“Grow your Business” Series

Strategic Planning Guide For Small Businesses

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Portal CFO Strategic Plan

Every entrepreneur should find time to be thoughtful about the future of their company. That is where strategic planning comes into play. Strategic planning defines where a business wants to be and how it will get there. It can have a dramatic impact on the profitability and morale of the company because it provides a blueprint to help you stay on track in a changing marketplace. If you are ready to set in motion a strategic plan to help grow your small business, consider these five tips to make your planning more successful.

Know Who You Are

The first step in strategic planning is to know who you are. What is your company’s mission, vision, and values? When you clearly articulate why your business exists, what you want to be known for and your core beliefs, you set the direction for your plan to grow your business. Knowing who you are also helps you to avoid losing your way while in the process of growth.

Assess Where You Are

In order to go forward, you must assess where you are today. A great way to accomplish this is using the SWOT analysis. You and your team will address the Strengths, and Weaknesses that you observe in your business, as well as Opportunities and Threats that may emerge in the future.

Create A Future Forward Plan

You will need to create long and short term goals that include the strategies and tactics that you will implement in order to achieve those goals. You should identify the resources you will need such as staff, facilities, equipment, vendors and inventory and also include the cost involved and it’s impact on your revenue.

Execution

A strategic plan must include an action plan with specific tasks, timelines, and responsibilities. A strategic plan is useless without execution. Knowing where you want to go and knowing how your going to get there is of no use, unless you put your plan into action and stick with it.

Entrepreneurs are faced with market conditions changing at a rapid pace. Be flexible and learn how to adjust your strategies, and pursue new opportunities that will be a good fit for your long and short term goals.

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 Advice: How to Dominate Your Competition

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Business Owners - How you can dominate your competition

How to dominate your competition becomes more and more intense with each year that goes by, especially for small businesses. When you’re not a corporate giant with endless resources, it becomes incredibly important to be aware of what is happening in your industry. The business landscape is constantly changing and every change brings new scenarios to think about and problems to solve.

If you want to stay in the game, and even dominate your competition, here are a few tips on how to do just that.

Know What Trends Matter to your Business

Every market is different. When planning for the year, you should have done research on patterns that have affected your target market in the years prior.

You will have an advantage if you can predict the changes that occur in your market and when they are likely to occur. If you can predict those changes, then you can adapt and be prepared when they appear and be positioned to dominate your competition.

Know How You and Your Competition Are Different and Similar

As a small business owner, you need to know your competition better than anyone. It may even be valuable to you to buy or get service from your competitors as a form of research.

Doing that will give you key insight into how they do customer service, their sales process, their storefront (whether physical or digital), even their process of following up with a customer after they make a purchase.

You must know what attracts customers to your business and what might be driving them away from you and to your competitors.

Strive for “Good Enough”

While having a quality product and quality service is key to business, perfection is not. Perfection rarely occurs and many businesses take too much time trying to make something perfect.  Since change is constantly happening in the business world, it is important to be agile in decision-making.

Take stock of what your business does that is faster than your competition and take stock of where you can reduce the time taken. Are your meetings long and cumbersome? Do new projects go through multiple revisions before seeing the market?

Do you try to get market feedback on products before or after you launch them?  The quicker you can make decisions, introduce products, and get feedback, the sooner you will know whether there is a market for them.

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.

 

Useful Advice for Starting A Business

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Portal CFO Starting Your Own Business Photo

A lot goes into establishing a business and building it to the point of realizing profitability, and for that reason, the decisions you make at the initial stages are critical. You also need to give room for mistakes as a budding entrepreneur because they allow you to learn through experience! In this post, we have summarized three main pillars of getting a new business off the ground. Read on to learn some useful advice for starting a new business.

Start Today

Time waits for no one, which means that the perfect time to start a business will never come. The opportunity you are seeking to implement the business ideas you have on paper is here; it is today. Many startup ideas do not kick off for various reasons, which means that they will only remain a dream if you do not act. For instance, if funding is a challenge, you cannot wait to save enough as an aspiring entrepreneur. You only need to start with what you have right now, and soon your enterprise will be up and running.

Pursue Your Passion

If you are considering becoming independent and you do not have an idea of what kind of business you should begin, focusing on your passion can be a starting point. Venturing into any field in the marketplace is not advisable as well because it is one of the reasons why most startups fail. Pursuing what you genuinely love as you get into the business arena brings a sense of fulfillment in life, and over time you will join the league of those who own large enterprises.

Embrace Slow and Steady Growth

As you start your business do not bite more than you can handle. Trying to work your enterprise into a multinational as soon as you begin is not a wise idea either. Instead, set realistic goals that will help you build your firm over time. Small incremental goals encourage continuous business growth and adopting the latter strategy gives you a better sense of how to maneuver challenges and seize opportunities.

Remember, running a business 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.

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.

