Business Planning

Reliable Business Analysis Techniques

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business analysis techniques

Every entrepreneur should review and monitor their operations on a consistent schedule to anticipate whether or not they will achieve their set objectives. Performing a business analysis will help you determine the position of your business, in line with set goals, to help you adjust your strategies where necessary. Analyzing your business operations with established business analysis techniques will provide insight on the type of approach you should adopt to achieve a desirable outcome.

Here are some of the business analysis techniques that can promote success if you implement the right option within your firm.

PESTLE Analysis

Several factors affect the success of every business establishment, and that includes environmental aspects. A PESTLE analysis is a summation of all the prevailing conditions that affect the operations of your enterprise in the environment it is operating in currently. PESTLE is an acronym for;

  • P – Political
  • E – Economic
  • S – Social
  • T – Technological
  • L – Legal
  • E – Environmental

Each element that constitutes the PESTLE analysis will affect the decisions you make regarding the activities of your firm. The implication, in this case, is that adopting PESTLE analysis can reduce the impact of each of the elements it constitutes on your company’s operations.

User Stories

In the modern world business owners are more conscious of the tastes and preferences of the end user. In that case, user stories business analysis focuses on the needs and requirements of end users, which results in the development of custom products and services.

Once business owners collect relevant information regarding the end product that users desire, they can develop an ideal solution for them and that is the objective behind user stories business analysis.

Brainstorming

Employers and employees who hold brainstorming sessions on various occasions increase the probability of achieving better outcomes in their daily operations. You also need to note that brainstorming business analysis technique applies to other concepts such as PESTLE analysis, SWOT analysis, among others.

Brainstorming sessions give employees and their managers an opportunity to share smart ideas while seeking solutions for underlying issues, which eventually yields positive results.

Remember, running a business does not need to be complicated.  Keep it simple!

Business owners, check out ways I can help you find hidden profit and improve cash flow at www.portalcfo.com.

The Importance of Regular Business Analysis

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regular business analysis

It is easy to get caught up in the daily minutia of tasks and checklists.  That is why it is important that you keep your company’s vision and mission front of mind.  Quarterly and yearly reviews are great and critical to business success, but so are monthly, weekly, and even daily check-ins. While it is unnecessary and impractical to do a full business analysis on a daily or even weekly basis, brief surveys of how daily operations line up with the bigger picture will ensure that your organization is moving in the right direction.

Better Employee Engagement

According to Anthony Smith, one of the ways you can keep your employees happy and productive is by giving them a clear understanding of the overall goals of the company. Employees who are given tasks to complete without any context are less likely to be engaged with their work and, thus, more likely to be a detriment rather than a benefit to your organization. Regular reminders of your business’ objectives will help keep your team focused on your long-term goals and allow them to feel as though they are contributing to a greater purpose.

Focused Customer Relations

It is easy for businesses to lose sight of the company’s core values in favor of short-term gains. Temporary profits, however, rarely translate to sustainable long-term growth and is likely to exhaust your team and alienate your clients. As such, it is critical to keep your company’s values front of mind when thinking of ways to grow your business.

A great way to do this is by focusing on what your existing customers appreciate about your business. This will ensure that when developing new offerings, you are in tune with the core values and aims of your growing business, keeping both your team and your customers happy.

Final Thoughts

Regular mission, vision, and goal reviews help keep your team and clients on the same page. When everyone is clear on how they fit into the overall scheme of the organization, they can make better decisions. Feedback from all levels of the organization becomes much more useful and fewer mistakes are made.

Additionally, employees are more autonomous in their work and clients receive higher quality services and products. Taking care to do regular reviews will help steel your business against short-term fluctuations and prime it for long-term success.

For more ways to grow your business profitably, check out our website at www.portalcfo.com.

Business Advice – How to Promote Growth & Success

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how to promote growth and success for business owners

There are various components that make up a successful business. As business owners, we want to ensure we are conducting actions that promote growth and success for our businesses. For small businesses, the details seem to matter so much more. So what is it that leads to success? Continue below to discover two critical components that will promote growth and success for small business owners.

