The Alexander Group

7 Leadership Mistakes That Show Up During Tax Season

Thu, 12 Mar 2026 18:53:11 GMT

Tax season exposes leadership gaps more clearly than almost any other time of year.

If tax season feels chaotic, stressful, or full of surprises, the problem is usually not the taxes themselves, but rather how you lead, plan, and make decisions throughout the year.

These seven leadership mistakes consistently surface during tax season. Each one points to an opportunity to improve how you run your business.

1. Treating Tax Season Like a Once‑a‑Year Event

When you only think about taxes once a year, you lose control.

Small business tax planning works best when it happens continuously. Leaders who treat tax season as a single deadline often scramble because earlier decisions locked them into limited options.

You might recognize this if:

You feel rushed reviewing numbers you have not looked at in months because you were not committed to having accurate, timely financial statements prepared on a monthly basis.
Your accountant asks questions you cannot easily answer
Decisions feel reactive instead of strategic

When you plan only around deadlines rather than long-term goals , pressure builds quickly.

2. Making Business Decisions Without Considering Tax Impact

Leadership decisions and tax outcomes are always connected.

Hiring, bonuses, equipment purchases, and growth initiatives all affect your tax position. When you separate operations from financial consequences, business tax mistakes pile up quietly until tax season arrives.

A common scenario looks like this:

You invest heavily to support growth
You do not revisit how those choices affect cash flow or taxes
Tax season exposes tighter margins than expected

Strong business strategy planning connects decisions across operations, finance, and tax planning for entrepreneurs.

3. Reviewing Financial Reports You Do Not Fully Understand

Confusion during tax season usually existed all year.

If you struggle to interpret cash flow, profitability, or expense trends, tax season amplifies that uncertainty. You cannot lead confidently when the numbers feel unfamiliar.

This often shows up when:

Reports feel overwhelming instead of informative
You rely on others to interpret basic financial results
Tax conversations feel intimidating

Leadership for small business owners requires understanding the story behind the numbers before pressure hits.

4. Waiting Too Long to Involve Advisors

Late conversations limit good options.

Many leaders wait until tax season to bring advisors into strategic conversations. By then, opportunities to adjust decisions have already passed.

This often happens when:

You avoid financial discussions until deadlines approach
You assume advisors will fix things later
You carry too much responsibility yourself

Executive coaching for entrepreneurs often focuses on recognizing when to involve the right people earlier. CEO coaching helps leaders move from isolation to informed decision-making.

5. Letting Short-Term Tax Stress Drive Long-Term Choices

Stress creates short-sighted leadership.

When tax pressure spikes, leaders sometimes pause growth, cut investments, or abandon long-term plans to ease immediate discomfort. These decisions often conflict with the process of intentionally scaling a small business.

You might see this if:

You delay strategic initiatives purely due to tax anxiety
You change direction without revisiting your broader goals
You prioritize short term relief over long term health

Strong financial planning for small businesses balances awareness with discipline, even during high-pressure periods.

6. Failing To Communicate Clearly With Your Leadership Team

Tax season magnifies communication gaps. When leaders do not clearly explain priorities, timelines, or financial expectations, confusion spreads quickly. Teams react instead of executing.

This shows up when:

Your team scrambles for information at the last minute
Responsibilities feel unclear
Decisions get revisited repeatedly

Clear communication helps teams work properly and efficiently.

7. Skipping Reflection Once Tax Season Ends

Ignoring lessons guarantees repetition.

Many leaders move on once filings are complete. They do not pause to evaluate what tax season revealed about planning habits, leadership systems, or decision quality.

Reflection might include:

Where decisions felt rushed
Where information was missing
Where leadership support was lacking

Leaders who reflect turn tax season into a feedback loop instead of a recurring problem.

Frequently Asked Questions About Leadership and Tax Season

Lead with Clarity Before the Pressure Mounts

At The Alexander Group, tax season often serves as a mirror. It reflects how leadership decisions, planning habits, and communication systems perform under pressure.

If tax season consistently feels overwhelming, the solution usually is not tactical. It is strategic. Strengthening leadership clarity, planning discipline, and decision-making systems reduces stress long before deadlines arrive.

If you want to explore whether executive coaching or strategic advisory support could help you lead more confidently year-round, a conversation can be a practical place to start.

Let's talk today!

Why Goal Setting For The Year Is More Important Than Budgeting

Tue, 20 Jan 2026 05:01:06 GMT

Every January, business owners sit down with fresh spreadsheets, sharpened pencils, and an annual budget they hope will keep the organization on track. A budget is essential, but it’s not a roadmap.

For over 20 years, we’ve coached business owners across the St. Louis region, helping them bring discipline, structure, and strategic clarity to their companies. One thing has been clear year after year: growth does not come from a budget alone. It comes from vision, commitment to improvement, and clear, actionable goals that drive the business forward.

Here’s why setting goals at the beginning of the year is just as important (and often far more important) than finalizing your annual budget.

Goals Motivate People, Budgets Don’t

Your team will not be inspired by a spreadsheet. But they will rally behind a meaningful destination.

Goals clarify where you’re headed and why the work matters. They’re essential for building a culture of ownership and continuous improvement across the organization.

When your team understands the vision, processes tighten, productivity increases, and relationships strengthen.

Budgets Allocates Resources, Goals Give Them Meaning

A budget tells you what you can spend. Goals tell you why it matters.

A well-run business needs both. But when owners create budgets without defining annual goals, they lose the opportunity to use financial planning as a tool for strategic execution. Goals create direction; budgets merely support it.

We help owners identify what they can control, clarify their vision, and then align their financial planning with that vision. That alignment drives continuous improvement.

Establish Accountability and Purpose

Business owners often find themselves buried in day-to-day operations, “fighting fires,” and responding to whatever problem rises to the surface. This reactive state makes it easy to lose sight of long-term objectives; and it’s hard to measure whether progress is actually occurring.

Defining goals at the start of the year creates:

Benchmarks for success
Clear priorities for you and your team
A foundation for better problem-solving and decision-making

These elements are essential to creating harmony between your business life and your personal life, which we emphasize deeply in our coaching work.

Give Context to Financial Planning

Instead of last year’s numbers plus or minus a few percentage points, a goal-driven budget becomes a strategic financial plan.

For example:

Hiring a key leader
Expanding into a new market
Reducing the owner's workload
Improving operational systems
Building valuation in preparation for long-term succession

Financial planning should follow your goals, not the other way around. This is a core principle we use when guiding small business owners through analytical and strategic planning.

Provide Stability in Uncertain Conditions

Markets shift. Costs rise. Customer demand changes.

When you have clearly defined goals, you’re not knocked off course every time a variable moves. You pivot your budget, not your direction.

A well-designed goal structure keeps the business grounded during stress, growth, or unexpected transitions. These structures help owners avoid reactive decision-making that leads to unnecessary risk.

Budgets Maintain, Goals Transform

A budget is a vital management tool. But it won’t create growth, improve culture, prepare you for succession, or help you build a business that supports your life. Goals will.

When you combine clear goals with disciplined financial planning and continuous improvement, you create a business that becomes stronger and more aligned with your future vision.

Connect With The Alexander Group

If you’d like help identifying your vision and building the goals and structure to support it, The Alexander Group is here to guide you.

We offer one-on-one small business coaching and the chance to collaborate with and connect with business owners in Greater St. Louis.

Boost Business Productivity with Microsoft 365 Copilot and AI

Wed, 12 Nov 2025 18:53:11 GMT

In one of our recent peer board meetings, long-time member and owner of Moore Computing , Fred Moore, was asked for his recommendations on how business owners can maximize the benefits of Microsoft tools, including Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive, and the AI Assistant, Microsoft CoPilot.

Most of our clients recognize that these powerful tools have capabilities that often remain underutilized within their organizations. It's like an iceberg where the part sticking out of the water is what they use, and the part underwater is the untapped capability.

Fred shared that his "go-to" for getting the most out of these tools is Becky Bertram, Owner of Savvy Technical Solutions.

Becky is a 15-time SharePoint MVP and Microsoft Certified Trainer, known for her expertise in Microsoft technologies. Her consulting company helps clients develop custom solutions on the Microsoft platform, including Microsoft 365 and the Power Platform.

We were lucky enough to have Becky stop by to conduct “The Business Productivity with Microsoft 365 and Copilot” seminar, where she conveyed a crucial message: generative Artificial Intelligence (AI), particularly Microsoft Copilot, is essential for business success.

This blog offers a comprehensive overview of the seminar and provides practical steps to start leveraging these technologies in your organization immediately.

What Is Microsoft 365 Copilot and Why Should You Care?

Microsoft 365 Copilot is an AI-powered assistant built directly into the apps you already use, such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams, and Outlook. It’s designed to help you work more efficiently by automating repetitive tasks, generating content quickly, and analyzing data for better decision-making.

With Copilot, you can draft emails in seconds, get meeting summaries instantly, or build polished presentations efficiently; the AI helps turn tasks into chances for innovation.

Key Insights from the Event

One of the most important takeaways from the event was that Copilot is more than just a productivity tool; it is a strategic advantage. Businesses that adopt AI early will gain a competitive edge by freeing up time for high-value work and improving customer experiences.

Savvy Technical Solutions highlighted how Copilot integrates seamlessly into Microsoft 365, enabling users to automate document creation, summarize Teams meetings, and streamline reporting processes.

Another major theme was the potential of custom AI agents. These agents can be tailored to your business needs, handling specialized workflows such as onboarding, compliance checks, and customer support. By building custom agents, businesses can surpass generic automation and develop solutions tailored to their specific challenges.

The seminar emphasized AI’s core functions, including summarization, content generation, and intelligent suggestions. These capabilities allow businesses to condense lengthy documents into actionable insights, produce marketing copy or proposals in minutes, and receive smart recommendations that optimize workflows.

How AI Helps Your Business

AI is not just about saving time—it’s about transforming how you operate. Businesses that integrate AI into their processes report significant efficiency gains, improved decision-making, and enhanced customer experiences. By automating low-value tasks, you free up resources for strategic initiatives. Real-time insights enable smarter decisions, while faster, more personalized service strengthens customer relationships. In short, AI helps you do more with less, positioning your business for sustainable growth.

Actionable Steps for Business Owners

If you’re ready to embrace AI and Copilot, start by identifying the areas where automation will have the greatest impact. Look for tasks that consume time but add little strategic value, such as preparing reports, drafting emails, or capturing meeting notes. These are ideal candidates for Copilot.

Next, enable Microsoft 365 Copilot in your organization. Begin with Teams to automatically summarize meetings and assign action items. Explore Word and PowerPoint integration to create documents and presentations faster, and experiment with Excel for data analysis and forecasting.

Once you’ve mastered the basics, consider building custom AI agents for industry-specific workflows. Automating processes such as compliance audits and HR onboarding can reduce errors and improve efficiency. Training your team is also critical—schedule hands-on sessions to demonstrate Copilot’s capabilities and encourage adoption. Finally, measure your return on investment by tracking time saved, productivity gains, and employee satisfaction. Use these insights to refine your AI strategy and scale adoption across your organization.

The Future of Business Productivity Is Here

The Alexander Group and Savvy Technical Solutions event underscored a powerful truth: AI and Microsoft 365 Copilot are essential for modern business growth. They enable you to work smarter, innovate faster, and stay competitive in an increasingly digital world.

Remember, start small by automating meeting summaries or drafting documents with Copilot, and scale as you see results. The businesses that embrace AI today will lead tomorrow.

Ready to take your business productivity to the next level? Contact us today to explore strategies that drive growth, improve operational efficiency, and position your organization for long-term success.

Whether you’re looking to optimize processes, enhance collaboration, or transform your business model, the Alexander Group can help you achieve measurable results.

AI Integration for Small Businesses: Moving From Hype to Practical Strategies

Fri, 12 Sep 2025 17:09:24 GMT

When most people think about artificial intelligence (AI), their attention goes straight to content creation or image generation (which is often surrounded by plenty of debate from both sides of the issue). For small business owners, AI has far more practical and immediate uses, and only a handful have jumped on them at this point.

Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, noted in a recent interview that many discussions about AI focus on the wrong areas. While entry-level tasks may evolve, business owners and leaders stand to benefit most from embracing AI now.

Explore how small businesses can leverage AI in tangible ways right now to improve operations and strengthen overall organizational efficiency.

Meeting Coordination and Planning

AI assistants like Microsoft Copilot are technically capable of more than answering quick questions. They can act as smart partners that help you stay organized and focused.

These tools integrate directly into the systems you already use, such as email, calendars, and Microsoft 365 apps, to surface action items you might have missed, like unanswered emails, pending document reviews, or upcoming meetings that require preparation. Instead of digging through multiple apps or inboxes, AI can pull these "open" items into one clear view, making it easier to see what deserves your attention.

Beyond task management, AI can also simplify one of the most time-consuming business operations: planning and managing meetings .

Tools like Copilot or OpenAI can quickly generate agendas, organize talking points, and suggest questions or follow-ups based on notes from past discussions; this reduces the hours spent preparing and helps ensure meetings stay focused and aligned with your business goals.

By streamlining everyday responsibilities, AI frees up valuable time, lowers stress, and allows small business owners and their teams to put more energy into the work that drives growth.

Contract Review and Budgeting Tasks

AI can be a valuable assistant for time-consuming administrative tasks like reviewing contracts or organizing a basic budget. Tools can quickly summarize lengthy documents, highlight key terms, or categorize expenses to give business owners a clear starting point.

However, it's important to remember that AI is not foolproof: proofreading and a final review by a human are still essential to catch errors or nuances the system might miss.

By combining AI's speed with human judgment, small businesses can save time without sacrificing accuracy.

Hiring tasks and assessments

Hiring the right people is one of a small business owner's most important responsibilities. AI can play a valuable role in this process by analyzing candidate assessments and comparing them with the job description requirements.

For example, an AI tool can look at a behavioral or personality test and highlight where a candidate's strengths complement the team or where potential challenges may arise.

This outsourced synthesis quickly gives business owners a clearer, data-backed perspective before deciding, helping them build stronger, more balanced teams without spending hours on manual analysis.

Stay Vigilant About Employee Permissions with AI

AI is undoubtedly powerful, which is why when someone within an organization uses AI to overstep boundaries, the results can be disastrous. Small business owners and managers should be meticulous when giving both AI software and employees permissions, and continually monitor how they are utilizing the tools.

For instance, an employee could be using CoPilot for a simple task when the software pulls up seemingly relevant private information about other employees because permissions weren't properly in place.

Setting permissions and rules for use with AI programs will require increased attention to detail and vigilance on the part of small business owners, but the benefits of efficient AI use will be worth it in the long run.

Learning and Workflow Adoption

One of the easiest ways to get started with AI is by simply learning how others are using it.

YouTube is full of tutorials, walkthroughs, and case studies that show how business owners can apply AI to everything from customer service to accounting. You can also find free resources, online communities, and even AI tools with trial versions that let you test features without a big commitment.

The important thing is to start experimenting now: AI adoption is skyrocketing, and small business owners who take the time to learn and apply it to their operations today will be in an optimal position to stay competitive tomorrow.

Even small wins, like email response automation or schedule streamlining, can build confidence and momentum from within the organization.

Over time, those small steps can add to significant changes in how efficiently your business runs.

Connect With The Alexander Group

Artificial intelligence isn't just about generating content or experimenting with new tech trends—it's a practical tool that small business owners can use right now to enhance efficiency, reduce costs, and support more thoughtful decision-making.

By looking beyond the hype and focusing on operational and logistical applications, business leaders can put AI to work where it matters most. Adopting these tools early will put you in a better position to adapt, compete, and thrive in a rapidly changing business landscape.

Small business owners have a lot on their plates, whether keeping up with technology like AI, solving company disputes, scaling their operations, or achieving their goals.

At the Alexander Group, we offer one-on-one small business coaching and the chance to collaborate with and connect with business owners in Greater St. Louis.

What Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill" Means for Small Business Owners

Tue, 15 Jul 2025 18:26:24 GMT

Before watching fireworks on Independence Day, many Americans also watched President Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" make it to the Oval Office after months of planning, negotiating, and debating.

After intense House and Senate voting sessions, President Trump signed the bill into law on July 4th.

This new bill has many facets that cover a wide range of issues and topics, and will likely affect employers and business owners.

That's why we took a deep dive into the latest piece of legislation at our most recent peer board meeting, taking an informed look at how the bill may affect small business owners.

Introduction to the Bill

The "One Big Beautiful Bill" (OBBB) Act is nearly 900 pages long and has many different effects on Americans.

This bill continues the tax cuts outlined in President Trump's previous Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 and adds additional breaks to several entities.

Who is Affected?

This new law will affect many groups of Americans; below is a summary of the affected groups.

Keep in mind that each individual should take the time to research to ensure they are informed about themselves, their family, and their business.

Parents: The law raises the child tax credit to $2,200 starting in 2026 . For new parents, it also creates "Trump Accounts" for children born between 2025 and 2028, with a one-time government contribution of $1,000 for the child. Additionally, student loan caps are in effect for parents with undergraduate students.
Older than 65: Seniors over 65 may be eligible for a new tax deduction for 2025 through 2028.
Students: Students should watch for potential changes to federal student loan repayment plans.
C ar Buyers : Credits for purchasing an electric vehicle will expire on September 30th. For those buying a U.S.-made car, taxpayers may be able to deduct up to $10,000 in auto loan interest from their taxable income for tax years 2025 through 2028.
Medicaid recipients: The law adds new work requirements and more frequent eligibility checks, which will be enforced starting December 31st, 2026.
Those receiving SNAP: The OBBB Act tightens up eligibility requirements for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

No Taxes on Tips

Tipped workers have been on the edge of their seats after President Trump campaigned with a "No Taxes on Tips" promise.

The OBBBA Act includes new tax rulings for workers who receive tips. For the tax years 2025 through 2028, workers can deduct up to $25,000 of tips from their taxable income with the new plan (this applies to federal income taxes).

No Taxes on Overtime

Workers who regularly work overtime and their employers should also note the "no tax on overtime" deduction in the OBBB Act.

The deduction is capped at $12,500 for individuals or $25,000 for married couples. To qualify for the maximum deduction, individuals must make $150,000 or less.

This policy is also in effect for the 2025 to 2028 tax years and will apply to federal income taxes.

How Will This Affect Small Business Owners?

The effects of this bill will vary for small businesses, and there are often opportunities to use new legislation as a launchpad for business success.

If you own a small business and employ tipped workers, keep a close eye on how the OBBB Act plays out. There may be possibilities of reducing payroll taxes. Similarly, with the changes in the overtime tax, there may be opportunities for small business owners.

Be transparent with your employees and work with your HR team to ensure employees have all the information they need upon hire.

Moving Forward

Small business owners should monitor how this legislation plays out and adjust accordingly.

As we have mentioned in other recent blog posts, the key is to stay calm, collected, and informed about your business decisions. Those who act rashly or operate on assumptions rather than facts may stray further from success than those who stay focused.

Connect With The Alexander Group

A small business owner needs a group of individuals with similar goals. Our group of Greater St. Louis area business owners collaborates, discusses everyday issues, and develops dynamic solutions.

When business owners pair this with our one-on-one coaching, they set themselves up for success.

Business Owners and the Labor Market - The Pendulum Has Swung

Tue, 20 May 2025 18:34:33 GMT

It doesn't seem that long ago, in 2021, when the job market was ripe with opportunities for white-collar workers.

The flood of government money during the COVID-19 pandemic and a tight labor market created a demand for workers in almost every sector of the economy. At that time, the market pendulum swung deeply in favor of the employee, and lucky candidates had their pick of positions and options for benefits.

As we emerged out of the pandemic, and the labor market remained tight, many employees decided they preferred WFH over working in the office. The tight labor market at the time put leverage on the side of the workers, and in many cases, their demand to continue WFH was met.

With current market volatility, economic question marks, and changing expectations, the job market has swung back in favor of employers rather than their staff. Meanwhile, many business owners and CEOs have come to realize the downsides of a remote or even hybrid work environment.

Many companies are also following in the footsteps of the Trump administration and Elon Musk's DOGE team to trim the unnecessary fat of their companies and opt for efficiency. At the same time, AI has emerged as a significant opportunity to streamline operations and improve efficiency.

Let's examine how current dynamics are changing the workforce, re-examine the relationship between employees and employers, and discuss how small business owners can take advantage of this moment.

The Realities of Remote Work

The COVID-19 pandemic drowned the whole world in change to start this new decade. Work, health, education, entertainment, politics, and everyday life changed in unexpected ways.

Five years on from those tumultuous days in March 2020, lingering attitudes remain. Many employees are unhappy with RTO (return to office) mandates from CEOs.

A large majority of CEOs agree that creating a positive work culture with remote employees is essentially impossible. While there may be occasional times when remote work can be helpful (such as during sickness or family emergencies), many business leaders believe that it should not be the standard.

Accountability, productivity, and creativity are much easier to foster in an in-person office environment. With the pendulum swinging back in favor of employers, employees will need to adjust their expectations.

Adopting AI

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is here and here to stay; this means that another element of the evolving workplace is how businesses are choosing to implement AI.

Many tasks in customer service, sales, communication, data entry, and even computer programming can easily be done through a large language model in a fraction of the time it takes a regular employee. Technological advances in our society stratify our population into early adopters, mainstream users, and late bloomers.

We are at the point of mainstream users: many individuals and businesses have already implemented AI as early adopters over the years.

What does this mean for workers? Those new to the workforce should simultaneously be familiar with using AI tools while also ensuring they have tangible skills that AI does not yet have. Workforce veterans should learn as much as they can about AI and be ready to adapt and pivot in their careers if need be.

The message from business owners is clear—adapt or you will be left behind.

Set Up Employees For Success

The foundation for a strong employee/employer experience starts during hiring. During the interview process, managers should conduct proper evaluations. Yes, a candidate may have the necessary background and credentials for the job, but will they be a good fit with your company's overall goals?

Do they have complementary ideas and behaviors? Here at The Alexander Group, we recommend that our clients utilize the DISC assessment paired with behavioral training.

Once a candidate becomes a new hire, also make sure that your team has onboarding checklists and a training timeline ready to go.

New hires can get lost in the shuffle of a new job, so having these guideposts will help them acclimate to their new role in the first few weeks. It's also a critical time for managers to correct any mistakes or watch for bad habits so that the new hire won't carry these on down the line.

Mentoring is another excellent way to create a positive culture at your small business.

Senior employees should mentor new hires not only throughout the onboarding process but also throughout their time at the company. The mentee gains a role model and someone to vouch for them when new opportunities arise, and the mentor gains leadership skills and the chance to own the success of the company's legacy.

Building and Maintaining a Positive Culture

Even though the workforce may need a little "tough love" right now, winning business owners know the importance of building and maintaining a positive culture in the long term.

One straightforward reason that many employees have been resisting RTO mandates is that the in-person office has lost favor with them. How can business leaders challenge this attitude?

In addition to working with new hires, let's get back to the basics.

Celebrate your team's individual and collective wins with recognition and incentives.

Happy hour, team outings, and pizza parties help the team get to know each other beyond the work itself and strengthen communication. In fact, these events can be a step in the right direction, assisting with the "loneliness crisis" many millennials and Generation Z'ers are experiencing.

Create a business that people want to work for, and then your employees will take ownership of the company's success.

Connect With The Alexander Group

A small business owner needs a group of individuals with similar goals. Our group of Greater St. Louis area business owners collaborates, discusses everyday issues, and develops dynamic solutions. When business owners pair this with our one-on-one coaching, they set themselves up for success.

Take Fear Out of Tariffs: A Small Business Owner's Guide

Fri, 14 Mar 2025 21:43:08 GMT

Like most other small business owners, our peer board members are talking often about tariffs. Our consensus in board meetings has been to keep calm, breathe, and think about the big picture.

All politics aside, we need to remember that the long-term intent of President Donald Trump's tariff strategy is to move manufacturing jobs from other countries back to the US. We already see some major corporations responding exactly how Trump wanted by moving their operations back to the United States.

For example, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla recently stated that the company is actively exploring options to relocate some of its manufacturing operations to the United States in response to the impending tariffs. Even luxury brands like LVMH are looking to move production from Europe into the US, as the Wall Street Journal reports here.

Further, the Trump Administration intends to get other countries (e.g., the EU) to spend more of their own money on defense so they will be less reliant on the United States military to defend them. If fewer US Military resources are required to help keep those countries safe, US taxpayers will ultimately benefit from lower defense spending.

Tariffs Don't Need to Create Panic

When we discuss tariffs, trading with the U.S., or other foreign policy plans, it is important for us to understand from an informed business perspective what the U.S. wants to accomplish. Throughout American history, presidents have used tariffs to create leverage to get concessions that will benefit our country, and this appears to be the Trump administration's strategy in 2025.

Unfortunately, our media and others have deployed fear-mongering tactics regarding tariffs. Small business owners must not give in to fear or panic. Rather, we should step back and look at the larger geopolitical picture.

Let's dive in.

Foreign Policy Considerations: EU and China

Recently, the Trump administration announced tariffs on aluminum and steel imports from Europe, which will affect many companies in the European Union. This round of tariffs is a significant increase from the tariffs the Trump administration applied in 2018.

The strategy behind these tariffs is to bolster U.S. steel production and encourage the EU to defend itself. If the EU moves to defend itself without/with less U.S. help, we can also lower our military spending. Currently, the EU has yet to respond or counter the tariffs.

China is getting worried. Xi Jinping, the President of the People's Republic of China, instructed his staff to study and analyze the Cold War rivalry between the U.S. and the Soviet Union shortly after President Trump was elected in November. Xi wants his team to study the Cold War not simply for a history lesson: he is worried that China may become isolated, not unlike the Soviets during the Cold War.

If President Trump and his administration can use tariffs against China to apply pressure, China may lose its stronghold on the global order. The Trump administration also hopes to improve national security, particularly citing Chinese infrastructure in the Panama Canal as a driving force in the fentanyl crisis.

As we move through the year, we will likely see more of President Trump's trade strategies emerge. While tariffs can initially feel daunting, these measures can impact our country on the whole and push us forward on the international stage.

What This Means for Small Business Owners

At the end of the day, small business owners should remember that a 10% tariff may not directly translate into a 10% price increase for their customers or from their suppliers.

For example, one of our clients is a wholesale supplier to independent automotive and hardware stores across the United States. One of his biggest product lines is plastic cable zip ties. Most of the zip ties he sells come from China.

Our client walked his board through the math. When the cost of the Chinese ties gets a 10% tariff, his cost goes up 10%. However, many "Overhead” aspects factor into the price he charges his hardware customers for those ties. Yes, the cost from the Chinese manufacturer goes up by 10%, but the shipping cost, warehouse labor, utilities, rent, etc., are not affected. So, a 10% tariff does not translate into a 10% increase in his selling price. He calculates that a 10% tariff will get passed on with roughly a 3% increase in his selling price.

Some Tariff Tips for Small Business Owners

Business owners should pay close attention to tariffs that affect not only the products they sell, but also the products they buy. Just like a 10% tariff should not translate into a 10% price increase for what they sell, they should also not just accept a 10% price increase from their suppliers if the tariff is 10%.

Again, small business owners must stay calm, collected, and informed. As we have asserted, there is no need to fall into fear or hysteria. We would also caution small business owners against any rash business decisions during this time.

Stay informed with credible sources about your business' industry news and politics at all levels. While international politics are on everyone's minds, don't neglect to keep up with state and local politics and the business landscape around you. Local changes can have a big impact on your business just as much (if not more!) as federal changes.

Work With The Alexander Group

Whether you're thinking about tariffs or the day-to-day challenges of running a small business, the Alexander Group is here to help. We help small business owners in Greater St. Louis achieve their vision in life and business. How do we accomplish this?

Cornell Meyer is our professional business coach who leads small business owners through one-on-one coaching geared toward continuous improvement. We are also proud of our peer boards of local St. Louis business owners, who come together to tackle common issues and give advice and support.

If you are a business owner ready to commit to improvement, contact us today!

How Microsoft Copilot Can Help Small Business Owners

Tue, 14 Jan 2025 20:06:03 GMT

In recent years, we've heard a lot about Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its potential to change the world for better or worse, depending on who you ask. However, what many of us haven't heard much about is how AI can make an immediate positive impact on our businesses.

Recently, our client Fred Moore, Managing Partner at Moore Computing, LLP, shared a demonstration of Microsoft's AI-powered product called Copilot with his peer board. For many of us, it was a real-world, first-hand look at how AI can make us better communicators, analysts, decision-makers, and overall business owners.

Introduction to Copilot

Copilot is an umbrella of artificial intelligence programs designed by Microsoft for its users. All the leading programs within Copilot have options for using the program as a standalone desktop app, a mobile app, and/or an extension of the Microsoft Edge browser.

There are two options for small business owners:

Copilot Pro: Currently priced at $20/month and seen as a direct competitor to OpenAI's ChatGPT Plus model (though these two models have different capabilities). If you are a Microsoft subscriber, this model may be a good fit for you and your business.

Microsoft 365 Copilot: Currently priced at $30/month, it runs in conjunction with Microsoft 365 programs such as Teams, Excel, OneDrive, PowerPoint, and Outlook. If you don't mind the extra $10 a month, we recommend this Copilot model for its seamless integration into the Microsoft landscape.

