​Typical Situation: Our client is complaining their location does not have enough space. They may wish to change their location. They may want to explore buying their own building and want some comparisons.
When you hear a business owner say:
·        “There is just not enough space here anymore.”
·        “The building owner has been neglecting maintenance”
·        “I think it is time explore buying my own building and need some comparisons.”
 
Commercial Real Estate Broker works with businesses that are looking to lease or buy office, industrial, or retail space in the Chicago area. Our process is geared to reduce the pain involved in the business relocation process.

How they Work: Starts with meeting with the client to better understand what his/her real estate needs are. They do an extensive property search to generate a list tailored to our client’s specific needs. Then a tour of the properties that have been further vetted.  Once a property is selected the broker will advise our client during the negotiation process.

Matching Ideas with Resources:

Many of the accounting entries are done behind the scenes in QuickBooks just by carrying out the day to day activities of your business. This week we cover 10- 20 great things about QuickBooks...

10. Keep Questions Organized - If you come across transactions that you are not sure how to handle don't let them stop you from reconciling and closing out your financials.  Use the QuickBooks ask my accountant code on your chart of accounts.  This will allow you to enter the transaction and reconcile all while keeping your questions organized in one spot. 

11. Journal Entries - Journal entries are sometimes necessary to fix issues or create year end entries per your CPA to match your tax return.  Although journal entries are getting more into the "accounting" end of things you should still be familiar with them. 

12. Accept Online Payments - You can turn on the Intuit payment network services which allows customers to pay your invoices easily online.  The best part is it only costs you $0.50 per transaction with no percentage of the invoice being charged as a fee.  So you could send a $50,000 invoice and only pay $0.50 to get that money sent directly to your checking account.  Hard to beat that price given the typical merchant processing fees.

13. Email Invoices and Statements - You should set up all invoices and statements to be emailed directly from QuickBooks.  This will help reduce the amount of time it takes for your customers to pay you, which will increase cash flow.  You can turn on the online payments as discussed in #12 above to help you get paid even faster.  

14. Payroll Management - You can process your payroll directly in QuickBooks or use an outsourced payroll service.  We typically recommend outsourcing your payroll to reduce your liability.  When you use an outsourced payroll it is important to record your outsourced payroll correctly in QuickBooks.  Many payroll companies even offer files that can import your outsourced payroll data into QuickBooks. 
 
15. QuickBooks Class Tracking - QuickBooks class tracking is one of the more powerful functions of the software that often is not utilized.  QuickBooks classes are a way to track your data in a way that is meaningful to your business.  Examples of QuickBooks classes are locations or departments.  I use QuickBooks classes to track sources of income so that I know the source of every penny that our business has ever made.    

16. Financial Reporting - One big mistake I see is small businesses not taking advantage of the reporting that is available in QuickBooks.  Small business financial reporting is a crucial piece of the bookkeeping process.  Without running and analyzing financial reports your bookkeeping system is not performing to its full capability. 

17. Owner Memorized Reports - I develop a custom set of reports for myself to run our business.  We also work with our clients to develop a set of reports that the owner finds particularly useful to run their business.  While many reports are available in QuickBooks it is nice to organize them all in one spot for easy access.  Under Reports/Memorized Reports you can find your memorized report list.  You should create a new list called 'owner reports' and memorize important reports to that list to make them easily accessible.

18. Custom Importing - If your financial institution does not offer import capabilities into QuickBooks you still have some options.  You can use a CSV converter to QuickBooks to make your data importable into QuickBooks.  Additionally you can create Intuit Importable Files also known as IIF files which import into QuickBooks.  You may need to seek a developer or programmer that can create IIF files.   

19. Web Apps - There are a whole lot of apps that work with QuickBooks that may help your business.  It is worth browsing the apps to see how they can help your business.  Be sure to get an app that is approved and supported by Intuit.  One QuickBooks app that we recently started using is Time Tracker by eBillity.  This app allows our employees to track and enter their time from their computer, mobile phone or tablet.  The administrator can then approve the time, which can then be set up to sync with your QuickBooks file. 

