Business planning – beware the borrowing trap

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How’s this for poor business planning?  When someone goes completely broke, it’s almost always because they borrowed money.  Ironically, it is not the poor who fall from grace and go broke.  This is because generally the poor can’t borrow money easily.

It is those with higher income and easy access to borrowing who at most at risk.  In many cases, it is also those who should know better, such as financial professionals in large companies.  But there is no accounting for greed!

Borrowing money is also glamorously referred to as ‘leveraging’.  Borrowed money comes in many forms – e.g. personal loans, secured loans, margin loans, mortgages, and credit cards.

Borrowing money to invest instantly puts you at risk to lose more than your original investment.  The recent Global Financial Crisis (GFC) has demonstrated that.  It’s just that when viewed through the rose coloured glasses of a booming economy, it doesn’t look that way.

Borrowing money for personal reasons (non investment) is financial suicide.  The risk is high from the start because whatever it is you buy with the borrowed money (e.g. a car) makes no income and therefore contributes nothing to ease the repayment burden.

It sounds old fashioned but if you handle all your financial affairs and investments on a cash basis, it is almost impossible to lose everything, no matter of what unforeseen event may happen in the world.

Until next time!

Gary

If you are looking for a basic book that explains personal finance in a common sense way, you won’t find better value for money than

GET A FINANCIAL LIFE written by Beth Kobliner

→ available now in the Amazon library → on the right hand side of this page →

It focuses on personal finance into your twenties and thirties but in my opinion, it is a basic handbook for people of all ages.  This book is an investment in itself. It is only USD $10.77 and when you land on Amazon’s site you will see cheaper options.

Business planning – income is the foundation of your wealth

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Critical to business planning is the science of financial management.  Financial management is all about the source and use of money.  I refer to it as a science because whether in business or in personal finance, there are certain rules you must observe in every day financial management.

One of the foundation stones of financial management is:

Your career and therefore your income provide your wealth!

Your income is the foundation of all of your wealth building.  Therefore, your prime focus should be on generating income, rather than borrowing money.

Your focus should also be on saving your income instead of spending it.  It is the part of your income that you save that forms the backbone of your future investments.

It is most likely that you will make far more money from your business or profession than you will from your investments.  Your investments can make your future more secure and your retirement more prosperous, but without income, investments alone will not take you from rags to riches.

Only very rarely does someone make a large fortune from investments.  When that happens, it may appear to be a hot tip or good luck but it is generally achieved by someone with a high income and savings potential.

When planning investments, your priority should be to preserve what you have.  Preserving what you have will be an unlikely outcome if you pursue complicated schemes that promise high returns in the short term.

Until next time!

Gary

For an introductory look at Personal Finance it is hard to go past this book.

TURNING MONEY INTO WEALTH (5th Edition) by Arthur J Keown.

→ available now in the Amazon library → top right on this page → → →

This is an American introductory finance book written by a Professor of Finance at Virginia Tech Pamplin College of Business.  Although it is primarily a text book, it is a surprisingly easy read.

It has to be said that USA tax laws and other regulations contained in this book are different to those in Australia but the author provides a great presentation of the fundamental principles of personal finance, which are universal foundation principles.   That is valuable information if you are looking to enhance your financial education.

Online business building – limitless potential

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Interested in business building online that has limitless income potential?  Then get with a reputable internet marketing professional.

Forget all the rubbish you see around the internet and on affiliate marketing sites that entice you to follow this or that amazing method and get rich in only a matter of days.

The fact is that from a cold start, it takes time to build targeted traffic (a growing group of potential customers).   For the newcomer, next to nothing happens in a matter of days in cyberspace.  As is the case with most offline businesses, time in the market has its advantages.

Inexperienced newcomers simply don’t have all of the skills required to build a profitable online business.  Successful internet businesses require all of the components to be present and working together.  Even then it requires fine tuning.

You might have the best internet marketing site in the world with plenty of traffic but it can still tank in terms of making sales.  Home made sales pages generally don’t work.  It still requires special skill to write sales copy that sells.