Building Rapport

Building a rapport, or establishing a positive relationship, with other individuals is so important in a business environment. Whether this is on a small scale or larger scale, building a rapport with others is crucial. Having a positive rapport with others can lead to referrals for your business or even free word-of-mouth advertising.

Who should you be building a rapport with?

It doesn’t matter if you are the owner of a small car lot, a cleaning business, or if you own a small diner. Rapport should be formed with everyone you are in contact with.  Build a rapport with your clients or customers to maintain trust and allow them to feel significant. Create positive relationships with vendors and your distributors. This may result in you receiving quicker service or better pricing on inventory.

Setting Goals

Again, it does not matter what type of industry your business falls under, setting goals is crucial for success.

Let’s first gain an understanding of why goals are so important.

  • Goals help us measure progression
  • Goals help us avoid procrastination and give us something to work towards
  • Goals promote growth and increase performance
  • Goals help to keep employees motivated

Now that you understand some of the reasons it is so important to set goals for your business, it is equally important for you to understand how to set your specific goals.

It is important to remain realistic and set attainable goals. If you are consistently setting goals that are out-of-reach, your team will continuously feel defeated and lose their motivation.

For example, if you are running a small fitness facility, you might consider setting a goal for your sales team to sign “X amount of people up each month”. In the month of January, you might make a goal of signing 50 new members up, which is realistic considering many individuals begin working out during the New Year. However, in the month of July, you will likely make a goal of signing up 20 new members, as many individuals are satisfied with being outside during the summer months.

Just remember that many different factors and components go into creating goals.  Creating attainable goals is the key objective of any business in order to promote growth and success and maintain financial stability.

Remember, running a business successfully does not need to be complicated. Keep it simple!

For more valuable articles to help you successfully manage the challenges of growing your business profitably, please search our blog at our website www.portalcfo.com.

Business Startup Advice: 3 Tips to Avoid Common Financial Mistakes

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4 common financial mistakes business owners make

If you are a new entrepreneur, just starting your new venture, listen up in order to avoid common financial mistakes. According to the Small Business Administration, about two-thirds of businesses with employees survive at least 2 years and about half survive at least 5 years. As one would expect, after the first few relatively volatile years, survival rates flatten out. A high percentage of entrepreneurs will experience failure within the first year of their business because they do not have enough cash.  (Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Business Employment Dynamics.)

So what do you need to know to survive?

For starters, it’s imperative that you grab a strong hold on your financial situation, in order to avoid common financial mistakes. When you have a tight grip on your finances, you will be able to avoid some of the mistakes that many entrepreneurs make. When you have proper knowledge of your finances, you will have an easier time getting your start-up off the ground.

1.  Plan Ahead!

You want to make sure that you are able to plan ahead for any unforeseen disasters. We know that you cannot see into the future, but when you plan ahead, you will be prepared for anything. When you are prepared for emergencies, you will save yourself from frustrations and headaches in the future.

2.  Budget, Budget, Budget!

Aside from making plans, you need to make sure your budget is part of your financial plan’s foundation. Your budget will give you the ability to keep track of the amount of cash you have, your current expenses, and the revenue that you need to grow your company. Your budget will also give you the opportunity to meet all of your business goals. We encourage you to make updates to your budget on a regular basis.

3.  Finance 101: Brush Up On Your Skills

One of the skills you should have as an entrepreneur is financial literacy. You have to know your financial position in order to make the right decisions. Gain an understanding of your finances and find a way to organize your finances and your documents. Are you ready to make smart decisions so you can make waves in your industry?

Remember, running a business successfully does not need to be complicated. Keep it simple!

Business owners, check out ways I can help you find hidden profit and improve cash flow at www.portalcfo.com.

4 “Type A” Tips to Successful Money Management

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business owner tips for successful money management

When entrepreneurs dream of being business owners, their vision of a successful enterprise rarely ever includes the image of meticulously managing the books. It can be difficult to take the time to sit down and review the financial statements which can make it easy to fall behind on money management. Here are four “Type A” money management tips to help you successfully keep track of where your finances are going.

