Read more about the article “Learn-it-all” will always do better than “Know-it-all” … and a few tips on dealing with the tragedy of the NorCal fires
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“Learn-it-all” will always do better than “Know-it-all” … and a few tips on dealing with the tragedy of the NorCal fires

I know our friends, colleagues and clients in the wine country of Sonoma and Napa are reeling today from the tragedy and devastation brought about by the raging fires in…

Continue Reading“Learn-it-all” will always do better than “Know-it-all” … and a few tips on dealing with the tragedy of the NorCal fires

Business Finance | Are You Ready for an Injection of Financial Adrenaline?

If you’ve ever exercised by lifting weights, you know that the amount of the weight on the bar is only one variable that needs to be considered for a particular exercise

If you’re doing a bench press, you can add more weight because your chest and shoulder muscles help your arms to lift the weight

But if you put 50% of that total weight on each of two dumbbells, you can’t lift either one

You’ve probably also learned that you can’t use the same weight for curls as you do for bench presses

How much weight can you really lift?

[pullquote]“Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler

” ~ Albert Einstein[/pullquote]

Likewise, if you’re going to do only one repetition, you can handle more weight than if you’re going to lift it ten times

If you are lying flat, (more…)

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Vol. 77: Grab the sword and become a Cash Flow Knight

“I went to a bookstore and asked the saleswoman, ‘Where’s the self-help section?’ She said if she told me, it would defeat the purpose.” — George Carlin

Too busy to clean the barn because all the horses are running loose? Our recent series featuring the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse was a grim reminder that regardless of how many people are lined up outside our door, how many calls we have to return, whether we’re in the top ten for inbox clutter – we’re not absolved of our duty to master our most precious resource: cash flow. That’s why Warren Buffett calls it the “lifeblood of business.” Whether you’re unable to make payroll, can’t finance growth, can’t raise money or find that your business value is a black hole, mastering this process is the centerpiece of excellence.

So, what do we do about it? Although I didn’t start out to create a long series about business finance, so many of you have asked about how to make these improvements that I’ve decided to create a path to help you get there.

You CAN learn the principles of business finance

The first step on every knight’s journey is to slay any dragons in his path … so we’re going to kill off a few misconceptions about business finance. The most important is that you can learn these basic principles. As I’ve said before, you don’t have to be an MBA, CFO or accounting major to understand these essential concepts. If you focus on the core principles, you can direct your team and be sure that everyone’s paying attention to the right things.

Avoid EBITDA (except for bank covenants)

Another dragon in our path is EBITDA. (more…)

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