A Memorial Day Special Edition

A Moment to Reflect...
We all owe a huge debt to all the brave men and women who have served and fought for this country... whose sacrifices have enabled us to enjoy our freedoms today. Let us never forget that our freedoms are not free. Translate your remembering them into action. When there is an election, vote your conscience. When there is a social wrong or a dereliction on the part of our elected representatives, speak out. Make your voice be heard. And when you see the need to act on an issue in our city, our state or our country, do so. With the blessings of citizenship in one of the greatest countries in the world come responsibilities. Even if you were born in the United States, you still have to earn your right to be a citizen every day.

Howard Fireman
____________________________________________________


KISS [Keep It Simple Stupid] - Office Admin 101, Part 1
The CEO of a company, big or small, wears many hats. He or she wears a marketing strategy hat. He or she oversees purchasing. The owner also must be in on developing advertising and promotion. Another area of responsibility is human resources. And of course, there is the least favorite part of the business: business admin and accounting.

Let's set up a not too uncommon scenario. The owner of a small to medium sized company opens the business on Monday morning. That owner will probably make some basic assumptions about his or her situation during the coming week.

• Assumption 1: There are never enough hours in the week to get everything that needs to be completed done.
• Assumption 2: In a small, under-staffed company, if it a choice between prospecting and making sales or pushing paper, getting the sale will always win out. That usually means that some important administrative action item has gotten pushed to the back burner... again.
• Assumption 3: In smaller companies (and even in some  which are relatively sizable), very often, the owner knows how to fix cars or make widgets, but knows just enough about managing the administrative/accounting affairs of the company to be really dangerous.
• Assumption 4: Always filing paperwork in an organized fashion can be a pretty low priority.
• Assumption 5: For some administrators (owners or employees), they are not sure how to extract data from manual company records or from software packages used. Additionally, they do not know how to design  and create important management reports critical to making strategic business decisions. (That is, they do not know how to use Excel, Word, Access, Customer tracking software, Project tracking software and other types of productivity software that are now available.)  Or they may not be aware of what the software is capable of producing in terms of useful management reports. Or they make decisions based on their gut instincts, and don't particularly value management reports.

The current reality for owners and  employees alike, is that the demands on our time, for those of us who are responsible for handling admin duties are resulting in work loads that are only increasing. 

So what is to be done? First, an effective admin person or ad hoc task team has to clearly identify what tasks are most important and review working schedules to insure that the most important action items are handled first. Then, the next chore is to simplify, simplify and then simplify. Review administrative procedures and figure out how to simplify and to streamline them. Some procedures may become outdated, no longer serve a useful function and can be dropped completely. Sometimes new procedures need to be instituted to recognize changes in the internal and external business environment. This is more than just a matter that time is money.  Life in an office is already stressful enough, these days. Cut the amount of time it takes to do a task, and the stress levels drop.

However, there are some  basic ideas that make a lot of  sense and can make the admin department run a lot smoother. 

• In a company, organize the files, paper and digital. It costs the company every time it takes someone over two minutes to find a document. Calculated over the course of a year, searching for documents in a messy and chaotic office can cost a company thousands of dollars a year. 
• Keep the files organized. Self-explanatory. Why clean up the files if people are just going to screw them up again.
• When processing paperwork, handle that document as few times as possible... preferably once. Extract the information you need from that document, post it or use it as needed and then file that paperwork where it belongs. File it in a timely manner. If you do this right the first time, you will not lose time revisiting it to fix whatever was done wrong.
• Handle admin tasks in a timely manner. If you or your admin people do this, then work will not stack up. I am reminded of the image of Lucille Ball in the skit in which she was putting chocolate on pastry as it passed by on a conveyor belt. She got behind and everything got all messed up. If you like to leave the office on time, get work done when it is supposed to be done. When it is humanly possible, stay on schedule. That calls for focus and discipline. When you are at work... be there fully. 
• Always be looking for ways to get the job done in a better, more efficient way. Always be on the lookout for additional action items that the company should be doing, but isn't doing now. The evolving theory about business organizations is that the organization is always evolving and growing and absorbing new concepts and technologies. Everyone in the organization has got to be part of the solution, if the organization is going to successfully evolve over time. So the new mantra is: Even if it ain't broke, still fix it. 