There is also a more complex product called Copilot Studio , which allows you to program automation and Generative Pre-trained Transformer (GPTs) for your business. While this level may be helpful for those who are more advanced in their understanding of AI, many small business owners are best to start off with Pro or Copilot.

These programs are a launching point for the company, as more Copilot products and iterations will likely come this year and beyond as Microsoft rolls them out.

What Can Copilot Do?

So, what can Copilot do?

The answer is (just about) everything. If you need help with administrative tasks, Copilot can organize lists, summarize emails, suggest responses, clean up files, and more. Using Copilot in Microsoft Word can help you create drafts, brainstorm ideas, and strategize plans.

Copilot can also take your Teams meetings to a whole new level. It can generate meeting notes, list action items, identify agreements and disagreements, answer real-time questions, and more. It immediately creates an accurate recap of the meeting including resolved issues, next steps, and action items for each participant.

Copilot can create original PowerPoint presentations that are not only visually engaging and professional, but content rich with compelling sales pitches.

Check out these ideas for more of what you can do with Copilot.

Integrating Copilot Into Your Operations

Before small business owners jump in with Copilot, they may want to set some goals. Where is their business currently struggling? Which tasks tend to get put off until the last minute or not get done?

Organizations should also examine their staff. What role does everyone on the team have, and where would extra coverage be helpful?

Once a small business owner and their team discuss these questions, they can formulate a plan for Copilot to fill the holes. Any new technology can take a while to learn and adjust to, so business owners should be sure to train themselves and their teams.

Stay Vigilant With Artificial Intelligence

We would be remiss not to mention the stipulations and potential privacy concerns of using AI.

Like any new technology we have adapted to over the past few decades, it is imperative that we spend time learning its benefits and cautionary tales. AI's benefits are everywhere: increased productivity, ease of use, accessibility, and more.

What small business owners and anyone using AI products need to be wary of is misinformation, bias, and privacy. Take the time to understand how this AI was "trained," and fact-check any critical information it may give you.

As for privacy, small business owners should pay special attention to voice activation features. When is the product listening, how far is its range, and what devices can it access?

Connect With The Alexander Group

While it may still feel like a novelty to some, Artificial Intelligence is here to stay; in what capacity and how it will alter the workplace is still too early to predict fully. Whether you try a version of Microsoft Copilot or choose a different AI product, we hope small business owners can take advantage of AI's benefits and stay ahead of the curve.

Stubborn Vs. Obstinate: Successful Business Mindsets

Tue, 12 Nov 2024 22:18:18 GMT

Which personality traits are common in successful people?

Great business minds and psychologists have studied this question for years. While no single personality trait can determine a person's success in life, there appear to be commonalities among successful individuals across history.

One of the most frequent traits of these individuals is never giving up .

A person determined to finish a task or solve a problem usually receives the label of stubborn or obstinate .

Stubbornness is usually seen as admirable. Obstinance is viewed as annoying or bullheaded.

How can we tell if a determined person is being stubborn or obstinate? What differences do the two approaches have? Let's examine these two personality traits and how business owners can look for these traits when hiring.

Stubbornness vs. Obstinance

What is the critical difference between stubbornness and obstinance?

In many ways, the two traits are similar. Both stubborn and obstinate people are hard to stop and won't give up on their goals. In some cases, their motivations may even be the same.

The difference between these two mindsets is the behavior . Stubborn people are attached to the goal itself, whereas obstinate people tend to latch on to their specific ideas and methods for reaching it.

Stubborn people run a race and are fixed on crossing the finish line. If they have to change course, they will, but they will keep going and persevere until the finish line. An obstinate person is both fixed on crossing the finish line and the specific route they mapped out.

Navigating Disagreements and Challenges

An essential distinction between obstinate and stubborn people is how they respond to disagreements or new challenges.

If someone expresses disagreement with their methods or progress on a problem, obstinate people usually won't want to hear it. They will avoid the conflict and forge ahead with their process.

On the other hand, stubborn people will stay engaged and interested in what the person disagreeing has to say. While stubborn people may not change their minds based on disagreements, they are more likely to have a civil discussion or even reach a compromise.

Disagreements are bound to occur in business and in our personal lives. In fact, to an extent, differing opinions are a good sign, as they mean different minds are working on the problem rather than "groupthink."

That said, stubborn people shine in navigating these disagreements by being more open to hearing the other sides and listening to understand, not simply to respond. In any size of business, a stubborn person who is open to hearing disagreement is an asset.

Outcomes and Success

There will be instances where obstinate people achieve successful outcomes.

In his article "The Right Kind of Stubborn," Paul Graham points out that success from obstinate people can happen and likens it to how a broken clock is still right twice a day.

Stubborn people will likely have positive outcomes in their work far more frequently and throughout their careers. While a big success once or twice in business is laudable, continued success stretched over decades builds consistency and trust.

Hiring Stubborn People

Now that we've considered that stubborn people tend to be more successful than obstinate people, how can we look for the good kind of stubborn people during the hiring process?

There's no automatic formula, as applications and interview questions can only show so much. Yet there are specific questions and answers to look for that may give a clue if someone is stubborn or obstinate.

Interview questions that require the candidate to give a real-life example as their answer remains popular and for a good reason. The candidate's anecdotes and examples can tell the interviewer more about their personality than non-situational questions.

For screening for stubborn people, try out these questions:

"Tell me about a time when you persevered to accomplish a task."
"Give me an example of when you realized you needed to change your approach to solve a problem."
"Have you ever had to persuade a colleague or manager to try an idea? How did you overcome resistance?"

Retaining Stubborn People

A stubborn person is likelier to stay at a company and grow in their role rather than job-hop, right?

Not necessarily.

Even stubborn team players need recognition and direction. If you notice an employee is performing well, persevering through complex tasks, and working well with the team, let them know.

Employee recognition programs almost always improve retention. Even if your business doesn't have a formal recognition program in the budget, regular check-ins and praise from a manager go a long way toward retaining top talent.

Stubbornness in Leadership

Stubbornness and leadership go hand in hand. Screening for persistence and resiliency is critical when hiring for management or other leadership positions.

Some folks may associate stubbornness with "climbing the ladder" and feel that once someone is at the top, they've "made it" and no longer need to be as stubborn. On the contrary, leadership teams must persist by constantly problem-solving, weathering through larger-scale storms that individual contributors may not see, and going to bat for their team.

In the end, an obstinate person will be so intent on accomplishing a task their way that they overlook ways to improve their process. This mindset can lead to bad decision-making and, in turn, poor business results.

When someone is the "good kind" of stubborn, they will chase after a goal and see a task to completion no matter what while adapting to new information along the way. Stubborn individuals are determined and make strong decisions to produce excellent business results.

So...what will you decide to be moving forward? Stubborn? Or Obstinate?

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The Post-Pandemic Job Market Is Cooling Off

Wed, 11 Sep 2024 17:00:38 GMT

The first few years of this decade have been turbulent for the American job market. In the spring of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic affected the entire world, and life and work for many Americans changed immediately. Businesses altered their current course, workers went remote or held the frontline (depending on the industry), and many storefronts shuttered their windows temporarily or for good. This movement affected the job market, and the aftermath still affects where we are as we head into the end of 2024 and prepare for the back half of the decade. Here are signs the job market may be slowing and some tips for how small business owners can respond.

Where The Job Market Was

The volatility of the U.S. labor market during the pandemic was historically significant. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics monthly surveys showed a decrease in employment of 13.6 percent between March and April 2020. This decrease represented 20.5 million jobs and was the most consequential one-month drop since the Bureau started monthly surveys in 1939.

However, just weeks later, the survey showed an employment gain of 3.4 percent from May to June 2020, the most substantial one-month increase since 1939. This jolt in hiring and change in the job market led to what experts call "boom times," or times of rapid economic expansion. Wages skyrocketed as employers fought for employees during a nationwide labor shortage. Unions found opportunities to negotiate significant gains in benefits and pay. Many companies went on a hiring spree while eager employees job-hopped in the hot market, looking for increased wages and better benefits.

Where The Job Market Is Currently

The unemployment rate in June 2024 rose to 4.1%. While this number is still historically low, it is the first time it has crossed above 4% since 2021. Early in 2023, by comparison, it was at 3.4%.

Wage growth has also fallen and is now around 3.9% year-over-year for June. It's important to note that wage growth was around 3% in the months before the pandemic began. That said, many workers got used to being able to job-hop and drastically change their wages or negotiate higher salaries. The market is swinging back in favor of employers as wage growth cools off.

Economists Divided Over Forecast

Many economists feel that the job market has reached an equilibrium again. Other economists, however, fear that a cooling period could go too far and worsen conditions. The American economy still adds many jobs and has experienced employment growth for the past 42 months. What is important to note is that this hiring is taking place in a handful of sectors: healthcare , construction , and government work . Economists speculate that this growth, paired with the cooling period of white-collar hiring, can balance out the economy.

Worker Trends Of The Past Decade

Economists dubbed the rapid movement of workers hopping from job to job over the last few years " The Great Resignation ." Employees knew that with labor shortages, they had the leverage to get higher wages and benefits, so company loyalty decreased. Another key component of the era was "quiet quitting," which refers to only doing the bare minimum of your required job description and not working after hours. Over several months, some took "quiet quitting" to the next level, not performing their job duties when working remotely and resigning suddenly and immediately. As for now, workers seem to be staying put, which some call (tongue-in-cheek) "The Big Stay."

College Graduates Still Struggling

College graduates, as usual, need help in the current job market. Experts have noted that it is a great time to have and stay at a job, but breaking into the market proves difficult. Many entry-level white-collar positions are hard to come by. A spring survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers found that many companies planned to hire 6% fewer new graduates than last year (of 226 employers surveyed). And new data from payroll provider ADP shows that hiring for roles that typically require a bachelor's degree has dipped below 2019 rates.

What Small Business Owners Should Watch For

Whether or not the "Big Stay" is here to stay, small business owners can respond to these job market changes by keeping current employees engaged and staying cautious when hiring new talent. If there's one lesson we can learn from big tech companies' (i.e., LinkedIn and Google) layoff spree last year, it's that bloating your organization with new hires can be detrimental in the long run.

Small business owners can take a pragmatic approach by looking at their operations and deciding if new hires are necessary. Just as important, small business owners and managers should check in with their current staff and ensure they are engaged and happy in their workplace. We should always be looking to improve the talent level of our employees. For small business owners, opportunities to refine their talent base are improving and becoming more frequent.

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The Risks of Remote Work (and How To Monitor Them)

Mon, 15 Jul 2024 20:36:21 GMT

Remote work models were on the rise before 2020. But as we all know, the COVID-19 pandemic turned the working world upside down and rapidly sped up this new arrangement. Some businesses will never be able to implement hybrid or remote policies, particularly the service industry, direct healthcare, first responders, and more. Other small companies moved some or all of their employees to work from home in 2020; in 2024, many workers are still remote. This type of setup can certainly have its benefits, but there is more nuance to the situation than you may think.

Common Remote Employee Issues

Remote work can bring up some unique issues that employers may not have had to deal with while the team was in office. The most notable is distracted working or not working at all. Some employees may be able to stay focused at home, but others will have their attention quickly accosted. Home offices can work as a dedicated space to log on, yet only some employees may have that space in their home and might end up working at a dining room table or even on their couch. Homes can be full of distractions like children, roommates, other family members, pets, and household chores.

Another common issue with remote employees is the lack of in-person connection. Remote work with new hires can be especially complicated; they may have questions easier for their manager to answer in person. Bosses might not understand the new hire's personality or working style digitally. These are just a few challenges for companies adopting remote work policies.

Internal Fraud

One of the worst possibilities of remote work is internal fraud. There are several ways this could happen. If remote employees are not honest with timesheets or promptly complete their jobs without seeking more tasks, managers could be paying someone who is underperforming. Additionally, just like at a typical office, there is always the chance of financial fraud when employees have access to the company's financials or credit cards – and when they are remote, they may find it easier to break the rules. Ultimately, they have fewer inhibitions when they know they are in their home versus an office with others nearby.

Mouse Jigglers and Deceptive Tech

Management has uncovered another unethical behavior of remote workers: using mouse and keyboard "jigglers" to simulate computer activity. Mouse jigglers are inexpensive gadgets that swivel around the mouse in different directions. When the mouse swivels around, it mimics actual computer activity and gives the impression that workers are at their computer when they are not (they may not even be at the house).

Beyond mouse-jigglers, other tech, such as devices that can manually tap keys randomly to imitate keystrokes, has entered the market. As this tech advances, employers must stay vigilant.

Employee Monitoring Software as a Solution

Managers need a way to supervise remote employees at home, and monitoring software has become the go-to strategy to meet this need. For mouse jigglers, worker-surveillance software systems such as Teramind and Hubstaff use machine-learning tools to catch repetitive cursor movements and irregular patterns. Some software can also randomly scrape screen images throughout the day to test whether screen activity changes as the computer mouse moves. These programs can detect mouse jigglers and other forms of deception.

Costs and Benefits

It's up to each business to weigh the costs and benefits of remote work and decide which structure is best for the company's overall health. While most employees will not go to such lengths as buying mouse jigglers or committing financial fraud, it's essential for management to stay informed about employee activity. Returning to the office may be more effective in the long run if a company has to invest copious amounts of energy into remote work rules and employee-monitoring software.

At the Alexander Group, we advise our small business owners to keep employees in the office whenever possible. Accountability, collaboration, and creativity are positive traits of high performers, and working in an office can nurture these traits.

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Weathering the Storms of Small Business: A TAG Success Story

Mon, 06 May 2024 16:51:47 GMT

Dean Branson was one of The Alexander Groups' first clients when our firm started in 2007. Dean was a partner at his independent insurance agency, Midwest Agency. At the time, Dean didn't necessarily realize he needed a business coach, but he did know he needed help because he had a big problem.

An Agency in Crisis

Seventeen years ago, Dean focused on sales, while his business partner handled most of the administrative duties of the agency. However, his partner had a sudden and severe heart issue requiring surgery followed by a lengthy recovery period, leaving Dean with the responsibility of running the business side of the agency, too.

Thrust into his new role as business manager, he was shocked to discover the business was in serious financial trouble. Accounting and tax issues were so serious that the future of the entire agency was in doubt.

As Dean looks back, he is grateful that he connected with Cornell Meyer, founder of The Alexander Group.

First, they applied some forensic accounting to examine whether any fraud occurred. After working with a CPA, Dean and Cornell concluded that Dean's partner had mismanaged the finances. Cornell worked with Dean over the next few years to unwind the partnership and get each party what they needed. Ultimately, they ended the partnership with little disruption to employees and customers. In 2011, the partnership officially concluded, and Dean was ready to take Midwest Agency to new heights.

The Next Chapter, Improving Financials

Next, Cornell and Dean focused on improving financials. It was one thing for Dean to unwind the business from financial troubles and another to build it bigger, better, and more robust. After a dire banking crisis, that year marked a challenging period for small businesses. Many banks were hesitant to give small businesses loans, especially small businesses in the professional services sector, like insurance. Nevertheless, with TAG and Cornell's help, Dean and his team worked to restructure debt, hire new people, improve sales and marketing, and streamline HR.

Considering An Exit

Throughout the next ten years, Dean began to think more deeply about what an exit plan could look like and how to shape the company's future. Initially, the plan was that his daughter Bailey would take over the company. While both felt good about that succession plan, they were still open to other opportunities.

In 2021, Dean researched industry mergers and acquisitions and put word out that he was open to offers leading to a potential deal with a private equity (PE) firm out of Chicago. The process of vetting the offer helped Dean learn his priorities while exposing some improvements his business could make. He and Cornell uncovered an internal opportunity to renegotiate legacy contracts and ultimately realize an additional $100M in agency profit.

Dean declined the offer from the PE firm when he concluded it was too low and the risk too high for his employees, who would have been left vulnerable to layoffs. However, the process of vetting the PE offer with Cornell made a stronger and better Midwest Agency.

Enter First Community Credit Union

In 2021, First Community Credit Union created a wholly-owned subsidiary called First Community Realty. As reported by the St. Louis Business Journal (requires subscription), it's a for-profit affiliate of the nonprofit Credit Union.

By 2023, the success of the Real Estate arm had First Community on the lookout for an independent insurance agency to acquire. They were looking for a specific niche insurance company: one that was large enough that they had experience and valuable contracts yet also small enough to fit their price range. They were considering 20 different insurance companies, and Midwest Agency was one of them.

A critical aspect of the deal for Dean was that the buyer didn't perform a total gut of the staff – many of his employees are like family, so he wanted to be sure they had opportunities. Thankfully, First Community was on board with this and agreed they would keep Dean, his daughter Bailey, and the rest of the team on.

Negotiating The Deal

Cornell and Dean calculated what Midwest Agency would be worth ahead of the deal to ensure Dean would get a strong offer. First Community chose Midwest Agency as their ideal company to buy and made an offer. Dean looked it over and sent it to Cornell. Dean and Cornell drafted the counteroffer and submitted it to First Community the next day.

An hour later, First Community called Dean, accepted the offer and added additional benefits and terms favorable to Midwest Agency.

Sold

Midwest Agency was sold to First Community, and most importantly, Dean and his team's hard work paid off. Dean feels a large part of this successful business move was the advice and guidance from Cornell and TAG.

Dean doesn't just applaud TAG's work in his own story; he also takes the time to recommend TAG to other small business owners who are looking for guidance. Recently, a long-time client and friend approached him to ask for advice on an exit strategy for a plumbing business. He recommended TAG in a heartbeat and would again.

If we can learn anything from Dean and Midwest Agency's story, any challenge small business owners face is easier to navigate with a strong support network. TAG provides this foundation through one-on-one coaching with Cornell and the wisdom and connections of peer boards.

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Contact us today if you're a small business owner who resonated with any challenges Dean faced throughout his career or similar situations. It's time to take control of your business and commit to continuous improvement!

What Small Business Owners Need to Know About Email Authentication Requirements

Fri, 08 Mar 2024 21:23:46 GMT

Have you been having trouble sending out bulk emails and email blasts recently?

Are you suddenly having deliverability issues with clients and vendors you've been emailing for years?

If so, you're not alone — Google and Yahoo rolled out new DMARC requirements in February, creating headaches. We have heard that many of our small business owner clients and their IT departments are having such headaches.

To investigate this issue, we have leaned on IT expert and long-time TAG peer board member Fred Moore of Moore Computing. Fred has walked us through changes to DMARC and offers advice on how small business owners can get their emails back into the inbox. While DMARC changes have thrown many into a temporary tailspin, the changes represent a move to safer and more secure email communication for all parties.

Let's discuss what small business owners need to know about DMARC, how they can ensure their emails reach customers' inboxes, and how to keep their business digitally secure.

What is DMARC?

Cybersecurity measures are similar to cars: most of us drive one daily, but most are unable to lift the hood and understand exactly how it runs. Most of us rely on cybersecurity measures to keep our businesses safe online, but we may need help understanding the technical elements that keep us safe. That said, all small business owners should have a general background in cybersecurity, and DMARC is a great place to start.

DMARC stands for "Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance." The idea behind DMARC is to limit the volume of scams and phishing on the internet. DMARC works with SPF and DKIM.

SPF (Sender Policy Framework) is a list of services and servers that are authorized to send emails on behalf of your domain, and DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) is a digital seal that verifies the content of your email hasn't been altered or tampered with. DKIM is also able to withstand email forwarding, whereas SPF can not.

Senders and Recipients

At its core, DMARC validates the authentication of the sender of an email message. When there are deliverability issues with a message, it usually falls back on the sender. Small business owners know the importance of getting marketing campaign emails and other communications into their customers/clients' inboxes; to accomplish this, it is crucial to follow all protocols to ensure you have the best chances to reach customers' inboxes at an optimal place (i.e., not the spam folder), and avoid spam complaints.

How does your email make its way to recipients? It follows a basic flow:

● The email is composed and sent

● The sending mail server will add DKIM

● The email is sent to the recipient's server

● Validation tests begin, checking DKIM, SPF, and DMARC policies

● The email either passes, is quarantined, or is blocked/deleted

● If the email passes, it goes through the recipient's user filters and inbox rules

Who Is Affected by These Changes?

Anyone who sends 5,000+ external messages daily to Google or Yahoo inboxes will be affected (and the list will probably grow). If you use Google Workspace to host your domain, internal messages may also count toward the 5,000 daily threshold. As many small business owners are finding, this also includes messages sent on behalf of your business by third-party email service providers such as MailChimp, Constant Contact, and Active Campaign.

Although the initial DMARC setup takes time, it will ultimately help your inbox placement. Internet service providers favor messages from senders with up-to-date DMARC records and follow established email standards.

What Changes Do I Need to Make?

The most crucial changes to focus on are ensuring you have DMARC configured in your DNS records. DMARC data should be published in DNS as TXT records. Check out some examples here.

Beyond DMARC, you should also check that you use best practices when sending bulk emails. A significant component of this is who you are sending emails to. You risk getting spam complaints if you send messages to users who have not opted in. The new requirements are to crack down on spam, and services such as GMAIL require senders to have a "Spam Complaint Rate" below 0.3%.

You should also be sure you have a "one-click" unsubscribe option in your email blasts (usually at the end of the email). Many third-party email service providers may already have this function, but ensuring recipients can unsubscribe from messages is essential. Yahoo will begin enforcing this requirement starting in June 2024.

Looking Ahead

This change should remind small business owners to look closely at all their cybersecurity measures, with email and beyond. We have been recommending that our clients invest in a cyber insurance policy; small businesses are often the victims of spoofing, phishing, and more severe cyberattacks. While we aim to help our clients to the best of our ability, having cyber insurance adds another layer of safety and peace of mind.

We also recommend that our clients consider using Dmarcian , a third-party DMARC service. They have many resources on their website and solutions for businesses of all sizes.

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A group of individuals with similar goals is vital to a small business owner. Our group of Greater St. Louis area business owners collaborates, discusses everyday issues, and develops dynamic solutions. When business owners pair this with our one-on-one coaching, they set themselves up for success.

The Costly Mistakes of DIY: Why Small Business Owners Should Invest in Professionals

Thu, 11 Jan 2024 19:00:00 GMT

Running a small business is a challenging task. It requires dedication, hard work, and juggling multiple responsibilities. Often, small business owners try to cut costs by taking on tasks themselves, even if they are better off calling a professional. While the intention may be to save money, the reality is that DIY can lead to costly mistakes and legal pitfalls. Let's explore the common mistakes small business owners make when they opt for a do-it-yourself approach and why investing in professionals like lawyers, accountants, and general contractors is crucial for long-term success.

The Myth of Saving Money

Many small business owners believe that handling tasks themselves will save them money in the long run. However, this is often a misconception. While it may seem cost-effective initially, the lack of expertise and knowledge in critical areas can lead to costly mistakes that can ultimately hinder a business's growth and profitability.

The Value of Professional Services

Professional services, such as lawyers, accountants, advisors, and general contractors, bring expertise, experience, and a deep understanding of industry regulations. They can provide valuable guidance, prevent legal issues, and help small business owners make informed decisions that align with their long-term goals.

Most of the time, business owners don't consult with their advisors because they are wary of spending money on bills from their advisors on top of other expenses. The phrase "You can pay me now, or really pay me later" comes into play in these situations. Business owners should not be afraid to discuss money and bills from professionals with their advisors, and they should adequately compensate advisors for their time. Complaining about spending a few thousand dollars to review a $20,000,000 contract can cost hundreds of thousands due to difficult payment and dispute resolution terms.

Protecting Your Intellectual Property

Intellectual property (IP) is a valuable asset for any business. Failing to protect it can lead to brand confusion, loss of revenue, and legal battles. Trademarks, copyrights, and patents should be filed appropriately and protected to ensure exclusive rights to your brand name, logo, or product design.

How Professionals Can Help

Lawyers specializing in intellectual property can guide small business owners through filing the necessary documents and paying the required fees.
They can conduct an IP audit to identify and protect essential assets, develop IP protection strategies, and enforce IP rights if violations occur.

Misclassifying Employees

Misclassifying employees as independent contractors can have severe legal consequences, including fines and legal battles. Understanding the legal definitions of each classification is crucial to ensure compliance and avoid potential penalties.

How Professionals Can Help

Employment lawyers can provide guidance on proper employee classification based on IRS guidelines and other labor laws.
They can assist in drafting employment contracts and ensuring compliance with labor regulations.

Failing to Comply with Labor Laws

Small business owners must comply with labor laws, including minimum wage, overtime pay, and worker safety regulations. Failure to comply can result in litigation and financial penalties.

How Professionals Can Help

Employment lawyers and HR consultants can help small business owners understand and comply with labor laws, develop policies and procedures, and conduct regular compliance audits.

Not Having Proper Contracts

Contracts are crucial for establishing and maintaining business relationships. Failing to have legally binding agreements can lead to legal disputes and financial losses.

How Professionals Can Help

Contract lawyers can assist in drafting contracts that outline the terms and conditions of business relationships, ensuring clarity and protection for all parties involved.
They can review existing contracts and advise on necessary amendments or updates to ensure legal compliance and protect business interests.

Not Obtaining Necessary Permits and Licenses

Depending on the industry, specific permits and licenses may be required to operate a business legally. Failure to obtain these permits and licenses can lead to fines, legal battles, and even business closure.

How Professionals Can Help

Lawyers specializing in business regulations can guide small business owners through obtaining the necessary permits and licenses, ensuring compliance with local, state, and federal requirements.

Finding the Right Professionals

Finding the right experts for your business needs is essential when seeking professional services. Research and choose professionals with expertise in your industry, a track record of success, and a reputation for providing quality services.

Building Long-Term Relationships

Investing in professionals is not just a one-time affair. Building long-term relationships with your chosen professionals is crucial to reap the full benefits; this allows them to understand your business in-depth, provide ongoing support, and adapt their services as your business evolves.

Prioritizing Professional Services in Your Budget

Small business owners often prioritize cost-cutting measures, but investing in professional services should be essential to your business budget. Allocating funds for legal, accounting, and contracting services ensures you have the expertise to navigate challenges, prevent costly mistakes, and drive long-term success.

Small business owners should avoid the temptation of DIY in critical areas of their businesses. While it may seem cost-effective initially, the risks and potential consequences of making costly mistakes outweigh the short-term benefits. By seeking professional help, small business owners can protect their intellectual property, comply with labor laws, establish proper contracts, obtain necessary permits and licenses, and ensure their businesses' long-term success and sustainability. Remember, the cost of professional services is an investment in the future of your business, not just an expense to minimize.

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What Business Owners Can Learn From Al Pacino’s Locker Room Speech in “Any Given Sunday”

Mon, 09 Oct 2023 21:30:08 GMT

In the 1999 film “Any Given Sunday,” directed by Oliver Stone, Al Pacino delivers a powerful and memorable locker room speech that has resonated with me for years. The speech, delivered by Pacino’s character, Tony D’Amato, before a crucial football game, encapsulates the essence of the film and the themes it explores.

While the speech is specifically about football, its underlying message can be applied to various aspects of life, including business. The idea of fighting for inches, continuously improving, and eliminating mistakes is a powerful metaphor for the importance of perseverance and adaptability in business. It highlights the value of small victories, incremental progress, and the relentless pursuit of excellence.

For business owners, the speech serves as a reminder to focus on the details and the small wins that can accumulate over time. Just as a football team must fight for every inch on the field, a successful business must be diligent in managing its resources and seize every opportunity for growth. It emphasizes the importance of building a team that shares the same values and is committed to continuous improvement.

Think of it in terms of all the inches and seconds around us in business and how $200 here and $50 there adds up. The whole concept of continuous improvement, eliminating mistakes, and fighting to get better is what I believe Oliver Stone intended when he wrote it.

I love it as much today and as when I first saw it and the metaphor of getting into business and being profitable.

You can read the transcript here .

Or watch it here:

The Power of Teamwork

One of the central themes of Al Pacino’s speech is the power of teamwork. He emphasizes that success is not achieved by individuals but by a collective effort. Business owners can learn from this by understanding the importance of building a strong, cohesive team.

By fostering a culture of collaboration and unity, business owners can ensure that their teams work together towards a common goal. It is essential to create an environment where every member feels valued, and their contributions are recognized. Just like in football, success in business often hinges on the ability of a team to work together and support one another.

Embracing Challenges

Pacino acknowledges that the team is facing a challenging situation. He emphasizes that it is during these difficult times that true character is revealed. Business owners can apply this lesson by embracing challenges and viewing them as opportunities for growth.

Rather than shying away from obstacles, successful business owners see them as chances to learn, innovate, and improve. They understand that setbacks are a natural part of the entrepreneurial journey and use them as stepping stones to success. By adopting a mindset that embraces challenges, business owners can navigate through difficult times with resilience and determination.

The Importance of Continuous Improvement

He emphasizes that success is not achieved through one big leap but through consistent efforts to get better inch by inch. Business owners can learn from this by adopting a mindset of continuous improvement.

By constantly seeking ways to refine processes, enhance products or services, and optimize operations, business owners can stay competitive and adapt to changing market conditions. They understand that success is not a destination but an ongoing journey of growth and improvement.

Attention to Detail

Success in both life and football often comes down to the smallest margins. Business owners can apply this principle by cultivating a keen eye for detail in every aspect of their operations.

