fact is this, "Your Customers Are
Your Competitors Prospects"! Let me repeat that,
"Your Customers Are Your Competitors Prospects".
Tell me, doesn't
it make sense to go visit them and ensure they are very,
very happy with you to the point they will stay with you
even when you stub your toe? Sooner or later you will
stub your toe and if you are not working with your customers
you may lose them when you do. Keep in mind it is 10
times more expensive to get a new customer as it is to keep
one. Think about it...
If you have many
customers you may want to survey them on these two questions
and perhaps a few more. If you require assistance with
developing and executing a customers survey let us know and
we can help you develop what we call "Customer Intelligence"
and trust me, you need it. If you don't have intimate
knowledge of your customers you are losing them because
someone else is building that knowledge.
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UPCOMING ARTICLES |
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Keeping it fresh is our objective with Small Biz Newz.
We want to provide you, our readers, with as much pertinent
information as possible about how to operate your business
at higher profits. Toward this goal we are constantly
seeking good authors to write articles for us. This
publication is not only about what we write, it is about
writing articles from experience and we simply don't have
all the experiences.
We would like
your ideas and thoughts on what article subjects you want to
learn more about. Please spend a few minutes and think
about this and then shoot me an email about what you want to
learn. I look forward to your feedback...
Email the
suggestions to:
GregG@BusinessResourceSystems.com
For now I can
share some article subjects we are working on with outside
authors:
-
Cash flow
management
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The
fundamentals of preparing a business loan application
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How to keep
your mind working hard forward as your business stumbles
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How you can
stop selling and increase revenues
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More about
business planning
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free coaching |
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Have you ever wanted someone to bounce ideas
off of? Some who will sit there and listen about your
business and then get involved in an active discussion about
what to do next? Someone to brainstorm with about some
of the day to day issues you deal with?
Now is your chance to do just that and it
won't cost you a dime. Business Resource Systems, Inc.
and Heritage Bank - Firestone partnered to bring you one
hour of business coaching at no cost to you. We are
doing this as a public service to small businesses.
To get more information give the bank a call
at 303-789-0660 and ask for Jason or Jessica to
register for a one hour time block for your free session.
The business coach, Greg Goettsch, has over
32 years of small business experience, writes small business
training curriculum, teaches small business classes,
operates two small businesses, Business Resource Systems,
Inc. and TeamBTS, a web development company. He is a
perpetual student of business and brings literally hundreds
of contacts with people who can provide virtually every type
of coaching a business may require.
Give the bank a call and set up an
appointment. What is the worst that can happen?
You loose one hour of your time. Click here to see the
flyer and print it if you wish.
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SMALL BUSINESS
ONLINE DIRECTORY |
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Finally, a search system specifically developed for small
businesses. You can search by product or service,
company name or state to locate a company. You will
see their logo, a description of their products or services
and all the pertinent contact information including a hot
link to their web site if they have one.
This system is
available for all small businesses for a nominal quarterly
cost so join now and help build the only search tool for our
small businesses...
For more information
click here...
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TAX CUTS - WHAT TAX CUTS? |
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Friday, June 04, 2004
By Gail Buckner, CFP
Dear Readers —
I really try to avoid anything that smacks of politics, but
I can't help setting the story straight on a popular
American myth — repeated with increasing frequency in this
election year — that "The Rich" (whoever "they" are) don't
pay their fair share of taxes.
A corollary to this is the assertion that The Rich received
the biggest benefit of the so-called "Bush" tax cuts," the
political catch-phrase for the Economic Growth and Tax
Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 and the Jobs and Growth
Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003.*
Neither position is supported by hard data taken from income
tax returns. In fact, in both cases, the opposite is true.
In other words: The Rich not only pay a disproportionate
share of taxes, this share has been increasing since 1990.