That's all for now. I will be expanding on the ideas covered here in later postings and on other ideas as well. Organizing the files is a topic unto itself, and if it is not a thrilling topic, it is important to the outcome. I will be doing a specific article on that topic. 

Kindest regards, 

Howard Fireman

Productivity Consultant/Accounting

howard.fireman46@gmail.com

______________________________________________________

SEMINARS AND MIXERS IN HOUSTON, MAY 31 TO JUNE 12, 2010


Great American Business and Financial Revival
Saturday, June 5, 2010 to Sunday, June 6, 2010
8:30 AM to 5:30 PM
Marriott
1750 West Loop South
Houston, Texas, 77027

Limited Seating

Fee: Free

For more information, click on the link below:
http://greatamerican7.doattend.com/

Meet Gene and Jim Guarino, Washington Times radio talk show hosts, authors and business/money experts. They will provide a full day of expert business training. They will help you to uncover the best financial opportunities in America today. The event is sponsored by Get Motivated, Tamara Lowe. 


TEDxHouston
Saturday, June 12, 2010
10 AM to 6 PM
University of Houston

Limited Seating, Tickets available through lottery
Fee: $50.00 per ticket
For more information, go to the following url:
www.tedxhouston.com

TEDxHouston is striving to challenge each of us to find that goal or passion that fires us up to do something really innovative with our lives. The outstanding speakers will show us pathways to making a real difference in our city and to make a difference in our community.

TEDxHouston will highlight Houston as a city in which innovators and innovation has made this city great. The speakers will include outstanding Houstonians who are innovators in the arts, in theater, in science, in architecture, in design and in aerospace engineering. All are visionaries who have developed new ideas and technologies and whose work has changed life in Houston and beyond our city boundaries.

This conference is part of a global movement to put a spotlight on Ideas Worth Spreading. It is a locally organized event modeled on the first such event held on California 25 years ago. Since then TED events have been held in most major cities around the world.

For additional information, read the coverage of the event in The Houston Chronicle, Business Section (Section D), Saturday, May 29, 2009, page 1.

Houston Network News (HNN)
Central Houston Mixer
Wednesday, June 2, 2009
Time: 5 - 9 PM
Location:
The Social
3730 Washington Ave.
Houston, Texas 77007

Fee: Free
To register for event, click on the link below:
https://www.houstonnetworkingnews.com/EventRegistration/tabid/119/pid/248/6210-Central-Houston-Mixer.aspx

Business Seminars as Reported by The Houston Chronicle, 
In the Sunday Edition, May 30, 2010, Business Section


Special thanks to the Houston Chronicle for providing this information to us.

To more easily read the text below, double click on the image.

Business Now: Views, State of Mind and Things We Wish We Had Said

State of Mind: Living With Fear In A Time of Uncertainty


"All of us experience fear, but when we confront it and acknowledge it, we are able to turn it into courage. Being courageous does not mean never being scared; it means acting as you know you must even though your are undeniably afraid." Rev. Desmond Tutu.


"It's times like the ones you're facing today that force us to try harder and dig deeper. Times like these move us to find the greatness we each have inside, and in doing so, rediscover the greatness that defines us as a nation." A message to the Class of 2010 by President Barak Obama.


In the best of times, being in business for yourself is a tough proposition. For small and medium sized businesses, this is especially true, because the government is not going to rush to prop them up because they are "too small to fail." Any one of a thousand eventualities can sink a small business... undercapitalization, poor management, poor cash flow or, as we have experienced lately, a really serious economic downturn. And now, even working for someone else has become an equally uncertain thing. So almost all of us in the working world are living with an underlying sense of fear.

On one hand, we can allow fear to unhinge us or paralyze us. We can choose to live with the status quo and stay exactly where we are, until we can determine which way the wind is blowing. That may translate into keeping a job we find very unsatisfying, until things get more stable. A steady check....not a bad thing to have these days. Or if we are in business for ourselves, running our operations in a very careful, conservative way until the credit crunch eases up. Fear can lead us to the conclusion that what makes the most sense is to close the doors of our our business and go to work for someone else. In the worst possible scenario, we can just give up. That is one way to respond.