From product design to customer service, meticulous attention to detail can set a business apart from its competitors. By scrutinizing every element of their business, business owners can identify areas for improvement, eliminate mistakes, and deliver exceptional experiences to their customers.

Resilience in the Face of Adversity

Setbacks are a natural part of life and football, but we need to keep fighting and never give up. Business owners can learn from this by developing resilience and perseverance in their entrepreneurial journey.

In the face of challenges, successful business owners maintain a positive mindset and an unwavering belief in their vision. They adapt to changing circumstances, learn from failures, and use setbacks as motivation to keep pushing forward. By cultivating resilience, business owners can overcome obstacles and achieve long-term success.

Building a Winning Culture

Another crucial lesson from Al Pacino’s speech is the importance of building a winning culture. He emphasizes that successful teams fight for every inch and only add people who fit into this culture. Business owners can apply this principle by creating a positive and high-performing culture within their organizations.

By hiring individuals who align with the company’s values and goals, business owners can foster a culture of excellence, teamwork, and continuous improvement. They create an environment where employees are motivated to give their best, collaborate, and contribute to the overall success of the business.

The Value of Passion and Emotion

All of us can gain by infusing passion and emotion into our leadership and communication.

By expressing genuine enthusiasm for their business and conveying a clear vision, business owners can inspire their teams and stakeholders. Passionate leadership creates a sense of purpose and motivates others to go above and beyond. It also fosters a positive and energizing work environment, contributing to overall productivity and success.

By applying these lessons to their own ventures, business owners can create an environment of collaboration, resilience, and excellence. They can inspire their teams, navigate through challenges with determination, and strive for continuous improvement.

Connect With The Alexander Group

At The Alexander Group, we coach business owners on running their businesses in line with their vision and exceeding their goals. Our one-on-one coaching will help you reduce stress by balancing your business and personal lives. Having a group of individuals with similar goals is also vital. Our group of Greater St. Louis area business owners collaborates, discusses everyday issues, and develops dynamic solutions. When business owners pair this with our one-on-one coaching, they set themselves up for success. Contact us today if you’re a business owner ready to commit to improvement!

Changing the Channel: Marketing In a Post-COVID World

Fri, 11 Aug 2023 17:04:21 GMT

The business world is constantly changing, but the acceleration of change has dramatically increased over the last three years. Everything from business models to staffing to workflow was shaken up – and marketing is no exception. Small business owners know that no matter how strong their product or service is, they won't cut through the noise in a crowded environment without solid marketing tactics. However, unlike larger businesses, small businesses have less margin for error regarding marketing. They typically have smaller budgets, one or two marketing people on their team (if that), and more to lose reputation-wise if a marketing move goes wrong.

We're here to help our small business leaders think through tangible marketing ideas that will keep their businesses succeeding without extra hassles. Let's examine a few.

More Channels, New Channels

As we've reached 2023, there's been an increase in the number of channels customers can use to interact with companies. Harvard Business Review cites this increase as 61% of companies reporting increasing the number of channels they now use. B2C leads channel increases, but B2B isn't far behind.

A vital facet for business leaders to consider is that while there's the option to expand to new channels, which channels will be most fruitful and keep the brand image intact? For instance, your business could start a text campaign for customers and allow them to text back questions. You should consider whether you will have the staff time to answer these questions and if your customer base prefers texting over phone calls, emails, or your typical communication channels.

Don't Discount Face-to-Face Opportunities

Face-to-face (F2F) opportunities are still in demand, even in our digital world. Because the average consumer is exposed to so many advertisements daily, F2F experiences can become more memorable than all the digital clutter. Potential customers/clients may be more likely to remember a F2F conversation they had with someone than a series of ads they saw online.

With in-person events in full swing, many small businesses are embracing trade shows, conventions, and other industry events. These channels are excellent for meeting potential clients and customers and networking with industry experts. While these events require time, money, and travel, they can pay off significantly with the connections made throughout the events.

Another way to lean into F2F experiences is through customer appreciation events. These events could be anything from an informal happy hour or barbecue to a more formal open house function. When planning these events, consider inviting customers, suppliers, employees, community members, and anyone else interested. Don't discount the power of word-of-mouth – even if a prospect attends an event and doesn't end up working with your business; if they have a pleasant experience at the event and share that with their friends, you can still get traction from that interaction.

Research First

Before you add new channels to your marketing or communication plans, it's essential to research these channels first. Keeping up with other businesses in your industry or even direct competitors is critical. What are they doing, and what is working for them? How can you do it better?

Even with the increasing number of channels available, it's vital to remember that only some tracks will fit your business. Regularly researching your customer's demographics and preferences will help you identify which channels may be worth your time and which may be a wild goose chase.

Tap Into Social Media

Social media isn't just for teenagers and influencers anymore – it's for businesses of all types. B2C companies can benefit from tapping into e-commerce options on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and more. Social media usage may be less straightforward for B2B companies. Content marketing can be a strategy for B2B companies focusing on industry education. B2B companies may also consider posting organic content showing how the business runs, spotlighting employee achievements, etc. Business owners may be surprised at how many new hires or clients mention seeing the company's Facebook or LinkedIn page.

Build Your Online Presence

In addition to social media, your business's online presence is vital in a post-COVID world. Social media is one component of your total online presence. Your Google business listing, reviews, website, and more all make up the rest of the pie. Reviews are becoming especially important for small businesses, as many customers are wary of companies without any (or without any recent ones). Your website must also be up-to-date, responsive, and navigable at the bare minimum. Ideally, your website is optimized and includes lead-generating features, but being up-to-date is the foundation.

Loyalty Pays Off

Our small business leaders know the value of retention. Many marketing efforts focus on attracting new customers or clients. Don't let your focus on acquisition leave your current customers or clients in the dust. A straightforward way to accomplish this is by setting up a loyalty program. For B2C companies, this can look like free or discounted merchandise after many visits or starting a "points" system where incentives unlock after consistent purchases. Even B2B companies can enjoy the fun with special deals or discounts for long-time clients.

Connect With The Alexander Group

Navigating marketing and communication channels in a post-COVID world is a challenge that takes time, strategy, and money. At The Alexander Group, we coach business owners on running their businesses in line with their vision and exceeding their goals. Our one-on-one coaching will help you reduce stress by balancing your business and personal lives.

Having a group of individuals with similar goals is also vital. Our group of Greater St. Louis area business owners collaborates, discusses everyday issues, and develops dynamic solutions. When business owners pair this with our one-on-one coaching, they set themselves up for success. Contact us today if you're a business owner ready to commit to improvement!

Don't Wait: How Small Business Owners Can Prepare for Potential UPS Strike

Wed, 05 Jul 2023 18:00:00 GMT

UPS ships approximately 24 million packages daily and handles around one-fourth of all parcel volume in the United States; that's roughly six percent of America's GDP. So, when Teamsters, the union representing UPS workers, expresses concern about worker safety and compensation, there's a lot on the line.

A few of Teamsters' current demands are higher part-time pay, more full-time positions, video cameras, harassment protection, cooling measures in the vehicle fleets, and no more two-tier wage system (to name a few). With the current contract at UPS expiring on August 1st and the workers recently voting to strike should a new deal not be made, the possibility of a strike is growing daily.

Recent discussions of this potential UPS standstill in August have raised concerns among small business owners who rely heavily on their shipping services. We are coaching our clients to take proactive measures to mitigate the impact on their business operations and maintain a smooth customer experience.

Diversify Your Shipping Options

Relying solely on a single shipping provider can be risky, especially when faced with the possibility of a strike. As a small business owner, exploring alternative shipping options in your area is crucial. Research and identify reliable courier services, regional carriers, or local delivery companies that can meet your shipping needs. By diversifying your shipping options, you can minimize disruptions and ensure timely deliveries, even during a UPS strike.

Strengthen Relationships with Other Carriers

Take the time to build relationships with alternative carriers and logistics providers in your network. Reach out to them, introduce your business, and discuss the possibility of working together in case of a UPS strike. Building these connections will help streamline the onboarding process, ensuring a smoother transition if you need to switch shipping providers temporarily. Maintaining good relationships with multiple carriers also opens up opportunities for competitive rates and better service options.

Evaluate Inventory Management and Production

A potential UPS strike may cause delays in receiving essential supplies or shipping products to your customers. Reviewing your inventory management and production processes to identify areas of improvement is vital. Consider increasing your safety stock levels for critical items, optimizing your production schedule to accommodate potential delays, and ensuring clear communication with suppliers to manage expectations. By proactively managing your inventory and production, you can mitigate the impact of a UPS strike on your business operations.

Enhance Communication Channels

Effective communication is critical during times of uncertainty. Review your communication channels with customers, suppliers, and employees to ensure they are robust and efficient. Consider leveraging multiple communication platforms, such as email, social media, and your business website, to keep stakeholders informed about any potential shipping disruptions or changes in delivery timelines. Clear and timely communication will help manage customer expectations and maintain trust even during challenging situations.

Plan for Customer Service and Support

A UPS strike may increase customer inquiries and concerns. Prepare your customer service team by providing them with the necessary information and tools to handle questions related to shipping delays or alternative delivery options. Implement strategies to manage customer expectations proactively, such as setting realistic delivery timelines, offering alternative shipping options, or providing updates through automated tracking notifications. You can uphold customer satisfaction and loyalty during a UPS strike by addressing customer concerns promptly and providing exceptional support.

As a small business owner, being proactive and prepared is crucial when faced with the potential of a UPS strike. You can minimize the impact on your business operations by diversifying your shipping options, strengthening relationships with alternative carriers, optimizing your inventory management and production processes, enhancing communication channels, and planning for customer service and support.

What Small Business Owners Should Be Asking Their Banks Right Now

Thu, 22 Jun 2023 17:54:49 GMT

It’s been a rough year for banks, particularly regional and smaller banks. While we continue to coach our clients that these types of banks are preferred because of the personal relationships they foster, now is an important time to revisit those relationships and ask some tough questions.

Note we said, “banks” (plural). We firmly believe business owners need to have a working relationship with more than one bank. The main purpose of doing business with more than one bank is to keep your primary bank honest and aware in quoting rates for additional financing needs such as funding capital improvements, funding real estate or staying competitive with the rate on your Line of Credit.

Of course, if your primary bank failed, you would obviously need a backup for critical functions like payroll. But beyond bank failures, other catastrophic events can happen to the bank, like a fire, cybersecurity breach, flood, or power outage.

Ask Your Banker Some Tough Questions

Set up an in-person meeting at the bank or a lunch with your banker and ask questions like:

How healthy are the bank’s financials? How do their numbers compare to a year ago, five years ago, or even ten years ago?
What do they think the bank’s financials will look like in 6 months or 12 months?
What is the biggest loan loss they have incurred in the last 12 months?
What loans are they worried most about?
How exposed are they in sectors that are suffering right now, like commercial real estate (particularly office building landlords)?
How is the bank’s investment portfolio? Is it balanced and conservative or aggressive in riskier sectors like technology?
How do they think their bank’s financial stability compares with their competitors?

Take the time to dig in and get a sense of their level of worry (or confidence). If you are not satisfied with the answers or think they might not be telling you the whole truth, it’s time to look for a new bank.

Common (and Uncommon) Disruptions

The failures of these larger banks magnify the issues above, but the fact is that any disruptions can negatively affect a small business. The FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation) will insure up to $250,000 for chartered banks. Still, even a minor stumble on the bank’s part can become a significant disruption for a business.

Other disruptions beyond bank failures include environmental disasters, pandemics (ex. COVID-19), cybersecurity issues, and more. There may not be a foolproof way to avoid bank troubles, but there are steps small business owners can take to protect themselves financially.

We recommend that small business owners have accounts with at least two different banks – if there is a disruption at one bank, you can still rely on the other bank to provide finances for immediate needs, such as payroll.

Small business owners should be like the golfer who carries two putters (or two drivers, if you’re Phil Mickelson circa 2006) in case one doesn’t work how they expect it to. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket – consider multiple baskets, even completely different containers.

Learning From Recent Bank Failures

Several large U.S. banks have faced huge issues this year. Silvergate Bank liquidated in early March 2023 after a series of miscues, most notably the run on the bank after cryptocurrency hedge fund FTX announced bankruptcy.

Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) was the 16th largest bank in the U.S., working with many organizations in the tech industry. However, in response to the Federal Reserve’s continual raising of interest rates since 2021, SVB announced in March 2023 that it had sold securities and treasury stocks and borrowed an additional $15 billion. This announcement caused a run on the bank as its customers withdrew $42 billion. Signature Bank and First Republic Bank have also faced similar financial issues.

These bank failures have caused waves across U.S. and international markets. The current federal response has been to create the Bank Term Funding Program, which gives one-year emergency loans to credit unions, banks, savings associations, etc.

Inflation, supply chain disruptions, and market volatility are happening nationwide. For small businesses, it is critical to ensure that all financial choices are informed and stable. If they have a loan with a bank that fails, this can impact loan terms, interest rates, and more.

As Your Small Business Grows

Whether your small business is relatively new or you’ve been around for a while, there are crucial actions to take as your business grows.

Establish a Line of Credit (LOC) with your banks. Do this even if you don’t anticipate needing it; you want to avoid trying and getting a LOC when you need it if your financials take a downturn. Additionally, ensure you use your LOC occasionally to demonstrate to the bank that it’s active.

Build up your cash reserves. Work to set monthly targets for savings, monitor cash flow daily, and eliminate unnecessary spending. These are vital to have ready to go in times of disruption.

Know your alternative funding options. If a disturbance is beyond your control and your small business needs significant help quickly, remember that you could utilize crowdfunding or angel investors.

Diversify your customer base. Consider bringing your business to new markets or targeting different segments. Smart business owners know that multiple, diverse customer bases are key.

Building Relationships

In addition to these steps, you should still build relationships with your loan officers. The tried-and-true method of building relationships is through outside meetings, like getting coffee or lunch. Your relationship with your loan officer is mutually beneficial, so cultivating it is advantageous to both of you.

As you get to know your bank officer, you should ask them questions to understand the bank’s health better. For example, do they have any outstanding loans, and what types? Many commercial building owners have been struggling post-COVID; if the bank has loaned money to these groups, has it adversely affected them? Many sectors have been affected by high-interest rates and inflation recently, so it is essential to get an insight into where the bank stands.

Engage Your Employees

One of the most valuable assets in any small business is the employees. Employees can offer support as owners build relationships with loan officers and develop intelligent financial strategies.

If you have an employee on your team who is an accountant or has a financial background, they can be beneficial. Other employees can help by staying updated with economic trends, brainstorming new markets to target, and being ambassadors for the organization. (engaged employees tend to be good for business).

Resources to Help

Even though this period is rife with bank failures and financial uncertainty, the good news is that we live in the age of readily available information. Check out some of these resources:

BankFind Suite: This FDIC-powered resource offers a variety of search options to comb through their data. You can run financial reports by Institution, check Peer Group Comparisons, and more.

FFIEC Interagency CRA Rating Search: This FFIEC (Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council) resource serves as a search engine for CRA examination ratings of banks.

Business Loan Calculator: This general calculator tool allows small business owners to calculate the total costs of business loans.

Connect With The Alexander Group

Now is the time to use these tips to protect your small business and get to know your bankers. At The Alexander Group, we coach business owners on running their businesses in line with their vision and exceeding their goals. Our one-on-one coaching will help you reduce stress by balancing your business and personal lives.

The Rise of AI – And What It Means For Small Business Owners

Fri, 07 Apr 2023 18:21:22 GMT

If you feel like you’re hearing everyone talking about AI (artificial intelligence) lately, you’re right – the conversation about generative AI is rapidly growing, especially with OpenAI’s launch of ChatGPT-4. Some people believe AI will drastically change the world as we know it, whereas others think it’s another passing technological advancement that will fade after the hype dies. We believe that the truth lies somewhere in the middle. AI is here to stay, and it will change parts of the business world, but there are many considerations with its integration into daily life.

A Brief History of AI

Artificial Intelligence (AI) refers to the ability of machines or computers to perform tasks that typically require human intelligence, such as learning, problem-solving, and decision-making. The history of AI dates back to the 1950s when researchers first began exploring the possibility of creating intelligent machines. In the 1980s, AI experienced a setback known as the “AI winter,” where funding and interest in the field declined. However, in the 21st century, advancements in machine learning and deep learning have led to significant progress. Today, many applications use AI, from virtual assistants and recommendation systems to self-driving cars and medical diagnosis. The field continues to evolve rapidly, with ongoing research into new areas and applications.

AI for Small Business Owners

One of the most popular applications of AI right now is ChatGPT-4, which allows users to “chat” with the system to ask questions or generate writing pieces with human-like precision. Other AI applications can create images or art pieces. It’s important to note that while AI can replicate the human quality of writing, problem-solving, art, etc., humans will still need to work with the output to clean and tailor it to the task at hand.

For instance, using AI can be a big time-saver for a small business owner overloaded with tasks. Instead of writing product descriptions for each item in an online store, they might use AI to generate them. They would still need to check over the copy to ensure it fits their brand and has no grammatical errors, but they would significantly reduce the time spent on this task.

Will Jobs Be Replaced?

Some people are worried about how the use of AI in the business world will affect staffing – will copywriters, designers, programmers, and other jobs be replaced? It’s more likely that there will be a shift in these job descriptions. Certain roles may use tools like ChatGPT daily to speed up their workflow and focus more on higher-level tasks like strategy and integration.

For years, many blue-collar workers have worried about robots or other tech replacing their factory jobs and related manual labor tasks. Generative AI has more white-collar workers worried about being replaced. Yet, as we’ve seen with blue-collar industries that have adapted to new technology, plenty of jobs still need to be filled, even if some job responsibilities have shifted. Experts predict that white-collar jobs and AI will prove similar: humans will provide ideas, with AI carrying out the task.

Privacy Protection Concerns

With the power and capacity of AI comes responsibility. Privacy and intellectual property concerns are common critiques of AI applications thus far. Several countries, including Italy, China, and Russia, have banned Chat-GPT after a data breach on the app, which involved user conversations and payment information. Others fear potential HIPAA violations and patient information leaks with its use in healthcare.

Regarding intellectual property, some artists have already called out generative AI apps that use their work as part of the training process for the application. For instance, one AI app was fed information with photos from Getty Images, producing images with a slightly distorted watermark that highly resembles their trademark. The question of who owns the work produced by AI also comes into question for users – if you create the prompt, do you own the output? Or does the application?

Ethical Uses of AI For Business

With these concerns regarding privacy and misinformation in AI outputs, small business owners must strategize how and when they will use AI in their practice. First, business owners should research which AI applications they plan to use and understand how that organization trained (programmed) it – machine learning is inherently biased based on the samples used when teaching the program to problem-solve. While OpenAI’s applications are making headlines, other companies like Microsoft and Google are racing to release their own versions.

Next, business owners should look at their current operations and determine which tasks may be suitable to use AI for and what boundaries need to place. Tasks such as copywriting product descriptions, blogs, social media posts, emails, or summarizing data and analytics are an excellent fit to integrate into AI. However, tasks that concern customer data, payment information, medical history, and more should be regulated more heavily in the name of privacy protection.

Looking Forward

The question is not whether AI is here to stay but how it will integrate into society and work. One of the smartest moves a business owner can make is to keep up-to-date on technological advancements, regardless of whether their business uses it.

There is still a lot to learn about AI – as John Oliver said in a segment about AI on his program Last Week Tonight, “AI is stupid in ways we can’t understand.” This is a crucial point in the AI conversation; even though humans have created AI, the ways that each program processes specific problems are just beyond our current understanding. To move forward with AI in an ethical manner, we need to understand as many of these systems as possible.

Work With The Alexander Group

Small business owners have a lot on their plates, whether keeping up with technology like AI, solving company disputes, scaling their operations, or achieving their goals. Here at the Alexander Group, we offer one-on-one, small business coaching and the chance to join business owners in Greater St. Louis to collaborate and connect.

Competitive Benefits Small Business Owners Can Offer Their Employees

Fri, 10 Feb 2023 19:36:41 GMT

After several interviews with a great prospective employee, you may be ready to extend an offer of employment. Job seekers may be excited about the new role, but if the employee benefits are not competitive with other offers, they may decline the job and move on. Small businesses must find the balance between competitive employee benefits that keep employees satisfied and committed to the company but don't break the budget. Finding this balance will help your small business improve employee retention and reputation.

Retirement Plans

As excited as your employees might be about working for your small business, most people don't want to spend their entire lives in their careers. Having competitive retirement packages is essential to attracting and retaining employees. Even though there are many options for retirement plans, such as 401(k), Roth IRA, SEP IRA, and more, these options have been traditionally challenging for small business employers to offer.

Recently, the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 received bipartisan support and was signed into law by the Biden Administration. This legislation would provide flexibility for retirement savings by providing significant tax benefits to small business employers, increasing the age for taking RMDs, automating 401k enrollment, and more. Small businesses of less than 50 employees who sponsor a new defined contribution plan for their employees can receive tax credits for employer matching contributions for the first few years: the credit will cover 100% of employer matches for the first two years since the plan's creation, 75% of employer matches for the third year, 50% for the fourth year, 25% for the fifth year, and tapers to 0% in the sixth year. The various aspects of the SECURE 2.0 Act will take effect between 2023 through 2025.

Health Insurance Packages

The ACA requires that small businesses offer health insurance to employees who work at least 30 hours a week. Small business owners should look at their budget to see which coverage options will best fit themselves and their employees – group health insurance plans are more common for larger businesses but can still be used for small businesses with proper planning.

Dental and vision plans are often separate from health insurance plans and can be a great additional benefit to attract employees (they typically have much lower monthly premiums). Small businesses can also deduct some of the cost of dental and vision plans from federal business taxes since they fall under healthcare-related expenses for employees.

Fitness and Lifestyle Incentives

Another benefit small businesses can offer employees to increase employee satisfaction is fitness and lifestyle incentives. Your employees will be more likely to be productive and thrive when caring for their mental and physical health. Larger businesses often create more complex corporate wellness programs. For a small business, supporting your employees' wellness could be as simple as partnering with a gym, yoga studio, or community center to offer your employees a discounted rate. Informally, you can opt for a healthy catered lunch for your employees once a month or quarter.

PTO Packages

Hard-working, quality employees need their time off. Although PTO is not mandatory for small businesses, most will offer a plan to their full-time employees. For part-time employees, many companies opt for pro-rata PTO hours they can accrue as they work. There's no magic number for PTO; every small business must assess what works best for them. That said, many small companies offer between 10 to 20 days.

Professional Development

Employees who feel that their employer is not investing in their professional skills and providing development opportunities are more likely to leave the company. Adding professional development opportunities can increase retention and attract top talent. Professional development can be anything from webinars, guest speaker series, a convention, training classes, leadership conferences, skills workshops, and more. Larger gatherings, like conventions or conferences, may not be the right fit for every company, but any company can start with a video series, workshops, or webinars.

Keeping Employees Happy

The bottom line is that employees who feel supported by their employer are more likely to be productive, be satisfied, stay in their role, and speak well about their work to their friends and family. In competitive job markets, comprehensive and innovative employee incentives will help your business stand out and attract the right talent. Small business owners should also ensure they rework employee benefits programs over time/as needed to keep their current team in place.

Connect With The Alexander Group

Creating an employee benefits plan that fits your budget and keeps employees happy is one of the many issues business owners must navigate. At The Alexander Group, we coach business owners on running their businesses in line with their vision and exceeding their goals. Our one-on-one coaching will help you reduce stress by balancing your business and personal lives.

It’s Time to Get Back to Accountability at Work

Sat, 10 Dec 2022 20:49:07 GMT

2022 has been a year of transition. The last two years saw changes in the business world and the workplace from the repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic. As we finish 2022 and look ahead to 2023, business owners should focus on bringing employee accountability back to the office.

Social distancing measures meant many companies sent their employees to work from home, which was necessary for public health, but presented challenges to employee productivity and workplace relationships. The pandemic created circumstances that often affected how employees got their work done. Still, as we move ahead, employees and managers should work together to increase productivity – and this process begins with taking steps to maintain employee accountability.

Watch for Underperformers

No matter what industry your business is in, underperformers are one of the most significant liabilities in the workplace. In addition to implementing strategies to redirect underperformers, business owners should consider why these individuals are not meeting company standards. Sometimes employees are underperforming due to a lack of training or a misunderstanding of expectations, but often the underperformance is from personal issues outside of work.

Employees working from home may be more distracted by these situations or their kids, pets, etc., so bringing your employees back to the office is essential. This will not solve the employees’ personal issues, but coming into a physical office can help employees compartmentalize work and home. Some employers also use employee monitoring systems to check in with their employees throughout the day, which can help identify who may be underperforming.

Conduct Performance Reviews

Performance reviews take time, attention, and difficult conversations – and all the effort pays off in a big way for both employees and management. Some companies stopped conducting performance reviews during 2020-2021 because it didn’t seem fair to assess employee performance when every day was turbulent.

This year, bringing back performance reviews is a way to improve employee accountability in the office. Employees can hear from their managers which areas of their job they are doing well in and which need improvement. These conversations help employees set goals and can give them a sense of direction for daily tasks and long-term projects.

On the management side, managers should take a deep dive into assessing how the team is working together, what’s driving productivity, and what changes should be made on the individual or group level for the company’s success.

Employee Recognition

People respond to incentives and recognition no matter what changes happen in the workplace. Starting or reinstating an employee recognition program is a way for management to reward those who keep themselves accountable and improve the company.

A simple way to start employee recognition is by having an employee spotlight or “shoutout” board where the rest of the team can see their picture and read a quick blurb about what this employee has been doing well. Business owners can also consider giving incentives for hitting specific goals, being at the company for a certain number of years, or even giving out trophies or plaques for accomplishments. Employees tend to work harder when they see their efforts are rewarded.

Send Employee Evaluations

Employee evaluations are the other side of the coin to performance reviews and employee recognition. Evaluations can be as simple as a short survey sent out to all employees at the end of the year or quarterly. The survey should ask the employees to rate their performance and make suggestions for improving productivity or the company culture. When employees think critically about their performance, this encourages accountability.

Hold Regular Meetings

Meetings – you love them, or you hate them. Regardless of how you feel, meetings are another tried-and-true way to keep communication flowing in the workplace, increase productivity, and foster accountability. Business owners should look at the size and nature of their business to determine the type of meetings and frequency they will need to benefit the company.

Smaller team or department meetings should be held often if all-staff meetings are not attainable. In these smaller meetings, employees should each give a status update on what tasks they are currently working on. Just telling their coworkers what they are working on and how they are progressing is a substantial step toward accountability. If one employee seems stuck on a particular task or makes little progress between status reports, managers will be aware and can address this appropriately.

Connect With The Alexander Group

Employee accountability is just one of the many issues business owners must navigate. At The Alexander Group, we coach business owners on how they can run their businesses in line with their vision and exceed their goals. Our one-on-one coaching will help you reduce stress by balancing your business and personal lives.

Having a group of individuals with similar goals is also vital. Our group of Greater St. Louis area business owners collaborates, discusses common issues, and develops dynamic solutions. When business owners pair this with our one-on-one coaching, they set themselves up for success.

The True Cost of Small Business Employee Theft

Fri, 14 Oct 2022 19:43:20 GMT

When discussing employee theft with our clients, we always remind them that it’s not a question of “IF” your business will have an issue but about “WHEN” it will happen.

Internal theft is reported to cost businesses around $50 billion annually. The simple fact is that your small business can’t fall into that pool of statistics and still maintain a healthy profit margin. All businesses are vulnerable to some type of employee theft – but business owners can lower the likelihood of employee theft by practicing ethical habits and leading by example.

If employees see a business owner cavalierly using company assets for personal use, it is easier for them to rationalize stealing from the company. Business owners should treat company assets and benefits exactly how they expect their employees to treat them. For example, if you don’t want your employees to use the company credit card to fuel up their personal vehicles, you probably shouldn’t have your spouse do it, either. Employees have a higher regard for leaders who practice what they preach, so everyone at all levels of the business should be held accountable. That being said, it is still important to have an employee theft prevention plan.

What are Different Types of Employee Theft?

Physical/ Inventory theft

Quite common, and it covers employee theft of physical inventory, workplace supplies, or other physical assets owned by the business. However, several different types of employee theft may not be initially apparent.

Service Theft

This happens in service-based businesses when an employee uses the services provided without appropriately compensating the business. Under this umbrella, you’ll find offering employee discounts to ineligible customers or using a “premium” service at a lower price without approval.

Data Theft

Employees who misuse company data for their gain are considered to be committing data theft. Whether it’s financial information used to commit fraud or healthcare-related data used for blackmail, data theft ultimately harms a business’s reputation in the long run.

Financial Theft

For small businesses and retailers that deal primarily with cash payments, financial theft usually happens when employees physically steal cash from the register, tip jar, or petty cash accounts. Larger organizations can fall victim to financial theft when their finance or accounting team defrauds the company during complex banking processes.

Time Theft

Businesses with hourly employees are particularly susceptible to time theft, where employees inflate their hours worked to receive more pay despite not working the extra time. There are also payroll defrauding schemes that work similarly but happen during the processing of hours during a pay period.

How to Prevent Employee Theft

Theft prevention plans don’t have to be complex or overwhelming to create, implement, or enforce. There should also be a regular auditing process in place as your business evolves to ensure your current policies offer enough prevention.

