Running your business doesn't have to be a struggle...

On the surface, Daniel was a successful attorney.  He had a wonderful family, nice car, lived in a beautiful house in a great neighborhood, he was very bright and outgoing.  But inside, Daniel was worn out and stressed.

Torn between his law practice and his family responsibilities, he worked ridiculously long hours, rarely took a vacation, and went through 3 different assistants in the last year.  His kids barely recognized him.  His clients were frustrated, because he wasn't finishing their work on time. He hadn't sent out an invoice in 3 months, and his cash flow stunk.  He felt as if he never had time to focus on his client's work, as he was always fielding phone calls and meeting with clients.  His wife barely spoke to him.

Daniel kept a list of what had to be done, but found that it often went out the window as soon as he walked into the office each day.  Instead of tackling his to do list, he got caught up in interruptions and accomplished little by the end of his very long days. 

This all came to a head last winter, when in an attempt to finish an irate client's work that was way overdue, he lost track of time and forgot that it was his wife's birthday.

When Daniel called me, he was at his wits end.  He knew that he had to do something, but didn't know where to start.

We talked about what wasn't working and analyzed why.  We worked on his schedule, and blocked out specific times to get client work done, uninterrupted.  We developed a solid job description for the type of assistant he really needed, then selected the right person and trained them.  We finally started using the time tracking program he had spent all that money on the year before, so invoicing was easy and got done each month.

Nine months later, Daniel is a changed man.  He's in control of his schedule.  He still works late, but comes home several times a week in time to eat dinner with his 6 year old twins.  He's hired a new assistant, his invoices are going out on time, and cash flow has improved substantially.  He has a new system for keeping track of his caseload, and now his assistant schedules appointments with clients only during certain hours, so that he has large blocks of time to complete client work.  He recently returned from his first a 2 week vacation in years, and was able to really relax.

There's still more to do, but Daniel has made great progress.

If running your business or professional practice has become a struggle, contact me to schedule a free Business Sanity consultation.

Susan Martin, Business Coach NYC.

Staying on track

Roberta is a landscape designer and owner of a small landscaping firm.  She has a nice roster of private clients and also sub-contracts for two local architects who keep her quite busy.

For the past two years, she's employed two full time and one part time designer and a landscaping crew to do the actual plantings and upkeep.  As well, she uses the services of masons and carpenters, electricians and plumbers to help you with the new installations.  She also keeps her hand in the actual designing, particularly when it comes to a select group of high profile clients she's been cultivating for years.

Although Roberta does have some staff, they were all creative or technical people.  She had never felt that investing in someone to help her on an administrative level could be justified, she could just do them herself.  As a result, things like paying bills, doing invoicing, returning calls, going over finances or even just keeping up with email and voicemail were overlooked.  A creative person at heart, she avoided doing the more practical things and this has led to trouble.

When Roberta first called last June, she was a bit overwhelmed and hadn't had a good night sleep in months. Ever since the beginning of the year she had been frantically busy with drawings and plans for 7 luxury residence clients.  She started construction on three of them as soon as the ground thawed.  With spring also came the start of her landscaping maintenance business and jumped into this without a chance to catch her breath.  And, both architects were hounding her to complete old projects and start others.

By the time she turned around, spring was over and Roberta realized that there was no money in the bank and lots of people to pay; since she had neglected to do any billing since February. Unfortunately, one of them was Uncle Sam, and he tends to get a little impatient, so there were some expensive penalties that had been incurred as well. 

To make matters worse, things had not been going smoothly with the installations.  A couple of jobs were backed up because she had failed to schedule a couple of sub-contractors, and a small project was completely overlooked, which lost Roberta a long time client.  When pressed for details, she admitted that they were completing projects ontime only about 1/3 of the time.

We talked about all of the things that needed to be done.  There was quite a long list of tasks that hadn't been attended to in many months, and it was apparent that there was no one and no time to do them until things got slow again next winter.

We looked at the list and thought about what she wanted and needed to spend her time on and started to develop a list of priorities.  Roberta was neither qualified nor interested in handling the bookkeeping, invoicing, or bill payment and hated spending time scheduling the myriad of tradespeople necessary to complete new installations.  To try to save money, she had been trying to keep up with it, but the time had finally come to officially fire herself from those positions.

The part time designer had a real knack for scheduling and details.  Roberta realized that it made sense to offer her a full time position, in which she would spend about 15 hours a week just managing work flow and scheduling, as well as checking Roberta's messages and making sure that calls and emails were returned.  Projects are now on schedule about 80% of the time, and improvements are still being made.  The goal for next season is 95% on time completion.  Both architects and several clients have commended her on the positive changes she has made.

She hired a freelance bookkeeper who now comes in twice a month to do the invoicing, pay the bills and keep the filing under control.

