As part of our ongoing “digging deeper” case studies, this one applies to many businesses and especially small businesses that are sole proprietorships or LLC’s.
Recently one of our small business clients with a Limited Liability Company and a sole proprietorship was struggling with the increasing costs of their phone bills. They had a landline, cell phones, DSL internet and over the past few years the monthly bill was well over $270.
So, there was this business owner sitting at my desk at the edge of desperation seeking another loan. No working capital, little equity and lots of debt. It was a nightmare. The person left with little hope as I pledged to re-crunch the numbers. Unfortunately, the numbers never came together.
That same day, another business owner came to my desk and we spoke for a few minutes. After a short call to credit administration, the customer left with a commitment for a $1 million signature (unsecured) loan at a rock-bottom interest rate.
In our last couple of posts we have talked about “to do lists” and “short term goals”.
We have briefly discussed how “to do lists” in many cases link or connect to “short term goals.”
To do lists are generally daily or perhaps weekly. Short term goals could be weekly, monthly or perhaps quarterly.
Long term goals are set for an extended period of time, most likely 6 months or more into the future. You can establish long term goals for 6 month increments or set goals for each year and perferrably link the direction of all goals to the very long term of 3, 5 or 10 years.
In our last posting we spoke of “To Do Lists”. To do lists help focus on daily or several days of must do items. To do lists can be effective in getting things done.
At the end of each day your to do list should be reviewed to see what tasks or items were started, advanced to completion or not even touched. Once you have reviewed your progress compare your actions to your short term goals for the week, month or the quarter.
When I was young my friends and I would use a magnifying glass to catch the sunlight to start camp fires. We would prepare a bed of grass with small wood chips on top, and then would use the magnifying glass to focus sunlight onto it. Within a short period of time the intense light would start the grass smoldering, and with continued effort the grass would catch fire.
In our daily tasks we have much to do in our business. One way to help catch things “on fire” is to increase our focus on the tasks at hand. We each have 24 hours in a given day. How we use it is determined by our situation and desires.