Management Leads by Example

If a company has strong employee theft prevention policies, but business owners and managers still use company assets inappropriately, the policy is ignored. Employees will follow what they see leadership doing, so if someone higher up in the company is stealing, employees may do the same. All company levels must be held accountable and participate in theft prevention training and audits.

Create a Policy

Include a policy in your employee handbook that acts as an initial layer of deterrence. Include information on the types of theft along with examples for each. Add a section that outlines specific consequences for theft and another that clearly states procedures for theft detection and repercussions for false reports.

Educate About Reporting

Regardless of how you decide to create a reporting system, it should be an anonymous and open door. Include different channels for reporting and encourage both employees and customers to understand how to report employee theft.

Train on Timesheets

Managers and owners who create their employees’ schedules are the first people to see that an employee is possibly committing time theft. Train them to understand how to spot red flags and report or resolve them before that scheduling information gets to payroll.

Conduct Surprise Audits

If employees know about an upcoming audit, they will likely hide signs of theft first. When you conduct unannounced audits, they lose that warning, and you may have a better chance of spotting inconsistencies that are symptomatic of employee theft.

Know the Warning Signs

Even with layers of protection, employee theft can happen right under your nose. While there are several warning signs to indicate employee theft is happening, they’re not written in stone. Pay close attention if your employees are:

Living beyond means based on salary
Experiencing financial difficulties
Unusually close relationship with a specific vendor or customer
Irritable, suspicious, or defensive when approached about the subject
Bullying or intimidating other employees
Having family issues or facing divorce
Reporting unusual work hours
Unwilling to transition to different tasks or roles

Work With Experienced Partners

It’s not always easy to know where to begin when preventing employee theft, which is why many small business owners turn to outside help for a fresh perspective. First and foremost, shore up your policies and procedures, and bring in experienced entrepreneurs to help audit what you currently have. From there, work with a coach to help offer peace of mind that your margins will stay off-limits to employees seeking to take advantage of your business.

How Your Business Coach Can Help

The Alexander Group uses decades of business experience to guide owners toward fulfilling their visions. For over ten years, we have helped owners navigate high-pressure situations and potential pitfalls, all to come out better than ever on the other side. With The Alexander Group, you can rest assured that you are working with a business coach who has sat in your chair.

The Alexander Group isn’t your average business coaching company. We focus on providing clients with a more personal, intimate approach to guidance. Coaching isn’t done by phone or even over Zoom — there is no substitute for one-on-one mentoring, and as such, our coaching is always in person. To learn more, contact us online!

How Small Business Owners Can Retain Employees During Inflation

Fri, 09 Sep 2022 19:37:16 GMT

As 2022 winds down to the fourth fiscal quarter, many small business owners tell us they cannot remember when finding and retaining quality employees was so challenging. As 2021 wound down and this year started, it seemed all we were talking about was the Great Resignation and employees jumping ship for the “greener pastures” of a competitor or even an entirely new field. On top of that, business owners now have to manage inflation and its impacts on their employees, which presents another precarious situation for them to navigate.

How Can Business Owners Retain Their Employees in a Volatile Market?

At the beginning of this year, we advised our clients that it is crucial to raise wages, enhance benefits, and nurture a culture that would encourage your best employees to stick around.

More specifically, we advised business owners to watch out for the “poaching” of C-suite execs. This practice occurs when companies give their recruiters incentives for aggressively filling spots and encouraging them to reach out to candidates who are not actively applying for new opportunities. The recruiters jump to their inboxes and make offers the candidates “can’t refuse.”

We mentioned wage-based solutions to counteract “poaching” and employees otherwise resigning. First, business owners should conduct salary reviews to understand what it would cost to give their employees raises. We recommended that if it wasn’t possible to raise wages 10% in one go, business owners could offer employees a 5% raise right away and another 5% added after they reached performance indicators. It’s been several months since we provided these recommendations, and we figured now was a good time to re-evaluate this topic.

Record-setting inflation rates and fuel prices have dominated the spring and summer headlines. Your employees likely feel this pinch, particularly those commuting into the office (as we strongly believe they should be). Sharp increases in employee cost of living might pressure business owners to raise wages again – less than a year after they first issued some to combat the Great Resignation.

How Can a Business Owner Help Their Employees Manage Inflation Without Another Round of Wage Increases?

We advise clients to take a more creative approach than across-the-board wage increases. For example, even though gas prices are falling, they are still considerably high compared to years past. However, depending on which economist or financial pundit you listen to, that doesn’t necessarily mean they will stay this high. Inflation has also jumped, but many prices may decrease as supply chain issues are resolved.

If you hand out raises on a percentage basis now, it’s implausible that you will be able to lower wages when prices fall. How would your employee morale be affected if you issued a wage decrease six months after the fact?

The best tactic to help your employees with a short-term cost of living increase is a one-time wage bonus or even a pre-loaded gift card with an amount that could offset their increased expenses. These tactics will show your employees that you acknowledge their situation and want to support them. Gestures like these go a long way toward building a culture of retention. With these one-time bonuses, you won’t have to decrease any wages you may have prematurely raised to account for inflation.

How Can Business Owners Stay Prepared to Handle These Challenges?

If knowing when to raise wages or when to use one-time incentives during inflation seems daunting to you, you’re not alone. At The Alexander Group, we coach business owners on how they can run their businesses in line with their vision and exceed their goals. Our one-on-one coaching will help you reduce stress by balancing your business and personal lives. With our decades of business experience, we’ve seen everything and can help you through the ever-changing market.

Business Valuation Guide

Tue, 09 Aug 2022 19:30:41 GMT

When was the last time someone asked you how much your business is worth? Have you ever had a business valuation performed? Would you even be able to quantify its value if someone put you on the spot?

The truth is that many small business owners don’t know how much their business is worth until they decide it’s time for an exit strategy, and they need to put a price tag on their hard work. It’s a mistake not to know what that number is at any given time – whether or not you’re ready to sell.

Here’s a quick-start guide to understanding business valuation, why it’s important, the best methods for calculating valuation, and the importance of reaching out for help during the process.

Business Valuation Defined

Not only can business valuation be complicated, but there are also actual emotions involved – yours, as the business owner. This could complicate things even further, as the sweat equity you put into your company is almost impossible to quantify.

The reason behind the valuation also plays a vital role in the final number. Are you planning to sell? What kind of buyer do you have on the line? Is the valuation for a lending opportunity? Or is it to prepare a pitch to investors? “Fair market value” of your business may mean many different things to the parties involved.

Ultimately, the most accurate valuation will come from working with an industry-accredited appraiser. These are experienced, qualified financial experts who work hard to understand best the current market and the value of businesses within it. There’s still an art to valuation, despite the mathematical work appraisers do to quantify your business as an asset.

Methods for Valuating Your Business

While there is no singular formula for accurately valuing your business, there are some tried-and-true methods of calculating what your business is worth depending on the end goal of valuation.

Discounted cash flow: This method is based on the expected cash flow of your business. The real-time value of your business today depends largely on the money it will make in the future. Here’s how to calculate DCF :

Calculating the DCF involves three basic steps—one, forecast the expected cash flows from the investment. Two, you select a discount rate, typically based on the cost of financing the investment or the opportunity cost presented by alternative investments. Three, the final step is to discount the forecasted cash flows back to the present day, using a financial calculator, a spreadsheet, or a manual calculation.

Asset-based: Valuing businesses based on hard assets is a standard method, especially for those businesses that own real estate or expensive equipment. The dollar value of assets is added up, and liabilities (like debt) are subtracted to get a fair market value of your business.

Comparables approach: Using the comparables approach to valuation quantifies a business’ value based on competing, comparable businesses within the same industry. This less common valuation method leaves a significant margin for error; it’s not always easy to make an apples-to-apples comparison even if two businesses look nearly identical on paper.

Need Help With Business Valuation?

Trust us – we know better than anyone how overwhelming it can be to gather the financial records and documents needed for accurate business valuation. If you’re like the small business owners we work with daily, you likely don’t have much time to spare for this process.

Simply put, every business needs a roadmap, a plan for getting from the initial stages to the ultimate goal. Of course, for a plan to be successful, it needs to consider the specifics. This is where the financial analysis of benchmarking comes into play, as it can provide an accurate breakdown of your business’ current standing in relation to the road ahead. This process also extends to forecasting, as the distance between you and your goals, and the best ways to close it, are also addressed.

Financial benchmarking also serves to:

Enable you to gather accurate operational data for measuring success.
Analyze the various areas of your business to identify the promising sectors and those needing improvement.
Set performance benchmarks in crucial areas.
Insert specific goals and processes into your underlying strategy to help you reach or surpass established benchmarks.

The Alexander Group will cover every element of your business necessary to achieve your vision. As part of the benchmarking process, this can mean using regression analysis to project forward and establish what comes next. Whether it’s benchmarking, strategic planning or coaching for your general decision-making, The Alexander Group is fully qualified to help you move in the right direction.

We’ll work with you to ensure your business supports your vision. Once a plan is ready to go, we’ll be there every step to ensure things proceed as they should. Contact us today to get started!

Smart Business Moves: Heading Back to In-Office Work

Tue, 14 Jun 2022 19:26:34 GMT

With the announcement he is requiring all employees back to resume in-office work, Elon Musk weighed in on a polarizing topic now being discussed in boardrooms, headquarters, and small businesses worldwide.

The truth of the matter is there is no one-size-fits-all answer for business owners and managers who are facing this predicament. On the one hand, the job market is tight, and business owners need workers. Many of the hiring candidates are questioning why they need to be in the office all week. On the other hand, most business owners realize their company culture and professional development opportunities for their people can suffer when too many are remote.

Additionally, workforces are more intergenerational than ever, meaning decision-makers must weigh what’s best for every team member. Ultimately, that may mean a return to in-office work, the setup your business originally began with, and one on which many of your processes are built.

Are People More Productive Working From Home?

There’s no real quantifiable, statistical data to have a strong argument for in-person work, but research highlights virtual work’s impact on innovation and creativity. The results of this study suggest “there is a unique cognitive advantage to in-person collaboration, which could inform the design of remote work policies.”

Productivity can become a real issue for remote teams, too. It’s important to note the respondents in this study were limited to the IT industry. Still, the results point to a decrease in productivity of nearly 20% during a pandemic phase of all-remote working.

That being said, a whopping 40% of those surveyed in this research said they were more productive in their home office than working from a physical office. Again, this only proves the science is unclear about which setup is better for your employees and your business. It’s also subjective to ask remote workers if they are more productive. Of course they will claim they are if they prefer to stay home.

How Does Remote Work Effect Culture?

We can’t have a conversation about remote work versus in-office work without the word “culture” creeping in. The two topics diverge when it comes time to decide how to future-proof operations, but it’s undeniable human interaction is the foundation of your organization’s culture.

Culture comes from people. This recent article in the Washington Post goes so far as to suggest it’s time for everyone to get back in the office five days a week. Older, more established employees may discover remote work is excellent for their busy lives. They’ve also spent time working through their professional journey and spent their early years putting nights and weekends in and working side-by-side with the executives that mentored them.

If these workers choose not to return to the office, it’s hard for younger, less experienced employees to justify a return. This latter group are the team members who may be digitally savvy and perfectly capable of understanding the technical logistics of remote work – and may enjoy it. However, this group can benefit the most from in-person collaboration, communication, and skill-building.

Knowing that, it’s not surprising many organizations will stick with remote work to make everyone happy, and it may work. Still, it’s not something that will offer your organization a competitive edge. Think about answering work emails and messages in off hours: It’s up to you if you want to take some time off, but don’t expect it to be a habit that helps you get to the next level of your career.

That’s not to say you should do away with remote work altogether. If a family member is sick or some extenuating circumstances require off-site work, you can give some leeway for remote work. By keeping these tools at hand, you’ll also have a business continuity insurance plan should you need it in the case of another public health emergency (or even a snow day.)

What Is Proximity Bias?

If you haven’t heard the term yet, you likely will soon as the remote vs. traditional debate continues. In this recent article in the Wall Street Journal , it’s defined as;

A tendency to favor people in close proximity to you
Human nature and the way things have worked in business forever

The article warns younger workers that without the informal encounters with company leaders that come with being in the office regularly, they will not only miss mentoring opportunities but could also be passed over for promotions.

The article further points out that the “hybrid” model where employees can choose to spend a portion of their time at home may not be very “hybrid” after all. Similar to “you are not required to respond to emails on the weekends”, those who do tend to rise faster than those who contribute the minimum requirement.

If the policy allows two days a week from home and the more ambitious employee chooses not to, they will be more likely to be recognized as more committed to the company than their “stay at home” peers. Who do you think would get the edge for a promotion?

What Can Leaders Do?

Deciding to bring your team back to the office full-time isn’t easy, but ultimately, it’s the right move if you’re looking for growth. It has become clear there needs to be room for flexibility; owners and managers need to use remote work to facilitate employee engagement and satisfaction instead of making it a permanent way of life.

This decision must come with a heaping dose of empathy on your behalf. As your team leader, you can choose which workplace setup is best for you, but this is a time to lead with action. If your employees return to the office, you must be there too.

People running a business sometimes feel like they’re only hitting one roadblock after another, especially as we all decide how to best return to in-office work. If you’re in a similar situation, you might be wondering if you’d benefit from having a business advisor in your corner. A proper mentor can bring a great deal of value to the table. With their experience and unique perspective on your business, they can help you push through the barriers currently blocking your path to success.

So long as you have the right mindset and are willing to do what it takes to be successful, we can help your dreams become a reality. The growth you can achieve after addressing your issues will make it well worth the investment. We’re also on hand for whatever needs you have, whether for coaching, consulting, or small business advisory services that can get you back on track.

We have years of experience guiding business owners in countless industries, and we are ready to help you find success — as long as you are too. For more information, contact us online today !

Small Business Culture and Success: Making the Connection

Tue, 19 Apr 2022 19:22:02 GMT

The thing about business culture is that it’s so hard to define – there’s no one-size-fits-all approach, and each strategy is as unique as the business it belongs to. It’s challenging for small business owners with a small staff to know where to start building a culture that breeds success. Ultimately, taking that first step for owners means a better understanding of why culture is so important and knowing which warning signs indicate a need for more work on culture strategy.

An investment in culture benefits the business, but it also serves to help owners find a better balance in their personal life. That’s what led Dr. Jeff Copeland, cosmetic surgeon and practice owner in St. Peters, to make a connection with Cornell Meyer in March of 2017. Jeff was struggling with an office culture and politics that were affecting the morale of his employees and ultimately the success of the practice. Jeff’s accountant Terry Ohlms was a client of The Alexander Group, and he recommended Jeff reach out to Cornell.

Working together, Cornell helped Jeff realize how some of the employees were affecting the culture – and the business’s bottom line – in a very negative way. The team had to formulate a plan to get the problem employees to change their behavior or ultimately leave the business and find a better fit. The latter meant that Jeff had to initiate some conversations with staff members, something he credits Cornell with giving him the confidence to have those tough conversations.

A bonus program for employees implemented by Jeff and Cornell supported culture-building efforts and boosted team engagement, morale, and productivity.

As Cornell coached Jeff through the personnel issues, Jeff also sought advice from his peer board. Jeff’s board encouraged him with anecdotes of similar problems in their businesses and how they were worked out. The peer board process was also helpful to Jeff because he made commitments to his board about what he would do next, and it made him accountable to get that thing done before the next monthly peer board meeting. Jeff likens it to paying for a personal trainer and following through with their guidance and advice to see a return on your investment.

Additionally, Jeff learned that delegating specific low-value tasks to employees and team members helped maximize his time with patients, another critical factor in growing his practice.

For example, Cornell helped Jeff identify that he was burning too much time on medical insurance reimbursement tasks that could be completed by an in-house specialist – which Jeff subsequently hired. That freed up Jeff to have more time to deliver medical services, and his bottom line saw a big improvement.

Once Jeff and Cornell got a good handle on the human resources side of the business, the two began to take a closer look at the financials. During a recent interview, Jeff said this about how the work with Cornell helps improve cash flow: “Beginning to collect that information and understand all the different things that go into the worth of a company and where the money’s going and coming, makes it possible to make much better decisions about things.”

By cleaning up the financial statements and getting his books in order, Jeff could better manage cash flow in the business by getting a line of credit from the bank. Sound financial reporting also made applying for pandemic-related PPP and EIDL relief from the federal government go much more smoothly than it would have otherwise. That relief was instrumental in helping Jeff retain the employees that helped build the current culture of success; it turns out that 2021 was his practice’s best and most profitable year to date.

Business owners who want real help to improve themselves and their business — not just a consultant to try and do it for them — can benefit significantly from hiring a business coach. Jeff needed a fresh perspective to help find the connection between culture and success. “There are a lot of things about business that I didn’t know before I started working with Cornell – things that I probably never would’ve discovered on my own.”

Some owners still haven’t worked everything out and are putting together their ideal vision, not just for their business culture and success but also for their lives. Working with Cornell and The Alexander Group can help identify that vision and how best to transform the business to support it. Contact us today , and let’s start talking about finding the key to your business’s success!

The Real Cost of Hanging on to Toxic Employees

Fri, 11 Mar 2022 20:15:38 GMT

Cost of Hanging on to Toxic Employees. Nearly everyone has worked at a company with a toxic employee (If you haven’t, count yourself lucky). Even businesses that are lauded as being a “Best Place to Work” can run into problems by hiring a bad apple. Toxicity can range from bullying to sexual harassment to workplace violence to lack of productivity by the business owner. Regardless of their actions, though, every toxic person you employ can be a hit to your pocketbook, whether it’s the cost of replacing them, replacing the people who leave because of them, or lack of motivation by you. And don’t forget potential fines or lawsuits you might face, depending on the severity of the actions.

As Eric Aschinger, long time owner of Aschinger Electric says:

It’s Easier To Change People Than To Change People

The unfortunate reality is that not only are toxic employees extremely disruptive to individuals, teams, and even the boss, but they also can have a damaging effect on the bottom line.

In their 2015 study, “Toxic Employees in the Workplace: Hidden Costs and How to Spot Them,” human capital management company Cornerstone OnDemand found that your good employees are 54% more likely to quit when they have a toxic co-worker, which is costly because replacing employees is expensive. The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) reported that, on average, it costs a company six to nine months of an employee’s salary to replace him or her. For an employee making $60,000 per year, that comes out to $30,000 – $45,000 in recruiting and training costs. If people are leaving your company because of one person’s bad behavior in the workplace, it’s more cost-effective to get rid of the bad apple than lose multiple good employees.

According to Harvard Business School , toxic employees can also have the following “hidden” effects on your company’s revenue:

Employees subjected to incivility in the workplace experience “markedly loosened bonds with their work life.”
Nearly half of employees “decreased [their] work effort” and intentionally spent less time at work. This might even apply to you if you have a toxic person on your payroll.
38% “intentionally decreased” the quality of their work.
25% of employees who had been treated with incivility admitted to taking their frustrations out on customers.
63% actually lost work time avoiding the offender.

In our experience, we have seen a 50% revenue drop in small privately-owned businesses due to a toxic employee and the impact on the staff and the business owner.

Cost of Hanging on to Toxic Employees And How to Minimize Damage When Firing a Toxic Employee

After realizing what employing a toxic person can do to your company and your good employees, it’s easy to see why letting them go is the right option. But you have to be careful. With the ease of access to social media and online review sites, a vengeful employee can quickly, easily, and very publicly attempt to damage your reputation and that of your company. To protect yourself from the retaliation of a disgruntled former employee, it’s critical that you document every instance of bad behavior and consider adding a sentence or two to the separation agreement to protect your company from slander (be sure to consult your attorney).

Today’s businesses are especially vulnerable to damage that toxic ex-employees can inflict once they are gone. This is why it’s important to the success of your company to carefully screen applicants to help ensure that, as employees, they are aligned with your company culture and core values.

Business Planning and strategy consulting are just two of the high-level services The Alexander Group provides to St. Louis business owners. Contact us today for more information.

Information may be abridged and therefore incomplete. This document/information does not constitute, and should not be considered a substitute for, legal or financial advice. Each financial situation is different, the advice provided is intended to be general. Please contact your financial or legal advisors for information specific to your situation.

How Your Emotional Intelligence Can Impact Your Business

Tue, 08 Mar 2022 20:07:08 GMT

Have you mastered the art of getting to the point? It’s a sure sign that you’re working on your emotional intelligence as a business leader, something that’s been the topic of our conversations during this month’s client coaching sessions.

Consider three common challenges that entrepreneurs face: Lack of clear goals and objectives, hyperfocus on their messages (instead of the impact of their words), and the inability to relay directives. Getting to the point and practicing brevity is a solution to these challenges and, in turn, can help empower your team to be more productive, engaged, and connected to you – their leader.

Why Choose Brevity?

Perhaps Mark Twain said it best in a letter he penned to a friend. “If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter.” Twain’s broader meaning is that it takes time, energy, and focus to craft a truly concise yet meaningful message and relay what kind of impact it has on a more global level. By writing that hypothetical shorter letter, you’re flexing your emotional intelligence and building skills that move you forward professionally and personally.

The topic caught our interest after we read this article by Bill Murphy Jr. in Inc. Magazine.

Think about your company’s opportunities to grow revenue, gain a new client, or pivot. Sure, it’s an exciting prospect and one that needs to be relayed to your team, but how you present this new growth to your team makes a difference. The impulse might be to make an announcement about what it means for the business, which would be perfectly acceptable.

How It Helps Build Emotional Intelligence

However, an emotionally intelligent leader would take the time to craft a concise version of this announcement that speaks to each team member and their roles moving forward. To do this, it’s important to look at this opportunity – every opportunity – from everyone’s perspective, put away the long-winded speeches, and share the core information that matters across the board and not just to you as the leader.

When it comes to building emotional intelligence and learning how to streamline your messages as a business leader and entrepreneur, you may have to step out of your comfort zone. If you’re looking for guidance as you try to avoid pitfalls and work toward growth, you’ve already taken an essential first step. No one can improve if they aren’t willing to learn, and a part of that comes from acknowledging that you aren’t perfect. You’ve made mistakes, but a dependable small business coach can help you avoid repeating them.

What Can Coaching Do?

Coaching is highly beneficial for private business owners who haven’t reached the point of featuring a board of directors, but who need help navigating challenges using emotional intelligence as they arise. Sometimes addressing a predicament on the surface isn’t enough, and it will merely keep returning for as long as the root issue remains. It is critical, then, to understand why the problem exists in the first place.

The Alexander Group uses decades of business experience to guide owners towards fulfilling their visions to meet and exceed their goals. We’ve faced everything you face as a business owner, including trying times that test and build our emotional intelligence. Start learning how to master the art of getting to the point with a more personal, intimate approach to guidance. Balancing work and personal lives is always a challenge. For a business owner, it comes with a great deal of additional stress as one spills into the other. By investing in business coaching, you can receive guidance with both sides of the equation and knowledge to better balance them.

How to Retain Talent In a Hot Job Market

Wed, 09 Feb 2022 19:59:13 GMT

With an ongoing pandemic and swelling numbers of white-collar employees resigning for greener pastures, the conversation continues among our peer group members: What will it take to retain talent and pay them fairly?

In reviewing a recent article in the Wall Street Journal , I noted that inflation is at its highest rate in nearly 40 years at 7%, and compensation for US workers has grown at a rate we haven’t seen since the turn of the 21st century. Industries that saw exponential increases include hospitality, law, and finance. While hiring stalled and layoffs were abundant during the early months of the pandemic, there’s no longer a shortage of work, and skeleton crews are being worked harder than ever – with organizations fairly compensating them for the increased workloads.

High salary numbers are flashing like neon signs, and white-collar workers have plenty of options and are more willing than ever to negotiate. Economists worry that this could initiate a wage-price spiral: The cost of raising wages leads to higher prices for consumers, leading in turn to employees asking for a wage hike to match the cost of living inflation.

Another wage-related challenge that our peer group of St. Louis area business owners are seeing is the “poaching” of C-suite execs, particularly among controllers and CFOs; recruiters are being offered financial incentives to be aggressive about filling empty spots. The candidates aren’t even actively looking for new opportunities, but the recruiters are finding them and making them “offers they can’t refuse”.

With so many balls in the air, it’s not easy for executives and owners to know how much of a wage increase is appropriate. Many hesitate to pull the trigger in a wage hike because there’s no way to walk back salary exceptions once they’re bumped up. Ultimately, it’s easier and less expensive to retain talent already in place instead of looking for new employees. If you’re not giving them what they need to stay happy and engaged, your employees will go elsewhere – likely straight to the competition.

Working together with a peer group means that the decision to incentivize staying with increased pay doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Lean on the other members to help guide this number-crunching and shape the process of what that would look like. Get ahead of poachers now, even without boosting wages, by conducting salary reviews and getting a better idea of how much your business can afford to raise wages.

If accounting isn’t yet ready for raises across the board, get creative with things. For example, instead of a 10% increase now, offer 5% upfront with another 5% added in 6 months when employees or teams hit key performance indicators. A peer board will provide a spectrum of different perspectives, all from a business owner’s point of view, and may inspire you as a leader.

Having a support system and sounding board composed of like-minded, experienced, and driven professionals makes all the difference for our members. They are no longer alone, trying to solve problems and find new opportunities. They take advantage of each other’s strengths and gifts to make each member as successful as possible. While your business may not be large enough to have an official Board of Directors, you still need the advice and support that comes with this type of organization. That’s where we come in to fill the void.

You may even discover that you want to continue using The Alexander Group as your business grows instead of starting your own group. Why deal with the hassle of hiring and maintaining a group when you can get all of the support and benefits from The Alexander Group? Our system has the format, tools, and leadership in place to help you increase profitability and make the most of your business today and in the months and years to come.

Are you ready to get connected with a group of like-minded business owners? Contact us today to discover what our Peer Board has to offer.

Influencing Company Culture by Building Self-Understanding

Fri, 14 Jan 2022 19:34:32 GMT

By now, the world knows the story of the dot-com CEO who fired 900 employees on a Zoom call. There’s no arguing this was a decidedly bad business move, and owners and leaders of businesses of all sizes need to understand why.

The CEO in question is Vishal Garg of online mortgage originator Better.com, and his infamous Zoom call wasn’t the first time he displayed bad leadership. This article from Inc. by Jason Aten explains that Garg had a history of criticizing employees, accusing them of stealing, and even calling them “dumb, slow dolphins” in a company-wide email.

One result of this behavior was a toxic culture infecting the company, but Aten makes another salient point:

“Often, no one is willing to tell a leader in that position that they’re wrong. In this case, that problem appears to be made worse by the fact that Garg’s response to any kind of challenge is to lash out. Eventually, people start to avoid any kind of confrontation, even on really important issues. It’s just not worth it if you know you’re going to get attacked.”

Ultimately, Aten says, “culture flows out of the integrity and character of the person at the top.” The biggest takeaway from this story is, sooner or later, company culture will take on both the good and bad behaviors of the leaders and owners.

Do your employees see you pilfering through the supply closet and taking home items? They’ll start to believe it’s ok for them to steal from you as well. If your team sees you slacking or taking more time off than you should be, your employees’ productivity will suffer too. When you are disrespectful to your staff, vendors, or clients, your team will also decide to be argumentative and hostile.

So how can you avoid these missteps in your own business? Avoid creating a bad company culture and perpetuating poor behavior and leverage tools that allow you to understand better yourself and your leadership style and how it translates into building a culture enabling everyone to thrive.

This is where owners and leaders can reap the benefit of behavioral surveys in hiring as well as ongoing management of people. We recommend TTI Success Insights, but there’s no shortage of methodologies you can use within your business structure and processes. One of the tools TTI uses is the DISC method for gauging behavioral styles:

“DISC is an assessment that measures four separate factors: Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, and Compliance. Put simply: the DISC assessment measures how a person does what they do. The DISC profile creates a language around observable behavior, which in turn improves communication, engagement, and self-development.”

These surveys, along with other tools such as EQ (emotional intelligence), help match employees to their ideal job roles, giving them the tools they need to thrive professionally and personally.

The vast majority of people who end up losing their jobs don’t do so because they’re incapable of getting the work done. The real reason is they have trouble getting along with others. Behavioral training could save any number of those jobs, but only if business owners take the time to consider the benefits.

This training paves the way for individuals to better understand themselves – from owner and manager to every employee – while also highlighting the necessary changes. They can better understand how to adapt their behavior to the people around them, which leads to improved communication and better culture overall.

When you achieve personal insight with DISC, you not only better understand and appreciate your particular style of behavior, but you can also more effectively adapt your style for communicating with others. Style flexibility is the process of learning to treat others the way they prefer. At The Alexander Group, we can provide every resource needed to help you achieve this, both for yourself and any employees you designate for training. These include assessments in online and paper formats, books and tutorials, and even PowerPoint presentations to ensure that no details get overlooked or misinterpreted.

At The Alexander Group, we pride ourselves on helping people successfully achieve their visions, both for their own lives and their businesses. To learn more about behavioral training and how it can help your employees work better together or make you a better owner, don’t hesitate to contact us online today!

Business Owner’s Discipline in a Post-Pandemic World

Wed, 08 Dec 2021 18:22:10 GMT

If you’re a business owner, you’ve heard us talk about the importance of employee retention in today’s post-pandemic environment. With the labor shortage and more employees thinking about work/life balance as we come out of the lockdown, we emphasized steps to keep your current employees happy.