One of the hardest things for Roberta was to develop the discipline to take time to look at the big picture and make sure that all the areas of the business are being taken care of.  But as our work heads into it's 4th month, she is making real headway.

She knows her priorities, has improved her delegation skills, given up trying to do everything herself, increased focus and productivity and feels as though she is indeed staying on track.  Cash flow has improved and her bills are being paid on time, leaving Roberta more time to concentrate on the things she wants and needs to be doing.  For the first time since January, Roberta feels as if the stress she's been living under is lifting.

Is it time for you to get back on track?

-Susan Martin, Business Coach NYC

 

Cash flow, profitability and bookkeeping

Larry runs a marketing company in a suburb of Chicago.  He's had a lot of success over the past year, but you'd never know it from what was happening with his bank account.  It seemed that whenever he sat down to write payroll checks or pay vendors he always came up short and often couldn't afford to cash his own paycheck.

When Larry first called me, he had just bounced a couple of checks to key vendors, and was very concerned about cash flow.  He seemed anxious to get this problem solved as quickly as possible.

I asked him for a recent set of financials including a Profit and Loss Statement, and a copy of his General Ledger.  He said that this would be no problem, since he was keeping everything on quickbooks.

When I got the reports, nothing seemed to make sense.  When I dug a little deeper, it seemed that a lot of errors had been made.  Entries were categorized incorrectly, there were deposits missing and no one had reconciled the bank account in months.

Instead of using a bookkeeper, he'd asked his assistant to do the bookkeeping, who knows little about it.  Unfortunately, Larry attemps to save money backfired on him.

Luckily, the situation was salvageable.  With some effort, we were able to straighten things out.  When we did we were able to start analyzing his finances.

We looked at his sales, overhead, and cogs.  We found out that he was losing money and that he lacked enough working capital to do the amount of business he currently had in house.

From there, we created a budget and projections for the coming year.  We determined where to cut costs, and learned how much more in sales he needed to do to become profitable.

Once we did this, we could focus on getting there.  A year later, Larry's business is showing a profit and he's taking home more money every week.

When armed with the correct financial information, great things can happen.

How accurate are your financial records?

-Susan Martin, NYC Business Coach

Coaching your boss

As you may know I'm a big fan of Michael Hyatt, Pres. and CEO of Nelson Publishing and his blog "From Where I Sit".  His recent post entitled: "How To Coach Your Boss" really hits the nail on the head concerning relationships between employees and bosses.  It's not always or only the employee who needs coaching, and employees are often in the unique position of knowing when things aren't working and being able to facilitate change if they can get themselves to speak honestly and openly about it.

In a few well chosen points, Michael explains how to go about coaching your boss without bruising his ego:

"Much has been written on the topic of coaching employees. (One of my favorites is a book we published a few months ago by Daniel Harkavy. It is called Becoming a Coaching Leader: The Proven System for Building Your Own Team of Champions.) But very little has been written on the topic of coaching your boss.

The truth is that most employees see things that their boss says or does that are ineffective or inefficient. Sometimes, they see these things more clearly than anyone else. The boss could profit greatly from the insight of his or her subordinates—if only they could get honest feedback.

The problem is that most people are scared to correct their boss or offer advice. They are afraid they will be punished or, at the very least, given a cold shoulder. But that’s not always true. The best bosses welcome criticism, knowing that the shortest distance between where they are and where they want to go is the truth. They create a “safe environment,” where people can freely speak their mind..." read his entire post here.

Whether you're an employee with a boss who could benefit from some coaching, or a boss who's interested in getting some honest feedback this article can help you bridge the gap and start the conversation.

-Susan Martin, NYC Business Coach

The power of negative word of mouth

Thanks to Patrick J. Lamb for his post "Negative Word Of Mouth Is An Absolute Killer" which points us to an important customer service story on NPR this week.  Patrick writes:

"Great story on Monday's All Things Considered on NPR about the ramifications of poor customer service.  The key is that customers who have a negative experience are more likely to talk about it, and are likely to embellish it.  The story is based on a study by the Wharton School of Business.  The critical conclusion--those who hear negative word of mouth are not likely to buy the from the seller who is the subject of the critical story.  Go here to listen to the story--its worth the short time it takes."

It's a must listen for anyone concerned with keeping customers.

-Susan Martin, Business Sanity

The importance of time off

When Gerry came in for his session, he was exhausted and distraught.  He reported that he had accomplished next to nothing in the past week, having spent too much time putting out fires for a client who has been constantly screwing up.  This client insists upon making changes to their software program themselves, creating problems, which Gerry has to fix.

Gerry, a software engineer, is only contracted to work for this particular client two days a week, but had been drawn into crisis mode (yet again) and had spent most of his weekend dealing with the problems they created.

It's not the first time that Gerry has had to sacrificed a weekend for this client, in fact it happens more often than not.

