Category: Accounting

Fun Fast-paced Accounting Firm Seeking Cat Herder

~ C.O.R.E. Beliefs ~ Leave a comment

About us: 8 amazing accounting professionals in an awesome downtown Vancouver , WA office.  Not quite Parks and Recreation but not as bad as the Apprentice.  Not even close.  The front desk has a great view of Smith Tower and the Broadway Building – and a glimpse of the I-5 bridge if you lean over far enough.

About the position: We need someone who can successfully herd cats and handle the massive confusion of a busy accounting practice front desk.  Working closely with the office manager, our herder extraordinaire will be able to easily handle a dozen simultaneous phone calls, 8 walk-in clients, 2 accountant’s wondering where documents are and a printer that has been known to eat small children.

In the remaining 30 minutes of your day, you will help keep the office manager sane by accurately keeping track of every odd-ball document and work product that comes and goes.  Since everything gets scanned and loaded into a document management system, we do expect our cat herder to know more about computers and office equipment than how to push the power button.

Oh and it is slightly stressful between January 15 and April 15.  So… if your doctor suggested giving up skydiving this probably isn’t a good fit for you.

Sense of humor optional but highly recommended.  Mind readers strongly encouraged to apply.  But then, you already knew that, didn’t you?

About you: You are a people person who can project sympathy for a wealthy person who owes tax and yet be totally ruthless when it comes to the excuses why they can’t pay their bill.  You appreciate hard work but have a strong emotional attachment to laziness.  You often day-dream about the ultimate prank to play on coworkers but are realistic enough to realize that a water balloon filled with sour milk going off in a desk drawer will create a little too much mess… and you will likely have to clean it up.  Please be the type who doesn’t lose the car keys more than twice a week or your car more than once a month.

Our ideal cat herder will have between zero and gazillion years of experience.  This position can be part-time (this works very well if you have a twin) or full-time.  Whether this is your first position or the last one you ever want, it can be a great place to work.  I know, I work here.

If the place, position and description interest you, please email a brief story about what you can bring to our little troupe of wizards.  Or, if you wish, you can email a boring resume and cover letter.  Please, not too boring.

If you prefer, you can reply to our traditional ad here.  http://portland.craigslist.org/clk/ofc/5804704747.html

Sorry, there are no bonus points for applying in both places.

We are really looking forward to your response.

Pricing

~ C.O.R.E. Beliefs ~ Leave a comment

Happy Tuesday.  On Sunday, we had brunch with some good friends Jordan and Whitney at Tommy O’s in downtown Vancouver.  Kubae and I split a delicious Kahlua Pork Quesadilla and had a great time with conversation about firing ranges and civil liberties.  We then spent the rest of the day driving around contemplating if it is time to move to another spot as we are fast approaching our 2 years in downtown.  How time flies when you are having a great time.

One of the things I think that worry small business owners is what price to charge.  And since most small business owners start their small business after leaving their employer, they typically follow the model they were taught there.  This works, but I think there may be a better way.

When I was working with VSource in the startup of Argentstratus, I decided to approach the pricing model differently.  Instead of first saying, “here is our price”, I suggested the sales team start by asking what the prospective buyers budget was for things like

  • Server replacement
  • Desktop PC replacement
  • Software updates
  • System security
  • Downtime for server maintenance
  • etc

The typical response was a blank – deer-in-the-headlights- stare because most small business owners don’t stop to think about those things.  Depending on their answer though, the sales team could help create a frame of reference for the costs of doing everything in-house versus outsourcing their entire IT.

This had two benefits: First we avoided having the investment discussion too soon and second we ensured that the prospective buyer understood what they were really purchasing.  In essence, we established the value of the offer and then provided a price which was dramatically lower than that value.

To be clear, there is no such thing as the right price.  What the small business faces are buyers with absolute maximum and minimums to their pricing decision.  Many start-ups are willing to pay legal counsel several thousands of dollars: Some will not pay a dime.  Established businesses are willing to pay a million dollars to buy out a competitor but won’t spend $100,000 on an advertising campaign.  Each party perceives the value differently but I honestly believe the main point of differentiation is how the investment is packaged to the buyer.