Even with a great site and professionally written sales copy, if you haven’t done your early research, your keyword strategy may not line up with your sales strategies.  Once again, no sales!

Without the right tools working behind your site, reliable process automation becomes a problem.  Customers look for trustworthiness and reliability.  Anything less will scare them away.

Do what I did – forget the cheap DIY options full of shallow promises.  Seek out a trustworthy internet marketing professional to arrange to build and maintain your online business.

But don’t forget to do your homework first.  Planning is required for any new business whether it is online or offline.

Everything is easier when you are relaxed including business building.  Visit my other blog at http://www.aikido-secrets-to-calm-success.com

Until next time!

The Coach

Online business building – what is involved?

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Business building online is a lot cheaper than doing it in the bricks and mortar world but there are still real costs to outlay.  Here’s how it works.

In general, these are the steps required to profitably build business online:

  1. Build a suitable internet marketing site
  2. Communicate with potential customers
  3. Build target traffic
  4. Induce desired behaviour (e.g. call, opt-in, click, buy)
  5. Make sales transactions
  6. Turn transactions into repeat sales
  7. Build a qualified customer list

There is an abundance of free tools on the internet that will allow you to do some of the things listed above.  Their mere availability leads many to the mistaken assumption that online business building is free.

Online business building is not free.  It requires a wealth of diversified talent; and rarely does this talent reside in just one person.  Good internet marketers outsource each part of their processes to specialists around the world.

Site builders, programmers, SEO experts, sales copy writers, product researchers, advertising specialists, article writers …. just to name a few.  Every sub-contractor expects to be paid, hence the costs.

Fortunately, many reside in countries where the Australian and US dollar are extremely valuable, so costs are low relative to onshore labour costs.  At the same time, productivity tends to be high.  Subcontractors either perform and do the job right the first time or they never get a second chance.

Like any business, there are upfront (site) establishment costs and ongoing service costs.  The bigger is the online business, the bigger are the costs involved.  However, there is one important difference between online business and offline business.

Regardless of the costs involved, the income potential of a 100% online business, operating in world wide cyber space, is actually limitless.  The same can’t be said of most offline businesses.

If you are interested in maintaining a happy Life Balance whilst business building, go visit my other blog at http://www.aikido-secrets-to-calm-success.com

Until next time!

The Coach

Business building – a dream income stream

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The business building dream is to establish a recurring income stream; one that just keeps rolling in and doesn’t depend on you having to sell your time.

At first, it sounds a bit too good to be true but it is possible with a little smart planning.  Here are the desired elements of your dream income stream.

You need:

1.      to attract a big audience

2.      a product to sell (yours or someone else’s)

3.      the sales admin to be automated

4.      the net sales proceeds automatically directed to your bank account

5.      to be able to operate it from home or from any hotel room in the world

The answer of course is an online business.  If your products are electronic, or they are someone else’s (affiliate) products, then your entire business can be built online.  You need not have a physical presence at all, other than ABN and tax file number.

With today’s extraordinary online business tools, it is all possible.  But here is the catch.  It doesn’t come free and it doesn’t come without commitment and work.  To believe otherwise is to subscribe to one of the great internet myths of our time.

Like business building anywhere, you must be prepared to invest both time and money to get your online business up and running.  It is true that setting up an online business is generally a lot cheaper than setting up a bricks and mortar business but all other business principles still apply.

Besides having the advantage of a much lower capital investment, building a business that is 100% online means that you have complete independence and life balance.  You make money while you sleep and you can operate it from anywhere in the world.

If you are interested in maintaining a happy Life Balance whilst business building, go visit my other blog at http://www.aikido-secrets-to-calm-success.com

Until next time!

The Coach

Business building– recession is a blessing in disguise

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It is true that many iconic business empires around the world were started by entrepreneurial business builders during the depths of recession.  About half of the public companies that make up the Dow Jones index began in recession.  Why? Because that’s where the opportunities were (and still are)!

