You have to know accounting. It’s the language of practical business life. It was a very useful thing to deliver to civilization. I’ve heard it came to civilization through Venice which of course was once the great commercial power in the Mediterranean. However, double entry bookkeeping was a hell of an invention. — Charlie Munger
Nearly everyone would agree that accountability is important to successful business management. How many have identified it as a critical component to growth? Virtually every one of our small business owner clients encounters it as a common symptom while they are trying to go from a micro business to a small business, or from small to medium.
Read a solid article from Tim Berry, President of Palo Alto Software (makers of Business Plan Pro) about accountability. A recent client is struggling with accountability as they grow from a 30-something person firm. So Tim’s graphic, “The Accountability Dip” is helpful to show them they’re right on track to be running into the logjams they’re finding.
We’re working currently with a client to build a business plan (which they haven’t had during their 50-year history…not uncommon) and in so doing, introduce accountability – by the way, it was the #1 word their top level managers used to identify the main thing preventing them from growth! It can be the elephant in the room, and it needs to be addressed.
Social media -- those invitations to be a friend on Facebook, to connect via LInkedIn, Tweets on Twitter -- all those and many, many more comprise this new area of marketing communications. We are planning a workshop on this in Atlanta for next month geared to Small Business Owners, and including marketing strategies all the way through to blogging. Stay tuned for more info!
Meanwhile, here are two YouTube videos to view especially if you’re still sorting things out. One is about Web 2.0, the one after that is also about this new Web world and is a beautifully creative piece to boot!
Whatever you do, DON’T MISS this one! Takes less than 5 minutes.
If you’re a small business owner, chances are this headline resonates. The author of this NYTimes article quantifies the sense that many of us have had about the stimuli under discussion: “only 0.05 percent of the House bill is dedicated to small-business lending programs, and the Senate version is only slightly better.”
Yikes.
Our (C-Suite Advisors) clients most certainly exemplify the engine small businesses are to the economy. They are hiring people, and spending to develop their business and be ready to take advantage of opportunities that are the other side of this recession. But are they getting the same kind of help as Wall Street, Detroit, and Washington? Not on your life. They are working smarter and staying hopeful to be sure.
Now may be the time to write your Congressional representatives!