  1. Send your invoices ASAP: The timeliness of getting paid depends on when you send out an invoice. Any delay in sending out your invoice decreases the chances you will get paid on time. Finding ways to automate sending your invoices out assures your mind that the task is completed.
  2. Walk, don’t run with your growth: While your business’s journey from start-up to small business had its own set of leaps and jumps, remember to pace your growth. A business growing too fast can get out of control making it difficult sustain; so plan to invest in your growth.
  3. Get creative with color: Taking the time to create colorful and organized spreadsheets for your own personal use can incent you to keep track of your accounts payable, receivable, expenses, cash flow, and so on. Creatively personalizing and interacting with your own financial spreadsheets helps motivate you to try to look at your figures at least once a month; and if you’re on top of it, once a week.
  4. Save, Save, Save: Every business has its good days and bad days. The best way to prepare for these income fluctuations is to add a weekly sum to a petty cash fund (or whichever way you like to save) and put some away when you have it.

Making a good habit of checking your finances is the best way to stay on top of the bookkeeping. A weekly or daily check takes less time than the daunting task of spending hours going over finances every quarter. These four money management tips will help you know exactly where your money is going and how to plan for your business’s success.

Remember, running a business successfully does not need to be complicated.  Keep it simple!

Business owners, check out ways I can help you build a clear path to achieve financial freedom at www.portalcfo.com.

Five Small Business Improvement Tips for the Entrepreneur

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small business tips for the young entrepreneur

If you are anything like most entrepreneurs, you’re probably wondering how you can jump start your business and make it successful. Here are five small business improvement tips for the entrepreneur to help you move forward.

  1. Start small. It seems obvious hence the term “small business”, but a surprising amount of people always tend to reach for their larger goals first. While that is not necessarily a bad thing, it can be overwhelming. Create short-term goals to help you get to where you want to be; utilize common sense.
  2. Ask for help. The phrase “pride goeth before destruction” can also be applied to the business world. Sometimes we have to swallow our pride and seek out the counsel of those in a similar career field. The best advice usually comes from someone who has been in it for a while. Never hesitate to contact someone you trust for help.
  3. Be realistic. More than likely, every successful business you’ve ever come into contact with came up with a realistic plan of action and stuck to it. The Entrepreneur website gives the following example:“If you set a goal to earn $100,000 a month when you’ve never earned that much in a year, that goal is unrealistic.”  Being realistic may mean something as simple as an adjustment to your lifestyle. Determine what it may be and get it done.
  4. Stay productive. Your goals will not reach themselves if you are sitting behind your office desk staring at a computer screen; however, being busy does not mean you are being productive. Break up smaller, easier tasks and get them out of the way before tackling larger assignments. Remember, quality is always better than quantity. You want to give people your best work.
  5. Stay focused. With personal goals and other aspects of life pulling you in two different directions, it is important to stay focused on what is going on right in front of you. Multitasking might look appealing to the business person, but in the end, you’ll only get discouraged. Focus is key.

Remember, running a business successfully does not need to be complicated. Keep it simple!

Business owners, check out ways I can help you find hidden profit and improve cash flow at www.portalcfo.com.

Business Advice: Why Small Businesses Need to Operate With Insurance

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small business insurance and why business owners need it

Obviously, the goal for any small business owner is to save money. Unfortunately, many small business owners tend to cut corners when it comes to small business insurance. Operating your business without the proper small business insurance can cause more harm than good. Having business insurance saves you money, time, and stress. Here’s why:

 Your business is always at risk

It may not seem like it, but your small business is always at risk no matter what type of business you run. Here are three different examples:

  1. Example 1: If you run a small retail store and a customer walks in, there is potential for that customer to be injured on your property.
  2. Example 2: If you run a small screen printing business from home, your screen printing machine can abruptly break, causing you to have to shut down production.
  3. Example 3: If you operate out of an office owned by someone else, you may need insurance just to sign the lease.