20. QuickBooks as a Tool - Lastly, I want to talk about using QuickBooks as a tool to run your small business.  Many small business owners look at bookkeeping as a hassle or as a means to filing their taxes.  I think some small business owners simply don't like bookkeeping, others are intimidated by it and some don't see the value in it.  If your bookkeeping system and QuickBooks file are set up properly and tailored to your specific needs they can help you run your business.  Your QuickBooks file should be a tool that you can use to aid you in making key business decisions.

QuickBooks can be a valuable tool to help you run your small business.  If you look at your bookkeeping as a hassle then you have not been shown how to properly use your bookkeeping system to aid you in making business decisions.  

Many of the accounting entries are done behind the scenes in QuickBooks just by carrying out the day to day activities of your business. Over the next 2 weeks, we cover 20 great things about QuickBooks...

1. Control Cash Flow - QuickBooks can be a great tool to help you manage your cash flow.  Instead of using your online bank balance you should keep your QuickBooks file updated regularly and understand how to use it to manage your cash flow.  By entering your financial transactions often and doing daily reconciliations in QuickBooks you will get a great handle on your cash flow.  The key is sorting your QuickBooks bank accounts by cleared status. 

2. Invoice Customers - I always like to train clients to create and send their own invoices in QuickBooks.  When you have a customer that wants to give you money for products or services that last thing you want to do is wait on sending them an invoice.  Learning how to properly invoice customers will decrease your accounts receivable and increase your cash flow.

3. Manage Bills and Accounts Payable - Keeping your vendors and suppliers happy is important as well.  You don't want to fall behind on your outstanding bills with vendors.  Using the enter bills and pay bills functions in QuickBooks is simple.  Entering the bills to your vendors with the correct terms and due dates will help you stay on top of keeping your vendors paid and happy.  Paying your bills directly through QuickBooks via online bill pay or printing checks will reduce unnecessary data entry and increase productivity. 

4. Manage Employee Time - You can enter employee time from the employees section of the home screen.  You can enter a single time event or use a weekly timesheet.  Tracking time in QuickBooks can help measure employee productivity and can prove to be valuable for job costing purposes.  

5. Customized Chart of Accounts - Your QuickBooks chart of accounts is all about your needs and should be customized to those specific needs.  I often see clients make their chart of accounts so complicated that the reports become meaningless.  Make sure your chart of accounts speaks to you and provides you with valuable information that you can use.  Don't worry too much about tailoring your chart of accounts to your taxes; it should be more geared towards helping you run your business. 

6. Memorized Transactions - You should use QuickBooks memorized transactions to automatically enter transactions that occur on a regular and predictable basis.  This can include invoices, bills, journal entries and payments.  The idea is to boost efficiency and have certain items be entered automatically into QuickBooks.  One example of a good use of a memorized transaction is a bill that you have set up to be automatically deducted from your checking account like your mortgage payment.  By memorizing a check you can have the payment automatically post to your checking account a certain number of days in advance.   
 
7. Always Reconciled - The most important thing you can do for your small business bookkeeping system is to make sure to reconcile QuickBooks on a consistent basis.  You should reconcile all of your applicable accounts not just your bank accounts.  Make sure to reconcile bank accounts, credit cards, loans, lines of credit and payroll liabilities.   

8. Printing Checks - Printing checks from QuickBooks is a great way to keep cash flow updated and increase your efficiency.  Since the check will not clear your bank until the payee deposits it you want to make sure to include it in your cash flow analysis.  Printing checks from QuickBooks will eliminate unnecessary data entry. 

9. Online Banking - You should set up your QuickBooks accounts for online banking download.  Many major financial institutions offer data downloads into QuickBooks.  This will reduce a lot of unnecessary data entry.

10-20 coming net week...

QuickBooks can be a valuable tool to help you run your small business.  If you look at your bookkeeping as a hassle then you have not been shown how to properly use your bookkeeping system to aid you in making business decisions.  