He told me that he has recently been thinking about changing careers, that he's not happy doing this anymore.

He's been having trouble sleeping.  He's been fighting with his wife because he's never home for dinner and doesn't see the kids before they go to sleep.  He's missed the last two soccer games his twins were in. He hasn't paid his bills yet this month and it's almost over. He was late for his Mom's 85th birthday party...

We spoke about the things he doesn't like about his work, and this led to a conversation about his personal life...it seems he hasn't been taking any time for himself, and it's starting to impact the way he feels about himself, his life and his work.

When I dug a little deeper, I found out that even when Gerry has a weekend off, he rarely spends any time chilling out.  Instead, he runs around, catching up on all the things he'd been neglecting and is running himself so ragged, that he returns to work feeling totally worn out.  A sure prescription for burn-out.

Although he's voiced these concerns before, I got a sense that this time Gerry had hit a wall, he realized that things would not get better unless he took action.  Sorry that this had to happen, but glad it's finally motivated him to take action.

By the time we finished talking, Gerry had come up with a plan. 

1. He would no longer work on his days off.
2. He would come home "early" at least twice a week.
3. He would spend one day of his weekend doing personal errands and chores.
4. He would spend quality time with his family.
5. He would set aside a nice chunck of his weekend just to chill out.

Update:

Since our last session, Gerry had a heart to heart with his client.  He explained that he is no longer available on the weekends, and got the client to agree not to let her staff make any changes to the program themselves. 

Wednesday, he left the office promptly at 5. He made it home in time for dinner with the kids, and spent an hour or so paying bills.

He didn't work this weekend.  Saturday, he went for a run, did a little yard work, brought the kids to a game, and took his wife out to dinner.  Sunday, he slept late and spent the rest of the afternoon laying in the hammock, watching the twins play.  Although his weekend was busy, his attitude was drastically improved and he felt refreshed, energized and motivated to face work on Monday morning.

When will you schedule some time to chill out?

-Susan Martin, work life balance champion.

Even more on hiring well...

I've written quite a bit about hiring, and was interested to see a post by Olivier Blanchard on the Brand Builder Blog entitled "Be Great or Go Home" where he rants a bit about his ex-doctor (and others) who don't do the right job and aren't thorough enough.  The crux of this post as it pertains to hiring is summed up below, food for thought, whether you're hiring an employee, consultant, customer service people or anyone else:

"...So my advice today is this: When hiring a lawyer, doctor, project manager, salesperson or marketing exec., make sure to ask them about their process. Throw hypotheticals at them. Ask them how they start a project. Ask them how they set goals. Ask them how they manage their time. Ask them how they respond to unexpected problems.

Find out if they have the work ethic to be thorough... or if they don't.

Find out upfront rather than... later."

Read the entire post here.

-Susan Martin, nyc management coach

Who's minding the store?

Mark runs a small graphic design studio.  He's the art director, and has two full time and one part time designers on staff.  Mark's day to day tasks mostly revolve around supervising the designers, doing presentations, trouble shooting, dealing with printers and making sure projects are done on time.

His busy schedule over the last couple of months hasn't left much time for dealing with much else.

Because of this, a lot of things have been pushed to the side.  He hasn't kept up with his books, so he's behind in his invoicing and hasn't paid his bills recently.  He's neglected to get back to several potential clients who have called, and frankly, he's forgotten who they are or where he put their numbers. 

He hasn 't done any marketing in quite a while, and Mark had a bad feeling that once he's finished with the current jobs in house, that he'll be hitting a dry spell...

A rush job had to be delivered to one of his best clients the next day.  Mark couldn't understand why it had been stuck at the printers for such a long time.  He called the printer, and found out that his job had been pushed to the side in favor of a customer who "pays their bills on time".  Mark was out of time, and even though he offered to send over the check right away, the printer couldn't guarantee that the job could go on press for a day or so...

Mark was stressing out about this when the phone rang.  It was an old client who'd requested a quote 3 weeks ago.  Although he had given Mark all the details, Mark had no idea of what he did with them, and the conversation ended with the customer threatening to go elsewhere.

As he searched through the papers on his desk trying to find the info. for the quote, he came across two things.  One was a notice from the IRS that he had completely forgotten about.  His tardiness on this matter had already cost him about $1000 in interest and penalties, and now it was probably even more.  The other was an envelope of packing slips for some jobs that had gone out last month which he hadn't gotten around to invoicing. 

The last straw occured Friday, when he started to write out the paychecks and realized that he didn't have enough in the account to cover payroll.  (if he had only done his invoicing...)

Who's minding your store?

-Susan Martin, Business Sanity Coach

What Will Mortgage Companies Think of Next?

