JPAbusiness

This week we’ve created a two-part video series offering advice on how to communicate with your bank, financier or investors, and what pieces of information to share, if you’re looking to secure funding and ongoing support in the current environment.

In last week’s video I mentioned that smart business owners are using this time to ask tough questions, including: “What is the best balance sheet and funding structure for my business, going forward?”

As I said then, the smart businesses – even if their balance sheets are quite strong and they have funding lines – are talking openly to their financiers, sharing re-forecasts and securing extra funding lines, just in case things become more difficult over the next 6–12 months.

Topics: Business Planning, Banks and lending, Banking, business advice, Business advisor, running a business, James Price, seeking finance, JPAbusiness, Parramatta, business finance, business strategy

In this video I’ve discussed how the COVID-19 situation is impacting different elements of business and the Australian economy.

I’ve used the video to share my analysis, as well as some of our clients’ feedback, on the following questions and issues:

• Will people want to buy and sell businesses in this market? If ‘yes’, how will those deals be financed?
• Taking the leap into online – finding the ‘upside’ of social distancing
• Virus driving ‘Uber-style’ disruption in commercial property market – what’s the outlook post-crisis?
• Clients taking advantage of potential positive environment for succession
• What tough decisions should we be making in our businesses at this time?

Topics: Business Planning, business advice, James Price, JPAbusiness, Parramatta, cash flow management, COVID-19, business strategy, coronavirus, scenario planning

Over the past few weeks we’ve published a number of COVID-19 related blogs to assist our readers in navigating the new and emerging business landscape.

Like most people, we didn’t see the new coronavirus coming, so the blogs and resources we’ve shared have been a result of pretty ‘on the fly’ thinking about how we could best support you.

This week we’ve consolidated those resources into a presentation format to show you how they tie in together and can be used in your business.

Topics: Business Planning, infographic, business advice, Business advisor, JPAbusiness, Parramatta, cash flow management, COVID-19, business strategy, coronavirus, scenario planning

As business owners and managers trying to operate in these extraordinary and uncharted times, my advice is to hope for the best and plan for the worst.

Because we don’t know when things will turn around and there’s so much uncertainty, it’s easy to say it’s all too hard to do meaningful business planning. I beg to disagree!

Now is just the time to do some straight-forward scenario planning, along with risk assessments and identifying critical strategic and operational priorities.

In this blog we’re sharing a series of questions and suggested actions to help guide you through that process.

Topics: Business Planning, business advice, Business advisor, James Price, JPAbusiness, Parramatta, cash flow management, COVID-19, business strategy, coronavirus, scenario planning

The experts tell us it could be 12–18 months before a vaccine for COVID-19 is found and made universally available.

So, while we can hope for a lesser period, we probably need to plan for uncertainty to continue over this time frame. And remember, the vaccine will only deal with the health and wellbeing aspects of the crisis. What about the lingering economic and social impacts of a world and global economy shifting down? What about the impact on your business? What should you be prioritising today?

Topics: Business Planning, business advice, Business advisor, James Price, strategic planning, JPAbusiness, Parramatta, COVID-19, business strategy, coronavirus

The following video features 5 tips that will help you take a planned and measured approach to what may well be one of the biggest financial investments of your life.

They're each important in their own way, but I must admit Tip 2 – 'Have passion for the opportunity' – is a key one for me.

Owning a business can be difficult at times, but it's easier to withstand those challenges if you have a 'fire in your belly' for what you do.

Topics: Buying a business, Business Planning, Video, business advice, Business advisor, Parramatta, Orange NSW

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

Whether we’re assisting a client to buy a business, providing advice or due diligence, or fielding enquiries on businesses we’re marketing for sale, one of the first things I tell people is that the price of the business should not be their primary concern.

Now that sounds a bit strange, I know, because price is obviously important –  it would be silly to enquire about a business worth $5 million, for example, when you have $500,000 maximum to invest.

But, and I’m very serious about this, I believe you should set the price of the business aside in your initial discussions and investigations, and consider the following questions first:

Topics: Buying a business, Advice, Business Planning, infographic, Starting a business, Business advisor, Parramatta, Orange NSW

The annual business planning process should address three critical questions about your business:

1. Where is the business now?
2. Where do we want the business to be in the future?
3. How are we going to marshal the resources we have, and which we can influence, to get there?

In this video I list four aspects of your business which you need to consider during the annual business planning process – Operational, Financial, Risks, People management – and drill down a little into some issues you should cover under each of those four elements.

Topics: Business Planning, Video, business advice, Business advisor, James Price, strategic planning, annual business plan, Parramatta, Orange NSW

Buying a business is a major investment and it can also be a very time-consuming activity.

In this video James explains how the Buying a Business Planning Sheet can help save time and also give direction to your purchase planning.

Topics: Buying a business, Business Planning, Template, Video, business advice, Parramatta, Orange NSW