Wise words indeed from an extremely productive man. If you want to become more productive, one of the secrets can be found in that quote from Ben Franklin. Not so much in the words, but rather in the meaning of what he is saying. To me, first and foremost, you’ll need to be honest with yourself and acknowledge if you currently have any bad habits that might be chewing into your time… and honestly,...

1.    Defining Income Streams and your Customer Base
Income Streams are different types of Income reported and recorded in your Profit & Loss. For example, Project Work, Maintenance Work, Commercial, Residential etc.

Your Customer Base is the number of unique customers you do business with in a given financial year, their average dollar sales, number of transactions and type of income str...

1.    Why is creating a Profit & Loss Budget so critical?
It’s critical because it shows that you have considered and understand the key areas of your business that make your P&L come to life. Lets’ look at the core components of your budget and how they relate to your business:

a)    Sales Income, these numbers are a result of your business’ ability: 
-    to generate the...

1.    Do you really understand what cashflow is and what it isn’t?
I ask that question with all due respect. We’ve all probably heard the saying ‘Cashflow is King’, and while agree with that, as I mention in my book ‘Would you like profits with that?’ I would prefer to suggest an alternate saying: ‘Profitable Cashflow is King’. This goes to the heart of the above question. Cashflow is ca...

Let’s look at one of the tougher challenges for many businesses; what’s commonly referred to as a ‘Cash Gap’.

1.    What is a ‘Cash Gap’?
It’s a lag which occurs between Income and COGS (Cost of Goods Sold). A business may still suffer from overall cashflow issues for a wide variety of reasons without specifically having a ‘Cash Gap’ problem, but we’ll leave those for another article.

2....

Why estimating your realistic capacity is critical in any Trades Industry business... and how to control and manage it as you grow.

In every Trades Industry business in the world there are two main ‘products’ that are being sold: labour and materials. However, these two deceptively simple components can be extremely challenging to plan for, manage and control, particularly when trying to forecast,...

There are approximately 2.3 Million businesses registered in Australia currently. A whopping 97% of those businesses are classed as either a small or micro business with annual turnover of less than $10 Million. And, unfortunately, the vast majority of these over the next five or ten years will either fail, plod along with no real return on investment or the owner will ultimately throw in the towe...

Q: I'm just starting out in business, what's the number onmte thing I need to consider to ensure my big idea actually becomes financially successful?

A: Why will people want it, buy it or use it and will they keep using it... How unique is the product... Is it a product that is offering something better than what's already on offer or is it unique? The more a product is in the category of 'somethi...

Why your team members need to know why working in a small business is vastly different to working in a mid-sized/large company and how to use those insights to create predictable and consistent profits in your business

Let’s start with a surprising view of the Australian economic landscape and where Small Businesses fit in

There are approximately 2 Million registered business entities in Australia w...

How to distinguish your company with a customer focused culture 

Let’s start with a few quotes that speak to the heart of what true customer service is:

“Good manners have much to do with emotions. To make them ring true, one must feel them, not merely exhibit them.”
Amy Vanderbilt

“Respect for ourselves guides our morals, respect for others guides our manners”.

Laurence Sterne

“You can only become tru...