But there is a better way to deal with this debilitating feeling we are experiencing. We can confront our fears.We can overcome our fear of moving forward and of what comes next. Anyone who has studied the history of business knows that the worst of economic times are periods of tremendous opportunities. We are forced to leave our safe comfort zones of thinking, because what we experience within our comfort zone is no more certain and secure than what exists outside of our comfort zone. So, we have nothing to lose by exploring what other opportunities exist out there in the business world. What we do not realize is that even in the good times, we also harbor a fear of leaving something that is sure and certain, even if the job or profession we are in did not challenge us or make us happy.

Seeing the business from this angle, forces us to realize that the economic situation today is not worse or better...just different than the one that existed before November 2009. It is really unproductive to let fear paralyze us or force us to make  pressured choices out of fear of what might be coming next. Now, each of us has to make a reasoned, measured decision about what we are going to do about our own particular situation.

In fact, the best outcome might just be that we can use this underlying fear to energize us and inspire us  to do bigger and better things. Anymore a lot of us have little to lose and everything to gain. Overcoming this fear can be downright liberating. That is not to say that this sense of foreboding will every entirely go away. It will always be there in the shadows. But once we have risen above it, our mindset begins to see great new possibilities in terms of new ventures, new careers or product development, that we did not allow ourselves to even consider previously.

Hailing back to an earlier time, we should seriously revisit the words of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, in 1945.
"The only limit to the realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today. Let us move forward with strong and active faith."  Folks, all of us are going to survive even the things that are going on in this business climate. We cannot afford to give into fear and doubt. Even if we have moments of abject panic..of feeling that we have little or no hope for a better future, we have to force ourselves to just keep putting one foot in front of the other, until we reach the point that we have a better sense of what comes next. Again, FDR provides us with the words to sustain us: "When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and just hang on."

Howard Fireman
Productivity Consultant
howard.fireman46@gmail.com
__________________________________________________________

NEWS YOU CAN USE: MAY 28, 2010


How to Develop a Strong Value Proposition
A strong and differentiated Value Proposition can go a long way to position your business to succeed in your target market. Here are some pointers on how to develop a strong Value Proposition for your business. (Courtesy of BizNik)
http://biznik.com/articles/how-to-develop-a-strong-value-proposition?utm_source=articles&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2010-05-26

Twenty Pathways to More Prospects
Do you need more clients, but you are not sure how to find them? Utilize a few of the strategies in this marketing interview effectively , and you'll be on the path to as many prospects as you need. (Courtesy of Biznik)
http://biznik.com/articles/twenty-pathways-to-more-prospects?utm_source=articles&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2010-05-26

LinkedIn Direct Ads Vs. Google Adwords: Which one is better? 
This article contains the results of a recent experiment I did to determine whether a LinkedIn Ad would perform any better than an identical Google AdWords ad. My conclusion was that neither was worth the time or money. (Courtesy of BizNik)
http://biznik.com/articles/linkedin-direct-ads-vs-google-adwords-which-one-is-better?utm_source=articles&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2010-05-26
_________________________________________________________

GREAT COMPANIES TO DO BUSINESS WITH

  

A Cube of Time

Summary: Time is not something we can manage or control. However we can set schedules that enable us to get the most important items completed. We must also approach our schedules with a sense of balance and perspective. We need to live balanced lives and avoid becoming a workaholic. 

First Things First: Understanding the Idea of Time

Julie Morgenstern, in her book Time Management from the Inside Out, suggests that we should think about each day in the same way we think about a room in our house. We can fit into that room only as many objects as that room will hold.  She writes that "Your days are not infinite and endless...In fact, each day is simply a container, a storage unit that has a definite capacity you can reach." (Page 11) 


Let me help you to visualize this idea. Imagine one hour as a cube with the dimensions (1 unit x 1 unit x 1 unit)... one cube of time. A day is a container that will hold 24 of these cubes, no more and no less. We use a schedule to figure out how we are going to fill up each day. If we try to schedule more than a day will hold, something will not fit in... something remains undone and goes onto tomorrow's schedule. 


The best that we can do is to use our time productively. Unexpected things are going to happen every day to throw us off schedule.There are always going to be internal and external factors that will prevent us from completing everything on our list of things to do each day. Being productive is mostly a matter of prioritizing what is on that list and focusing on the most important items first. Not a particularly profound idea. However, all of us know how easy it is to get distracted into doing something we would rather be doing. So remaining focused and committed to completing the most important items on our list will enable us to be a lot more productive. 