In recession, entrepreneurial spirit is often borne out of necessity.  Put simply, if you have lost your job or have been cut back to part time, there may no other choice but to go it alone.

Hunger and scarcity can breed creativity faster than any business degree.  You may have been harboring a good idea for a long time, but involuntary unemployment or retirement creates an opportunity and the need to act.

Before you start however, stop to think whether yours is a recession product or not.  You can’t introduce just any old product into recession markets.  It has to reflect recession-type needs.

A product that is popular in recession is likely to remain popular in times of abundance.  However, the reverse may not hold true.  Many boom time business builders have found that out the hard way.

There are many good reasons to start a business in a recession. They include:

  • The resources you need to start a business can be a lot cheaper because decreased demand and oversupply drives prices down
  • Many businesses downsize, shed resources and fail to fulfill contracts in tough times, thereby creating opportunities for newcomers
  • There are many opportunities because of the rapid belt-tightening and changes in consumer demand; most businesses can’t adapt quickly to the changed market conditions
  • Competitors are struggling and often weakened
  • Suppliers are struggling as well so they are more inclined to negotiate better terms

Ironically, it is the creation of new small businesses that helps lead the economy out of recession because the small business sector plays a significant part in driving the economy.

If you are interested in business building and you want to retain a happy Life Balance, go visit http://www.aikido-secrets-to-calm-success.com

Until next time!

The Coach

Starting up a business – The pitfall of over-optimism and poor research

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A big mistake in starting up a business is to get so carried away on a wave of beginner’s optimism that you are lulled into not doing sufficient homework.

You start to believe your own advertising to the point where you become convinced that people will come to you and buy your product or service, merely because you open the front door for business.

That is one of the great business myths and the downfall of many hopeful business starters.  Don’t let this happen to you!

It is really easy to rely on optimistic levels of sales and unrealistically low levels of expenses when you are formulating your first business plan and operating budget.  This is particularly dangerous when you have no sales and no history in your business to guide you.

Why? Because you are forced to rely on your own expectations!  Because you have everything riding on a successful outcome, you make unrealistic estimates.

In my experience, people who are desperate for their business to work tend to use over-optimism as the basis for those estimates.  The planning becomes a self fulfilling prophesy.

You subconsciously fudge the process to get the results you want.  Of course you can make anything look good on paper by simply fiddling with the underlying assumptions.

It doesn’t help though.  The reality check quickly comes when you open for business and you see how wrong you assumptions were.

Then the journey gets really difficult.  Early losses start to mount up and sales remain nothing more than a trickle.

I can’t emphasise strongly enough how important it is to do your homework thoroughly and work with realistic assumptions.  It is important to be conservative when you don’t have runs on the board.  If it turns out that you have been too conservative, then you will get a pleasant surprise when the reality check comes.

If you are thinking of starting up a business and you want to retain a happy Life Balance, go visit http://www.aikido-secrets-to-calm-success.com

Until next time!

The Coach

Starting up a business – Don’t let small thinking derail your great idea

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Another common flaw that I see among those starting up a business is to think in terms of survival only.  They measure their success in terms of still being in business in six month’s time.

This is a real mistake!  Doing things on a shoe-string budget invites shoe-string thinking.   Cutting corners and thinking small can cause you to adopt a defensive ‘small thinking’ attitude in the start up phase.  That is not good for business!

If you truly believe in your products and services, then you should look past the first few months and plan for a long and prosperous future.  What is required is an optimistic and assertive strategy.  Even though your resources may be scarce, it is a time for positive, expansive and innovative thinking.

Your business planning and your financial management should address the needs of a business destined to succeed.  That includes its ‘start up capital’ requirements.

“But I only have a very limited budget!” I hear you cry.

Everyone has limitations on their budget.  No one wants to spend more than they have to.  You must decide whether your limited budget is enough to achieve your goals or is it only enough to finance a slow and agonizing slide into oblivion.