That remains the case, and it’s still much easier (and cheaper) to keep a valuable current employee than to let them get away. However, the business owner can’t cede control of the business culture, norms, policies, and processes to the individuals to make everybody “happy”.

The best way to illustrate this is with a cautionary tale of The ABC Store. Business owner Bob has just navigated through the pandemic and is inviting vaccinated employees back to work in the office to help restore some sense of normalcy. Some employees choose to remain unvaccinated and work remotely, but don’t end up being as productive as they should. Others come to Bob with their concerns and resentment after having to pick up the slack, and as a result, Bob had to take disciplinary action and let go of two long-time employees. Adding to Bob’s stress, several other staff members came to him questioning their future with The ABC Store.

While all of this is happening, Bob is reporting record sales numbers. Demand for his products is sky-high as a result of the pandemic. Bob is still having difficulty hiring qualified workers and learning how to retain the incredible talent he already has in place. Other work tasks and processes languished as Bob struggled to be everywhere at one time. He finally decided to reach out for help to re-establish policies that provided clarity for everyone from the top down.

Some employees adjusted to working remotely and might want to keep it going. We have seen some business owners “let things slide” and allow the company culture to define itself, particularly regarding employees’ work ethic and dedication to the organization. Just because you want your employees to be happy doesn’t mean the business owner should lose sight of the discipline required to keep employees aligned with the culture and values of the business.

This topic was triggered by a recent review in our peer board meetings of a Harvard Business Review white paper called “Making Silos Work For Your Organization” . Silos, also known as verticals, are part of businesses of all sizes. While corporations often speak of “breaking down the silos”, many elements of verticals help the organization run smoothly. Vertical structures have helped companies grow and thrive for a long time.

Individual departments need to collaborate on almost all business functions. Without a disciplined leader (AKA Business Owner) involved in the business, a company culture that was once harmonious pre-pandemic can become something much different if people are just left to themselves.

Just because we are “too busy” or afraid of losing employees that are difficult to replace, the business owner can’t allow themselves to become complacent and undisciplined. For example, if evolving to a “hybrid” remote/in-office work environment is the business owner’s conscious decision and is best for the business, it should be defined, structured, and implemented. However, if the business owner becomes undisciplined, the employees’ desires can shape the work environment.

All politics aside, if some employees choose to be unvaccinated, there should be a defined process and policy for testing, masks, social distancing, etc. They shouldn’t just be left to make their own policy like, “I’m not vaccinated, so I’m going to keep working from home”.

If more employees are working remotely, they still need the structure of things like interdepartmental meetings, one-to-one feedback, annual reviews, ongoing performance evaluations, etc.

Businesses, like most people, need structure and discipline to achieve continuous success and growth. Don’t let today’s challenges of the supply chain, the labor shortage, and increased demand for your products and services leave you and your employees undisciplined and unmotivated — reach out today if you’re in a similar situation.

What You Can Do About the Labor Shortage

Mon, 08 Nov 2021 18:04:44 GMT

It’s hard to miss all the headlines about the labor shortage. Restaurants are scaling back hours, switching to carry-out only, and even closing for good because they can’t find people. Grocery stores shelves are empty and almost every main street storefront sports a “Help Wanted” sign.

Research shows that consumer demand isn’t to blame: Retail sales are rising at the fastest annual rate on record, and outside of non-residential construction and automotive production, all segments of the economy are pointing up. These trends are expected to continue through mid-2022, slow down in 2H 2022 and rev up again in 2023 — concerning small business owners across the board who struggle to find workers.

Where Are the Workers?

According to the Wall Street Journal , there are 5,000,000 fewer Americans employed than before the pandemic, and 3,000,000 have left the workforce. But the number of Americans unable to work because their employer closed or lost business due to the pandemic dropped 600,000 in August. Covid cases declined by a third in September, and many industries unaffected by the virus failed to add workers. The demand for workers is high — 67% of small businesses reported hiring or trying to hire in September, and 42% raised compensation. However, 51% still have openings.

Why Is There a Shortage?

Republicans might suggest that vaccine mandates and government assistance are to blame, and Democrats might disagree. However, for the business owner, politics are not what’s important. What’s most important is what you are going to do about it.

What Can You Do about the Labor Shortage?

For starters, do what you can to hold on to the employees you have. With wages up 8-10%, consider giving raises to your current employees. If that sounds like a lot of money, consider how much it would cost you to replace them. Make sure they know they are appreciated. Now more than ever, bosses need to be proactive in making employees feel appreciated through benefits, feedback, and recognition. If you are in a service business, look for ways to keep your team engaged and looking to the future through programs like a quarterly bonus program based on meeting mutual KPI goals.

Remember, your competitors are having the same labor supply issues that you are, and they (or the recruiters they hire) are coming after your people. For key employees, that means exploring long-term compensation strategies like phantom stock or other incentives to make it easier for them to stay with you.

Remember that finding new employees in this environment will take more than just posting jobs when recruiting. Consider referral bonuses for current employees who bring you new hires. Make sure the prospective employees get a good feeling about your company culture from profiles and posts in places like LinkedIn and Facebook. Ensure your candidates fully understand the benefits offered beyond straight compensation.

However, resist the urge to overreact to the labor shortage. Even though it’s hard to find people, be careful about lowering your standards to the point of jeopardizing the safety of your workplace. For example, don’t stop drug testing for jobs that involve operating vehicles or dangerous equipment. Don’t wait it out. All indicators are that this situation is going to continue through the next few years. Act now to shore up your people and make sure you do everything possible to bring promising new people into your organization.

Leveraging Threat Mitigation for Successful Exit Planning

Mon, 11 Oct 2021 16:52:05 GMT

Although John Bloch had been working on boat repair and maintenance since he was a teenager, he wasn’t quite prepared for the challenges he faced in 2012 — about eight years after buying his employer’s assets and taking over the helm himself.

When John stepped up in 2004, he hired seven employees and quickly began to edge out the competition. Revenue grew over the following years until 2008 when he (like so many other small business owners) was hit hard by the economic crisis and the Great Recession to come. In the following years, John watched his revenue drop 8% per year consistently as people left the recreational boating market., To increase the difficulty of his business further was the onslaught of continuous flooding due to the decades-long build-up of levees on the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. He remembers thinking “Even if the water didn’t come into the building, your access to the business was shut down before water came in the building.”

For years, John didn’t carry any flood insurance and was losing money to flood repairs and lost revenue due to the flooding and the economy. He wasn’t sure about his next steps as he thought his only option for flood insurance was FEMA, but their quote was $90,000 per year for only $300,000 of coverage. Also, since he didn’t have flood insurance, he could not get a bank loan/mortgage on the property to help him with cash flow.

In 2012 John Bloch renewed his relationship with Cornell Meyer, a business coach from The Alexander Group. Working together, John opened up to Cornell about his business challenges, and over the next few years, they found solutions to his biggest challenges. Cornell helped John find private flood insurance and ended up with a policy that was around $5,000 per year allowing the ability to place bank loans on the property to help with his cash flow.

As it turned out, it was the flood insurance (AKA disaster planning) that ultimately ended up allowing John to successfully exit his business and retire. There was still another flood event in 2019 causing excessive damage throughout the Alton Area. Cornell guided John through the crisis. John realized the unexpected opportunity to use the insurance settlement to retire all of his debt on the business and then sell all of the assets of the business to comfortably retire.

It took some difficult conversations and transparency on John’s behalf for Cornell to understand how to help with business planning. Planning for Threat mitigation doesn’t make the risk go away, but it does provide for the ability to recover and continue on, along with helping business owners tie up loose ends and preparing an exit plan. According to Cornell, “a successful exit of the business can take on different forms, and disaster planning is one of them. Working together, we were able to have John exit on his own terms instead of being stuck with liabilities he could not shed.”

If you haven’t yet considered disaster planning and threat mitigation as a part of your business succession, now’s the time. Remember exit plans take on all shapes and sizes and working with a partner like Cornell may give you a fresh perspective — reach out to the team at The Alexander Group to get a plan started today and secure peace of mind about the future of your business.

Is It Time for Business Growth?

Mon, 11 Oct 2021 16:46:15 GMT

While all new business owners and founders cross their fingers for overnight success, the truth is that most new ventures or startups need to clock some serious hours to ensure business growth. Scaling up is complicated, intensive, and often pretty frustrating, but it’s also the foundation of serious return on investment.

Growing or Scaling?

First, it’s essential to understand the differences between growth and scale. When your business grows, the revenue and profits of your startup expand at a similar rate. Think about when you expand your client base — you’ll also need to spend the money to hire more staff to meet that demand.

On the other hand, scaling doesn’t need a financial investment for growth: Revenue rises, but not operating costs. This means that small bootstrapped firms don’t necessarily have to spend big money to see significant results.

When Is It Time to Scale?

The next question many business owners and founders ask themselves: Is it the right time to scale up? Choosing to scale too soon could put a massive strain on business processes, and research shows that premature scaling can lead to slow long-term growth — to the tune of 20 times slower than those startups who scale at the right time.

Below are the signs to look for that the timing is right for scaling up:

Staff

Your team is integral for your scale-up success. Are they ready to innovate? Will they be prepared for exponential growth? Could they take on additional roles to help allocate the increased workload? If the answer to these questions is “yes” that’s a good sign.

Milestones

When you created your business plan, you likely identified KPIs and goals that would indicate success. If you’re blowing these milestones out of the water and you’re ready for a new challenge, consider that the time is right for scaling.

Cash Flow

What’s your profit margin looking like these days? If you needed to invest money in your scale-up process, would your cash flow suffer? What would you do if the scale-up didn’t work and you took a financial loss? These are also important questions to think about.

Solid IT Infrastructure

Startups are increasingly turning to tech tools and software to support scale-ups. Does your current workplace have the literal bandwidth to support your IT strategy as you scale? You need to ensure that work continues without disruption.

How Does Scaling Work?

Start with a strategy — it doesn’t need to be complicated and complex, but it does need to be clear and concise. Set quarterly and annual goals, analyze the market, and any information about investors if applicable. Don’t be shy about asking mentors, advisors, or business coaches for guidance if this is your first scale-up.
Invest in tech that helps reduce the labor required to scale. Tools like customer relationship management software, enterprise resource planning systems, and collaboration tools will streamline admin processes that can take your team away from focusing on high-value stocks that directly impact business scaling.
Outsource the tasks that can be completed by an outside partner, like marketing, website development, accounting, and graphic design. While large companies usually fill these rolls in-house, smaller startups don’t have the luxury (or the revenue) to do that. It’s a wise investment to lean on other experts.
How will anyone know about your startup scaling if you don’t make noise about it? Amp up your marketing to send a message about your big moves with content marketing, social media strategies, and even influencers that act as ambassadors for your brand.
Once these pieces of the puzzle are in place, hire strategically. The ultimate goal is for startup founders or business owners to trust that they could walk away for a beat and things will still run smoothly. Look for leaders that will support your scaling initiatives and effectively manage without you having to step in.

Balancing work and personal lives is always a challenge. It comes with a great deal of additional stress for a business owner as one spills into the other. By investing in a business coaching company, you can receive guidance with both sides of the equation and knowledge with which you can better balance them.

Coaching is highly beneficial for private business owners who haven’t reached the point of featuring a board of directors but who need help navigating problems as they arise. A common issue is that less experienced owners tend to focus on the problem itself instead of fixating on its source. Sometimes addressing a predicament on the surface isn’t enough, and it will merely keep returning for as long as the root issue remains. It is critical, then, to understand why the problem exists in the first place.

Business owners who want real help to improve themselves and their business can benefit significantly from hiring a business coach. Some owners still haven’t worked everything out, and are in the process of putting together their ideal vision, not just for their business but also for their lives.

The Alexander Group’s small business coaching can help identify that vision and how best to transform the business to support it — contact us today to get started!

A Cryptocurrency Guide for Small Business Owners

Mon, 20 Sep 2021 16:41:55 GMT

Businesses of all shapes and sizes have been increasingly adopting blockchain technology for several processes, and under the umbrella of blockchain technology sits cryptocurrency. Blockchain can seem nebulous and complicated for small businesses with streamlined accounting processes, but ultimately it’s a tool that could help owners future-proof their business.

What is Blockchain?

At the most fundamental level, blockchain is a database that collects, stores, and organizes information groups (or blocks). These blocks are connected to create a chain, and the forward progress of these chains is irreversible. Each block has a precise timestamp to signify when it was created and added to the chain.

What Makes Cryptos Different?

Cryptocurrencies (the most popular of which is arguably Bitcoin) are a blockchain method designed to exchange payment or currency. Because of the inherent transparency of blockchain technology, cryptos are safer and more secure.

Customers are also getting savvier about using cryptocurrencies as they become more mainstream and recognize the importance of more secure payments for online or high-dollar transactions. The security of cryptos also insulates business owners from insider financial threats like employee embezzlement or misappropriation of company money. It’s not likely that every vendor or employee will want to accept cryptos as payment, but it’s an excellent way to mitigate risk for those that do deal in cryptos.

Cryptos Vs. Traditional Payment Methods

Cryptocurrencies are decentralized, meaning the parties within a transaction deal with each other instead of an intermediary partner. This is different from more traditional payment methods like credit or debit cards, whose intermediaries (Visa, Mastercard, banks) charge processing fees. Decentralization eliminates the middleman, lowers processing fees, and makes global transactions easier when calculating currency exchange rates.

There are even countries that are considering adopting cryptocurrencies as their national currency because of their decentralization. El Salvador, for example, has recently declared Bitcoin an official legal currency in an effort to rebuild its struggling economy. The hope is that its citizens will save a significant amount of money by avoiding processing fees that can instead be injected into the economy.

However, this decentralization has its drawbacks. It has led bad actors like hackers to demand cryptos as payment for ransomware attacks because there’s no paper trail and it’s harder for the payments to be seized by law enforcement.

Some Crypto Caveats

If you do any research on cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology, you’ll quickly find a school of thought that’s deeply hesitant about early adoption. Cryptocurrency can be volatile, and the technology and methodology are largely unregulated. You could do severe financial damage to your business by making uneducated guesses or improperly vetting crypto exchange partners. The taxation of cryptocurrency is unclear as well. For non-profit companies or those that have already complicated tax structures, crypto could present another layer of complexity.

The best way for business owners to get their feet wet in the crypto pool is to work with industry peers or other entrepreneurs who have proven track records of crypto transactions and have experienced first-hand the growth that can come from adoption. There needs to be a solid game plan in play for this investment to provide a return in the form of business growth.

Find Some Support

Small business owners sometimes need to leave their comfort zones to find success, and this can include seeking out professional coaching. The Alexander Group isn’t your average business coaching company. We focus on providing clients with a more personal, intimate approach to guidance. Coaching isn’t done by phone or even over Zoom— there is no substitute for one-on-one mentoring, and as such The Alexander Group coaching is always in person.

To learn more, contact us today!

Wage Compression Challenges For Business Owners

Tue, 10 Aug 2021 16:38:03 GMT

Lately, it seems like business owners are facing wave after wave of problems that stand in the way of post-pandemic recovery, with the newest obstacle being wage compression. That’s when you have to raise starting salaries to find new workers and the new people start making as much (or more) as your longtime staff.

Why Positions Are Going Unfilled

To look at the raw data , there seems to be plenty of unfilled openings along with a great number of potential candidates. However, when you dig deeper, many factors are complicating the situation such as lack of childcare, health-related concerns, and a steady and robust flow of government financial aid. Additionally, the roles that are open aren’t aligned with the skills and talent of those who are unemployed.

There are other factors to consider as well. The turnover rate across all industries is higher than it was pre-pandemic. This is likely due to employees leaving jobs to make more money, change careers, or reduce workload after the stress and burnout caused by the pandemic. Others are looking to continue enjoying the increased flexibility that remote work can offer and switch organizations to do so.

The Impact on Businesses

The most seemingly obvious solution to fill positions within a business — raising wages — is traditionally the least financially feasible for business owners. Although business aid is accessible and readily available to theoretically cover that expense, the aid is not infinite and in many cases may even need to be repaid. Raising wages is something that an owner can’t “undo” and sets salary precedents and expectations going forward.

Current employees who don’t get a wage increase begin to harbor resentment for not being recognized for their longstanding commitment to the business. So owners looking to hang on to long-time employees are shelling out more for retention bonuses, further creating what could become a deep financial hole that directly affects project margins. Here is an interesting article from the Wall Street Journal that explains more about the wage compression phenomenon.

What Business Owners Can Do

The best and most cost-efficient way to avoid having to fill unopened job positions is by keeping current employees happy. Beyond wage and compensation increases, there are many ways to help retain talent and create a culture that supports business and employee growth. Owners can offer more robust and personalized benefits packages, remote work schedule flexibility, and strive to implement diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) policies.

It’s also a wise move to seek outside help. Business owners who want real help to improve themselves and their business — not just a consultant to try and do it for them — can benefit greatly from hiring a business coach. Some owners still haven’t worked everything out, and are in the process of putting together their ideal vision, not just for their business but also for their lives. Business coaching services can help owners tackle post-pandemic labor shortages and provide the necessary tools to address the inevitable staffing hurdles they’ll encounter in the future.

Why Choose Executive Coaching?

A common issue is that less experienced owners tend to focus on the problem itself, instead of fixating on its source. Sometimes addressing a predicament on the surface isn’t enough, and it will merely keep returning for as long as the root issue remains. It is critical, then, to understand why the problem exists in the first place.

Executive coaching can involve many different elements, given that there’s no telling what issues can arise with personnel in the workplace. This is on a different scale from business coaching, which involves a coach working with the owner and their teams, and tends to cover the bigger picture.

With The Alexander Group, you can rest assured that you are working with a business coach who has sat in your chair. We’ve faced everything you face as a business owner, such as forming new enterprises, turning around struggling operations, and establishing level expansion in fast-growing businesses.

The Alexander Group isn’t your average business coaching company. We focus on providing clients with a more personal, intimate approach to guidance. Coaching isn’t done by phone, or even over Zoom — there is no substitute for one-on-one mentoring, and as such The Alexander Group coaching is always in person. To learn more, contact us online today .

Disadvantages and Challenges of Remote Work

Thu, 08 Jul 2021 16:31:48 GMT

Remote work has been a topic of conversation in boardrooms for some time now, but that conversation accelerated in the past year. Businesses of all sizes were forced to go fully remote or adopt a hybrid workforce strategy to keep employees safe amid the pandemic, and while this was a necessary move, it may not be the best fit for all businesses. In fact, recent polling and research show that remote working could actually hold back both your business and your employees.

The Hours Are Longer

Many proponents of remote work point to the countless studies that show employees who work remotely are more productive and get more done. While that’s mathematically true, those same studies also reveal that remote workers are working longer hours than their in-office counterparts: They’re nearly 43% more likely to log more than 40 hours during their workweek.

There Are More Meetings

Did you know that it takes an average of 8 emails to schedule one meeting? Or that before the pandemic hit, employees were attending about 62 meetings a month? If that seems like a good chunk of time that’s because it is, and it’s been revealed that working remotely during the pandemic increased the time we spend in meetings by 5% — that’s a big jump.

Mental Health Is Impacted

While the pandemic was stressful in and of itself, the very nature of remote working can compound that stress. Working at home alone can increase feelings of isolation, anxiety, loneliness, and even boredom, all of which impact mental health. About a month into the pandemic, 67% of remote employees reported higher levels of stress, depression, and even a rise in domestic abuse.

Collaboration Is Harder

Some of the best ideas happen during both impromptu and planned collaboration in the office, where the team can come together in person and in real-time. Full-time remote workers have a harder time problem-solving and thinking creatively than employees who are in the office. The issue here? Poorly optimized communication problems can cost organizations an estimated $37 billion every year.

Building Trust Is Harder

Research shows that it is much easier to build trust and convince someone to do something in person than via email. Video Conferencing tools make it hard to understand if someone is telling the truth, and it creates a challenge for remote workers who only have screens to connect with other team members. Reduced employee trust translates directly to a drop in engagement and productivity.

Gender and Pay Gaps Widen

There’s quantifiable evidence that the pandemic affected women at a disproportionate rate, with many opting to work remotely while taking on the monumental task of caring for family members. To compensate, these members of the workforce could be pressed for time and resources, and find that remote working is affecting productivity. Another alternative: quit working altogether, tipping the diversity scales within companies.

Mitigating Remote Risk

While remote work strategies offer a level of security and in some cases, safety, it’s not a model that’s right for every business. It helps to get an unbiased perspective from entrepreneurs who can look at your business with fresh eyes and assess the efficacy of your current work model. The Alexander Group offers private coaching to help business owners devise step-by-step strategic action plans to take on specific issues. Coaching sessions are led by certified business coaches with proven experience coaching high-level executives.

Private coaching sessions also help peer board members reinforce the commitments made at board meetings. During a coaching session, business owners will be asked about the progress they have made on their commitment to their peer board along with being prepared to present any challenge or opportunity to the board that has arisen.

Our executive business coaching services can guide you through the process to bring your visions to life when it comes to fine-tuning your organization’s remote or hybrid work model. In everything we do, we believe change can be accomplished. We believe that all of our business owners can start by committing to improvement. This process is accomplished by identifying what they can control and their goals in life.

Are you ready to dissolve your barriers, commit to executing, and achieve your vision? Request to qualify for a one-on-one business diagnostic!

Email Marketing: How to Grow Your Email List

Tue, 29 Jun 2021 16:28:40 GMT

Despite what you may have heard, email marketing remains a crucial tool in the marketing toolbox — especially for local businesses and eCommerce brands. In fact, research shows that the ROI for email marketing is $42 for every dollar a business spends.

Email marketing is not only a great way to engage an audience with valuable content, but it’s also a way to remind your customer base that you are standing by to help them when the need arises. Even if your audience is too busy to open and read your emails every time, they still get a regular reminder that you and your business are alive and well.

However, for many business owners, getting started can be a daunting task. Let’s look at some of the best ways to launch a regular email marketing campaign…

Organize Your Contacts

You likely already have a large email list of your current customers, prospects, and vendors. Your sales and leadership team probably has a lot of them too. The challenge is to put all of those contacts into one database in order to upload them into an email marketing platform like Constant Contact , Mailchimp , or Active Campaign . It’s best to assign the task of wrangling all of those contacts from your team to one person. But once you have your list, it’s also important to “scrub” it for email addresses that are no longer active.

Scrub Your Email List First

When sending out email blasts, particularly for the first time, it’s very important to limit the number of emails that “bounce” because they are no longer active. Email marketing platform providers like the ones mentioned above are vigilant when it comes to bounce rates because they do not want to appear to be supporting email spammers. You also do not want email providers like Google to flag you as a spammer. So how do you scrub your list? First, never “buy” an email list. It’s more than likely to contain lots of inactive email addresses that will bounce. Next, make sure you clean up your list using a service like zerobounce.net or validity.com . These services, “test” the emails and confirm their validity without actually sending them an email.

Using Website Forms

One of the easiest ways to capture leads for your email list is through a form on your website, but this is also a great strategy for gathering data for future content marketing — like webinars, content downloads, and personalized discounts. There are several types of forms that you can choose to leverage to grow your list; two of the most popular are inline forms and pop-up forms.

Inline forms are embedded in the pages of your website. They can be located anywhere on the page and be on any (or every) page of your website if you choose. Talk to whoever is building or managing your business website about plug-ins that can track the performance of your inline forms.

A great way to use inline forms is by adding a sidebar to every page of your website. No matter which page they’re on, they’ll have a chance to submit their information to your email list. Take things one step further by incentivizing the sign-up process with a free content download or discount at your brick-and-mortar location.

Pop-up forms are exactly what they sound like; they will pop up on the screen when website visitors take a certain action or visit a certain page. While these are a great way to pique the interest of your website traffic, they could impact how well your website performs and need to be designed by professionals.

Pop-ups can also be time-delayed, giving visitors a few minutes to check out your site without being obstructed by a pop-up. Relate pop-up incentives to the content on the page visitors are viewing and put them on high-traffic pages to increase the odds that it will be seen.

What’s Next?

Once you’ve collected email list information from your forms, take the time to segment your audience. If you’re working with a marketing team, rely on their knowledge and expertise to build these segments. Personalized content goes a long way to providing an optimal customer experience, from the first contact to repeat purchases — transaction rates are six times higher when customers receive personalized emails.

Your social media partner can also use your social media accounts and content to grow the list. Think about running a giveaway contest on Instagram or Facebook, where you can actually use Messenger to automate messages that collect customer information. Online business reviews and industry-related forums are other great channels to consider when it comes to finding customer information to grow your email list.

As for the content you share in your emails, make sure it’s good (dare we say “great”) enough to keep current and potential customers from unsubscribing. It won’t grow your list per se, but it certainly helps to prevent it from shrinking. In your content, add language and calls to action that allow readers to easily share your business information and encourage others to sign up for your email list.

Ask for Help

Growing an email list organically is a high-value task for business owners, but it also takes experience, expertise, and valuable time that you may find in short supply. Leverage the power of email marketing to keep your existing customers in the loop and your prospects engaged by working with a marketing team that can take this work off your plate so you can focus on growth. When designed, implemented, and tracked correctly, email marketing can be an invaluable lead generation tool for your business.

There is nobody who knows your challenges better than other small business owners and entrepreneurs. Join our professionally facilitated peer group that serves as a support system and think tank to address challenges, solve problems, and boost the bottom line. There’s no need to struggle through decisions alone when there is help available from others!

Overcoming Post-Pandemic Recovery Challenges

Fri, 21 May 2021 16:25:56 GMT

It seems that we are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel with regards to the current COVID-19 pandemic, which has organizations of all sizes building resiliency and future-proofing their processes. However, while many remain positive that growth is coming, small businesses are still struggling with challenges that stand in the way of recovery.

At the onset of the pandemic, many small businesses were forced to operate on a skeleton crew, furlough employees, or even let them go altogether to remain open. This impacted restaurants and bars in particular, and that continued as more federal financial aid was released for unemployment benefits.

Now that lockdown orders have been largely lifted and in-person dining and shopping have resumed near or at pre-pandemic capacity, there are again positions to be filled and financial support to do so — but no one to fill them. Federal unemployment aid will continue through the summer and that will discourage those who wish to stay home and avoid exposure to the coronavirus from looking for a new job.

The additional unemployment aid flowing through the country has also contributed to potential wage escalation. Jobs with median annual incomes of $25,000-$30,000 pay less than what job seekers could earn from aid (versus taking a position). While this seems like a reasonable salary for a position in a small business, it will take a bit more to attract applicants that have the talent needed to excel in the role. Offering higher wages isn’t ideal for small businesses in the best of times, but it could be near-impossible for those who are already tight on resources.

If all of this wasn’t presenting enough of a hill to climb towards recovery, supply chain disruptions continue to cause a steep rise in the cost of steel, lumber, and plastic. This directly impacts manufacturing, but it also creates much higher costs for expanding a business’s physical footprint with newly constructed warehouses and distribution centers.

So what can a business do to conquer these challenges? First and foremost, create a culture that makes your employees want to stick around. Knowing that you have a core staff of competent, talented employees can give you the peace of mind you need as an owner to attend to high-value work and other recovery plans. If you can’t raise wages across the board, look for ways to add incentives to benefits plans; think about 401(k) options or performance bonuses.

Second to the relationships with your employees are the connections you have with suppliers and vendors. Nurture those connections, collaborate closely to overcome supply chain disruptions, and stay on their good side. This includes paying your bills and invoices on time, every time. Rely on these relationships to build up an inventory of items that may be in short supply or face high customer demand. If you are facing longer lead times for deliveries, be transparent and let everyone know, including your customers.

It’s never a fun discussion to be a part of as a business owner or an entrepreneur, but all signs point to impending economic inflation. An overheating economy could lead to a stock-market pull-back, and to prevent this downward spiral, the Federal Reserve will step in and raise interest rates. If businesses don’t prepare now, this could be another dire crisis after being in a pandemic for over a year.

Now is not the time to take your foot off the gas pedal. If you need more support in planning for inflation or post-pandemic recovery, we have several ways to help. From consulting to coaching, and even peer advisory groups, our team will help you find the resources, insight, and experience you need to grow and thrive despite what’s happening in the world around you.

We use decades of business experience to guide owners towards the fulfillment of their visions. For over ten years we have helped owners navigate high-pressure situations and potential pitfalls, all to come out better than ever on the other side. Are you ready to dissolve your barriers, commit to executing and achieving your vision? Contact us today and we can get started.

The Benefits of a Peer Advisory Board

Wed, 07 Apr 2021 16:21:54 GMT

While there are plenty of rewarding aspects that come with owning a business, it can also come with challenges that only other entrepreneurs are familiar with. A peer advisory board offers a way for business owners to connect with each other, share challenges, and brainstorm solutions for personal and professional growth.

Support Isn’t One-Size-Fits-All

You work really hard to differentiate your business from the competition, and rightly so — but this also means you need support that fits your model and goals. Working with a group of peers that understands those unique needs can offer up great advice, without tipping your hand to let the competition know what you’re up to by asking someone else in your network for insight.

