January 28, 2009
What are the Boundaries for a Successful Competitor?
My good friend and attorney colleague, Steven A. O'Rourke http://www.calcorplaw.com is a very sharp corporate and business lawyer. He is a guy that other attorneys go to when they want to debate the law. But he is also a guy that entrepreneurs and business owners should go to when they are concerned that they are thorough and accurate because Steve strives to be both. We often kick around concepts that affect the entrepreneurial community and below, I want to share one piece of work that Steve produced as a result of a recent conversation that we had.
Beginning of Contributor Comments:
Business leaders have a passion to compete and win. How-to books tell them, "Make it happen". But, like a roughing-the-passer penalty, there are limits. Last week, C. S. Chung pled guilty and got a 7-month stretch at Club Fed. Chung had been V.P. of Monitor Sales (including flat-screen TVs) for LG. Last month, LG company agreed to pay a $400 million criminal fine. The next day, Sharp Corp. pled guilty (a $120 million criminal fine) to fixing prices of display panels sold to Dell, Apple and Motorola. Another company and 3 other execs were also nailed. And the Justice Department says there's more to come.
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business advisorFiled under Business Financing, Business Growth, Meet My Friend, Private Equity by Joel Block
January 27, 2009
What are the Red Flags that Point to Troubled Accounts Receivables?
This article is the second in a series by my colleague and friend Eric Shaw of http://www.nycreditinc.com Eric is one of the top credit analysts in the market. I regularly go to Eric to help me analyze client issues and for assistance in making a variety of business decisions. Not to mention, Eric is a rock star when it comes to networking. He has a lot to offer and I would like to bring it to my readers over the next several weeks:
Beginning of Contributor Notes:
The accounts receivable portfolio of a business is no different than a stock portfolio in the view of credit expert Eric Shaw. Both have specific values, and it's important to keep track of where the individual components are headed.
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money businessJanuary 26, 2009
Are Business Decisions Our Most Important Responsibility?
Like all of us, I spend a lot of time in my own little bubble, thinking about my own little world, worried about my own little problems. Unfortunately, we don't always step outside of our bubbles to consider really serious problems that other people have and are dealing with. This week, I did the compulsory one-day stint as a juror in my county in California. It is my observation that most of us don't take that annual responsibility very seriously.
People show up for their one-day mandatory service and if ordered to a courtroom, they tell the judge anything that they have to in order to get excused from the responsibility of serving on a jury as a juror in a trial. For most of us, we don't want to be assigned to a jury if it would take any time longer than the one day that has been assigned.
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businessFiled under Business Growth, Growth Minute, Strategic Networking by Joel Block
January 22, 2009
Do We Need Business Advice on being More 'Eco'nomical?
Brilliant lighting architect, savvy deal maker and environmentally conscious citizen, my client and friend, Gerald Olesker, President of the Architectural Detail Group (http://www.architecturaldetailgroup.com) and I regularly talk about how we can work with companies to be more environmentally aware - and we look for ways to monetize green opportunities. Below is some business advice that Gerald recently shared with me.
Beginning of Contributor Notes:
On January 20th 2009, Barack Obama became President of these United States. He has given us a charge to once again continue to be the most prosperous Nation on Earth, and in his inaugural address, he directed the American People to "pick ourselves up and dust ourselves off to remake America".
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businessFiled under Business Growth, Eco Friendly, Guru Marketing, Meet My Friend, Strategic Networking by Joel Block
January 21, 2009
Why Won't You Just Give Me the Money?
I spent a couple hours this week with a group of filmmakers, all of whom are looking for funds to finance their current projects. Several of them have been looking for capital for quite some time now, and it's beginning to take its toll. They're frustrated. They're weary. And, most of all, several of them are just plain angry.
They make their pitches with great enthusiasm. They have projects. They have talent. They have attachments. And they may even have some credits to their name. But, what they don't have is the capital to move their projects forward.
I commented to the room that if they really want to get capital, that they're speaking the wrong language. In order to get capital from a room full of financial people, they have to address the two primary questions that financial people have. Financial people want to know:
January 20, 2009
What is the Key to Collecting Business Revenue?
My colleague and friend Eric Shaw of http://www.nycreditinc.com is one of the top credit analysts in the market. I regularly go to Eric to help me analyze client issues and for assistance in making a variety of business decisions. Not to mention, Eric is a rock star when it comes to networking. He has a lot to offer and I would like to bring it to my readers over the next few months:
Beginning of Contributor Notes:
Eric Shaw has a motto: If you give good credit, collections will follow. Shaw, president of New York Credit Inc. in Marina del Rey, California helps big and small businesses manage their credit and collections problems. In addition to helping banks liquidate troubled companies, Shaw and his 16 employees pay weekly visits to clients to act as their in-house collections department.
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business advisorFiled under Business Growth by Joel Block
One of the best questions that people ask me came to me again this morning from someone who is connected to me on LinkedIn. This person is starting a business and is looking for financing, and in the course of looking under every rock, this woman noticed a source that most entrepreneurs eventually think is the perfect place to get their money.
How reasonable is it to get your vendors, suppliers, and service providers to be the financiers of your business? It's an obvious place to look for money because instead of paying them out, why not use the stock in your new business to pay for the services that they've rendered. It would be as if you raised a lot of money, paid them in cash, and then they gave you the money back that you have paid them to buy the shares with. Instead, you're just cutting out the cash part, swapping shares for the services that they rendered. Very smooth.
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Filed under Business Financing, Raising Capital by Joel Block
January 16, 2009
Do You Want To See My Company's Business Plan?
I advocate for every business to have a business plan, complete with goals, plans and measurable outcomes. Every December, I work on the plan for our company and then I distribute it to each of our division leaders and managers.
In the spirit of motivating you to create a great plan for your company, I would like to share the first chapter of our company's plan with you. The subsequent 10 chapters are detailed plans for each division, but the opening chapter sets the tone for all of the work that follows. That material is for the private use of our company only and it is not being shared here or anywhere.
We refer to this material frequently. We debrief and make changes as necessary. Our business plan is a living document that we work with on a constant basis. Please feel free to borrow from ours if it helps you to get on the right track toward building a highly spirited document for your company.
Chapter 1: Business Overview
The Purpose of this Document:
Filed under Business Growth by Joel Block
The remaining 5 critical errors listed below are the ones that take all of the profit from the promoters who syndicate real estate. If you get involved in a real estate syndication project, watch out for the following:
6. All of the investor returns come at the end: Investors are thinking about the opportunity cost of their funds. This means that they would like to meet appreciation at the end, certainly, but they would also like to know that some amount of return is being allotted to them on a cash flow and short-term basis.
7. The syndicator does not have enough control over the transaction: If the syndicator gives up responsibility for some of the critical functions such as management, maintenance, accounting and/or bookkeeping, they may find themselves in a position where they are at a disadvantage as far as taking care of the investment.
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Filed under Guru Marketing by Joel Block
The following are significant errors that promoters who syndicate real estate make which cause them to fail in the running of their business. Be certain that if you get involved in a real estate syndication project that you watch out for the following:
1. The property selected does not have enough upside potential: The issue is that in order for the syndicator to benefit from a property, in which he shares revenue with the investor, the proper potential must be very great or there won't be room for the syndicator to participate.
2. Tax structures are ineffective: Ever since the Tax Reform Act of 1986, real estate syndication has been much less about tax and much more about economic gain. But there are still opportunities for tax preference and treatment that must be attended to, especially if one is using an LLC structure.
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Filed under Real Estate by Joel Block