If it is the latter, then figure out how to get more money, or don’t start.  That is the whole point of business planning and financial management.  You must do your homework thoroughly and face the future with realistic assumptions.

For more reading on financial management and your path to financial wellbeing, visit http://www.aikido-secrets-to-calm-success.com

Until next time!

The Coach

Starting up a business – The pitfall of giving away equity

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When starting up a business, it is common to see inexperienced business starters with no financial management skills, prepared to barter away equity (ownership) in the early days in return for a much needed service.   For example:

They seek to establish a website as cheaply as possible, even to the extent of offering a e.g. website designer part ownership of the business in lieu of payment

Now I am not against website designers.  It’s just that new business owners think that a website is the first thing they need.  They often see a website as the answer to all their sales and marketing prayers.  Nothing could be further from the truth but that’s another story.

If this is you, consider this!  While giving away a slice of your business may seem to be a good idea at the time, you won’t think so in a couple of years time when you have a million dollar business and a business partner who bought a good slice of it for the price of a website (e.g. $1,000 – $2,000 or so), and now can do nothing else but e.g. design websites.

The first mistake you made was seriously undervaluing your business in the first place when you were starting up the business.  You took the pessimistic view and figured that you were giving away nothing in return for a website with a real dollar value.  What a great deal hey?

Silly ole you!  Deep down, you didn’t really think you would succeed did you?  You didn’t seek advice and you didn’t stop to think that a shareholder in your business is a permanent fixture; as permanent as a married spouse and potentially just as expensive to separate from.

Nothing deteriorates a business relationship faster than a person who doesn’t pull their weight.  After a year or two of having the website designer as a passenger in your business, you will be seriously regretting having this person as your partner.  Oh, a ‘silent partner’ you say?  Trust me, they are rarely silent.

Let’s say you gave the web designer 20% of your business in return for a $2,000 website when you mistakenly valued your business at zero.  When your business grows and is valued at $1M, that 20% share is going to be worth $200,000.   I hope it was a good website.

But wait, there’s more!  The shareholder may not want to sell.  By this time, you might be the best of enemies.  It may cost you a lot more than $200,000 to buy back your business.   And do you have that kind of money sitting in the bank for a moment like this?  The answer is usually ‘no’.

This is why it is so important to seek advice.  Any competent business coach or adviser will tell you that having a partner, with skills you may use only once, and who makes no other contribution except for a couple of thousand dollars of labour and expertise, is a bad investment and an even worse permanent relationship to get into.

For more reading on starting up a business and smart financial management, read my Life Balance series at http://www.aikido-secrets-to-calm-success.com

Until next time!

The Coach

Starting up a business – cutting corners can be a financial management killer!

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Gary Weigh – The Coach

Cutting corners on a lean start up budget is a very common ‘kill your business’ practice.  When starting up a business, it is done because of lack and necessity.  However, in terms of financial management, it could be something you regret later on.  One of the most common examples of corner-cutting that I see is….:

Seeking the cheapest quote for equipment and technology just to get started, even though it is unlikely to handle anything but the lowest levels of activity!

Second rate equipment and technology may be fine for low levels of business at the time of initial start up.  However, they may not be able to handle the increased volume of transactions and information that could multiply quickly as your business grows.

It could all be obsolete in a matter of weeks or months.

As customers hear of your leading edge offering and sales activity increases, expansion is a certainty.  If you cut corners however, expansion may prove fatal.  It may mean starting again with a complete scrapping of your low rate equipment and technology.

This means that you will have to invest money twice over in the first few months of trading.  Not only that!  Expansion may also mean hiring people and finding larger spaces.  Expansion is generally a time of tight cash flow.  It could spell the end of your business.

It seems ironic that your business could fail at a time when you have just weathered the storm and things never looked better.  But it happens a lot.  It is one of the common causes of business failure.

For more reading on starting up a business, financial management and your path to financial wellbeing, start reading from the library to your right!

Also visit http://www.aikido-secrets-to-calm-success.com

Until next time!

The Coach