Saying “Hello” — More Important than You Think
The telephone rings, the caller receives a message welcoming them, then she is asked to dial the extension of the person she wants to talk to. Since she doesn’t know the extension, she has to wait and listen to the office directory; then presses the extension number only to discover that the person being called…
Lessons Learned: Comments from Those Who Failed
The following appeared in a study, Financial Difficulties of Small Businesses and Reasons for Their Failure, prepared for the Small Business Administration (SBA). They are statements made by individuals whose business was in financial difficulty and subsequently failed. Their comments are listed under the stated reason for failure. Tax Troubles IRS stepped in and took…
The Independent Contractor Revisited
As the federal government and the state governments look for more ways to bring in money, the independent contractor status is a likely place for them to look. After all, by using independent contractors rather than employees, employers don’t have to withhold taxes, provide workers’ compensation, contribute to unemployment compensation, or provide any benefits such…
Entrepreneurship Is Alive and Well!
A recent article in the Boston Globe reported that although more attention is on the large, primarily publicly held companies, more and more people are making their living by operating their own businesses. In fact, nationally, over 500,000 new businesses are started every year. What this means is that over 10 percent of workers are…
Small Companies Are Innovators
Small companies are the innovators. The need for large companies to acquire small companies is necessary in order for the former to capture new products and services. According to Fortune magazine, “Big companies almost never innovate. This is unfortunate because innovation is one of the few ways to gain proprietary advantage and stay profitable. It’s…
Small Company Growth Trends
The median sales of a company going public has gone from an average $15 million in 1999 and 2000 to $164 million in 2004. Smaller companies have decided not to go public as often as in years past, and they reap the quick – and cheap – money as a result of that decision. The…
A Board of Advisors
In most jurisdictions, a board of directors is not required for privately held companies. However, many of these companies have appointed what might be termed advisory boards. Although they may not have any legal authority, owners of these privately owned companies have discovered that this team of outside advisors can assist them in many ways.…
Closing the Price Gap
The deal is getting down to the wire, the price differential is close, but the parties are not yet in agreement. Following are some ideas that might get the ball rolling and help bring the parties together. Let the seller retain the real estate and rent it to the buyer, thus reducing the price. The…
M&A Trends
A recent article in M&A Today offered some observations concerning current and future M&A trends. “The business world is constantly changing. For the first half of the 20th century, vertical integration was the objective in which, oil companies, for example, owned the entire process from drilling to retailing at the gas station. From 1950 to…
How Many Businesses Are There?
We suspect that the answer to this question depends on who you ask! The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) reports that they received some 24.8 million business tax returns for the year 1999. We can hear the joyful sounds emanating from new business brokers and those considering the profession. Wow, almost 25 million businesses! We can hear them…