Tag Archive for "Strategy"
In a previous post I discussed how seeking out a mentor can help a business owner gain more depth of experience without incurring a lot of cost. In this post I discuss another option: using an advisory board also known as a non-legal board of directors.
The benefits of using an advisory board are numerous and include:
- Providing additional business experience, skills and functional expertise that maybe missing within your company.
- Strategic thinking about how to position the business.
- Providing access to new contacts and resources.
- Increasing credibility to the outside. This is particularly useful to a start-up.
- Creating greater accountability of senior management.
- Providing an outside perspective about what is working and not working inside the company.
Starting an advisory board will work best where the business owner is completely open with sharing company information. Any limiting of access to financial and other key information handicaps the advisors and dilutes the benefit to you the business owner. There are times when you might bring a group of advisors together to discuss a specific area. In this case financial information may not need to be disclosed.
Here are the questions I suggest you answer before starting: Continue Reading “Using an Advisory Board to Grow Your Business” »
If you are a business owner unaccustomed to reviewing financial and operating information on a monthly basis 2009 would be the year to start. This is simpler and far less painful than you think. You just need to know what to look at and look for.
Monthly financial statements are a necessity. You need them to obtain financing, keep your advisors and board happy and provide you with certain financial & operating data points (or key performance indicators (KPIs)). So it’s important someone in your company perform the daily functions to keep the books in order.
Not every number is meaningful…the key is to figure out which numbers you need to review and have them reported to you on a regular basis. Think of the questions you repeatedly ask your bookkeeper…the answers will become the numbers, financial and operating, you will need to see regularly.
Examples of financial & operating data points or KPIs are:
• Billable hours which all professional service firms track. These can then be converted into anticipated revenue.
• Units produced & shipped which a manufacturer tracks.
• Average daily sales, possibly by location, and average sales by customer are of interest to a retailer.
• Cash on hand (i.e. the book balance not the bank balance)
• Average number of days to collect accounts receivable.
Here are a few practices you can easily adopt: Continue Reading “Five Tips for Developing Financial Intelligence” »
If you run a lean organization there are times you need advice…one option to consider is finding a mentor.
Finding Mentors
Kelly Spor in a Wall Street Journal article Web Sites Offer Access to Mentors discusses finding a mentor using on-line mentoring using sites like MicroMentor and iMantri.com. She goes on to discuss the pros and cons of a relationship that is completely on-line. The biggest pro I can see is the ability to mentor and be mentored on your own schedule and not have to coordinate unless the discussion is to be live. The downside is by not meeting the person you don’t have the benefit of reading body language. Body language when you are a languishing start-up can be important.
Depending on where you live, one of the following organizations could help you meet experienced people who could serve as a mentor off or on-line:
- SCORE
- Women’s Business Development Center (the Center for Women & Enterprise in Boston)
- Small Business Development Center, usually at a local college or university
- Colleges or Universities offering entrepreneurship programs
- Chambers of Commerce
- Relevant trade associations
Building the Relationship Continue Reading “Building Bench Strength through a Mentor” »