Item Two: Living a Balanced Live, Timewise


So far, so good. We now can visualize the very idea of time and how to maximize our use of what is essentially a limited resource. 


Whether we own our own businesses or work for someone else, we have to make sure we get our work done in a timely manner. But we all know how easy it is to get caught up in our job. We lose track of time. We chase success or money. More and more of our time gets sucked into our job. Our family life suffers. We have less time to be with friends or to make time for our hobbies. We lose the time we need just to chill out and recharge our batteries and risk becoming burned out. 


Remember that we are people whose lives are not neatly divided into clearly defined segments: the work part, the personal part, the dad part (or mom part), the brother or sister part, the family part. Clear boundaries do not divide our hours as we move from home to work or to play. Our lives are really very amorphous, with our personal lives overlapping into our professional lives, and vice-versa. And what happens at home can easily throw us off at work. And when we have a really bad day at work, we cannot always easily put on our family "faces" when we walk in the door when we get home. When things get out of kilter, life can be seriously stressful and unhappy. When the many elements of our lives are relatively in balance, life is so much more pleasant and much easier to navigate. But no matter what we do, sometimes our lives are going to be very complicated and chaotic. So we really do have a good motivation to work hard to strike a balance in our lives.


So how can we make sure that our schedule works to do just that? Below you will find a great strategy I came across that will enable us to get a truer picture of whether or not we are scheduling our time effectively: 

The Plan: 

• Make a list of the most important uses of time in your life. My list included Work, Family Time, Time for Friends, Hobbies, and Alone Time. 
• Then set up a chart like the one above to track how you want to use your time. This is  a time budget you are establishing  for your life.  If the categories already set up in the chart pictured work for you, all you have to do is save the image, print it and use it as is.. 
• In the first column, enter the percentage of time each day that you want to devote to each of these categories, Work, Family Time, .... You are allotting a specific amount of time, expressed as a percentage  for each category. 
• Each day, track how much time you actually spend with your family, at work, etc. Be very honest in your numbers and post them in the column for that day, Monday or Tuesday...
• Tally up the time totals at the bottom of each column.
• At the end of the week, total up the actual hours for each category. Run a total at the bottom of that column, for the total hours spent on all activities that week. 
• In the last column, on each row, divide the total number of hours for each category, by the total hours spent on all activities and post it as a percentage. 

At the end of the week, ask yourself how well you did. Did your budgeted percentage of time match the actual amount of time you made for your significant other and your kids (if you have any.) And did you make adequate time for your friends? Or were you putting in long hours at the office and neglecting family and friends? 

When we market a product, we test and measure our strategies to determine if our marketing efforts are effective or not. This is essentially what we are doing by analyzing how we well are using our time and determining if we are achieving some level of balance in our lives... or not. 

If you decide to try using this strategy to bring some balance to your life, let me know how it worked out for you. Your comments are always welcome. 

Kindest regards, 

Howard Fireman

Productivity Consultant/Accounting

howard.fireman46@gmail.com

News You Can Use, Friday, May 21, 2010

Business Management

Why Bother With A Small Business Plan?

(USA Today) In this day and age, do we really need a business plan? After all, everyone is in a hurry? In a world of 140 character tweets, can you really expect a person to read a 30 page written business plan? 
http://www.accountantsworld.com/ReadNewsletter.aspx?enclid=5279D72DCBFCFC5067C28EFD7905D75C&Date=5/21/2010

Who Is Talking About Your Business and How to Keep Them Talking
Advocates are the greatest word of mouth agents you can have for your business. They are the ones who will go viral on you by spreading the word far and wide. Do you know who your advocates are? (Courtesy of Biznik) To reach this link, you will need to cut and paste the website URL into the website address box. 
http://biznik.com/articles/whos-talking-about-your-business-and-how-to-keep-them-talking?utm_source=articles&utm_medium=


Business Related Legislation 


US Senate Approves Sweeping Reforms of Wall Street
The US Senate has passed a bill providing the most sweeping overhaul of financial regulations since the 1920s
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/10134766.stm

Social Media News


Facebook Challenges By Ambitious Upstarts
The controversy over Facebook's privacy policy is helping those developing alternatives to the social network.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/10128476.stm

Business and Society


Entrepreneurs Can Provide Jobs and Help Humanity
Increasingly, entrepreneurs want to achieve more than just profits with their companies. They want to do something positive for the environment or for humanity. 
http://www.usatoday.com/money/smallbusiness/columnist/abrams/2010-05-20-socially-responsible-entrepreneurs_N.htm?csp=obinsite

News You Can Use - Thursday, May 20, 2010

Articles on Tax Issues

IRS Posts Revised Format for Form 941

(Journal of Accountancy) - On May 18, the IRS posted a new version of Form 941, Emplyer's QUARTERLY Federal Tax Return, and its instructions for claiming the special payroll tax exemption that applies to new workers hired in 2010.