Our partner Human Interest, a highly rated, cost-friendly 401(k) provider, can help you integrate or start a 401(k) with any Payroll Company. 

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• Seamlessly manage employee contributions and deductions from payroll through our integration with Human Interest
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• Save even more with tax credits like the SECURE Act that can be up to $15,000, with $5,000 per year for the first 3 years

Human Interest has helped many of my clients provide their employees an option, to help better prepare them in the future! Nancy Gilliam will be happy to connect you with her Account Executive and to find a time that works best for you, or please let me know a time that would work best for you in the meantime.

You can learn more here:

​Family (Personal) Challenges
 
Emotions and inability to separate business and family. Family problems and dynamics will affect the business. Divorce, separations, health or financial problems also create difficult political situations for the family members.  Emotions can interfere with business decisions, and trying to make one another happy constantly is unrealistic.
 
Tunnel vision. Lack of outside opinions and diversity on how to operate the business.  No-one, like a business coach, to ask the tough questions.
 
Role confusion. Roles and responsibilities (for active and passive family members) must be clearly defined. Absence of clear written policies and business norms for family members.  Going from family character to business professionalism can create confusion.
 
Paternalistic and Overly Conservative. Control is centralized and influenced by tradition instead of good management practices.  Older family members try to preserve the status quo and resist change. Especially resistance to ideas and change proposed by the younger generation.
 
Communication problems. Usually provoked by role confusion, emotions (envy, fear, anger), political divisions or other relationship problems create barriers to effective communication.
 
Retirement and estate planning. Long term planning to cover the necessities and realities of older members when they leave the company.

​When you own a family business, there are two types of challenges you have to deal with; Business Challenges and Family Issues. We will talk about both, this week starting with Business Issues.

Business Challenges
 
Lack of written strategy. No documented business plan or long term planning. Decisions are made day-to-day in response to problems. No long-term or strategic planning.
 
Control of operations and compensation problems for family members. Dividends, salaries, benefits and compensation for non-participating family members are not clearly defined and justified.  Lack of participation in the day-to-day work and supervision required. Which family members are shareholders vs. daily management.  Difficulty controlling non-participating members of the family.
 
Vision, Growth and Expansion. Each family member has a different vision of the business and different goals. Problems due to lack of capital and new investment or resistance to re-investment in the business.  What measures must be taken to grow locally, nationally, and internationally.
 
Succession Planning. Most family organizations do not have a plan for handing the power to the next generation, leading to great political conflicts and divisions.  Problems when the next generation is not adequately prepared for take-over.  There are some specific issues related to the third generation.
 
Business Valuation and Exit strategy. No knowledge of the worth of the business, and the factors that make it valuable or decrease its value.  No clear plan on how to sell, close or walk away from the business.
 
Lack of talent and Training. Hiring family members who are not qualified or lack the skills and abilities for the organization. Inability to fire them when it is clear they are not working out.   There should be a specific training program when you integrate family members into the company. This should provide specific information related to the goals, expectations and obligations of the position.
 
High turnover of non-family members. Happens when employees feel that the family “mafia” will always advance over outsiders and when employees realize that management is incompetent.

From: Top issues currently affecting small businesses
By Denice Gierach
Gierach Law Firm
Daily Herald Newspaper
5/1/2022

There are many concerns that small- to mid-sized business owners are worried about right now.

They are faced with several issues all at once, so that the priority of their issues may change, but many have not been removed from their list of concerns. This year, there have been several issues added.

Read the whole article from the Daily Herald here:
https://www.dailyherald.com/business/20220501/top-issues-currently-affecting-small-businesses?cid=search

Business owners have cited the following factors:

Inflation
Inflation impacts everything financial in a business, from what they pay for their supplies, their purchases that go into their manufactured products, and what they pay to hire their newest workers.

The business owners are paying more to hire people (some report as much as 30-40 percent higher wages). But the business owners have to be mindful of what they pay their current staffing, so that the new people who may be less experienced than those people who have been in the business for a long time and are proficient at their job will not have the wrong disparity in their pay.