Look Beyond the Dollar

Of course there are financial benefits to seeking out help running your business, but a peer advisory board offers more value than just monetary. Finding a group of peer advisors who understand that work-life balance is essential to success and know that chasing dollars disrupts that balance, you’ll be able to clearly see advantages beyond the bottom line.

Give and Receive

Entrepreneurs are human too, and even the most successful business owners have some weaknesses and vulnerabilities. Joining a peer advisory board offers you an opportunity to provide support to others and help others with your strengths. This will also allow room for you to hone your leadership, mentorship, and facilitator skills, all of which entrepreneurs need access to at all times.

Watch Your (Mis)Step

If you’re a business owner who feels like they learn things the hard way by making mistakes, that’s perfectly fine. However, with a peer advisory board, you have a group of entrepreneurs who have likely already made those same mistakes before — which means you don’t have to. Your board will point out when you may be about to make a costly misstep.

Figuring Out Fundamentals

Even with different business models and across different industries, there are a few fundamentals that are ubiquitous when it comes to running your business. If you haven’t ever learned these basics or it’s been a while since you’ve revisited them, don’t overlook the role of a peer advisory board to help you get back on track and motivate you while you create new habits or change unhealthy ones.

Building Plan B

If there’s anything we’ve learned as business owners in the last year, it’s that we need a wide array of contingency plans in place to help keep our doors open in times of crises. With a peer advisory board, you’ll have a pool of insider-only resources and advice to help create those plans. That way you’ll be able to have some peace of mind when challenging times hit, instead of being reactive with no real strategy at hand.

Growing Self-Awareness

Your friends and family, and especially your employees, will try hard to be supportive, but that may mean you’re always hearing that your ideas are great or that those around you agree with every point that you make. This can be great for our ego, but eventually it leaves us complacent. Joining a peer advisory board may hold a mirror up for you to see a new perspective and force you to think about unconventional ways to grow personally or professionally.

Adding to Accountability

Telling yourself that you’ll make a change is one thing. Take it one step further by joining a peer advisory board and telling them that you have some goals you’re working on. You’ll get a sounding board and a cheering section to motivate you to stay accountable and acknowledge your progress. You are much more likely to keep tabs on yourself, and it opens doors to the other members of the group for you to be their cheerleaders too.

Networking Net Gain

The relationship-building benefits are likely the most valuable on this list. When you’re working so openly with peers with similar mindsets, everyone plays an integral role in each other’s success. That’s a relationship that stays with you forever and provides a consistent space where you can feel comfortable being vulnerable and discuss taking risks; both of which are also integral in your success.

Our peer boards are grouped to create the ideal mix of experience, common interests, and chemistry to best support one another. While your business may not be large enough to have an official Board of Directors, you still need the advice and support that comes with this type of organization — let us help.

Watching Out for Small Business Scams

Mon, 08 Mar 2021 16:48:26 GMT

Our clients tell us one of the most powerful benefits of formally meeting regularly with a group of other business owners is getting insights from experts in fields outside of their own. For over 15 years, peer group member Fred Moore, President of Moore Computing , has been helping his peers tackle complicated IT challenges like data management, server monitoring, and cloud computing.

Today, Fred tells us the number one IT challenge for his team and their clients is protection from cyberattacks. Cybercriminals are commonly known for hacking into a business’s IT system, encrypting the data, and demanding a ransom to unencrypt it. We’ve all seen the headlines about breeches into large corporations and even government systems. However, the Moore Computing team is seeing more small and medium-sized businesses targeted with a variety of scams beyond data encryption.

The past year has been impactful on the country’s tens of millions of small businesses, to say the least. When the government established the Paycheck Protection Program and small business owners have access to funding, bad actors stepped in to find ways to take that money away in the form of small business scams.

Scammers are taking advantage of so much confusion surrounding the PPP and other government loans by saying they can help business owners get their money faster and easier, and many owners will accept their offer. They will give scammers important and sensitive data, like bank accounts and tax ID information.

Small business scams aren’t a newly emerging risk. The Better Business Bureau reported that almost two-thirds of small business respondents said they were a victim of at least one scam, with nearly 20% saying they lost money or business data due to the scam. The pandemic, like natural disasters, can bring fraudsters out of the shadows as businesses work to rebuild.

Several Ways That Scammers Can Cheat

Imposters

A common scam includes someone calling your business claiming to be from a government agency or utility company. They will say that your bills are overdue or you need to pay a business license fee, and some will ask you to pay using gift cards that can’t be traced when spent.

Fake invoices

Scammers will find out which vendors you regularly do business with, and submit invoices under their names in the hope that whoever is handling the payments won’t double-check for legitimacy.

Phishing emails

Cybercriminals will pose as a vendor or colleague and send emails to whoever is in charge of the accounting. These emails will demand urgent, overdue payments and include a link that will facilitate the transaction.

These are just a few of the most common ways that businesses can be defrauded. Scammers can offer to fix your online reputation, sell you ads in business directories, offer to invest in your business in exchange for an upfront fee — the list goes on and on.

How Small Businesses Can Protect Against Scammers

Invest in training for every employee, from top to bottom. Tell them to never click a link from a sender they don’t know and use training tools like KnowBe4 to support these learning initiatives.
Get covered by cyber insurance; this is likely an additional policy on top of the general liability coverage you already have for your business. Unless you have a very robust general liability policy, you won’t have cyber coverage.
Limit the number of employees that have access to funds and accounts. Additionally, establish clear rules and guidelines for handling things like ordering supplies or paying invoices, and consider requiring approval for each purchase.
Research vendors and partners before exchanging any money. Search for the company name online, investigate their website, and check for any scam alerts. Take it one step further and check the Better Business Bureau for a profile.
Verify all invoices before payment, and reconcile them with items that have been ordered, work that’s been completed, and services rendered. Make sure that everything is correct before sending money.
Don’t respond to emails that ask for sensitive data, and don’t click on any links from senders you don’t recognize. The same goes for phone calls — don’t give out information to callers that you can’t verify.
Make sure your business computers and devices are protected against viruses and malware. Secure or even encrypt files and software that connect to the internet and contain business and customer data.
Outsource your IT to a trusted company that stays up to date on cyber protection best practices. In-house IT, even with a professional will not have the latest industry knowledge that a professional firm will.

Make sure your business is protected before it’s too late and you’ve been exploited, or worse, forced to close your doors because of a scam. To be fully sure that your business is protected against cyber scams, reach out to IT professionals for help on actionable guidance.

If you aren’t benefitting from the wisdom of your business owner peers, contact us to learn more about our facilitated monthly peer group meetings.

Do You Need a Business Coach?

Tue, 09 Feb 2021 16:13:44 GMT

The past year has been a struggle for many businesses of all sizes and across all industries, and the events of 2020 have been unprecedented for owners and leaders who thought they had already been through it all. Many are questioning what’s ahead and struggling to pivot with the future of the economy so uncertain. Even when times aren’t so unprecedented, business owners and leaders need some support and guidance of their own. However, there are some big, very obvious signs that it’s time to start working with a business coach.

Accountability

When the business owner is the boss, they are generally only accountable to themselves. That can make it too easy to put off important initiatives to grow and improve their company. A good business coach won’t let the owner off the hook once they make a commitment to an improvement. Things like establishing a sales process for the team, or making sure your accounting practices are correct can be easy to put off if the owner is not accountable to someone other than themselves.

At our monthly peer group meetings, the members also make a specific commitment to the group at the end of each session. The group then revisits that commitment the following month. This makes everyone accountable and ultimately improves the business and the business owner over time.

Plateaus

Have sales and performance in your business plateaued after a period of growth? It’s not always easy for those on the frontlines to see where the problem is, but there’s a chance that something is continuing to be done within the business even though it’s no longer working.

Lack of Goals

Think back to when you created your business plan and the goals you included as milestone markers for success. Have you reached them? If so, what new goals have you established? If you haven’t yet marked those milestones, what’s keeping you? If you don’t have any goals, it’s surely time to call in a business coach.

Leadership Issues

If there is constant discord among your most senior leaders or C-suite, your business is in trouble. Culture is more important now than ever before, and that starts at the top with a team of leaders that work together and lead the rest of the organization by example. The wrong culture can drive top talent (and revenue) for the hills.

Absence of Leadership Training

Everyone at every level of your organization is looking to grow and thrive within their role, and that’s especially true for leaders. If there’s not already a system in place a business coach can assess needs and help create one that promotes professional and personal development.

Lack of Engagement

Employees below your leaders and managers need to stay engaged to continue to be productive and help your business move forward. Low retention, lack of morale, and a general negative culture around the business are all signs that engagement is flagging.

How will Business Coaching Help?

While consultants and coaches play roles that overlap, business coaches are much more of a mentor that will continue to support business leaders in their overall growth. Business coaches won’t give you the answers you’re looking for but they will stand by your side and guide you to solutions. This partnership will also force leaders to ask difficult questions and push them to face challenges head-on.

These questions and answers will shape new goals for leaders and businesses as a whole. Business coaches listen to the leaders they work with and uncover bits of information that can clarify those goals. If there are no business goals set or leaders can’t express them clearly to their team, a business coach will help change that.

Once those goals have been established, business coaches will be able to pinpoint the skills that leaders need to focus on to meet and exceed those goals. It could be those underdeveloped skills that contribute to performance plateaus or lack of engagement; the root of an issue that could be causing several other issues within an organization.

Perhaps the biggest benefit that a business coach can offer is the support to make better, quicker, more efficient decisions that lead to growth. Many of the signs above that a business coach is needed can be a result of leaders not knowing how to make decisions with confidence. Throughout their process, business coaches will pinpoint why it’s become hard for leaders to make those decisions and create a system that works to improve the decision-making process — and a business’s bottom line.

Business owners who want real help to improve themselves and their business — not just a consultant to try and do it for them — can benefit greatly from hiring a business coach. Some owners still haven’t worked everything out, and are in the process of putting together their ideal vision, not just for their business but also for their lives.

The Alexander Group’s small business coaching can help with identifying what that vision is and how best to transform the business to support it. We’ve faced everything you face as a business owner, such as forming new enterprises, turning around struggling operations, and establishing level expansion in fast-growing businesses.

We focus on providing clients with a more personal, intimate approach to guidance. To learn more, contact us online or give us a call today.

Developing and Executing Your Succession Plan and Exit Strategy

Wed, 20 Jan 2021 16:06:40 GMT

The Richard Greene Company was established in 1958 as a manufacturer’s representative selling timers and sensing products, before transitioning into the distribution of industrial control products in the 1970s. In 1978, the founder’s son (and namesake) Rich Greene joined the organization before becoming the owner in the mid-1990s and built thriving relationships with both clients and employees along the way.

Rich was initially interested in the benefits of an external peer board when he first started working with Cornell Meyer at The Alexander Group in 2014. Rich knew other industry peers depended on external boards as a sounding board and collective knowledge base and had some challenges to work through other leaders would recognize and be able to offer their insight.

The biggest concern Rich had for his company was the age of the workforce. While turnover was low and employee loyalty was high, this also translated into many of the long-term employees hitting retirement at the same time. Rich and Cornell worked together to create a hiring strategy which brought in fresh blood and offered some peace of mind the sales team was solid.

Ultimately, Rich wanted to develop an exit plan to ensure the current employees would continue to be treated the way they had come to expect and company culture would be maintained. Before starting work with Cornell, Rich had struggled to create this plan on his own while beginning to consider several options.

When Cornell and Rich together gained focus on an Exit plan, they explored various methods to employ, including creating an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP). The company would set up a trust fund and shares in this trust would be allocated to employee accounts. As the employees continue with the company, they increasingly earn the right to those shares — a process that’s called vesting, and something that must happen within 3-6 years. When employees (or leaders like Rich) leave the company, they receive their stock, which the company can buy back at fair market value.

Another option Rich and Cornell explored was using a broker to facilitate a sale. Because brokerage fees for the transaction would be significant, the terms of the brokerage agreement needed to be just right. Although this option would help bring in potential buyers at a national level, Rich was concerned about how that would translate into questions about how the employees would be treated after he left.

A sale to key employees was considered, but the self-financing component of the sale was risky.

While focusing on a final strategy, Cornell then guided Rich through tying up loose ends within the business. A legal team was called in to resolve some outstanding issues, to clean up meeting minutes and corporate records.

Eventually, the news got out that Rich was looking to sell to a strategic buyer. A company called Ramco out of Des Moines, Iowa approached about a potential sale. Both businesses had nearly identical product lines, similar distribution methods, and most importantly, both had employee-centric company cultures and values. After several meetings with Cornell by his side and a process wrought with plenty of emotion, Rich sold his business to Ramco with the assurance the current employees would receive the same recognition and appreciation when the new team took ownership.

Although all business sales can be difficult, time-consuming, and complex, they are often further complicated by the involvement on both sides of third-party experts like accountants and attorneys. Rich experienced his fair share of these complications and turned to The Alexander Group to help him navigate through the complexity, he says. “That ball took off pretty quick and Cornell was by my side, so to speak, during that process and pushing it along. Cornell has experience in these things, and this was my first time selling a business. He worked to help me understand questions about taxation and sales contracts, even when things got pretty confusing.”

Rich says that Cornell and The Alexander Group were instrumental in helping him sell his father’s business, one he had invested so many of his years into. “He would be the straight man, pulling me out of it…and helped push the process along. I think we got it done a lot quicker than we would have otherwise.” The sale closed January 2020, and Rich continues working on the executive committee in a consultative role based on the sales agreement.

It’s never easy to think about how to move on from the business that’s been built over the years or even generations, but the sooner exit planning starts, the smoother the exit — just ask Rich Greene.

Reach out to the team at The Alexander Group to get a plan started today and secure peace of mind about the future of your business.

The Cost of Ransomware Attacks to Businesses

Tue, 08 Dec 2020 15:57:44 GMT

As technology innovates, more small businesses are leveraging tools and software that help with processes. Unfortunately, it’s these same investments that are leaving organizations of all sizes open to bad actors. The truth is that cybercriminals will always manage to find a back door and make it their job to be one step ahead of you as a business owner.

Ransomware attacks are just one example of a threat to your business — they’re common and they can be incredibly costly and eat away at your profit margins. In fact, the average cost of a ransomware attack on a business was $713,000 between the loss of business due to downtime and the harm to its reputation. Many businesses also report that it can be anywhere from three to five days before any digital files can be accessed.

What Is Ransomware?

Ransomware is malicious software (malware) that is deployed through your IT infrastructure and quite literally holds your data hostage. There are two very common approaches to ransomware that cybercriminals choose; encryption and screen lockers. Encryptors “jumble” data in your system, asking for a ransom in return for a key that will allow for decryption. Screen lockers will simply block you from accessing data with a screen that will only be unlocked with the payment of ransom.

Part of what makes ransomware so common is that it’s easily disguised in email links or attachments and then will spread quickly. Poorly protected business networks are also a prime target for ransomware, which is essentially an automated process that doesn’t take much (if any) technical skill to deploy and manage. Employees can easily be fooled into downloading programs that may seem like work-related tools but in fact “worm” their way through the network looking for holes to burrow in. This makes regular training and continuing education about ransomware a necessity.

How Do I Protect Against Ransomware Attacks?

Having a robust ransomware protection plan in place should be an on-going process that takes top priority. This plan needs to cover everything, from employee training for ransomware prevention to actionable tips that help maintain business continuity should an attack occur. There should also be a clear chain of communication to help navigate through a ransomware emergency, and the plan should be regularly reviewed.

Your business also needs to shore up IT infrastructure and best practices. Data backup should be performed consistently and firewalls should be put in place to close up vulnerabilities that cybercriminals can slip through. Restrict the software that employees can download to your business network, and patch the approved tools regularly to fix any security bugs that often go missed during development. It’s important to create a culture of safety for everyone, from top to bottom.

Should I Pay The Ransom?

Even with prevention and detection in place, ransomware attacks can still happen. There’s no guarantee that businesses will get the data back if they do pay the ransom, but those that do decide to make the payment face less downtime. Ransomware payments generally involve cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, which is nearly impossible to track — great for criminals, but not great for those who need to make sure the payment was completed.

Also, the US Treasury Department has imposed sanctions on individuals and groups that have been found guilty of deploying ransomware attacks, effectively making it illegal for businesses to pay the ransom. The consequences can be staggering :

“A number of those sanctioned have been closely tied with ransomware and malware attacks, including the North Korean Lazarus Group; two Iranians thought to be tied to the SamSam ransomware attacks; Evgeniy Bogachev, the developer of Cryptolocker; and Evil Corp, a Russian cybercriminal syndicate that has used malware to extract more than $100 million from victim businesses.

Those that run afoul of OFAC sanctions without a special dispensation or ‘license’ from Treasury can face several legal repercussions, including fines of up to $20 million.”

If you haven’t done so already, it’s time to complete an audit of what kind of safety net you currently have in place. A third-party coach or consultant can help take the results of that audit and turn them into action items, helping to create a new plan, training systems for employees, and even connect you with insurance providers that offer specific cybersecurity and business continuity protection.

Getting a third-party perspective is as easy as reaching out to our team. With The Alexander Group , you can rest assured that you are working with a business coach who has sat in your chair. We’ve faced everything you face as a business owner — including ransomware.

A Guide to Geofencing Marketing

Mon, 09 Nov 2020 15:52:57 GMT

If you’ve ever driven past your favorite coffee shop and received a discount notification on your phone or received a coupon for a store as you’ve walked by, you experienced geofencing marketing.

Geofencing technology has been around for some time. It’s location-based technology that uses GPS or RFID technology to create a digital fence around a geographic area. When a mobile device enters this fenced-off area, it can trigger events that send notifications to those devices. Geofences are used for a number of applications, including employee time tracking, ride sharing services, emergency alerts, and marketing.

First, a geographical radius needs to be established around a location — like a restaurant or a retail store. Then, using GPS information, a virtual boundary needs to be established around that location. From there, the business decides which messages will be sent when alerts are triggered.

Just like with other types of marketing campaigns, it’s important to segment your potential targets when using geofencing marketing and personalize messages based on the demographic specifics. You can send alerts when customers are nearby or on premise, send out alerts to those on WiFi or cellular data, or create different alerts for new and returning customers.

Geofencing is ideal for both brick-and-mortar and online businesses, and can work just as well for B2B marketing as it does for reading consumers directly with a B2C strategy. Below are some tips to make geofencing marketing work to help drive visibility and revenue.

Get Them On The Go

Where’s your smartphone? When was the last time you checked it? Chances are it’s usually within your reach, and you check it quite often — and customers do too. This means that there are many more opportunities to reach them with mobile advertising and reach them at a time where they’re close to a business. It keeps brands top of mind and increases the likelihood of motivating them to make a purchase.

More Accurate Lead Generation

Because geofencing marketing targets a specified local area based on demographic parameters you established, you can easily capture warm leads. This means that they’ll even skip a few steps of the sales funnel and be ready to buy by the time geofence triggers reach their devices. Even if customers don’t act on the purchase, brands will make a lasting impression in the palm of their hands.

Capture The Competition’s Customers

By creating a geofence boundary around the competitors, businesses can tap into their customer base and offer a much more enticing incentive. There’s also plenty of data that can be gleaned from pinging customer devices, like how often they visit the competition and when, helping understand patterns that could shape future marketing messages and offers.

Collect Valuable Data

Another benefit of geofencing is that it offers another layer of data that gives insight into shopper behavior. Which of your customers respond to offers and how quickly? Where are these conversions located? What products are they choosing to buy with the discount you’re offering? These are great tips that can help shape future marketing messages, either through geofencing or other channels like social media.

Optimizing Omnichannel

For service-based and local businesses that depend on revenue from the communities around them, paid search and social ads with location targeting offer ROI. Using geofencing data can help ad campaign managers zero in on specific zip codes that they know contain a higher volume of leads. Budgets are streamlined and money isn’t wasted on leads that have a smaller chance of converting.

Personalize The Process

Customers get offers all the time from retailers, through channels like email or social media. Because geofencing marketing can be highly targeted and based on real-time data, you can personalize messages to address their interests or pain points. From there, geofencing data can be used to personalize ads and messages even further.

Using geofencing can boost your existing marketing strategy exponentially and drive revenue, something that many local businesses need right now more than ever. If you’re ready to get started, get in touch with our team of consultants. We can help identify your sales goals and the role that geofencing marketing plays, along with establishing and implementing the strategy. Let’s start the conversation to help your business grow and thrive.

Navigating A Business Pivot

Thu, 08 Oct 2020 14:48:14 GMT

Perhaps the only thing harder than starting your business in the first place is undertaking a business pivot — especially during an economic downturn. Pivoting means that you’re walking away from everything about your business that you know to be true, and moving towards a new model that carries an inherent risk of failure. However, many business owners and leaders are choosing to pivot now to keep their business doors open as the demands of their core customer base change dramatically. To mitigate that risk of failure, your plan to pivot needs to be strategic and guided with some outside help.

In a sense, a pivot is similar to starting a new venture; however, the stakes are much higher now that your business is up and running so don’t make a single move without goals in place. Create benchmarks that help track your progress and indicate where you’re succeeding. You and your employees are all under an immense amount of stress right now, and a solid, documented plan will give everyone a big-picture progress report in real-time.

Before making any decisions about the future of your business, put fear aside. When business owners and leaders make decisions based on emotions instead of data, they’re unable to stay objective. This is a time to be humble instead of being embarrassed that you’re not seeing the success you had hoped for. Remember that you’re taking on this immense change because what your business is doing or offering isn’t working well or meeting customers’ needs. Use that data and your newfound humility to fuel strategic planning.

Start the planning process by peeling away the layers of your business’s services or products and focus on the customers. Find ways to get their feedback and start conversations about what they’re now looking for from you, and compare that with what your business does best. By re-establishing the customer relationship and showing that you’re listening to your target demographic, you create loyalty that will carry you through crises. One caveat: keep this communication authentic and sincere because now more than ever customers will see through overly dramatic messaging.

Take this invaluable customer data back to your team. Your employees, stakeholders, and partners are just as worried about what the future holds as you are, and it’s important to keep everyone informed and reassured in consistent and clear ways. Decide together what areas need to pivot; you may find that it’s not necessary or possible to transform your entire organization. Simple reallocation of resources or repositioning of key staff may be all it takes to move your business to a different path.

Here is where you should draw on the strengths and current capabilities of your team and ask for their feedback as well. Roles and relationships change in a pivot (for better or worse), and everyone must be on board and open to collaboration. Consider how you, as a leader, will change the way you motivate everyone to move forward in the face of fear and plan to provide training for those team members whose responsibilities may change during and after a pivot. If you haven’t made company culture a priority before now, it’s time to do so.

The truth of the matter is that every business should be prepared to pivot at a moment’s notice. If there’s anything we’ve learned from the past year it’s that nothing is certain, and the world around us can change in the blink of an eye. Even if you don’t feel it’s necessary for a pivot right now, you should still have a contingency plan in place. Being proactive and thinking ahead means your organization won’t have to scramble if the time comes, losing valuable time and perhaps even your competitive edge among industry peers.

Strategic pivot planning should be an ongoing process, and calling in a third party to help can offer a huge return on investment. Our team will work closely with yours to develop goals and discuss what steps are next if you’re ready to pivot. We’ll do the heavy lifting and leave you to work on the high-value work that will carry your business through crises of any magnitude. Once we’ve established a blueprint for change, we’ll be by your side throughout the transformation to support and optimize your next moves.

We have years of experience working with owners and leaders just like you and have been a part of our fair share of pivots. Get in touch today , before you make any more decisions about the future of your business, and learn how coaching and mentorship could be the key to your ongoing success.

Business Owners’ Biggest Mistakes: Do You Have a Succession Plan or Exit Strategy?

Sun, 20 Sep 2020 14:43:04 GMT

In our continuing series about the biggest mistakes we see from business owners, The Alexander Group takes a look at the failure of some business owners to hold themselves accountable. There are ways to escape those personal, protective bubbles to help ensure the owner makes the smartest decisions possible—reaching beyond the expertise of only themselves.

Nobody can work forever. Apathy, old age, or death remove everybody from the workplace eventually, and knowing this is especially important for business owners who want to ensure the company is run profitably long after they have stepped away from the desk.

Succession plans and exit strategies both are important for ensuring this happens, and while many businesses seem to think that these are effectively one and the same, there are a few key differences that exist between them. Even with these differences, a responsible business owner will put into place both a succession plan and an exit strategy so their company does not miss a beat when the time comes for the boss to step away.

Knowing the difference between the two is essential in properly planning for either, and TAG Business Coaching offers the type of business consulting necessary to ensure this happens.

Succession Plan

The biggest difference between the two is that a succession plan is put into place when unforeseen circumstances remove a business owner from the office for an extended absence, as would be the case with a serious illness or debilitating injury, while an exit strategy puts a plan into place when the business owner is leaving for good.

In many cases, the word “succession” conjures images of a child taking over the business for his or her parent, so even if the succession is temporary, it is essential that this internal transfer occurs as smoothly as possible.

In working with a business consultant on your succession plan, business owners must communicate what they want in the case of an extended absence because whoever takes over needs to know how to keep things running successfully.

Exit Strategy

To build an effective exit strategy, any reputable small business consulting firm will suggest answering the following questions beforehand:

Do I really want to get out of the business?
How am I going to get out of the business?
What am I going to be doing in ten years?

As soon as a business owner can be honest with herself about her future plans, she can start to accommodate for what happens after she’s left the business.

Why It’s So Important to Have Both in Place

Whether an exit strategy involves selling the business, turning it over to a family member, or staying with the business until death do you part, it is imperative that business owners have a succession plan if something unexpected happens, as well as an exit strategy for when it’s time to walk away for good.

Very few businesses have a plan for something happening to the owner of a business because it is entirely too easy to get so caught up in day-to-day operations, and it’s hard to visualize ever leaving the business.

However, without a specific plan, lawyers, accountants, courts, or even apathy can consume the value of a business, and this obviously is not what an owner wants. It’s important to have contingencies in place, and succession plans and exit strategies are two of the most essential contingencies that business owners will ever need.

COVID-19 Recovery Guide for Small Businesses

Fri, 11 Sep 2020 18:48:54 GMT

As organizations of all shapes and sizes continue to grapple with the impact of COVID-19, small businesses especially are struggling with how to create a plan to recover from their losses. These small businesses are also looking for ways to future-proof their operations to better weather storms that are yet to come. We work closely with these businesses daily and have come to recognize some of the processes that need extra attention and optimization to prepare for the unknown.

Finances

Start by managing your cash flow. Carefully budget for the next one to two months, reduce overhead, and try hard to cut back on non-essential expenditures. This may mean modifying business hours to save on operational and labor or payroll costs. You may also want to speak with your landlord if your business has a physical location and negotiate rent reduction, payment installments, or even deferrals.

Next, communicate with any lenders you’re working with. If you’re not able to meet loan obligations, they may be able to offer alternatives. Review loan documentation with them and discuss any changes that may have happened, or look into the possibility of taking advantage of lowered interest rates by refinancing or consolidation. You can also speak with the bank where you hold business accounts about the availability of government-based or private sector relief funds.

Once you’ve gotten a better idea of your current financial state, think about what you’ll do to optimize expenses moving forward. Start with an audit to see where your money is allocated over the next few months, eliminate any unnecessary expenditures, and find which of your business processes are offering low or no financial return on investment. Reallocate any extra cash to invest in tools that will help streamline your business now and well into the future.

Communication and Marketing

Now more than ever, communication with your customers should be authentic and transparent. They need to know when your hours of operation change, if you’re not able to perform any services or provide products, or if there are any delays. Your customers will also appreciate knowing what safety protocols you have in place to keep everyone safe.

Integrate these messages into your marketing strategy ; now is not the time to go radio silent. Make sure to update your website frequently and keep the information accurate. Post on social media consistently, ask your audience to share those posts, and consider setting up a strategy that allows for social selling on these platforms. Don’t overlook the power of email marketing, either — more of us than ever are at home, and this provides your business with a captive audience.

You’ll need to put the same effort into communicating with your employees as well. They’re likely worried about their role in the business, as well as their health and wellness on the job. Set up training plans to educate them on heightened safety and cleaning protocols and what to do if they are exposed to or diagnosed with COVID. Keep them in the loop and ask for their feedback for ways and ideas to help keep your business moving forward. Maintain an open-door policy so they come to you as an owner or manager if any problems arise that will prevent them from fulfilling their job duties.

Risk Management and Recovery

It’s a gross understatement to say that many small business owners were wholly unprepared for the rapid spread of illness, but if anything it created an opportunity for them to take a second look at risk management strategies like business continuity plans and insurance coverage. Because many traditional insurance policies didn’t account for a pandemic, small businesses are now facing huge monetary losses. The foundation of your recovery plan should be prioritizing investment in coverage that will provide peace of mind, even in the face of the yet unknown.

This is also the time to think about pivoting your business model, services, or products in innovative ways that help solve emerging pain points for customers. Leverage trends and changing demands and reshape your business to meet those demands now and for the foreseeable future.

It can be nearly impossible to regain perspective on your situation as a small business owner facing a crisis, but you don’t have to tackle the post-COVID recovery process on your own. Our team has been in your shoes, and we use those experiences to help our clients navigate even the roughest of waters.

To learn more, contact us online . We look forward to hearing from you.