IRS Issues Guidance on Eligibility for Small Firm Health Care Credit

The Internal Revenue Service May 17 provided comprehensive guidance (Notice 2010-44), on a small-employer tax credit included in the recently enacted comprehensive care reform legislation, clarifying that the federal credit will never be reduced because an employer is receiving a state health care subsidy. 

http://www.bnasoftware.com/News_Articles/News/IRS_Issues_Guidance_on_Eligibility_for_Small_Firm_Health_Care_Credit.asp

Articles on Marketing Issues

10 Ways to Use Social Media for Lead Generation and Nurturing
For some consumers, social networking sites have taken on personality traits that reflect who they may log in as and communicate with. Facebook might be a boyfriend. LinkedIn a boss. Twitter is filled with acquaintances to say "hi" to in the hall.(Click on link below for complete article.)

http://www.targetmarketingmag.com/article/10-ways-use-social-media-lead-generation-nurturing/1#utm_source=tipline&utm_medium=enewsletter_continue&utm_campaign=2010-05-19

A Personal View on a Common Thing: HOME

I got home today, just before lunch. I had just returned from a very significant and exciting business meeting. I was a little revved up. A business idea I am working on is really taking shape and I was caught up in the moment.

But as I started to go to the kitchen, I realized something I had never noticed. For the first time I can remember, I stopped in the living room and looked around the room and sized up what I saw. The room and the things in the room are very ordinary and a little out-of-date style-wise.

 The house is a nice house but not extraordinary. We have had the furniture for a few years and it is showing a little bit of wear and tear. But it is home. It is familiar and comfortable. It has the feel of my comfortable loafers,  which are a bit worn, but they feel great on my feet. And in this setting and to the people who share this space with me, I am viewed as mostly a known quantity, without huge distinction. I am defined by the people who share this place with me not by my accomplishments or my possessions. I am defined by my relationship with them.

In that moment, I was forced to put several things into perspective. Out in the business world, I cultivate a particular image. My reputation and my accomplishments precede me. As a businessman, there are issues of image and status and position. In the business world, I am also judged by the clothes I wear, the car I drive, where I live and how well I follow through on a project. At home, those things do not count as much. The standards by which I am judged at home are set to a much higher benchmark. What happens in my home ultimately proves to be infinitely more important to me than anything which happens in my professional life. That is as it should be.

In that moment of realization today, I thought about Warren Buffett, one of the most successful and wealthy men in the world today. He lives in the same house he has lived in for fifty years. That speaks volumes to the substance of the man. He knows what is important. He could well afford a home worth millions of dollars. But he chooses to remain where he is.

Today I understood maybe for the first time, why when we are at our home, it is a very different experience. We are more grounded and forced to keep things in perspective. We are not allowed to become too full of ourselves or to strut around with an inflated ego. At home, no one will or should put up with that sort of attitude. It is a place where the only person each of us is allowed to be is ourself. Home is a port in the storm where we do not have to wear a particular mask to fit in or make it. Home is a place where we can find acceptance without judgment and a refuge from the hurly-burly of the world.

There is that part of our lives which thrusts us into the frenetic world of business with all the excitement and the stresses. There is that part of our lives centered on our family, our friends and the people who mean something to us. For some people, their work has become their lives. That isn't what our lives should be about. We must always remember that we work so we can have a life, not the other way around. And if we are going to find the balance we so desperately need in our lives, we should always view our home as the central place in our lives and not an outward reflection of our professional status or our successes in business.

Today, Can Your Company

Still Provide Excellent Perks 

For Your Employees?

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Your employees can enjoy hotel getaways, cruises, resort getaways 
and amazing vacation 
packages at 
unbelievable 

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Great prices on cruise packages

on major cruise lines. 

All at little or no expense to your   company

For only a small cost to your employees.