I've got a bone to pick with the mortgage industry.  Not all companies engage in these type of practices, but enough do to leave a bad  taste in my mouth.  The reason is that I'm getting sick of hearing some of the less than reputable ways that they are earning their money.  We've seen interest only mortgages given to people who will never be able to pay the balloons, home equity loans that are providing capital for people to live way beyond their means, and now the "vacation mortgage".

This new type of scam promises to give people a free vacation from paying their mortgage, of course that's far from the truth here's a recent post by on Rain City Guide, by Jillayne Schlicke:

"I just heard a KIRO 710 AM radio ad from a mortgage company promoting their new product, a “vacation” mortgage.  “Do you need a vacation from your mortgage? That’s right we give you a 12 month vacation from making your mortgage payments! Imagine what you can do with the money you’ll save: pay off credit card debts, start a new business, or take a vacation.”  !!!!!!!??

I could only hear a few of the words at the end of the radio ad because there’s background music running alongside it. You know what I’m talking about: “prepaymentpenaltyapplies” or whatever the required disclaimer is on this loan type.

So I decided to call the company. “It’s a great day at X mortgage! How may I help you?”  I was transferred to a loan officer who first wanted my full name. I gave him only my first name and explained that I wanted to know more about this mortgage before I gave him my full name.  He said that before he could tell me about the vacation mortgage, he would first need to see if I qualify for it.

I insisted that no, I did not want to be pre-qualified for a mortgage, I just wanted more information about the vacation mortgage since there’s nothing on his company’s website that explains what a vacation mortgage is all about.

So I tried to guess at it. “You mean I don’t have to pay my mortgage payment for a year?” He said, “Actually we give you a credit.”  I tried again: “So if my payment is $2100 per month, you give me a $25,200. credit?”  “Well,” he said, “that depends. First I would need to prequalify you.”

AAAAAAA!  It’s not a credit if the homeowner still has to pay it back. They must have meant, the $25,200 is taken out of the equity on your home, your mortgage is paid 12 months in advance and that amount is added to the loan balance, then you repay it amortized over the life of the loan.

This just seems more like a bait and switch type of loan. But then, it wouldn’t be a great day at X mortgage company.

Rhonda, can you help me understand what these loan products are about? I don’t need a loan quote. Instead, I’d like to know if these loans carry higher rates and fees, if they come with a hard or soft prepayment penalty, and if the lender is taking the $25,200 from the homeowner’s equity up front.  Even so, I will bet that there’s a minimum credit score required as well as some equity such as 80% loan-to-value. I mean, if a homeowner wants to take equity out, why not do a straight cash-out refi, and set the money aside for a year and make regular, automatic deduction payments.

When will the mortgage and banking industry start taking the bull by the horns and outlaw these kinds of practices?

-Susan Martin, NYC Real Estate Coach and mortgage conservative.

Is It Selfish To Have Only One Child?

There's an interesting dialogue going on over at the WSJ "Juggle" blog about the whole question of having more than one child.  Another emotionally charged issue judging from the comments this post has received...Sara Schaefer Muñoz writes:

“So, when’s the next one coming?” Many first-time parents have, at one time or another, heard this question from family, colleagues — even virtual strangers.

It doesn’t seem to matter if the first child is five months old or five years. The prevailing assumption — at least in my experience — seems to be that no one would have only one child by choice. There’s a lot of talk of giving the “gift” of a sibling to your child, as well as concerns — founded or not — that only children are lonely or even self-centered. One poster wrote that some people get very upset when you say you might stop at one, saying things like, “you can’t do that” or “it’s mean to the child.”

But could it be that only one is easier on working parents? Writes one Juggle reader: “I don’t think one child had a huge impact on our finances. The impact of a SECOND child, however, is keeping us from having [another] one right now.” Indeed, siblings mean the doubling or tripling of childcare costs, more pediatrician appointments, higher-priced family vacations — not to mention more college costs.

Some say that having more than one can also take a professional toll on moms. Linda Hirshman, author of the controversial book “Get to Work,” asserts that a second child increases the pressure on women to leave the workforce.

The number of children parents have can’t always be planned. But it seems from reader comments that many parents do feel a larger family is worth the trade-offs. Is this true? Or have any readers out there decided it was best to stop at one?

Postscript: After this post went up, a reader reminded us that Terri Cullen wrote a column on this issue last year. Here’s the story."

The comments range from people who think we have to maintain a certain level of population growth (?) to those who feel it's really unfair to have an only child, others feel that they should make their decision based upon time, money and other external factors.

I think it's very much a personal decision.  Since I was 42 when my daughter was born, it was almost a no brainer, between exhaustion and worries about Downs Syndrome and other medical issues there was no way we were ready to do this again at our age.  And yes, there are times when I thought it would be nice to have another, but my kid is happy, we're happy and she gets lots of time with us and also with friends and teammates.

What's your take on this?

-Susan Martin, work life balance coach and happy parent of only child.