Types of Small Business Insurance

There are various types of insurances that you can get for your business. Essentially, the type of insurance you get is going to depend on the type of business you run.

General Liability Insurance:

This insurance covers third-party lawsuits over property damage, bodily injuries, such as slip-and-fall accidents, and copyright infringement. Simply put, general liability insurance protects you from lawsuits and similar claims.

Workers Compensation:

Workers Compensation insurance simply helps pay for employees’ medical expenses when they are hurt on the job. Additionally, this protects you against lawsuits over workplace accidents, injuries, and illnesses.

Error and Omissions Insurance:

Error and Ommissions Insurance is a professional liability insurance that protects your company against claims made by clients stating that your work is inadequate or that you were negligent.

Small businesses need to ensure that they are making insurance a priority in their business. Operating without the proper insurance is risky and can lead to serious problems in the long-run. Essentially, having small business insurance will allow you to run your business confidently and effectively knowing that you are prepared for potential problems.

https://portalcfo.com/2017/12/01/business-analysis-things-analyze-business/

Why You Need to Strategize Business Growth Planning

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business growth planning

When it comes to time to strategize business growth planning, it’s easy to get ahead of yourself. You want all the customers right now to maximize your profits and leapfrog the competition. However, that is simply a strategy for burnout by you and your team. Companies that have grown too big too fast have always had problems along the way. It is important to strategize business growth planning and plan your growth so it can be done efficiently; without hiccups.

Where to Start Your Business Growth Planning Strategy:

Who is your ideal customer?

Believe it or not, not everyone is your ideal customer. If you try to take that approach, you may end up alienating your client base. So, think about who your ideal customer is. Who would be the most profitable and loyal to your company? Who would provide the best referrals to earn you more great customers? Those are the customers that you want. How can you make your company appealing to them?

Who is your competition and what are they doing?

Knowing what your competition is doing can tell you a couple things. First, what are they doing right? Figure that out, and try to emulate that. What are they doing wrong? This is a great opportunity to learn from their mistakes which will save you time and money.

Find out what customers want!

Learn their pain points. Ask what they are not receiving from the competition and do your best to provide that for them. Come up with a strategy that is very difficult for your competition to duplicate, so you keep your loyal patrons.

Remember, running a business successfully does not need to be complicated.  Keep it simple!

For more interesting topics to help you successfully manage the challenges of growing your business profitably, please search our blog at our website www.portalcfo.com.

Three Reasons To Hire Someone For Your Financial Review

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financial review

A financial review of your own company can be very difficult. Whether you feel like your business is struggling or you want it to grow, it is important to really look at your business and figure out what you are doing right and wrong.  You may want to hire help when it comes to studying your business. Here are three reasons why you should hire a professional for your business analysis.

  1. It is too personal for you. It is your business and it is personal. You are going to be able to justify every move that you have made: from what you are spending money on to where your income is coming from. You are too close to your business to be able to study it objectively.
  2. An outsider will be able to study your business objectively. It is important that your business gets studied objectively to really know what you are doing right and wrong. Most of the time, business owners are unable to do that, so hiring an outside source is often your best bet.
  3. By hiring a professional, they are more skilled at studying businesses. Not all business owners have had further education when it comes to running businesses. Instead, they are sometimes just winging it and trying to be successful. A professional knows what you need to do (and not do) in order to grow your business.

Once you have figured out what you are doing right and wrong in your business, it is time to come up with a plan for the future. Study what you have learned from your financial review, so that your business can get back on the right path (or an even better one) and take you where you want it to go.

Remember, running a business successfully does not need to be complicated.  Keep it simple!

For more information on business analysis, business planning, and ways to grow your business profitably, check out our website at www.portalcfo.com.

Take your Business to the Next Level with Business Coaching

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Portal CFO Consulting - Business Coaching

Whether you are a sole proprietor, a partnership, or a family business, you probably didn’t start out with expertise on every aspect of running your business. You learned the ropes over time. Now that your business is successful, it may be time to scale up. But what’s the smartest way to handle that, especially if timing is important? It turns out hiring a business coach may hold the key.

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