Company Culture for Remote Teams

Tue, 11 Aug 2020 18:43:13 GMT

Despite the size of your company, culture is the key to its overall success. Until recently, company culture was easy to promote for businesses that had traditional in-office teams. However, with remote work being the norm now and for the foreseeable future, leaders have to adapt their culture-building strategies to pivot and meet changing employee needs.

Importance of Company Culture

There’s a long list of benefits offered by optimized company culture, but these are a few of the top advantages.

Improved potential for talent acquisition: Strong culture is like a neon sign for top talent looking for professional growth. Those candidates who are ready for professional growth will flock to an organization that provides the foundation for that growth.
Employee commonality: Framework for consistent company culture means you’ll recruit and retain employees that have core beliefs in common, similar goals despite different backgrounds, and the ability to more easily collaborate.
Better communication: When employees at your organization feel supported through good work culture, communication is streamlined and more effective, putting everyone on the same page when it comes time to share ideas.
Higher retention rates and reputation: Good company culture means less workplace stress and burnout, which in turn reduces turnover rates. The news of better working environments also spreads by word of mouth and improves a company’s reputation.

Starting to Build Your Company Culture

Building Basics

Simply put, culture building for remote teams looks very similar to the approach taken for in-office staff. Core basics will help frame out strategies and provide a scalable blueprint.

Vision

Look no further than the organization’s mission statement. If you don’t already have one in place, now is a good time to write it. It provides each and every employee from the top down with a common purpose, one that drives growth and provides for a cohesive culture.

Values

The terms “values” and “culture” could be used interchangeably in many circumstances. While vision provides a purpose, values present the guidelines to achieve that purpose. These values don’t have to be complicated, but they should be authentic.

Practices

Practices are the daily organizational processes that back up the values you establish. From the top down, practices should embody what you lay out in the values — this includes performance reviews, promotional hierarchies, and compensation planning.

People

At the heart of any company culture are its people. After all, they’re the thread that makes up the fabric of your organization and recruiting and onboarding processes should be practices that mirror vision and values.

Building Culture Remotely

Once the basics are established and shared company-wide, organizations often implement strategies like in-person team-building events, regular and routine meetings, and workplace protocol and policies to help maintain culture. While remote teams may mean these traditional strategies fall by the wayside, it doesn’t mean you should stop trying altogether — just try different tactics instead, starting with hiring.

If your company is in the position to expand its workforce, remember that this is the starting point for building a great culture. New talent should fully understand the basics of your culture even before the onboarding process and agree to them. This also applies to the freelancers you work with. Remote work becomes much harder when the team isn’t aligned out of the gate.

Once your team is in place, keep communication flowing. Impromptu check-ins and casual meetings become much harder when a workforce is dispersed, and leaders especially need to set examples for other team members when it comes to open and transparent communication that flows freely. On that note, remain transparent about challenges your organization may be facing in this “new normal” to help build trust and make your employees feel as though they can give you feedback about their challenges, too.

Building a cohesive team doesn’t have to stop when employees are working remotely. Host virtual events, share good news about organizational or revenue goals via videoconferencing, or even send personalized recognition awards or gifts like gift cards for food deliveries, just as you would in a traditional office. The key is to let your team know they’re valued, regardless of how their workday has changed.

Ultimately, moving to a remote workplace doesn’t mean letting go of the important steps companies need to take to build a winning culture. If your organization needs help shifting company culture to meet the needs of a remote workforce, you may need a fresh perspective.

Our team offers private coaching services to help entrepreneurs like you to create a strategic action plan that will get the entire organization back on track. Get in touch when it’s time to start a discussion with our Certified Business Coaches.

Cash Flow Management Strategies

Thu, 09 Jul 2020 18:35:04 GMT

Cash flow is the foundation of business success, and regardless of whether times are lean or not, it’s important for all entrepreneurs to understand what it takes to have enough working capital on hand to keep going. Whether you’ve been an entrepreneur for years or you’re just starting out, revisit the basics of managing cash flow.

Understanding Working Capital and How Much is Needed

All companies should start with a goal of how much working capital (we define as current assets over current liabilities) is needed to effectively manage the ebb and flow of the work and the cash flow fall-out which happens after the work is done. The working capital needs change from company to company, industry to industry. If your business model is to not only pre-bill but also receive payment prior to starting work then your working capital needs differ from a business performing services first and then billing for services rendered.

As a general rule, we try to have our clients maintain a minimum 5% working capital ratio (of annual revenue) if they are in the services industry, and a minimum of 10% working capital ratio (of annual revenue) if they are in the construction, manufacturing, or heavy industry where a large portion of the Cost of Goods Sold is in labor performed.

Budget by the Month

The first step to really reigning in your cash flow is determining how much money you need to live on monthly and how much your business needs to survive. Once you’ve established these numbers, you can create a baseline. Don’t forget to include emergency savings along with monthly expenses to create a nest egg for anything unexpected. If you’re just starting your business and have no concrete idea of numbers, underestimate your income and overestimate your costs — it’s better to have an excess in your budget than to run out and find yourself in a cash crunch.

Pick Out the Patterns

Businesses usually have consistent income and expenses, including bills, inventory costs, and regular customers. After establishing your monthly financials, track your regular accounting numbers, and make adjustments as needed. Use accounting software that provides a visualization of this data and get reports that highlight areas for better cash flow management. Anticipating cash flow will also help with any necessary adjustments before things get out of hand and you find that your business is a little short on cash. You’ll also be able to see where you can cut back on the money coming in and out.

Keep It Lean

When you do have some extra funding in your budget it can be tempting to immediately update your office, invest in expensive tech, or go on a hiring spree. If you’re putting time and resources into building a top-quality product or service, these expenditures shouldn’t matter. Bootstrap first before hiring, keep your workspace basic, and use the tech you have on hand for as long as possible before having to upgrade. Don’t borrow more money than you need if financing is required for growth and ensure that you have room in the budget for another monthly payment and the interest that comes along with it.

Scope Out Savings

While staying lean is one way to help keep cash on hand, so too are the extra steps of taking cost-cutting measures where you can. Speak to your vendors and strategic partners about discounts for early invoice payments, price matching, or referral bonuses — even a few dollars can save over the long-term. Other ways to save include leasing equipment instead of buying it, getting business credit cards with cash back or rebate rewards, paying off card balances on time to avoid interest, and consolidating business debt for lower interest or monthly payments.

Invest in Invoices

Getting paid on time means your business cash keeps flowing, so optimizing your invoicing process goes a long way towards managing cash flow. First and foremost, make sure you’re sending out invoices regularly and on time, and check that all of the information is accurate. Even something as small as an incorrect address can delay your payment. Include language that addresses invoice payment expectations in any contracts you sign with clients. Build a reputation as a business that is proactive about collecting and fulfilling invoice obligations.

Adopt Accurate Accounting

The only way to know how to best manage your cash is by looking at the books, and if those aren’t accurate, you’re headed for trouble. Beyond integrating a sound system within your business, you can also use tech tools or even outsource this business so you have peace of mind that your numbers are correct and updated in real-time. Having an at-a-glance, bottom-line look at your business’ financial health will also let you easily make important purchase or investment decisions based on what your cash flow situation looks like at any given time.

Get an Outside Opinion

It’s not unusual for entrepreneurs to find cash flow management challenging. In fact, it’s a common reason why many businesses struggle to survive. Small business owners sometimes need to leave their comfort zones to find success, and this can include seeking out professional coaching. If you’re looking for cash flow management guidance as you work toward growth, you’ve already taken an important first step. No one can improve if they aren’t willing to learn, and a part of that comes from acknowledging that you aren’t perfect.

You’ve made mistakes, but a dependable small business coach can help you avoid repeating them — let’s talk.

How Our Clients Navigated the SBA Loan Programs

Wed, 24 Jun 2020 18:29:52 GMT

Earlier this year, the spread of COVID-19 into the United States created the most unprecedented upheaval most business owners have seen in their lifetimes. Remember how it felt like “another shoe dropped” every few hours as we learned about cancellations of sports leagues, concerts, and conventions followed by escalating “stay-at-home” orders across the country?

Some business owners went into denial, some panicked, and others rolled up their sleeves and got to work. We at The Alexander Group got to work.

We dove into the minutia of the rapidly evolving financial programs from the US Government like the Emergency Income Disaster Loans (EIDL) from the Small Business Administration (SBA) followed by the EIDL Grants and the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) that were part of the CARES Act.

Our team recognized the complications of the EIDL and PPP funding options early on and quickly developed a plan of action to support our clients. Our peer boards shifted from monthly half-day meetings to weekly one-hour Zoom meetings for everyone to collaborate and share best practices for navigating these tricky waters. Discussions centered around industry guidance, how to complete documentation correctly, and optimizing workflows with banks, bookkeepers, and accountants.

"In total, Alexander Group clients received over $8,000,000 as a combined amount of

PPP loans, $93,000 in EIDL Advance Grants, and $2,500,000 in EIDL loans."

These weekly meetings, supplemented with ongoing coaching sessions, revealed innovative and efficient solutions for the obstacles that stood in the way of small business owners receiving financial help. In some cases, the solution went so far as assistance with switching banks from institutions that were slow to keep up with SBA loan programs to those who did more homework and worked harder for their clients to get them approved. By the end of May, all of our clients who applied for an EIDL advance or PPP funding had received that money to help improve the odds of outlasting the pandemic and beyond.

The EIDL is a 30-year loan with an interest rate of 3.75% for small businesses and 2.75% for non-profits. It does not require payment for the first 12 months and the funds can be used towards operating expenses like employee payroll and capital improvements that will position the business for success in the months and years ahead.

In total, Alexander Group clients received over $8,000,000 as a combined amount of PPP loans, $93,000 in EIDL Advance Grants, and $2,500,000 in EIDL loans.

SBA Programs for Disaster Relief

Organizations of all sizes across the world are still reeling from the impact of the current pandemic, and this is especially true for small business owners who are facing down the biggest challenges of their entrepreneurial journey. While the SBA has long been a resource that owners can turn to for funding options, even the SBA has been struggling to simplify processes to help keep cash flowing.

One of these options is Emergency Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL), a program that’s been around for some time to help business owners recover financial losses due to natural disasters like catastrophic flooding or hurricanes. The SBA administers these loans and the CARES Act added an “advance” that allows EIDL funding to be wired to business checking accounts.

At the onset of the pandemic, the amount of this advance was a flat $10,000 but after some consideration, the SBA adjusted totals to equal $1,000 for each employee for businesses that employed fewer than 10 workers. Once the money was deposited, there was no follow-up support or communication from the SBA — owners simply saw a deposit from the U.S. Treasury based on their headcount.

When EIDL applications began to overwhelm the SBA as the financial impact of the pandemic deepened, the CARES Act emerged to offer additional relief for small business owners looking for financial support. The EIDL Advance and the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) were developed, and the SBA was charged with administering as well.

What makes PPP different from other SBA loan programs is that a portion of the funding will be forgivable; when the money is used on business expenses like payroll, rent, and utilities, business owners will not be required to pay it back. Initially, it was dictated that the first 8 weeks of expenses after receiving this loan would be forgiven, but a new bill (H.R. 7010) signed on June 5 extended that window to 24 weeks. With more breathing room, it became even more likely that all of the PPP loans would be forgiven as long as business owners paid their employees, their rent, and their utility bills.

As the SBA saw exponential growth in PPP applications, small business owners had a growing list of questions about eligibility, forgiveness guidelines, and the small print that explained exactly how these processes work. Even a small miscommunication or misinterpretation could put owners in a position to be deeper in debt and ineligibility for loan forgiveness.

For business owners who didn’t reach out for help and resources, the window is rapidly closing to participate in the SBA loan programs. While new EIDL Advance and loan applications are being accepted, the PPP program closes to new applications on June 30. Unsurprisingly, there is a backlog, and owners who have waited will have to wait even longer to secure financing.

Now is the time to connect with The Alexander Group if you’re a business owner or entrepreneur who is struggling to understand how to secure funding quickly, easily, and without putting your business at risk of facing even more financial risk. You’ll work with our team and your peers to get further, gain important insight, and tap into vital resources that keep your doors open. We’re waiting to start a discussion about how to move forward — get in touch.

Marketing During a Crisis

Fri, 01 May 2020 18:14:50 GMT

Thinking about cutting back on your marketing budget during the current pandemic? It may be tempting to limit your marketing during a crisis like the one we’re currently experiencing, but before you do, consider how these small and cost-effective steps you take could ultimately keep your business on track during these difficult times.

Here’s an interesting fact: The now-famous cereal tagline “Snap, Crackle, and Pop!” was created by Kellogg during the Depression to boost sales. It not only led to a 30% increase in post-Depression sales but also helped position the brand as a leader for years to come.

Start WithYour Website

Stay-at-home orders, brick-and-mortar business closures, local legislation that dictates “essential” businesses: all of these important measures that are keeping us safe are also driving customers online to stay connected and updated. If your doors are currently closed, the best and most cost-efficient way to reach out to your audience is through your business website.

If you do nothing else, make sure your website has the correct business contact information, operating hours, and any information that visitors need quick access to. Your site also needs to be mobile responsive because a good portion of your target demographic is using their smartphone or mobile devices to surf the internet. These two features alone will make your site look professional, build trust, and streamline your lead generation process.

Go to Google My Business

These days websites are crucial for businesses, but if it’s something that’s just not in the budget, a Google My Business (GMB) page could become a lifeline. For customers that aren’t yet familiar with your brand, they’ll most likely search it on Google — a platform that boasts 3.5 billion searches daily. If and when your GMB info pops up in their results, you don’t want it to be inaccurate, outdated, or missing vital information searchers can use to make a purchase decision.

If you haven’t yet done so already take a few minutes right now to claim your free GMB page. (Here’s a great tutorial.) Take some time to fill out as much information as possible and carve out a few minutes every week to check your GMB profile and add a post , even if it’s a few sentences updating readers about any business changes. Because there’s no cost to optimize and maintain your GMB listing and your customers don’t have to pay to see it, businesses of all sizes can afford this important marketing tool.

Review Your Reputation

Word-of-mouth is perhaps one of the oldest, most effective, and economical marketing tools out there, even if it looks a bit different in the digital age. “91% of consumers between the ages of 18 to 34 are big believers of online reviews, trusting them as much as personal recommendations.” Online reviews have long been the cornerstone of a comprehensive marketing strategy, and that’s not changing any time soon. Without in-person interactions to guide their buyer’s journey, customers will depend on these reviews to buy products and services sight unseen.

Weathering the crisis also means using the downturn to plan for post-pandemic life. As your business tries to find a new rhythm, online reviews are tried-and-true pieces of valuable content that can give you a competitive edge in a market that looks drastically different than it did a few years ago. Take some time now to reach out to customers and clients you’ve built relationships with and ask them to share their feedback. Don’t be shy in letting them know that this small favor can offer huge support.

Get Social

Even before the crisis, social media was a crucial marketing channel for every business, but many weren’t putting resources into optimizing their profile and content. That’s now a non-negotiable. Staying at home means more time to spend on social media, and more chances to get eyes on your social media presence.

Like your GMB profile, information on your LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook profiles needs to be accurate and updated regularly. Watch the tone of your posts and provide valuable, educational content that provides invaluable resources for the challenges your customers are facing. Skip the auto-scheduled posts and find opportunities to engage with comments when you can. Building an online community around your business can lay the foundation for future growth.

Know When To Spend

Hiring an experienced marketing consultant means you’ll get a big-picture look at your total online presence. Getting fresh eyes on your strategy also means they’ll apply their expertise to identify where you should increase your budget and areas that don’t offer much of a return.

Business owners have no shortage of fires to put out and that’s amplified exponentially now during these unprecedented times. While it’s easy to think about cutting your marketing budget first over other costs, it could very well hurt your bottom line in the long run. If you’re not sure where to start or what to spend when it comes to increasing your efforts, you’ll need to call in the professionals.

The fact is that research shows advertising and marketing spend increase during an economic downturn is a smart business move. Simply put, reduced marketing during a crisis like a recession correlates with reduced revenue on the upswing. With the right approach and some help from marketing experts and even a business coach , increasing your efforts and budget in some areas could prove to be worth a serious return on investment.

Leadership During a Crisis

Fri, 10 Apr 2020 16:54:26 GMT

It’s been proven scientifically and anecdotally that having a growth mindset is among the top traits that successful leaders share. Keeping an open mind and staying flexible are pillars of entrepreneurial growth, and will go far to help leaders strike balance at work and personally. Your leadership during a crisis is reflective of your ability to adapt and persevere, and doing so allows your business to have continued success and growth. There’s also much to be said about maintaining habits that continue this growth mindset during truly turbulent times of crises.

As all corners of all organizations have witnessed from the impact of COVID-19 , the economic landscape can shift daily. When you have a team that looks to you first during the decision-making process, recall some important fundamental leadership skills that provide all parties with the opportunity to grow and learn.

Embrace Ambiguity & Adjust Expectations

All of the schedules you’ve developed over the years, the routines that help keep you motivated, the processes you’ve automated? Be prepared to throw that all out the window. When you’re on a day-to-day basis when it comes to running your business, there’s no possible way to forecast everything. Try not to get bogged down by the details and embrace your employees to do the same. Offer more solutions (and acceptance) to find the autonomy to invest in their own professional growth during challenging times.

Even as a leader you’ll never have all of the answers. When you admit this to yourself and to your organization, you’ll have an easier time aligning expectations with the realities. Update everyone consistently and as often as possible, reaching out through the channels that you know are accessible to your employees.

Take the Stage

You’re generally in the spotlight, but during crisis situations, that light is bright and hot. Everything you do will be scrutinized and amplified; your words, actions, body language — all of it. This is not “business as usual” and if there’s ever been a time to go above and beyond, that time is now. Your team will take their cues from the top, and emotional intelligence and empathy are integral for business success.

Fast-track your self-awareness by staying positive, too. This can be difficult when you’re trying to create a culture of optimism, which is another reason to carefully curate your presence and responses. Be wary of yourself, your limitations, and especially your strengths to help create solutions to problems you may never have imagined as a leader.

See the Bigger Picture & Plan, Plan, Plan

Leaders, by their very nature, have the innate ability to see the big picture and flesh out the impact before others. Tap into that skill during a crisis to take a step back, observe the situation, and get comfortable with a handful of outcomes you haven’t yet predicted. That will also give you the time and energy to prioritize tasks based on urgency.

Once you have a big-picture look at things, create a few different plans based on your idea of success. Make it easy for the entire team to understand and allow plenty of room for flexibility. Remember that growth mindset — things will definitely change so don’t focus on limitations but instead, solutions.

Engage with the Community

There are plenty of ways to interact with your community even when in-person events and meetings aren’t an option. Staying active and informed in the conversations that are happening around you will help build a sense of trust and transparency. You’ll also start to understand what your community needs so you can find a way to give back.

Apply this relationship management strategy to your professional community, too. Create a virtual support system of local leaders, entrepreneurs, and consultants to help problem-solve and consult when you need expert guidance now or in the future. As the world slowly starts getting back to work, these relationships will be channels for your business to utilize.

Call in Some Help

Again: Even leaders don’t know everything. Even if crisis management isn’t new to you, disruption can catch even the most prepared entrepreneurs off guard. Reaching out to a coach or mentor when you don’t have the important answers gives you perspective when it’s hard to be objective. This too shall pass, and a coach can quickly and expertly lay out a plan of action based on your business and personal goals.

With private coaching, you can receive help with putting together step-by-step strategies and plans of action for handling specific issues as a leader during times of crisis. Every day presents a new challenge and you need to be prepared to thrive under pressure.

To learn more about executive coaching and how we can help you weather a crisis, get in touch .

Top Tips For Working At Home

Thu, 19 Mar 2020 16:38:19 GMT

As we shared last wee k, one of the important steps many business owners are taking to prevent the spread of the Coronavirus is to move team members (and themselves) out of the office to work from home. In that post, we talked about the practical aspects of policy, hardware, software, and data speed. Today we take a look at some strategies to make working at home easier for everybody.

Work From Home

How can you stay focused and get the work done? How do you balance family time with work time when you are all under the same roof? A longtime friend of The Alexander Group, Amanda Aschinger of Solstice Productions , recently published a great video that provides some useful tips to make the experience as smooth and efficient as possible.

Tips for Working From Home from Solstice Productions on Vimeo .

Some tips from Solstice Productions on how to effectively work from home during the COVID-19 crisis

Don’t Want the Sound On? Read the Transcript Here:

So your company just told you you’re going to be working from home for the next couple of weeks. It could be longer. You’ve been dreaming about this day for years, minus the COVID-19, of course. You’re going to work in your pajamas. You’ll get some stuff done around the house. It’s going to be great. Wrong. The number one mistake that most remote employees make is thinking of working from home as having a home office as opposed to an office “office”.

At Solstice Productions, we’ve worked with remote talent for the last 20 years. We found out what works and definitely what doesn’t work. So what does work? Keep your normal routine. Wake up at the time you usually do and take a shower. Get dressed the way you would for any normal day of work. It sounds great to roll out of bed late and work in your pajamas, but if you do that, chances are you’re going to end up sitting on the couch drinking coffee, watching TV for at least the first hour.

That’s bad form. Set up a real workstation. If you have a home office or a spare bedroom that has a desk, that’s ideal. If you try to work somewhere that has consistent distraction, it’s just going to slow you down. It’s going to make for a longer day than you need. You actually have to go to work. Once you’re there, put away all distractions including that cell phone. So close the door to your family. Sit down and make yourself be productive. One trick that we’ve learned over the years for that is to check email in the morning and then close it until you get the real work done. You can check it again once your other tasks are finished.

Make sure that you’re setting all these expectations with your family up front. This is new to them too. You have to be kind but be firm and finally, let’s make the best out of this situation. I mean, remember, you don’t have to commute now so you don’t have that long drive to and from work. Sit down, be productive, get the hard work done and then close the door and make the office the office. Step away from it. Spend some time with your family. So from our family to yours, let’s pull together and make the best out of this.

Getting Started

If you’re looking for guidance as you try to avoid pitfalls and work toward growth, you’ve already taken an important first step. The Alexander Group’s small business coaching can help with identifying what that vision is, and how best to transform the business to support it — get in touch, let’s start this important conversation.

Networking for Business Owners

Wed, 11 Mar 2020 16:30:17 GMT

Networking for Business Owners. As a business owner, your time and energy is likely already a finite resource, so networking can seem like an afterthought — but it’s a proven way to become a better leader and help your organization grow and thrive. Nobody knows your business like you do; the best marketing tool you can leverage is word-of-mouth, and the best way to do that is by networking.

Benefits of Networking

Beyond building a reputation, there are a handful of important benefits that networking can offer.

Connecting Within a Community

Creating a professional network sounds like an obvious advantage of networking, but it’s an imperative part of maintaining your success as a business owner. Consistently meeting with other owners or industry professionals allows you to learn about trends and local laws or regulations that directly impact your day-to-day operations. A professional community will also serve as a support group of people in the same boat as you. Stay open-minded to the advice and anecdotes of other entrepreneurs who have been in the same position.

Opportunities to Collaborate

One thing you’ll find as you build a network is that your strengths (and weaknesses) are much different from your colleagues. Networking offers a way to capitalize on both by collaborating on co-sponsoring an event or cross-promoting your businesses. Take it a step further by creating a referral program between organizations. All of these opportunities present themselves when you have cultivated a strong network.

Recruiting Clients and Employees

While you don’t want to enter into a networking conversation by selling your products or services, it’s important to have a quick pitch at the ready for anyone who may be interested in learning more. This goes for potential clients, but it’s also a smart way to garner interest for anyone looking for a career change. Recruiting clients and employees is much easier when the leads are warm and qualified, and vetted by the other industry pros in your network.

Sharpening your Skills

Something that all successful entrepreneurs have in common? Their growth mindset. Whether you’re looking to learn more about the future of your industry or you’d like to get better at networking, attending events with other professionals can help. Not everyone is “built” to network, but as the adage goes: Practice makes perfect.

Where to go to Network

Sure, you can send emails or give out business cards in passing, but face-to-face networking offers the best odds for return on investment for your time and energy. Consider these networking options:

Industry events — conferences, speaking engagements, and panel discussions are all fair game to connect with other pros within your niche
Co-working spaces — these are particularly helpful for “solo-preneurs” or small business owners who typically work remotely or from home
Professional networking events — this one’s a pretty safe bet; everyone is coming with the same goal in mind and without any pretense
Volunteering — when you lend your expertise wherever and whenever you can, pro bono, you bring some serious reputation-building cache with you
Online — LinkedIn is a particularly good platform for online networking, and joining groups can help you get started if you’re unsure about protocol or best practices

Networking Tips and Best Practices

Start With a Goal

Get specific before you head into any networking event. Figure out if you want to make a new connection, find a volunteer opportunity, or just learn more about what’s trending in your industry. Use your networking conversations to reach that goal.

Plan Ahead

If you’re naturally introverted or just new to the world of networking, head into the process with a plan. Think about great icebreakers, have a pitch memorized, and know how to answer questions about what differentiates you and your business.

Follow Up

Making connections are great, but what happens next is the real magic of networking. Find a reason to reach out to the connections you make — whether it’s passing along relevant content, referring a client or employee, or simply asking them for coffee.

Be Authentic

People you meet at networking events are professionals just like you and will notice right away if you’re putting on a show to sell to or impress them. Keep your mind open to learning more instead of trying to impress everyone right off the bat.

Getting Started

It can be hard and overwhelming to think about networking, but help from a coach can give you the skills you need to start the process with confidence. If you’re looking for guidance as you try to avoid pitfalls and work toward growth, you’ve already taken an important first step.

The Alexander Group’s small business coaching can help with identifying what that vision is, and how best to transform the business to support it — get in touch, let’s start this important conversation.

How Businesses Should Handle the Coronavirus

Thu, 05 Mar 2020 17:20:24 GMT

How Businesses Should Handle the Coronavirus. Business of all sizes across the world are being impacted by the spread of coronavirus COVID-19. The influence the coronavirus is having on global travel, commerce, trade, and investment is immense and greatly affecting the world’s economy. As a local small business owner, you may think your business is immune to these effects, but it most likely isn’t.

One of our TAG Board Members, Fred Moore of Moore Computing was supposed to go to a trade show in a few weeks, but it was canceled due to concerns about the coronavirus. This may seem minor, but it serves as an example of how local businesses are further being affected by the spread of the virus.

This got Fred’s attention and made him consider the true impact the coronavirus might have for not just his business, but his IT Services clients.

How Businesses Should Handle the Coronavirus (COVID-19)

In the past few days, the CDC updated its guidance for businesses about the COVID-19. Click here to read the guidance yourself. Beyond the items mentioned in the CDC guidance, we wanted to suggest a few other steps that you should take inside of your business to prepare for a possible pandemic:

Please review your business continuity plan, and make any updates that are needed.
Now is a good time to review the list of people who can work remotely. If your office needs to be closed for 2+ weeks, make sure that everyone who needs remote access has it.
If your staff occasionally works remotely, have them test their remote connectivity sometime in the next few days.
We’d recommend discussing with your staff now to make sure that your plans are complete. The scenario you should be planning for is a 2+ week closure of the office, which hopefully is a worst-case scenario.
Make sure that your contact list of cell phone numbers and home phone numbers is up to date in case you’re unable to reach people via email and need to urgently communicate something.
Make sure that any web conferencing tools that you use have a subscription large enough to handle your whole team if needed.
Consider whether to stock up on soap, hand sanitizer, gloves, and masks (which are already in very short supply).
If your employees don’t have laptops but may be expected to work from home, now is the time to consider getting them company-issued laptops. Be careful not to compromise security by letting employees use personal computers that bypass all of your cybersecurity measures.
With supply lines with China disrupted, we may start to see shortages on technology items. If you’re planning any critical technology purchases in 2020, consider expediting them.
As with any world news, there are already coronavirus phishing messages making the rounds. Remind your staff to be extra careful about clicking on links or opening attachments in emails about coronavirus (even if they appear to come from inside the company).
If you have to travel for business, consider the risk of the destination you’re headed to and the necessity of the trip. Make sure you purchase refundable tickets in case your travel plans are affected. Bear in mind most travel insurance won’t cover cancellations for these trips unless the insurance was purchased before COVID-19 became a global threat. Travel insurance is meant to cover unforeseen events and COIVD-19 is now considered a foreseen event.

As we all hope for the best it’s also important to prepare for the worst. Thanks again to Fred for all of his insight.

The Benefits of Business Coaching

Mon, 10 Feb 2020 16:59:50 GMT

The Benefits of Business Coaching. Are you struggling to make your business vision come to life? Do you feel stuck in your career? Has your revenue stalled? When it’s time to take your business or professional growth to the next level, it’s a smart idea to seek the help of a coach. Not only does this help provide a fresh perspective, but coaches have also often been in your shoes before and know first-hand the challenges being faced. The list of benefits doesn’t end there.

Thinking Outside of the Box

It’s easy to feel stuck or stagnant if you’ve been working hard to build a business without much recent success. The risk of trying something new might be a scary thought, but it’s something that could be holding you back. A coach will ask the questions needed to determine if it’s time to think outside the box and help weigh the pros and cons. They’ll also encourage that spark of innovation that your business needs to light the fire that will help create new products, systems, or services.

