Debt capital remains shockingly cheap. Residential mortgage rates recently dipped to levels not seen since the 1940s. This means the cost to purchase leverable assets is at record lows – when debt is utilized.
Leverable assets are ones debt providers will loan against. Generally, these are assets that generate cash flow and can be liquidated (sold) for cash, such as real estate, stocks, bonds, mineral rights, and equipment.
What meaningful customer benefit do you provide better than anyone else? Your ability to do so is the only basis by which you will be able to keep customers, earn a profit and stay in business. If you don’t do anything better than the rest, you’re on borrowed time. Not sure what you do best?
A small percentage of business plans get funded. Still, you know your idea has merit. You’re excited about it and, if you could get it going, it could be your ticket to an exciting and lucrative adventure. So you’re willing to face the odds, do the work to write the plan and make a real run for it.
Negotiations of legally binding contracts take place constantly in a business’ operations. Protect yourself in all contract discussions, whether business or personal. You don’t want to lock yourself into a deal before your advisers have reviewed it. If your talks take place in a series of emails, as is often the case, be careful. You [...]
Internet marketing expert Matt Bailey guesses businesses own somewhere between 20 and 30 Web domains (aka URLs) each, on average — a surprisingly high number. I think I own maybe 15 or 20. But a quick check revealed we own 88.
Holy smokes! These things stack up like junk in a storage closet. They’re basically impulse buys, just a click away, $3 to $10 a pop.
Cash is king, so why are you paying commission off revenue?
A sale not collected in cash is not worth anything, so why are you paying commission on sales?
Why not pay commission on cold hard cash? When the cash comes in the door, your salesperson’s job is complete. Reward him or her right then.
Pay commission on cash received and he or she will do a much better job of the following
Michael Gerber’s The E-Myth is the book most frequently recommended to me. That’s probably why I never read it. I have a fad phobia. “In vogue” is a call to all lemmings, as far as I’m concerned.
The E-Myth was first published in 1985. The E-Myth Revisited was published in 1995. It’s perennially on lists of best business books. It’s on the required reading lists of classes taught at institutions of higher learning the world over, such as Stanford. Not sure why I finally decided to pick up a copy, but let’s just say I’m not hopelessly stubborn.
When your mission is to sell your business for absolute maximum, it’s a sales process.
A business sale price is a negotiated item. No list prices to go by. Sure, there are some rules of thumb. Some generally accepted earnings multiple ranges. But the ranges are large. We’re talking doubling and tripling of the prices paid. Millions of dollars hang in the balance for the prospective seller of a midsize company. Pair this with the fact that every business seller wants to sell for maximum value and the question becomes: How does the business owner go about securing maximum value?
While the new health care legislation signed into law on March 23 is indeed large, complex and far-reaching, we’re happy to report that the alarmist rhetoric emanating from some corners seems to be largely hyperbole. Even the highly publicized recent “one time charge to earning” announced by some large employers such as AT&T and Caterpillar appears to be extreme and politically motivated.
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