Archive for February 2014

Leadership Tip: Your Pay Raise Is Effective When You Are

I love listening to Dave Ramsey on the radio. He’s a JosephSangl.com Financial Hero. I remember a specific conversation he held with a caller who felt they “deserved” a pay raise. When asked why they felt they deserved increased compensation, the caller could not effectively answer the question. They felt an answer of “I deserve it” should be sufficient. Dave responded with this great statement:

Your pay raise is effective when you are.

In other words, when you value to your organization and help them generate more revenue or more profit, you will be in position to receive more revenue.

  • If you help your company reduce warranty claims, you reduce their operating costs – which leads to more profit.
  • If you sell more products at excellent margins, you yield more profit.
  • If you are a manufacturing line worker and reduce a specific defect by 50%, you help the company reduce re-work expenses – which leads to more profit.
  • If you are a hair stylist and your work is so good that 95% of your business is repeat/regular customers, you’ve demonstrated the ability to secure profit.
  • If you identify a way for your company to increase its business in another field, you’ve added tremendous value to that company.

It is the individual who shows up to work every single day knowing their work is essential to the company’s success that helps the company become wildly effective. And money tends to flow toward wildly effective and innovate people.

Questions:

  1. How do you add value to your organization? Can you monetize that value? If so, how much value do you bring?
  2. How can you add more value to your organization? What idea(s) would help increase revenue and profitability?

This post is part of a Leadership Series here at the wildly popular JosephSangl.com. Click HERE to read more posts in the series.

Small Business Tip: Sacrificing To Make The Dream Work

Having successfully started a few small businesses and acquiring another, I can confidently say that it takes sacrifice to make the dream of a small business come alive.

I worked the equivalent of two full-time jobs for an entire year while I Was Broke. Now I’m Not. launched. I would work all week and then jump into a car and drive to some distant place to speak about personal finances. Usually, I would end up spending more money on gas, hotel, and food than I would receive in income from the event!

As I share in my book, Oxen, you can’t load up a baby ox as soon as it is born, or it will die. Yet, many people do this very thing when birthing their small business. They finance the entire start-up costs and then quit their job as soon as they launch the business – forcing the business to pay them a salary from day one. They “load up the baby ox” with all of the costs of debt, salaries, and rent – causing even great business ideas to collapse before they really had a chance to succeed.

It takes sacrifice. Here are 3 key sacrifices you can expect to make when launching your small business dream.

3 Key Sacrifices Business Owners Make

  1. Time With Family  Starting a business is not a 9am to 5pm, 5 day a week job. Curb the impact of this by being very intentional in the time you do have to spend with your family. Another tip is to include them in the work and decisions of the business. For example, I bring my daughter along with me to help with speaking events. She manages the resource table. Better yet, we have the chance to talk during all of the plane and car rides.
  2. Money  People who are launching their small business venture will have to invest substantial amounts of money in the hopes of a financial return. There is no guarantee of success. I’ve found that investing my own money into the business helped me be very attentive to business expenses. It seems to be much easier to spend borrowed money.
  3. Other Dreams  Because of the enormous consumption of time that a new small business demands, many other hobbies and passions are placed on hold. Saying “yes” to starting a business will mean one must say “no” to other desires.

For those who have successfully started your own small business, what are some other sacrifices you have had to make? Please share in the comments?

This post is part of a Small Business Series here at the wildly popular JosephSangl.com. Click HERE to read more of the posts in the series.

Leadership Tip: Making Hard Decisions

When you are called into a leadership role, you will inevitably face a very difficult situation that requires a hard decision.

And the moment will come when you realize you are the leader who must make that hard decision.

I’ve faced them as the leader of I Was Broke. Now I’m Not. and INJOY Stewardship Solutions.

I’ve had to make them as the leader of my family.

Here’s what I know to be true about this difficult decisions:

  • It is no fun at all
  • It exacts a pound of flesh from you
  • Some people won’t understand the decision
  • It never gets easier

I always run these decisions through the following filter:

  1. Glean all information I can via conversation and gathering data from everyone and everything involved
  2. Prayer
  3. Discussion with my bride
  4. Conversation with my leadership team

Here are some questions I ask:

  • What is the real situation?
  • What is the real decision that is needed?
  • What is best for my family?
  • What is best for the business?
  • What is best for all parties involved?

This post is part of a Leadership Series here at the wildly popular JosephSangl.com. Click HERE to read more posts in the series.

Small Business Tip: Separate Business Accounts From Personal Ones

One of the top mistakes small business owners make is to intermingle their business expenses with their personal accounts. This can create many issues including:

  • Difficulty in identifying true business profitability. When personal and business expenses are in the same accounts, it becomes very difficult (impossible?) to readily determine the company profits or losses.
  • Misuse of company money for personal expenses. Whether intentional or unintentional, this can erode financial margin that is critical for the viability of the business.
  • Difficulty in selling the business. Even if the business is profitable, it can cause potential buyers to become wary of the true performance of the company.
  • Drive the tax preparer nuts. I’ve had conversations with tax preparers who find it nearly impossible to prepare a clean tax return because of intermingled business and personal income and expenses. This can lead to issues with the IRS later. That is never a good thing!
  • Frustrates the family bill payer. When the person in the family who is responsible for paying the bills must balance business bills with personal bills, it can cause them to become very frustrated. So frustrated that smoke may start coming out of their ears!

If you are running your business expenses through your personal accounts, invest a few hours to separate them. The bill payer and tax preparer will thank you, and you will be able to more readily assess the performance of your business!

This post is part of a Small Business Series here at the wildly popular JosephSangl.com. Click HERE to read more of the posts in the series.

10 Things Parents Should Teach Their Children About Money

All parents want their children to succeed in life. I’m regularly asked, “How do I teach my children about money?” This is a great question, but we should start with another question: “What should I teach my children about money?” Once we determine the “what,” then we can focus on strategies for “how” to teach them.

Here are some key things every parent should teach their children about money.

10 Things Parents Should Teach Their Children About Money

  1. Your dreams should drive your money decisions.  Every great accomplishment began with a dream. Money will flow to a great idea and plan. Let your dreams influence the way you manage your money.
  2. Money will go farther if you prepare and follow a budget.  A budget ensures you generate maximum impact with all of your money.
  3. Be very cautious with debt.  Debt has led to the destruction of many people. Demonstrate how debt can help achieve dreams or produce income and net worth. Share how it has led to enormous stress and financial disaster.
  4. Investing allows you to capture the power of compound interest.  Compound interest has allowed many people to fund their wildest dreams. It allows the combination of diligence, time, and money to yield a tremendous harvest.
  5. The importance of insurance.  Insurance allows you to transfer risk thereby preventing a catastrophe from destroying everything you’ve worked to build up.
  6. Giving is living. There’s nothing more satisfying than offering a hand up to someone who can benefit greatly from such a gesture.
  7. Financial margin reduces stress.  Living life “on the edge” with zero savings is for the birds. Share how a simple decision to keep some money in an emergency savings account can prevent life events (like car breakdowns, appliance failures, or emergency home repairs) from causing tremendous financial pain.
  8. A financial education is just as important as your school education. You can have more degrees than a thermometer and still be broke. Be certain to gain a financial education while receiving your professional education.
  9. Every decision is not purely a financial decision. There are times you will have to make decisions because it is “the right thing to do” even though it might not make financial sense. Be certain to allow your core values and beliefs to drive your decisions.
  10. You can either pay now and play later or you can play now and pay later. And it usually is much more painful to pay later!

Anything you would add to this list? Join the conversation on the I Was Broke. Now I’m Not. Facebook Page.