By the way, I intentionally use the word investment over “Price” or “Cost”.  For most of us, especially in the service industries, we are often considered a “Cost of Doing Business” – an expense.  I go out of my way to explain that using my services is an investment.  By paying my firm you get access to some of the best business, tax and accounting minds in the area.  By deliberately removing loaded words we can continue the conversation in ways that benefit all parties.  If I say your tax return is going to cost  you $1,800 you will try to shop me.  If I say that your investment in assistance in running, managing and reporting on your business is $1,800 and I will throw in a tax return for free… you see my point.

So some guidelines I have learned along the way when it comes to pricing.  Where I can remember the source I will give credit and if I do not actually remember the source I apologize in advance and if you can send me a message with the actual source I will update this post for that information.

  • Do not charge by the hours worked, but by the years it took to get you to this point. Harry Beckwith
  • Price high and offer amenities – it is easier to remove add-ons than raise prices
  • It is always easier to offer discounts than to raise prices
  • Determine what your customer can pay and then figure out if you can service the client profitably.
  • Offer tiers of service (Bronze, Silver, Gold or the like) with very clear differences between them so you can cater to a larger audience
  • Ask the prospective buyer their budget and try to hit it.  Jeffrey Gitomer
  • People hate to be sold but they love to buy.  Help them buy.  Jeffrey Gitomer
  • Your number one competitor is apathy, price accordingly.
  • Your costs are not your customers problem.

What these guidelines suggest is to be open and creative when it comes to pricing your solution.  You are offering a solution to someone’s problem so don’t be afraid to be creative about what they pay for their investment.  As a general rule, if you are looking for new or more business opportunities, look at how your competition is pricing and then do something different.  Make your pricing easy to understand and consistent for a set of prospective buyers.  Test your price and if you are getting 100% of prospects saying yes, realize your price may be too low.  If you are getting 100% saying no, your price is too high.

Somewhere in between is that sweet spot for that group.  You can find it.  If you are interested in thinking about ways to create new pricing models, try talking with your current accounting professional about ways to make your solution and pricing more effective.  If you are looking for a new accounting professional or would like a second opinion, feel free to contact me for a free no obligation consultation.

Have a great day and enjoy the challenge of charting a new course on pricing your solution.

Thoughts on Marketing

~ C.O.R.E. Beliefs ~ Leave a comment

Happy Wednesday.  You know, I am typically not much for working out in the evening – I prefer reading and drinking wine – but it does help me sleep much better.  Still a little sore from last night’s routine, but I slept like a rock!

Kubae and I were talking this morning about a restaurant that started and died a few blocks away.  It lasted about 2 months before the doors were closed.  she wondered what they might have been thinking and what lessons we could learn from this.

I think there are several important lessons for anyone starting a business in this story.

First, the old adage, “If you build it, they will come” is no longer valid.  I am not certain there ever was a time you could open business and customers would flock to your doors, but it definitely won’t work today.  Today, your potential customers have a huge array of choices so a small business owner must find a way to get to “top of mind”.  This means marketing.

Second, as I discussed in a prior post, the saying, “Location, location, location” is extremely important for certain types of small businesses, especially restaurants.  In this instance, this restaurant might have had the best Chinese cuisine in the Pacific Northwest.  It wouldn’t matter as it was sandwiched between two other restaurants and on a side street.

Third, whatever you think is the bare minimum you can spend to get the word out, triple it.  That’s right, plan on spending 3 times as much on marketing than you originally anticipated.  Your potential customers are bombarded with thousands of choices a day and your small business competes with those other messages.  Whether you choose to spend money or time, a conservative approach is to plan for more messaging.  A lot more.

Fourth, when in doubt, spend more on marketing.  A good friend of mine, Mike Leitch of VSource Systems, used to joke that the biggest problem he would like to see is having more work than he has time to do it.  With a growing business you can hire to handle the extra work; but if your business never gets going, you will be hard pressed to pay yourself.