3 Parts of A Growth-Oriented Business Plan

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Business Plan Portal CFO Photo

Every business owner, executive, or leader in the corporate world should have a plan of action on how they intend to steer their organizations towards the achievement of specific objectives. As such, a business plan becomes one of the most critical documents that highlights the key areas you should refer to because it promotes success when you implement the details therein accordingly. Here are three parts of a growth-oriented business plan.

Metrics and Milestones

Most employees prefer working towards a specific goal, and the execution of a particular strategy will require close monitoring of performance over time. Metrics and milestones act as performance indicators that keep you on course as you execute the business strategy you adopt. In your growth-oriented business plan, metrics and benchmarks will be in the form of numbers, dates, names, and teams.

Strategy

There are many distractions in business, and if you are not careful, you will lose focus on what you should be pursuing. A master plan ensures that all your engagements are in line with what will help you realize growth. Without a blueprint, your business plan will be ineffective because you will most probably end up doing what you should avoid, and failure becomes imminent in this case.

You may imagine that you are knowledgeable in a particular line of business as you start, but the strategy you embrace can reveal some of the underlying weaknesses that can pose challenges and drive you out of the market as well.

Execution

A strategy is only as good as the point at which you execute or implement the same. The implementation of your growth-oriented business plan entails the decisions, approach, and steps you take to make a particular strategy work. If you want to realize the successful execution of the strategy you adopt, come up with the procedure you will follow, which will act as a business dashboard for future reference and review.

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

Check out ways I can help you make more money at www.portalcfo.com.

Business Growth Planning: 5 Tips For Small Businesses

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Tips for Small Business Growth

When you think about business growth planning for your business, what does this mean to you? Is growing your business the same as seeing an increase in your income? Does business growth simply mean increasing how many sales you are obtaining?  It is critically important that you are able to understand what business growth will actually mean to you and how it can fit into the transformation of your business.

In order to create a solid business growth planning strategy for your small business, we encourage you to keep the following  5 tips in mind:

5 Tips for Business Growth Planning:

#1: Review the performance of your sales team. Is everyone meeting their sales goals for the month? Do not be afraid to make changes when you think they are needed.

#2:  Make sure you keep notes of everything that needs to be done on a daily basis. If you are having trouble staying on track, do not be afraid to use outsourcing.

#3:  Try to obtain better methods of receiving your products and services. Try to find lower prices and better deals.

#4:  Accept feedback and opinions from your employees on how certain procedures can be handled more efficiently and effectively.

#5:  Use surveys and questionnaires to find out how they like your products and services and what things they do not like.

Running a business 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.

Business Advice: Improve Productivity By Boosting Employee Morale

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Boosting Morale in Your Workplace

There’s no longer any debate about the powerful correlation between boosting employee morale and productivity. It’s a belief that’s confirmed by science, and that can also be easily observed in the workplace. Engaged employees take more ownership of their jobs and this is reflected in their performance. Smaller businesses, where every single role is so important, should place even more emphasis on having a company culture that motivates employees. Here are three ways to boost morale and get the best from your team.

1. Create A Fun, Positive Environment

Making the space for fun will allow you to break the stress cycle and create a positive environment. Integrate icebreakers or team-building activities into staff meetings to promote bonding, creativity and a more relaxed atmosphere. Providing opportunities for your team to volunteer or support a charity can be a wonderful way to build cohesion while helping your community. Celebrating a major milestone with a pizza party or an outing at a mini golf course can be another chance to increase employee attachment to the company. By having fun together you can energize your employees, helping them to be more engaged and productive.

2. Reinforce The Importance Of Their Work

It’s important to communicate to your employees why their work matters. Morale goes up when they remain connected with the company’s vision, and with their own impact in the bigger picture. Use plenty of positive reinforcement by recognizing what your employees are doing well and expressing its value. You can also share positive testimonials or other useful measures of the company’s success, to make employees feel motivated to contribute to more success. If they can link their daily work to the goals of the company, they will be more motivated to meet and exceed expectations.

3. Provide Empathetic Leadership

Employee satisfaction is at the heart of having good morale. The importance of empathetic leadership is increasingly recognized as a factor in helping employees feel more supported and engaged. Take the time to solicit feedback from your team and validate their perspectives. Make them feel included in important decisions and maintain the lines of communication open. Empathetic leadership will improve performance by contributing to their satisfaction and engagement with the company.

It’s often said that people are the most important asset in a company. Focus on boosting employee morale by creating a positive environment and you will be rewarded with a team that’s energized, committed, and ready to perform at their best.

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

Business owners, check out ways I can help you maximize profits and cash flow to achieve financial freedom at www.portalcfo.com.

Business Advice: What is Cash Flow?

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Portal CFO Cash Flow Chart

Accounting is one of the most complicated pieces of a business. This is especially true as a business grows. Aspects such as assets, liabilities, debts, costs, revenue, and profits must be accounted for in both their monetary and non-monetary forms. Of course, looking at these components of a business is important for estimating its value. However, according to Investopedia, this estimation of value can be misleading as it often obscures one of the most essential pieces of a business’ long-term sustainability – cash flow.