For more information:

Contact Elaine Latham, 
Vacation Benefits Specialist

Tel: 713-501-3277

Email: elatham1@gmail.com

Living on Overdraft

For far too long, businessmen, large and small, have used credit cards  to finance some day to day company operations. When one crunches the numbers, it is very clear that practice isn't very smart. Were businesses to pause for a moment and consider the cost of interest that credit cards generate, they might have put some brakes on their very extensive use. Most companies are much more focused on generating sales and serving clients and customers.

Now, credit of any sort is very tight. Not a few small and medium sized companies are experiencing some very inconvenient cash short falls. Businesses are forced to scale back spending  and that has certainly affected operational and marketing planning.

When a company finds itself in a cash crunch, there is an almost compelling temptation to shift using overdraft in the same way it used to use credit cards.  It is not a stretch to see a company using overdraft as a strategy of last resort to keep the company afloat. However one slices or dices this strategy, it still means that the company is spending money it does not have. By any other name, the bank is loaning the company to cover cash card purchases.

The worst aspect of the concept of overdraft as a service is that it is not regulated by any state or federal agency. In fact, if one were to ask a bank representative if money advanced for an overdraft transaction is a loan, that representative would say no. Banks cannot admit that overdraft money advances are loans, for if they did, they would be regulated. The bank would say it is a convenience extended to its customers.

The truth is that banks introduced overdraft banking in a calculated effort to reap millions of dollars in additional income. Pardon the pun, but they were "banking" on most companies managing their bank accounts poorly and that most cash card purchases were not booked in a timely manner. Frontline, in the episode titled The Card Game, reported that to add insult to injury, banks added software that would rank cash card transactions by how a large a purchase the customers made. At the end of the day, the computers were set to process the largest purchases first. The internal logic of this programming was to push the client's account into overdraft and when that occurred, every small transaction that remained would generate another juicy overdraft fee. So much for banks looking after the best interests of their clients.

As the owner of a business, ask whoever does your bookkeeping to track just how much your company spent on overdraft fees over the last six months. If yours was a company that actually used overdraft as a financing option, you will probably be very dismayed to find out how much it has cost you over the long term. That realization will be the real measure of how poor a strategy it is to allow your company to live on overdraft in this or any business environment.

Howard Fireman
Productivity Consultant/ Accounting
howard.fireman46@gmail.com

Little House on the Prairie, The Musical... A Show for Our Times

Laura Ingalls Wilder

Little House on the Prairie, The Musical has had a two week run at the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts, in Houston. Melissa Gilbert, who played Laura in the original television series, played the role of Caroline Ingalls, Laura's mother in this production. It is the sort of show we don't get to see very often anymore. The sets, the costumes are for the most part plain and unadorned, just like the story of the extraordinary family depicted in the story. Those of you who are familiar with television of the 1960's know the Laura Ingalls Wilder's unforgettable saga of the settlers who traveled west to make a new life for themselves.

"As the Ingall's family settles in DeSmet, South Dakota, the independent teenager Laura and her sisters learn the joys and hardships of growing up under the big blue sky. When Laura leaves home to make the ultimate sacrifice for her family, she learns an invaluable life lesson: Giving is always more rewarding than receiving when it comes to love."

This production is the very sort of show we need for our city and our nation at this very moment in time. I found this show to be very pleasant, pleasing and especially compelling. As the familiar story unfolded, the story and the characters took me back to a simpler time in our country and a very different mindset. I was forced to remember the sturdy and obstinate folks who built our country. The settlers faced bad weather and brush fires that destroyed their crops. They endured brutal winters and somehow managed to survive until Spring. They overcame seemingly overwhelming obstacles. They built homes and lives in places where no town or farm or road existed until they arrived and built them. They were survivors and nation-builders and their story that this show told was nothing short of heroic. Even today, we can identify completely "... with these life affirming stories about the Ingalls' struggles and triumphs through the celebration  of the pioneering spirit and the core values on which this country was founded --- a spirit that still resonates within each of us today."