Fifth, change your marketing channels.  The first thing you need to do is ask yourself how anyone is going to find out about you.  If you are a restaurant, you need to find out how to get listed on Yelp and Google Maps and any of the other dozen websites that cater to restaurant reviews.  If you are an accounting business you will need to find out how your potential customers look for new accountants.  And then, ask yourself, what other ways can I get the word out.  Experiment with channels, track their effectiveness and if after a few months it isn’t working, discard it for now and try something else.

Starting a business is risky.  If you are ready to take the plunge, then I strongly suggest you create a marketing plan to help you build excitement about your Company.  And if you are looking to expand your business, I strongly suggest you create a marketing plan to help you build excitement about your Company.  Getting more potential customers than you have time to work on is a great problem to have.

If starting a business is in your future, I encourage you to reach out to your accounting professional and create a business plan and budget to help you get through the first 3 years.  If you are looking for an accountant who can help you plan your startup or would like another opinion, feel free to contact me for  your free no obligation consultation and lets see what we can do to help make your dream come true.

Have an awesome Wednesday.

 

Budgeting

~ C.O.R.E. Beliefs ~ Leave a comment

Happy Thursday and Mid Year!  It is almost the 4th of July weekend and we are so excited the boys are coming tomorrow to play Xbox and enjoy our homemade individual pizzas.  It is always a great time.

Kubae and I went shopping last night.  This in and of itself is nothing extraordinary, but it is the first time we went shopping based upon a budget.  Why a budget you ask?  It seems she reads my blog and felt that we should plan for the things we want.

Since we are like almost everyone else in the world (especially like most small businesses) we have limited resources – meaning that we cannot have everything we want.  So we sat down over the weekend and did some strategic planning.  She wants to take a trip out of the country next year.  This was our primary goal.

Now, the fun part became, how do we get there from here?  This is where budgeting comes in.  A budget is the plan to get from where you are to where you want to be.

First thing you have to do is have a good idea of where you are.  So, I downloaded 3 years of bank information, dumped it into Excel and started categorizing.  I actually use 4 overhead categories for our personal finances, similar to what I use for small business – Facility, Food, Entertainment and General.  After 3 hours, I had a good idea of how we spent money.  From here I crafted a few alternative budgets for our upcoming discussion.

Tuesday night we had our “Board Meeting” to review our expenditures and our plan.  It was very enlightening and Kubae immediately dug into the details.  Part of the historical review is that it really puts somethings in perspective, such as $500 a month on eating out.  Having the history made it much easier for us to ask questions like:

  • Why do we spend money on this category?
  • Is there an alternative?
  • Do we impact our quality of life if we redirect the funds to another purpose?
  • How does this spending get us to our goal?

Based on this conversation, we were able to move into the various budget proposals.  We reviewed each category, moved money from one area to another and made a commitment to the plan.  Which led us to last nights shopping trip.

We spent a few minutes creating the list and a rough idea of what we would spend.  We allotted ourselves $60 for last night’s shopping.  We completed the list and added a few things we had forgotten and the total came to $68.  Victory!

I know, you are thinking, but you exceeded your budget so how is this a victory?  The answer is, we typically would walk out with over $130 of food and goodies.  We were able to cut our typical shopping experience in half.  Besides, the $60 was a guess and a pretty accurate one if I say so myself.  This was, after all, our first shopping trip in a month’s worth of shopping.  I will let you know how well we did for July at our next “Budget Review Meeting” the first of August.

Budgeting is part of your planning.  If you want to grow your small business, then you need a goal which requires a plan to reach it.  Budgeting is your financial commitment to your plan.  so ask yourself where you want your small business to go and then plan how you are going to get there.

If you need help with budgeting and reviewing your past inflows and outflows, talk with your accounting professional and ask his help in understanding what is happening.  If you do not have an accounting professional or are looking for a new alternative, feel free to contact me to set up a free no obligation consultation.  I am here to help your small business meet your goals and dreams.

Have a great Thursday.