What is Cash Flow?

Cash flow, at its simplest, is a measurement of the money that goes in and out of a business. It ignores non-monetary, unpaid, and pending assets, revenues, debts, and liabilities. The primary objective of measuring cash flow is to get an idea of the amount of money available for spending. This includes money received from customers, bank loans, investments, and shares.

It is important to note that any money that has not yet been transferred, i.e. accounts receivables or unpaid bills, are not included in measurements of cash flow. Income and expenses are only measured when the money has been received or paid. 

Cash Flow and Growth

Working Capital

In a recent article, we discussed signs a company is ready for growth. One of the qualifiers was working capital. Capital, or cash, allows a business to hire more people. This often leads to more effective and efficient work, and consequently, more growth. Additionally, cash gives businesses more avenues for marketing and better tools for managing daily operations, further increasing reach and efficiency.

Most importantly, working capital allows a business to do basic upkeep of its services and products. This is especially important for brick and mortar businesses that have high overhead. Lack of cash tends to stifle a business’ ability to sustain itself, which decreases a business’ ability to jump-start or maintain growth. A lack of working capital also tends to scare off potential investors and lenders, which can lead to a downward spiral of insufficient funds.

As such, it is crucial that you regularly review your books to ensure that the income generated by your business is higher than its expenses. Otherwise, a lack of cash could lead to critical issues later down the road.

Final Thoughts

Accounting is a complex, but extremely important part of maintaining a healthy, growing business. Cash flow is no different. Remember to keep a close eye on the funds that go in and out of your business. The present and future viability of your company depend on it.

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.

3 Signs Your Company Is Prepared for Exponential Growth

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Exponential Growth Photo

Do you want to take your business to the next level but still aren’t sure if you’re ready? Read on to discover three signs that your company can handle exponential growth.

#1:  Your company has enough capital to expand

One of the first things you should do is make sure there is enough working capital for the company to scale. Sit down with your trusted accountant and financial consultants so they can analyze your finances and provide advice. If you don’t have enough money, you can always try to get a loan from a bank or a capital investment from individual investors.

#2:  You have the right people in place

Are you confident that your employees can take on additional roles and responsibilities? Smart founders hire a team of workers who excel in areas that they do not so they can help implement their growth-driving initiatives.  If your company has a distributed workforce in various cities or if you have a small, tight knit group of employees in one location, a strong team of highly skilled employees will improve your chances of helping the company grow over time.

#3:  You have a well thought out strategy

Lastly, you should not consider scaling the company if you do not have a strategic plan for what you’d like to accomplish and how you’d like to get there. For example, do you want to expand into new geographical markets or offer new products? Would you like to focus on vertical integration and improve your profit margins? Develop a well thought out strategy that includes your overall goals and vision for the company and share it with the team so everyone is on the same page. In conclusion, businesses with the right strategy, working capital, and a qualified team will be well prepared to handle exponential future growth.

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.

Fine-Tuning Your Business Plan for Growth

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fine-tuning your business plan for growth

At the beginning of the year, most individuals set their long-term plans and realign whatever is not on course to facilitate the achievement of specific objectives.  During the course of the year, fine-tuning your business plan for growth is highly-encouraged.  Business owners refocus their strategies more frequently because it encourages the identification of the concepts that are no longer effective, so that they can make the necessary adjustments.

If you are focusing on growing your business operations, fine-tuning the plans you already have in place is advisable, since it increases the probability of realizing a desirable outcome. Here are some of the aspects worth considering as you refine your current business plan to achieve growth.

Under-Performers

Sometimes, you need to appreciate the fact that not every employee within your organization is contributing effectively towards the expansion of your enterprise. You may imagine that retaining such workers is a noble idea, but that is not the case. Releasing company resources from unprofitable channels and investing in those areas that will promote growth is the right thing to do and for that reason, you should allow under-performers to pursue opportunities elsewhere in line with their strengths.

Future Changes

Every business environment is prone to change, which is why business owners cannot afford to work without a contingency plan. If you are seeking solutions only for the current problems you are experiencing, then your business may not be able to surmount future challenges.  It may not only hinder growth, but it may force you out of business as well.  As you invest in your company, you should prioritize those solutions that will future-proof your business against the dynamics of the environment you operate in now and in the future.

Existing Limitations

There is nothing like a perfect plan in business, which implies that there is always room for improvement. The business approach you are currently using may seem ideal for your operations, but understanding the limitations it may pose on your activities is critical because these are some of the things that will hinder growth. Once you identify the existence of limitations in your current business plan, you can deploy the right solution at the right time to overcome foreseeable and unknown challenges.

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

Check out ways I can help you maximize the profit in your business at www.portalcfo.com.


Manny Skivoflax LinkedIn