According to the most recent figures available (2001) the
Treasury Department reports:
1- Since 1990, virtually ALL of the income tax collected by
the federal government has come from taxpayers who fall in
the top 50 percent in terms of income. In 2000 and 2001,
this group paid over 96 percent of total taxes collected.
2-Most of this tax revenue comes from a very select group:
The top 5 percent of taxpayers, defined as those who earned
about a third (32 percent) of all national income, paid more
than half of all individual income taxes (53.3 percent).
Those in the top 1 percent in terms of income, paid more
than 30 percent of the total amount of income tax collected.
3-The tax cuts we received in 2001 and 2003 shifted an even
larger share of the income tax burden to those with higher
incomes. How can this be, you ask, when the top tax
rate was reduced from 39.6 percent to 35 percent? (An 11.6
percent tax cut.)
Simple. Income tax rates at the lowest end of the scale were
reduced by a much greater extent. For one thing, we replaced
the 15-percent bracket with a 10-percent bracket for the
first $14,000 in taxable income for a married couple (that's
the 2003 figure, this goes up to $14,300 for 2004).** That's
a one-third reduction (33 percent). So, for this tax year,
instead of owing $2,145 on their first $14,300 of income, a
couple will now pay $1,430.
Because lower-income individuals are paying a smaller piece
of the total tax revenue pie, the portion paid by those with
higher income must, by definition, go UP.
It will be a couple of years before 2002 and 2003 income tax
data are in a form that can be analyzed. Nevertheless, the
Treasury Department estimates that this year the portion of
tax paid by those with higher incomes will increase again.
That's because tax provisions such as marriage penalty
relief have a bigger impact on taxpayers with lower incomes.
In addition, some tax breaks phase out once your income hits
a certain level. Those with higher incomes see no benefit at
all from, for instance, the increased child tax credit.
When they crunch the actual numbers for 2004, the folks at
Treasury predict the average tax rate for the bottom 50
percent of all taxpayers will fall by 16 percent, compared
to a 12 percent decline for those in the top 1 percent of
income.
In fact, according to the Treasury Department, nearly 5
million additional Americans will end up paying NO income
tax at all in this year, thanks to the tax breaks ushered in
by the 2001 and 2003 Acts.
The data are also broken down by state. For instance, thanks
to changes in the tax code, 12.4 million Californians will
pay less (federal) income tax. More than a million
Pennsylvania taxpayers will benefit from the reduced tax
rates (15 percent) on dividends and capital gains. Nearly
4.2 million Illinois residents will pay less because of the
new 10 percent income tax bracket. 1.6 million New Yorkers
will see their taxes reduced thanks to the increase in the
child tax credit from $600 to $1,000.
In this country we have what's called a "progressive" tax
system. It means that those who can theoretically afford to
pay more in taxes, do. But it's important to understand that
this doesn't merely refer to the number of dollars that are
collected from those with higher incomes. It means that, as
your income goes up, so does the tax rate on that income.
For 2004, a married couple filing jointly pays only 10
percent income tax on the first $14,300 of taxable income.
But on income from $14,300 to $58,100, the tax rate is 15
percent. When their income exceeds $58,100, the amount over
this is taxed at 25 percent, meaning they give up 25 cents
of every dollar of income over $56,800. Once a couple's
income reaches $117,250, they lose 28 cents per dollar, and
so forth until you hit the top tax rate where 35 cents per
dollar goes to taxes.
In other words, as your income climbs, taxes eat up a
progressively larger chunk of each additional dollar you
earn.
That's how the system works. My point is, it IS working,
contrary to the political rhetoric you hear.
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TELL US WHAT
TRAINING YOU NEED |
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There are many resources out there that offer
business training of all types. It seems everyone has
their opinion on what should be trained, by whom and how.
Our approach is a little different in we practice what we
train. We want you, the customer, to tell us what
training you require. Please take a couple of minutes
and tell us what training you require to continue the growth
of your business.
Click here to fill out a brief questionnaire.
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303-818-3647
GregG@BusinessResourceSystems.com
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