I would not call this production extraordinary musical theater, but I believe this was a very compelling show that held my attention until the curtain fell. I could talk about the production pluses and minuses of the show... the lighting, the sets, wonderfully talented cast and the musicality of the show. But that would beg the real reason that I found the show compelling. I found real hope in this retelling of the inspiring story of the Ingalls family.  Like the rest of you, I have had to struggle to keep an optimistic outlook after the events in the economy over the last 18 months. Even the most optimistic person knows that our lives will be challenging for some time to come. And yet, seeing this show only reinforced my belief that we can survive even this. For Laura Ingalls as for us, when we are confronted with seeming catastrophes, somehow life goes on in spite of everything.

When a show like Little House on the Prairie tells it's story, it casts a spell over us. For a moment, the Ingalls' story becomes our story. They experienced the worst and the best that life could throw at them. That happens to us too. They somehow struggled through and survived the worst. Maybe we can too.

For those of us who are small businessmen, the message of hope that this show delivers is what we need to be hearing here and now. It is a message of keeping the faith and holding onto our dreams and our aspirations. It is the message that no matter how bad things may get, giving up is not an option. It is the message that no matter what life throws at us, we each possess the focus, the creativity and the grit to succeed in our lives. We just have to dig deep enough into ourselves to find it and then to continue to believe in ourselves, no matter what happens to us.

Howard Fireman
Productivity Consultant/Accounting
howard.fireman46@gmail.com

Sticking to the Plan

When is the last time you looked at the business plan for your company? That is, if you actually bothered to write a business plan at all. The reality is that too many of the owners of small to medium sized businesses (SMB) never bothered to do so. Starting a business without a business plan is like planning a trip around the world and to never consult a map of any kind along the way.

So you might say, "So what is the big deal anyway if I didn't? I have done fine without one" Well, suppose that is true, then it is very probable you could have probably done significantly better in business if you had taken the time to write a Business Plan. You would have at least known where you wanted to be headed and along the way, you would have known if you were still going in the right direction.

The big deal is that if you want to succeed at trying to do anything, you have to have an idea of what you want to accomplish, what you are going to have to do, what you will need to succeed and a tentative timetable of what you can expect to have accomplished in 3 months, 6 months, 9 months from now.... well you get the picture. Long story short, you have to have a plan of attack and know what your tentative strategies are, if you hope to be successful. In business, we call that plan of attack a Business Plan.

A lot of work and a lot or forethought go into the writing of the Business Plan. But you will reap so many benefits from having put in the effort.

• You will have defined how you want to be perceived by the people who purchase your services or goods. [Branding]
• You will have clearly defined objectives as to what you want to accomplish vis-a-vis your vendors, your customers, your employees and your peers in the business community.
• You will have identified your competitors, and established why customers should buy goods and services from you rather than from them. 
• You will have carefully thought about the product you are going to offer, determined that your product is actually what your customers want and have figured out why what you are offering is definably more desirable than whatever else is being offered in the market place. 
• You will have worked out a business strategy to follow, which you will use as a benchmark against which to measure how closely you are sticking to the plan, and to determine if the strategy is actually working... or not. 
• You will have a predictive Profit and Loss Statement over three years into the future, against which you will compare your actual Profit and Loss figures over those three years. You will know if you underperforming, on target or performing beyond your estimated expectation. 
• As you write your Business Plan, you will be forced to actually go out into the business world to find out what is actually going on out there and to clearly see what you will have to deal with: in terms of the industry realities, competitors, customers wants and expectations, the economic environment and, looking inwardly, your own strengths and weaknesses.
• You will avoid being blindsided by events that could easily have been foreseen at the onset of the business.

Starting in business is no simple proposition. It seems like common sense that you should have to consider a lot of factors before you commit to going into business for yourself. The hard reality is that the odds of a small business being successful aren't all that great, at best. But without a Business Plan, the odds are increasingly stacked against a SMD.

If you have a Business Plan, take it out of the drawer, dust it off and use it to measure how well you have done so far. If you never took the time to write one, now is never too late. Having it will make your business operations a lot more understandable.

And if you have no idea about where to start, when it comes to writing a Business Plan, contact the great folks at SCORE, here in Houston. SCORE is an organization manned by retired businessmen, who were successful in their respective industries. They are volunteers and share their knowledge and experience, at no charge. The folks at SCORE will assist you  in creating a Business Plan for your company. You can find SCORE on the internet at: www.scorehouston.org.

