JPAbusiness

As we head into an uncertain FY20/21 business owners and managers may be tempted to think now is not the time to prioritise staff professional development needs. I believe the opposite is true.

One of the key elements of your business proposition – large or small – is your team, and they’re going through the same anxiety you are. The COVID-19 crisis is impacting their professional lives, personal lives, physical and mental wellbeing, just as it is yours.

Even though you may be struggling simply to pay wages, the last thing you want is to lose good people, whether you lose them physically, or in the sense that they become disengaged as a result of their anxiety about the current environment.

Topics: Template, business advice, business management, staff performance, running a business, professional development, Parramatta, staff wellbeing, managing employees, staff training, COVID-19, coronavirus, Central West NSW

Business owners often seek a business valuation after being prompted to do so by a 'significant event’, for example:

• a family break-up
• retirement
• need for business restructuring
• bank lending requirement
• purchase offer
• bringing in a new shareholder or partner, and so on.

In this video I explain how valuation can actually be used as an ongoing management tool, adding value while you’re running the business and also potentially boosting value on exit.

Topics: Business Value, Valuations, Exiting your business, Video, Business advisor, business management, growth strategies, James Price, JPAbusiness, Parramatta

As a business owner or manager, there are a number of 'levers' you need to control to successfully manage working capital and drive a successful, cash-generating business.

As our Working Capital Checklist shows, those levers fall into two buckets: current assets and current liabilities.

You can use the free checklist to assist you in achieving a firm control of your working capital levers and cash position, so your business proposition is not hampered by poor cash flow.

Topics: Business Value, Selling your business, Cash flow, Working capital, Exiting your business, Template, Checklist, business management, COVID-19, business strategy, coronavirus

A banker is not just a simple supplier to your business – they are a partner in your business.

Their success in lending you money is inextricably linked to your success as a business, so treating them as anything other than a business partner is not doing the opportunity justice.

The following infographic sums up what you can do to give that partnership every chance of success.

Topics: Advice, Partners, Running your business, infographic, Banking, Business advisor, business management

We often hear business owners and managers say “it’s so hard to find good people – we’ll just do it ourselves”.

But as we’ve discussed in many blogs and eBooks, critical to building business value is having the people resource that allows the business to deliver sustainable returns and earnings.

If you find yourself throwing your hands in the air and saying ‘I’ll do it myself’ because you can’t find someone suitable for a role, or you’ve hired three people in 18 months and they’ve failed to stay or deliver the outcomes you were after, you need to reconsider your recruitment process and what you’re trying to achieve.

Topics: Business Value, Employment and recruitment, eBook, staff recruitment, business management, Parramatta, Orange NSW

The following cheat sheet contains 6 succession strategies you can start employing in your business today.

Adopting these strategies will help future-proof your business for when and if you decide to take up an exit opportunity, or relinquish operational involvement in your business.

It’s never too early to start thinking about your succession plan and developing the skills of your team and business capability.

If you future-proof your business in this way, the business should thrive even if you’re not there, and the market should reward you.

Topics: infographic, cheat sheet, Template, Succession planning, staff management, business advice, business management, business ownership, business valuer, running a business, small business

Business planning is about making your business as robust as possible, so it can take advantage of opportunities and also successfully withstand inevitable shocks.

Annual business plans don’t have to be weighty documents, but they do need to contain some key information, with the most important being:

• frank and honest appraisal of resources
• analysis of your competitive environment
• SWOT analysis
• targets
  
• budget.

Topics: Free download, Business Planning, Template, Succession planning, Business advisor, business management, Parramatta, Orange NSW

This blog comes from our eBook Surfer Dudes, Janitors and the Ritz Carlton, featuring California-based management consultant Kevin Catlin from Insight Strategies, Inc.

Topics: staff management, business advice, Business culture, business management, Kevin Catlin, guest blogger, Parramatta, Orange NSW

Valuations are extremely useful management tools for business owners looking to maximise their current business performance and long-term value.

A valuation can help you identify what you are currently doing that is:

a) adding to your business value, and

b) detracting from that value.

My advice is that, if your business is greater than five years old, you should have it valued on a reasonably regular basis, say every 2–3 years depending on your growth track and the external environment the business is experiencing.

Topics: Business Value, Advice, Valuations, Video, business advice, business management, market appraisal, Parramatta, Orange NSW

Before you spend months trawling through business advertising sites, trying to decide which business would best suit you, first consider whether you would suit business.

In this infographic we’ve summarised 10 attributes we tend to see in successful business people.

Topics: Buying a business, infographic, Starting a business, business advice, business management, business ownership, Parramatta, Orange NSW