-
Do you have the right attitude to keep your debtor days in check?
I have seen lots of businesses who make the mistake of focusing on increasing their sales but showing no urgency in collecting their money from customers (debtors). Remember you are in the business of supplying whatever it is you supply and not in the business of lending your money to finance your debtors’ businesses. The first thing that you need to do to keep your debtor days in check is to change your attitude towards debtors. Your attitude should revolve around the thoughts “Its my business so the debtors should play by my rules” and “The money they are not paying is my money and I should not be afraid…
-
Is it worth paying Goodwill?
There are two ways of owning a business. You either start it from scratch or buy an existing business and continue running it or even better, improving it. When you buy an existing business; over and above the value of the assets, the seller is likely to ask for a Goodwill amount for the non tangible value of the business. Even with small businesses, the amount of Goodwill being asked for currently is ridiculously high and can run into hundreds of thousands of dollars and for some even over the million dollar mark. The question then becomes if the Goodwill is worth paying. My advice is simple: If you want…
-
Get your business structure right
There is no such thing as “one business structure fits all or even similar businesses’ and getting the business structure wrong can cost you in the long run. Don’t simply register a company and think that it is the best structure for you because everyone else is using it and you are in a hurry or to save a few dollars at the start. There are four main types of business structures used by small and medium sized businesses in Australia and in most cases using them in a combination may work in your favour in the long run. These four are: Company Trust Sole Trader Partnership Below are the…
-
What got you to good won’t get you to great…
It’s not that hard for business owners to make a decent living out of their business or for employees to reach a salary level that they are comfortable with. For business owners – we have an idea, we do a bit of research, start a business, start getting clients, service them reasonably well and the we make a good living. For employees – we get our first job, get experience, move on to a couple of more jobs, get a couple of promotions and again we make a good living. Most of us are however are just stuck there and though we want to go to the next level, we…
-
7 things business owners are getting caught out on
Being a business owner may be rewarding but owning a business comes with the responsibility of making sure that the business complies with various obligations. Below are the 7 things business’ are getting caught out on: Minimum wages. The current minimum wage is $694.90 per week ($18.29 per hour) and paying employees below that either intentionally or unintentionally can result in penalties. Annual Leave. All employees (except for casual employees) are entitled to annual leave. Full-time and part-time employees get 4 weeks of annual leave, based on their ordinary hours of work. The leave accumulates gradually during the year and any unused annual leave will roll over from year to year. Superannuation payment. Almost all employees…
-
Don’t try to be the best…
There are people and businesses out there who are claiming to be the best at doing one thing or another and there are also those that are trying to get there but my advice to both the groups is to stop trying to be the best in the world and just try to be the best you can be. If you think it’s a race to the top and that you need to be at the top of the pile, you will just be running a rat race and you will soon find someone else who has a bigger house than the grand house you just built, a better product…
-
Increase your bank balance by not focusing on your costs
CLIENT QUESTION: I want to increase my bank balance (profits). How can I cut down my costs (expenses)? OUR ANSWER: There are lots of people out there who think that the only way we can increase profits in a business or bank balances (if you are an individual) is by cutting down the expenses we incur. This whole idea is flawed because it just focusses on expenses. People don’t seem to realise that there is only so much you can cut down in expenses. So instead of focussing on the expenses shift your focus to your income. Now income doesn’t have any upper limit does it? If you are making…