Howard Fireman
Productivity Consultant/Accounting
howard.fireman46@gmail.com

Maximizing the Percentage of Billable Hours Weekly for Consultants

For consultants, time management ranks as one of the top ten priorities in running their businesses. They focus on how many billable hours they can accrue each week. How can consultants carry out marketing activities, handle general administrative tasks, do the necessary accounting for their practices and still manage to maximize the number of billable hours each week? Benjamin K Jackson, Ph.D, a Senior Engineer at Aptech Engineering Services, in Sunnyvale, California has developed a very effective analysis matrix to get a clear sense of how well he is currently utilizing his time and what he needs to do to effectively increase the percentage of time each week he devotes to billable time.

Dr. Jackson's job description involves both his duties as an engineer and his role in bringing in new clients each year for the company. He also must deal with his share of paperwork that goes with the job. So, like all of us who are consultants, he is juggling these competing demands on his time. Approaching this challenge from a very creative angle, he has developed his own strategy for maximizing billable hours, while at the same time handling the other action items on his agenda in a timely manner.

THE RULES OF THE GAME:

This strategy lays out a few rules one has to follow to achieve one's time management objectives:

• Work no more than 10 hours a day. After 10 hours on the job, we are no longer capable of effectively being productive that day.
• Utilize a time-management Excel Matrix to track how we actually use our time, breaking our consulting activities into four categories: (1) activities which produce billable hours, (2) marketing and promotional activities, (3) accounting activities, to track revenue generated and expenses associated with consulting activities and (4) other necessary administrative activities, which are treated as overhead expenses.
• Assign client numbers to each client. Also assign a project number for each of the projects you do for this client. Combine this information into a single code that includes both the client number and the job number:    xxxyy, where xxx = the client number and yy = the job number. Example 03201, where 032 = the client number for the XYZ Company and 01 = project 1 for that client. [A code like this one will enable us to create another analysis matrix to analyze which of our clients are productive for us to keep and which are going to be only marginal sources of revenue.]
• First, track our activities on a daily basis, establishing cumulative daily stats for the weekly tracking, with breakouts for each of the four major areas of activity. The analysis should establish what percentage of the time that day represented billable hours, overhead activities, marketing activities and accounting activities. 
• Next, to track our activities on a weekly basis, creating a separate report for each week. The analysis should establish what percentage of the time that week represented billable hours, overhead activities, marketing activities and accounting activities. 
• Be brutally honest in how we utilize time each week, so that the resulting analytical reports at the end of three months, will have validity and present a true picture of our time usage over that period. 
• Track time usage weekly, but delay making any substantial changes in the way we organize our schedule until at least one month, giving us enough time to gather enough data to recognize any trends in our time scheduling. 
• Make no overriding assumptions about how well we manage time until we have used this strategy for at least three months. After 3 months, we can run a valid analysis of our strengths and weaknesses in managing time. Then we are able to refine scheduling of action items and substantially raise the overall percentage of time we devote to billable hours. 
• Then, based on these analyses, set benchmark goals for realizing a certain consistent percentage level of billable hours weekly, for a fixed period into the future. 

The primary objective is to maximize the cash flow into the company, boosting the revenue the consulting practice produces each year. Additionally, a consultant can study the annual statistical data produced to determine if there will be predictable fluctuations in cash inflow during the year. Different specialties in consultancy will experience different patterns of fluctuation. Also, these analyses can also assess the percentage changes in any of these four activity areas, brought about by internal or external factors, such as reporting requirements by the government or changes in the economy or the business environment. 

I have built a programmed matrix template to track daily activity, based on Dr. Jackson's model. I have also built a second programmed matrix template to track activity on a weekly basis. The two templates are used in conjunction with one another. If you would like to have these templates uploaded to you, please contact me at: the email address listed at the end of this post . When requesting the templates, also request the instruction sheet for utilizing these two spreadsheets. 

A consultant needs to know what percentage of the time he or she is working is producing billable hours. The data the spreadsheets provide enable us to recognize the pattern of time usage over a prolonged period of time. With the derived data, a consultant can identify the problem(s) that are costing him/her valuable time. Then mid course corrections can be made and time which had been lost to action tasks that produce no revenue, can be redirected to generate increased income, instead. 

Many thanks to Dr. Benjamin Jackson for sharing his idea with us. 

Please contact me if you have any questions about this strategy for more effective the time-management function of our companies.

Howard Fireman, Productivity Consultant, E-mail:  howard.fireman46@gmail.com