Since there is such a shortage of people to hire, this creates an upward spiral in those wages and dramatically increased overall costs.

Pricing
Because of the large increases in wages, materials, gas and the like, these increases all adversely impact the margins in the business. Business owners do not want to lose money, so they need to determine how to pass these increased costs on to their customers.

Of course, if their competition is not yet passing these through to their customers, the business owner may lose some business if repricing their products for sale is not done in the correct fashion. Customers realize that the prices must rise, but they want to make sure that the business that they buy from does not take advantage of them.

Talent in the business
Businesses are still short of people. With all the people who retired in the "Great Resignation" in the last couple of years, businesses are still grappling with how to attract a younger worker. Some business owners are collaborating with high schools and junior colleges to tell younger people how working in manufacturing can be a great career choice and allows them to use the latest technology.

This is a five-year strategy, as it may take that long to see tangible results. In the meantime, many businesses are focused on how to attract workers that are either Gen-Z or millennials.

Recurring supply chain issues
In 2021 there were serious issues with supply chains. Ships were sitting in the harbors outside of Long Beach, California, unable to unload. There was a severe shortage of chips that are necessary to go into all sorts of products from cars to appliances to equipment.

This issue has eased for the moment, but depending on what happens with Taiwan, which manufactures most of the chips used by manufacturing companies, there may be more exacerbated issues going forward.

There are plants that are being built in the United States to start to manufacture these chips. Going forward, business owners will have to reshore their parts manufacturing to ensure a steady supply of the parts necessary to the manufacture of its products.

None of these are easy issues to solve, but creativity is important in finding ways around or through the problems. Each of these issues have been present for businesses in the past at one time or another as well. The businesses that survive and thrive have found creative ways to solve the problems.

Business owners should know where and when to ask for help and seek vendors and partners who can add to the conversation.

a)       How much do you want to make this year (Total)?
 
                            ________________________      (Example: $100, 000)
 
b)       What percent of that would you like to come from Referrals? 
 
                            ________________%                  (Example: 10%)
 

1. What is the actual amount you want to receive from Referrals?

 
                            ________________                     (Example: $10,000)
                   (Answer from a x Answer from b)
 
d)       How much do you make on your average sale?
 
                           ________________________      (Example: $1000 per sale ave.)
 
e)       How many referrals need to turn into business to achieve this?
 
                            _______________________        (Example: 10 Referrals)
                          (Answer from c / Answer from d)
 
f)         What is your approximate Close ratio?  

                            _________________________% (Example: 50%)
 
g)       How many total referrals do you need to get to get close to your goals?
         
                           ________________________      (Example: 25+)
                        (Answer from e x 2.5 answer from f)
 
h)       How many referrals do you need to give?
         
                            ______________________          (Example: 25+)
                     (Greater then or equal to the answer from g)
 
Now use the chart to have your goals for each month. (Below)
 
Power Partner Appointments   (Average 2 per week)

Below are relationship-building exercises that are to be used during the One on One Networking Appointments. These exercises may be used as often as needed. The purpose of the exercise is to give referral partners specific questions to ask each other while meeting one on One. This will enable them to get to know one another better. Of course, you might want to take notes during the exercise so that they can build a profile on your referral partners.

When networking, you should also try to find out as much information from as many referral partners as possible during the appointment. I hope this exercise will not only make your Networking appointments educational, but fun as well.

Great questions to ask each other:

1. What are your three best clients?
2. What is the most common misconception about your business?
3. What do you enjoy most about your profession?
4. Do you have children, and if so how many? What are their ages and interests?
5. How did you find out about BNI and why did you decide to join?
6. Do you have any hobbies, interests, or sports you are involved in?
7. Are you a member of a professional association? If so, which one? What does it mean to you to be a member and what has it done for you?
8. What is the one job or client that sticks out in your mind and why?
9. How did your past experiences lead you to the profession you are in today?
10. If you had to start all over again, what would you do differently in your career?