Fire your Accountant & Hire a Partner

New Bookkeeping Service: my-eScribe for Canadians Only!

Posted on 12 February 2011 | No responses

What is the Secret Ingredient to Owning Your Own Business?

Posted on 7 February 2011 | 1 response

The best recipe must have the right ingredients. There are literally tens of thousands of books on the market today, just a guess, that tell you what you need to succeed in business. Should you buy them? Maybe, but not all of them and certainly not today.

How about getting that business degree that improves your chances for instant success?  Well, if I looked at most of the business entrepreneurs I know…definitely not! A degree will most likely get you a well paying job, increase your chance for advancement, but it won’t guarantee you a business of your own.

So what is the secret ingredient you have to have in your business recipe? The willingness to take a risk. What about all those other factors like money, a great idea and/or specific skills? Aren’t they the real key to owning a successful small business? Well let’s try an experiment and examine the following groups:

1. Family members

2. Your friends

3. Your high school buddies -  been to a class reunion yet?

4. Your college buddies – does higher education make for a good entrepreneur?

Of all the people in the combined lists above, how many of them have money, great ideas and/or specific skills? All of them. Yet only 1 in 10 has their own business.

Now for some of you this experiment is not fair because you have chosen people just like you as friends. Wise choice, but chances are there probably aren’t many entrepreneurs in your neighbourhood. In the United States there are only 20.4 million small businesses (2005 US Census), which is about 13.0% of the available labor force. In Canada approximately 12.4% of the population owns a business.

So my fellow risk taker, if you are going to take a risk, you had best calculate that risk carefully. How best to calculate your risk…PLAN.

On your team,

Mark Kennedy

Is the Customer Always Right?

Posted on 31 January 2011 | 2 responses

In my working life, I have heard the following phrase “The Customer is Always Right” more times than I care to remember. Very recently, I was reading a sports article about a very well known athlete and their manager. The article explained that the business relationship was done and they were going their separate ways. Below the article, there was space for the readers to write their comments and this well known phrase came up constantly. Over and over, many different viewers stated that the business manager didn’t really know what they were doing as they were letting go of their so called “Golden Egg”.

The comments I read basically said how the “athlete/customer” has a right to what they want and the business manager’s job is to do as they say and not worry too much else, as they would make lots of money. I guess integrity means nothing and to say I was speechless would be an understatement. Yes, this has plenty to do with accounting. Follow me to see.

Over the years, I have worked in a variety of different places and industries. Years ago, I worked as a manager in a fine dining restaurant. A regular of our restaurant came in tipsy one busy Friday night. He then drank more so that within a couple of hours, he was drunk. For whatever reason, he didn’t like his server and I’m sure the drinking had nothing to do with it. This customer came in regularly and spent a considerable amount of money when he did. As the night went along, he started raising his voice and was now making the other customers uncomfortable. He then proceeded to stand up and reach for the server, who happened to be female.

So, do you now think “The Customer Is Always Right”? I hope not as I didn’t either. I got between him and the server and told him to sit down. I also told him that if he had a complaint, he can come and talk to me anytime he wished when he was sober. This didn’t go over too well and he and his female guest just started at me. I told them that if they didn’t like what I had to say, they can pay their bill and leave. I’ll let your mind play out the rest as it wasn’t pretty………

Just over 10 years ago, I was the financial person in charge of a financial institution. This company had millions of dollars in deposits and I was completely responsible for all of the accounting. I had to account for every penny coming in and going out. I reported to the CEO and he reported everything to the board as we were in charge of the day to day operations. The CEO was in the process of restructuring the company with the board’s approval. An agreement had been reached with a third party and everyone agreed, until someone changed their minds. The board members wanted more and more of those millions and what they said was fine the first time and the second time really didn’t mean much. Of course they signed their agreements, but so what. Having had enough, the CEO and I resigned because we did not agree with our customer, the board. Can you guess what happened next?

You see, everyone on the board is now in jail and the CEO and I are not. We knew deep down that a lot was at stake and that we would not be bought. The original 2 deals were extremely favourable for the board members and they just got greedy. Both the CEO and I were more than happy with what we were making and we knew we could make a lot more in the future under the right circumstances.……

Everything I have just explained to you affects your accounting. Your choices affect your life and this is directly related to what you do and how much you earn. In my examples above, I had to defend someone and I had to resign in another one. Each one had different outcomes for me. In the restaurant, I was able to lead a team of people who now followed me because they knew I would stand up for them. You can’t lead unless others follow and you won’t make more unless you have greater responsibilities. In the second example, had I followed the board members, I am quite sure I would not be writing this. The board members are all still in jail and I and the CEO are not.

Would you hire me as an accountant knowing I did not protect the funds of the depositor’s because I too wanted more? Reading that sports article reminded me that money should not be the main reason for “The Customer Is Always Right”. Remember who you are and your loved ones as they too will be affected. Had I followed suit with the board, my wife, her family and my family and friends all would have been affected. “The Customer IS NOT Always Right”, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t treat them with courtesy and respect. If you don’t, you will pay the price.

On your team,

Vince Schembri

What’s your position in the “tribe”?

Posted on 26 January 2011 | 1 response

Your business is really just a tribe, out in the wild, trying to survive. What role do you play?

Are you the hunter, the skinner, the tanner, maybe the meat preserver or the cook?  You can’t be all of them…in your business you must fulfill a role in the tribe. What tribe you ask?

As a human being, you are born with dependency on others to help you survive. You are not born with the physical and mental capacity to survive on your own. As you grow, you may think that changes, but it doesn’t.

When you started your business, you had to go out and find customers, suppliers and co-workers to help you succeed.  These are your tribe. You can’t survive without all of them. Each fulfills a role. So what is your role?

Perhaps you are the hunter who goes out and kills the wild hog. Did you hunt alone? Maybe. What about hunting for bear or deer, can you do that alone? Who made sure that the wolves didn’t come and steal your meat after you killed it? Who helped you carry it back to the camp?

Once you arrived at the camp, did you cook it or preserve the hide? Well of course not, you’re not the hunter!

Within the tribe there is room for specialization. Each member can become very good at a particular skill. So, as each one improves their skills, the whole tribe benefits.

What is the point of all this tribe stuff? Go back to the beginning of the article. Your survival depends on your tribe, not to mention the level of success you achieve is also dependent on it.  So value each and every member, acknowledge their skills and be thankful you have such a great tribe.

Take the time to look at each member in your tribe, name them, understand the value they add to your success. Now reward them……

On your team,

Mark Kennedy

« newer posts — older posts »