Hear Objective Opinions

Your employees or partners may be compliant or worried about disagreeing with your ideas. This is a good way to avoid friction, but it also means you won’t get much objective feedback — good, bad, or ugly. Remember that a coach isn’t going to be a permanent part of your staff so they can challenge your ideas in productive ways. They’ll observe without fear of repercussions and give honest feedback on your current policies and procedures. Coaches will also offer advice where they see fit.

Grow Your Confidence

It’s a common misconception that all leaders have confidence. Although it’s a common trait, it’s not necessarily inherent but it is something that can be learned. Business coaches will work with you to help identify skills, strengths, and abilities. They can also enable you to develop strategies that will allow you to weather any storms that come your way. This builds confidence, which in turn allows you to hire employees you can ultimately learn from; employees that will help your business grow.

Improve Networking

If you’re not a natural networker, hiring a business coach can help you develop the skills you need to get better. Connecting with colleagues will grow your reach and expand visibility for your business, both of which will help your bottom line. Networking also takes up valuable time and resources that you may not have as you work hard on the high-value processes your business needs to thrive, and coaches may be able to make those connections on your behalf. Even when your coach has moved on, you’ll still have these valuable industry relationships to rely on.

The Benefits of Business Coaching Nurture Top Talent

It’s not just leaders and owners that benefit from business coaching. In a job market where it’s tough to find top talent, your organization needs to do what it can to retain high performers. Employees who are challenged and engaged with their job are more productive and less likely to jump ship. Creating an opportunity for growth within their position and offering personal development can be huge incentives, and coaches can work closely with the entire staff to recognize those opportunities.

Learn Strategic Leadership Skills

Not even the most successful or wealthiest entrepreneurs have everything in place or are immune to burnout. You can’t do it all, and trying to be everywhere at all times will only hurt your business. Working with a business coach will refine your leadership focus so you can understand where to allocate your time and energy, and which tasks you can delegate to other team members. While it’s important to have your eyes on everything that happens within your business, you don’t need to do it all — and you do need to lead strategically.

Business owners sometimes need to leave their comfort zones to grow, and this can include taking advantage of the benefits of coaching. If you’re looking for guidance as you try to avoid pitfalls and work toward that growth, you’ve already taken an important first step. Simply put: If you’re not willing to learn, you can’t improve. You’ve made mistakes, but a dependable small business coach can help you avoid repeating them.

The Alexander Group uses decades of business experience to guide owners towards the fulfillment of their visions. For over ten years we have helped owners navigate high-pressure situations and potential pitfalls, all to come out better than ever on the other side.

To learn more, contact us online or give us a call today.

Avoiding Executive Burnout and Finding Balance

Fri, 10 Jan 2020 16:35:28 GMT

There is an infinite number of business growth strategies out there for founders, C-suite members, and entrepreneurs to choose from. However, the most important may be a solid approach to finding a way to avoid burnout and maintain a work-life balance. Lack of motivation, physical fatigue, and even anxiety about running your business can directly impact growth and revenue.

Research from Harvard Business Review shows that 25% of entrepreneurs who responded felt moderately burned out at some point in their careers. Feeling this way doesn’t mean you’re not prepared to run a business or should give up. Instead, it’s important to make a few changes to your routine at work and home.

Start With Prevention

It’s far easier for entrepreneurs to take steps consistently to prevent burnout in the first place. While we know that nobody will have the same passion for your business as you do, and while your journey comes with stress, it doesn’t have to lead to executive burnout.

Get enough sleep

This is a common piece of advice, and for good reason. Enough sleep means that you have the temperament at work to better deal with stressful situations in rational ways.

Set boundaries

It’s okay to say “no” when others request your time. Prioritize where you want to allocate this resource and turn down meetings or other obligations that don’t directly help you meet a goal of balance.

Pick up a hobby

Not everything you do daily needs to be directly related to your business. Put your creativity to good use with stress-relieving activities that allow you to take a mental break from thinking about work.

Stay healthy

Eat healthy foods, get regular exercise, and set aside time every day to relax — try yoga or meditation, to begin with. Physical wellbeing and mental wellbeing have a long-documented, proven connection.

Know the Signs of Burnout

Even the best-intentioned entrepreneurs can fall victim to burnout from time to time. Recognizing the signs early on means you can take actionable steps towards finding a better balance.

Physical symptoms

Feeling constantly tired or drained
Getting sick often (lowered immunity)
Frequent headaches or chronic body pain
Change in eating or sleeping habits

Emotional symptoms

Feeling like a fraud or failure
Sense of helplessness and defeat
Detachment and isolation
Loss of motivation and satisfaction with work

Behavioral symptoms

Taking your frustration out on others
Procrastination or taking longer to complete tasks
Withdrawing from professional and personal responsibilities
Skipping work, leaving early, or coming in late

Burnout is a gradual process so you won’t notice these changes overnight. The symptoms above may be subtle at first. Think of them as red flags that something may be amiss. Don’t ignore them or write them off as simple stress, which is far different than actual burnout .

Treating Burnout

Prevention and stress control are great ways to avoid the onset of burnout, but sometimes it simply can’t be prevented. When this happens, it’s time to look for outside support. This can come in many shapes and sizes, but the easiest way to begin finding a balance again is by seeking out a network of peers. Developing friendships at work can counter the monotony you may feel daily, relieve stress, and even boost job performance.

You also need to reframe your thinking when it comes to the business. Changing careers isn’t always the best way to find job satisfaction nor is it always a practical solution. Instead, think about the value of your role or your business and how what you do helps solve your customers’ problems. It also may be a good time to schedule time off to remove yourself from the situation, even if you don’t go on a vacation.

Hiring a business coach or consultant can also be a wise investment. Executive burnout can leave entrepreneurs without a clear perspective, and a coach or consultant can offer fresh eyes. You’ll also get a better idea on which daily, mundane tasks you could delegate to help refocus energy on the activity that helps you maintain passion and motivation for growth.

The feedback and instruction we provide as part of our coaching services take into account your specific needs, especially if you’re trying to avoid or even dealing with burnout. Our team has experience with running businesses of our own, and we understand the difficulties you face as an owner. We use this experience to better serve our clients, regardless of what type of coaching they require — get in touch.

Entrepreneurial Advice for 2020

Sun, 15 Dec 2019 16:29:00 GMT

As you’re wrapping up 2019, it’s always good to think about what you can do differently in the new year. While it’s easy to look at fine-tuning your marketing strategy or training your sales staff on the newest ways to close the deal, sometimes all it takes is the right piece of advice to spark inspiration that will make 2020 your best year yet.

We’ve collected some of our favorite tips from successful entrepreneurs throughout the years. Along with their sage wisdom, it’s a smart idea to call in a fresh set of eyes to build a foundation for success and revenue growth. Start the new year out on the right foot by getting in touch with our team for coaching, training, and strategic planning help .

Sir Richard Branson

Richard Branson has spent over 50 years building an entrepreneurial empire, and by now has become a household name. Among other achievements, he’s created more than 400 companies, written over a dozen books about running a business, and now he’s finding a way to commercialize space travel. His advice:

“The best businesses come from people’s bad personal experiences. If you just keep your eyes open, you’re going to find something that frustrates you, and then you think, ‘well I could maybe do it better than it’s being done,’ and there you have a business.”

Black and white group of people doing teamwork in contemporary office.

Sheila Lirio Marcelo

Marcelo is the founder, chairwoman, and CEO of Care.com , the world’s largest online source for caregivers of all types. She was born and raised in the Philippines, the youngest recipient of the Harvard Business School Alumni Achievement Award, and is considered to be one of the top 10 female entrepreneurs according to Fortune magazine. In this piece of advice, she addresses burnout.

“Through the years, I have learned to hold my team accountable on outcomes without micromanaging how they got to the result. This has enabled me to be more human as a manager and leader, because demonstrating this trust in my team is essential for building their trust in me.”

Mark Cuban

If you watch ABC’s Shark Tank, you’ll instantly recognize Cuban’s face. As the owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks, Landmark Theatres, Magnolia Pictures, and the chairman of cable network AXS TV, he’s made plenty of mistakes as an entrepreneur and wants to help others who are just starting out as a business owner. Learn from his missteps:

“The first thing I’ll tell you, is that just because you don’t see it on Google, doesn’t mean one hundred companies haven’t gone out of business doing the same thing. It hasn’t been done for a reason, because every company that’s tried it, has gone out of business.”

Corie Barry

Barry has spent almost 20 years with Best Buy in 15 different roles at the company before she became the first female CEO and one of only 27 female CEOs in the S&P 500. At 44 years old, Barry is also the youngest female CEO in the Fortune 100 and is no stranger to being in “uncomfortable” situations — here’s what she says about that.

“Speak up with the point of view in the room that may not be popular. Have those uncomfortable moments. Because my strong personal belief is that it is those moments that cause you to grow the most yourself, but that also differentiate you the most in your career.”

Tony Robbins

Perhaps best known for his approach to the psychology of leadership, Robbins has empowered over 50 million people globally to improve negotiation skills, organizational turnaround, and business strategy. Robbins is a New York Times best-seller and advisor to some of the top leaders in the world. He offers this insight:

“Think honestly about who you are, what you want to accomplish, and what mindset you need to have to get there. Because the biggest thing that will hold you back is your own nature. Few people are natural risk-takers or emotionally ready for the challenges of building a business. You can’t just sign up for a marathon and run it without ever training. You have to increase your capacity and become fit.”

Cheryl Miller

As the first female CEO of the country’s largest auto dealer chain AutoNation, Miller saw stock values of the company shoot up 15% the day her new role was announced. She has spent nearly two decades in the auto industry — a niche that is traditionally known as being male-dominated. Miller has this insight to offer:

“Make sure you’re listening and learning. Make sure you’re working hard and don’t be afraid. So if an opportunity presents itself, don’t be afraid to take it. Always be thinking about possibilities, not limitations, but possibilities.”

Setting Professional Goals and Sticking to Them

Fri, 15 Nov 2019 16:23:18 GMT

Setting Professional Goals. It’s easy to think about professional goals in an abstract sense, especially when a current career situation leaves us feeling stagnant, stuck, or undervalued at work. But what happens when it’s time to meet and exceed these goals? Without the right approach and mindset, your efforts could fall flat.

Goal-setting strategies and the methods needed to get there are about as unique as the people who use them. That said, there are a few universal fundamentals that everyone can leverage to start taking their career to the next level.

What Makes a “Good” Goal?

Before getting excited and putting pen to paper to make a list of goals, pause to think about whether the goals are achievable, attainable, or even realistic. One approach to creating “good” goals is the SMART method, which is rooted in psychology. With every goal, make sure the following boxes are ticked off:

Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Results-focused
Time-limited

While a goal like “find job satisfaction” is okay, an even SMART-er goal would be something along the lines of “learn the skills to advance to a higher-tier role within the next 18 months.” Studies show that those who set specific, streamlined goals and develop plans to achieve them can actually earn more than those who don’t attack goal-setting in this manner.

Which SMART Goals Can Help Improve Professional Growth?

Even with the concept of SMART goals applied, it can still be tough to understand which goals will have the most return on investment. While job titles, industries, and professional trajectory will all factor into the specific goals being set, there is a handful that remains universal.

Learning new skills: New career opportunities might require new skills, and while that’s true for movement within an organization, it’s especially true for those looking to change job roles or industries. Whether it means going back to school for an advanced degree or taking advantage of on-the-job professional development, make this goal very specific, and don’t hesitate to talk to management or upper-level supervisors to help develop a plan.

Build a Personal Brand

Looking for a new job? Looking to move up within the organization? Either way, thought leadership and expert insight will offer serious momentum. Building a personal brand through actions like increased social media presence, a personal website, and even public speaking means potential employers will get a comprehensive picture of their potential new hire. It can also be leveraged to bring to an existing organization when looking for a promotion.

Find a Better Balance

Although organizations are increasingly recognizing the importance of a work-life balance, it’s ultimately something that we (and not our higher-ups) need to tackle on our own. Think about what that balance means; it could be better on-the-job perks, a more flexible working schedule, or even a heartier vacation policy — it could also mean switching jobs to get what you need. Ultimately, being an advocate for better balance makes for a happier, more productive, and more successful employee.

Look For Leadership

“Moving up” in an organization involves more than just crossing your fingers and hoping for a promotion. It often means taking on more responsibilities to get the recognition that highlights your leadership capabilities. Work with your manager to set a firm timeline with milestones along the way to help keep progress on track, and take the time to create an action plan with steps to help get there.

What Can Be Done To Stay on Track?

Once SMART goals are established and the plan to get there has been implemented, it’s important to know how to stay on track for meeting these goals. Start with attainable goals — there’s no reason (or advantage) to spend precious energy on lofty goals that may take much longer to meet. Make sure to be consistent with your efforts and take reasonable steps every day to work towards those goals.

Another excellent way to keep on track is by asking for feedback from those who can help track progress and offer important insight. This can be a mentor, superior, or even a coach who has experience working with SMART goals and the people who set (and achieve) them.

With private coaching, you can receive help with putting together step-by-step strategies and plans of action for setting goals and even exceeding them, with the help of a mentor by your side.

The business coaches who conduct The Alexander Group coaching sessions are both certified and experienced with mentoring — let’s start working on SMART goals .

Making The Most of Open Enrollment

Mon, 14 Oct 2019 15:06:23 GMT

Making The Most of Open Enrollment. Your HR department and your employees have been waiting and preparing for open enrollment for a year — and now it’s finally here. This is your organization’s chance to show how much you value your workforce and want to contribute to their overall wellbeing. The better they understand their benefits packages choices, the higher their job satisfaction, and the more they can save on growing healthcare costs.

While open enrollment is a necessity for your company, it can also be an opportunity to help your employees make a more educated decision that will have an impact on them for the following year. Make the most of this time with these important steps.

Assess the Success of Last Year’s Open Enrollment

Don’t head into this year’s enrollment process without taking a long, hard look at the numbers from last year. Gather together all of the decision-makers involved with open enrollment and have an honest discussion about what worked and what didn’t. Use this conversation to streamline the most time-consuming parts, gather a list of questions employees asked, and evaluate if your company met the open enrollment goals you set. All of this information will give you a much clearer look at what mistakes you can avoid this year.

Create an Open Enrollment Communication Plan

Once you’ve assessed the metrics from last year and solidified your approach, it’s time to create a way to communicate about plan options. Address these points:

Corporate goals and metrics of success
Any changes to plans, vendors, or the enrollment deadline
Which channels (online, print, or in-person) you’ll share information through
How you’ll offer employee support throughout and after the enrollment period

It’s also imperative to ensure that everyone clearly understands the deadline and enrollment process, and what will happen if they miss the window to enroll, especially if they’ll end up without coverage.

Get proactive about open enrollment

Do you have employees who roll over their plan year after year? This doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re thrilled with the offering; it could mean that they’re overwhelmed or uninformed about their options — or they just don’t care. This is an indication that your HR team isn’t providing the best education. Consider offering one-on-one meetings between employees and benefits personnel. They can offer custom insight based on specific questions and provide a chance to let employees know that not every plan is right for everyone. Like with anything else, the cheapest isn’t always the best.

Get Proactive About Open Enrollment

Your Summary Plan Descriptions (SPDs) are the cornerstone of educational material for both you and your employees as they outline how each plan works. Make sure they’re up-to-date, easy to understand and help quickly answer the most common questions that come up. Take SPDs a step further by incorporating interactive tech with accessible search functions, videos, and mobile device compatibility, and make sure content is available at any time of day or night. Don’t forget to include a data analytics tool on the back end so your HR team can get a quantitative look at how your employees engage with the tools and what they’re looking for.

Think About More Than Just “Age” and “Gender”

Workforce demographics are far more diverse than ever before, and your HR department needs to keep this in mind when choosing how to communicate with employees. The data goes beyond just age and gender. Where they are in life, where they work in the organization, where they are in their careers — these are all factors that will determine how your employees prioritize plan choices and how you can reach them to let them know about their options.

Keep the Support Open-Ended, Year-Round

Making smart, economical healthcare choices doesn’t end at choosing the right plan during open enrollment. Many providers have resources and tools that can help your employees make smart choices year-round. But they often don’t use them enough (or at all) because they simply don’t know these programs that offer provider cost transparency or patient advocacy exist. Use open enrollment as a time to share these resources and let employees know how better healthcare choices can save everyone money all year long.

As a business owner, it’s easy to let the day-to-day tasks of running your company (like open enrollment) bog you down and prevent you from performing the tasks that will lead to growth. It’s difficult to consider a personal and business vision when you can’t seem to find a moment outside of processing bills or handling customer service issues.

This is where The Alexander Group comes in. Through our business coaching services and advisory board, you can get the support and ideas you need and avoid the hassle, stress, and isolation of having to figure it all out on your own — let’s get started.

Business Owners’ Biggest Mistakes: Failing to Allocate Time for Life Beyond Business

Thu, 26 Sep 2019 18:19:45 GMT

Starting a business can be all-consuming and incredibly-taxing, not only from a physical, mental, and emotional standpoint, but also in the context of the business owner’s home life. Here at The Alexander Group , it is not uncommon to see small business owners who have become so engrossed and overwhelmed by the drive to make their businesses successful that they have lost sight of the other parts of their lives that deserve just as much attention. Frankly, not carving out some time for life beyond business is one of the biggest mistakes new business owners can make, and it is one of the most obvious reasons to seek small business consulting.

Becoming Imprisoned by Business

In fact, some business owners can become so entwined in their work lives that they can become imprisoned by them. Their lives become all business, all the time, leaving very little for their spouses, kids, family or friends. They may see their businesses grow by leaps and bounds because of their efforts, but the victory is a hollow one if it comes at the expense of living a well-rounded life.

Taking Inventory on Daily Allotments of Time

One of the first steps our business coaches will suggest here at The Alexander Group is helping those imprisoned business owners take stock of their daily allotment of time. If work has gotten to be too overwhelming, it could be worth it for these people to ask themselves the following questions:

How many hours a day do I spend with my spouse?
How many hours a day do I spend with my kids?
When is the last time I took a real vacation?
When is the last time I took a day off?
What kind of hobbies do I have?
What friends to I stay connected to outside of the business?

This inventory can help people discover just how much their work lives may be interfering with their personal lives, and knowing is the first step toward finding a solution.

Finding Balance Between Work Life and Personal Life

A good business consultant and a peer board can help business owners manage their work/life balance more effectively. The coaching model that we follow here at The Alexander Group emphasizes planning and accountability and vision for success not only in the world of business, but also in the world away from it.

In everything we do at The Alexander Group, we strive to help business owners make positive changes for their businesses and their lives. We believe that everyone can start gaining commitment to improvement by identifying what they can control and then developing action plans and establishing the processes that will ensure success. This commitment to improvement can help overworked business owners find the balance in their lives they so desperately need.

Too many business owners work long hours and sacrifice time with recreation, family, and friends. In the end, it takes an expensive toll on people and reduces the amount of enjoyment they take from their professional success. As enthusiasm wanes, owners can become less effective in their roles as leaders, and the business can ultimately suffer. Using qualified business consulting services to help find better balance between work and home is one great way to make sure that kind of burnout never happens again.

Track These KPIs to Find the Financial Health of Your Business

Thu, 12 Sep 2019 14:56:28 GMT

Track These KPIs. Your business is rolling along, you seem to be making a profit, and it feels like you’re growing. That’s all great news — but it doesn’t necessarily mean that your business is in good financial health. Certain key performance indicators (KPIs) are quantifiable, and these are the metrics you need to gauge the true success of your business.

Not only do you need these numbers to grow and thrive, but they also need to align with your overall business goals. Because each organization has a unique goal, so too should you take a customized approach to track the KPIs that best support those goals. Ultimately you want to watch the KPIs that are SMARTER than the numbers you’re looking at now:

Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Relevant
Time-Bound
Evaluate
Re-evaluate

Once you’ve aligned these KPIs and your business goal, you can start looking at the following areas.

Track These KPIs

Gross Profit Margin

Simply put, this is the revenue you’re bringing in after you factor in the expenses directly associated with the products you’re selling. This KPI doesn’t include costs like taxes or other operating expenses. Here’s the formula:

Gross profit margin = (revenue – costs of goods sold) ÷ revenue

The final number should be enough to cover your fixed costs and leave you with some left over for other non-fixed costs. The number you’re aiming for is about 10%, and while anything lower should be worrisome, it could vary by industry. As long as you’re reaching (or going over) this number, you’re in good shape.

Net Profit

This KPI is an easy one to track and calculate. It’s the money you can pocket at the end of the day, after you’ve paid all of your bills:

Net profit = total revenue – total expenses

There’s no “magic number” here, although you do want it to be a profit and not a loss.

Net Profit Margin

Calculate how much of your revenue was actually profit with this KPI, which accounts for both fixed and non-fixed expenses as well. This is a great indicator of future profits and will help better assess your profitability goals.

Net profit margin = (total revenue – total expenses) ÷ total revenue

Compare this metric to the gross profit margin to help determine if you need to scale back on non-fixed costs to grow your overall revenue.

Current Ratio

If you’re looking to keep cash flowing, this is the number to keep an eye on. It’s a metric that speaks directly to your liquidity, and the higher it is the less likely you’ll need to depend on a line of credit if you need to pay off big bills or make a major business purchase.

Current ratio = current assets ÷ current liabilities

Current assets are cash on hand or cash expected within the next year, and liabilities are just that — debt that you’ll have to pay back within the same amount of time. Ideally this number should be between 1.5% and 3%. Anything that falls below 1% should sound warning bells and could indicate a serious cash flow problem.

Quick Ratio

This is a quick glance at liquidity that determines your ability to pay financial debts ASAP. Although the current ratio KPI is a great metric to help determine long-term financial health, a quick ratio gives a much better picture of cash flow.

Quick ratio = (current assets – inventories) ÷ current liabilities

You may already know of this metric as the acid test that truly speaks to cash on hand and very short-term liquidity.

Customer Acquisition

Want to know how much money you make by bringing in each new customer? This is the KPI to watch.

Customer acquisition ratio = net expected lifetime profit from customer ÷ cost to acquire customer

While acquisition costs can vary from business to business and throughout industries, you should consider the cost of bringing this customer on board and how often they’ll be buying from you. The goal here is a result of one — that means for every dollar you spend bringing in new customers, you’ll get a dollar in return. Higher than one is great, lower than one means you’re spending too much to get buy-in.

The bottom line is that you need these KPIs to truly understand your bottom line. Without a clear vision of how financially healthy your business is, it’s hard to make important decisions that will help it grow and thrive.

Need help creating a personalized set of SMARTER goals and KPIs for your business? Request to qualify for a one-on-one business diagnostic and meet the advisory board.

Tips for Improving Employee Engagement

Thu, 15 Aug 2019 14:50:15 GMT

Tips for Improving Employee Engagement. It’s no secret that keeping employees engaged in the workplace helps the entire organization thrive. In fact, research shows that engaged employees could help boost profitability by up to 21%. When managers use leadership skills to help keep team members passionate about their jobs and their careers, everyone wins.

The good news? It doesn’t take much for leaders to help employees feel invested. Start with these tips, many of which won’t cost much — if anything at all.

Get to Know Your Employees

It’s pretty simple. Take the time each day to communicate with your team on a more personal level. Learn about their families, personal and professional goals, and even the challenges they may face in and out of work. Build a rapport that makes them feel acknowledged and valued and highlights the important roles they play in keeping business running as usual.

Set Your People Up For Success

There’s no doubt that your manager’s plate is full, but that shouldn’t mean you skip training employees to perform the specific functions their job requires. Along with education during onboarding, current employees should also have opportunities to grow their existing skills. This gives everyone the autonomy and confidence to handle small issues that could otherwise turn into serious productivity busters, keeping workers motivated and connected to the business.

Keep Your Employees Up To Date

Good, bad, or ugly, transparency is key. Employees are your company’s best asset, and your bottom line is heavily dependent on how productive and engaged they are. Share successes, setbacks, and other challenges your business faces so they can intuitively connect their engagement with overall business performance. By offering this information you’re also allowing them to find their own ways to boost productivity or offer ideas for improvement.

Conduct Regular Evaluations

If they don’t know how you think they are doing, they will fill in the gaps themselves. Employees want to know where they stand and what they need to work on to improve. But they have to be told. Make sure you provide balance, honest feedback. You trusted your employees enough to fill the job role when you hired them, so why would it be worth your time as a leader to hover and micromanage? Reduce their stress and improve their connection with their position (and the company) by offering encouragement and appreciation without nit-picky intervening. If you do have a difference of opinion, find constructive ways to deliver feedback that makes them want to keep trying instead of giving up.

Don’t Undermine Your Management Team

With organizations that have various tiers of management, there’s a clear chain of command when it comes to reporting on the job. Every employee on every level will eventually face a tough situation on work that requires managers to mediate or even referee. Support a culture of engagement by supporting the hierarchy of authority granted to employees in question.

It’s intrinsically human to feel a sense of pride for a job well done. This was as true in grade school as it is in the workplace, and rewards that work for your staff and business helps build positive attitudes and a healthier culture. Something as simple as a “good job” or even employee recognition “holidays” can offer a push forward to employees who may feel stuck or stagnant — and definitely not engaged.

Remember the last time your sports team won a big game? Wasn’t the air of success contagious? The same concept can be applied to the workplace. There is a reason that people flock to team sports. Facing the same wins (and losses) as a collaborative, cohesive team boosts morale, interpersonal connections, and ultimately, employee engagement.

Employee Recognition Is Rewarding

Your organization would take customer feedback seriously, so why wouldn’t the same be true for what your employees are saying? Touch base with your team regularly to hear what they’re facing on a daily basis and use what they say to improve workplace culture and engagement. Lead by example; when you care about them, they care about their jobs.

Let employees know you’re present and available for conversations about improving workplace culture, even the tough ones. Fear of speaking up can leave workers stressed and detached from their role, unwilling to take risks that could help move the company forward. Keep a positive approach and don’t punish them for mistakes if you want to keep employee engagement up.

Oftentimes, executive leaders and managers can be so wrapped up in daily business processes that they miss out on the signs showing engagement is down. When that happens, it’s important to bring in outside help that can find these opportunities to help capitalize on your organization’s best asset — your employees.

It’s time to start taking action. We will help you determine what steps you need to take to build employee engagement and show you how to take those steps to the next level of success in your life and business.

How to Beat The Hiring Odds and Hire the Right Candidate

Tue, 23 Jul 2019 14:46:06 GMT

The Alexander Group recently hosted a Hiring Workshop featuring David Weller, Ph.D. and Principal of Leadership Alliance . The workshop included our current board member clients, their key managers and invited guests.

For over 25 years, David Weller has been helping business owners attract and retain the right talent using a science-based approach instead of just “going with the gut”. He laid out a compelling case for adding structure to the hiring process as well as boosting employee engagement and retention with a formal feedback process.

Here are some highlights of his presentation that really hit home with us:

Improve The Odds

A Study from Forbes revealed that 46% of new hires stumble or fail within 18 months. Other statistics indicate that when a hiring decision is made “from the gut”, there is about a 50/50 chance of that person becoming a long-term contributor to the organization. In other words, it is about the same odds as flipping a coin. However, when a well-designed hiring process is in place, that number can go from a 50% success rate to over 90%.

The Cost of The Wrong Hiring Decision

Experts estimate that the cost to a company of a really bad hiring decision can be 2-4 times that persons salary. The cost of a bad hire can be more than what’s obvious like retraining, relocation, and reinvesting in their replacement. A bad new employee who becomes a “toxic employee” can affect the rest of the team, lose customers, and create overall mayhem throughout the organization from inferior or incomplete work. And if the employee’s exit from the company involves litigation, the costs just keep climbing.

There is also a hidden cost in the diminished value of the “Employer Brand”. If the disgruntled employee says negative things about the company, particularly in online forums like Google Reviews or Glassdoor, it can make hiring good people to replace them that much more difficult.

Calibrate Your Company Culture First

It’s important to understand your company’s culture and the business owner’s management style before the hiring process begins. Having a good understanding of the behavioral styles of the existing successful employees can also help define the characteristics and behaviors of new people who could become key contributors to the organization in the future.

The calibration process helps to dial in what we are looking for and define the structure of the interviews.

Assessing the Candidates (Interviews)

David shared several real-world examples of mistakes business owners or hiring managers make in the assessment of candidates. For example, too often the interviewer looks at the resume for the first time right before the interview or even after the interview begins. The meeting time is then wasted just rehashing through the resume.

Interviewers can also fall into the trap of “Selling” the company to the candidate instead of the other way around. Interviewers should be talking only 20% of the time and listening the other 80%. The interviewer also should have a clear idea of what he or she is looking for in the candidate instead of a vague, “I’ll know it when I see it”.

Behavior-Based vs. Leading Questions

Another common mistake is to ask “Leading Questions” that reveal exactly what the manager is looking for in the answer. For example, if the job is in Customer Service and requires a lot of interpersonal skills and patience, don’t say, “This job is in customer service and the person we choose needs to have good interpersonal skills. How are your interpersonal skills?” The answer will likely be canned and predictable.

A better method is to ask a “Behavioral-Based Question” along the lines of, “Tell me about a time you were getting unreasonable demands from an important customer. How did you handle it? How did the situation turn out?” In fact, David emphasized that just about every question in the interview should start with, “Tell me about a time….”

These types of questions will help the business owner or manager understand the past behaviors of the candidate. The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior.

Don’t Ignore the Obvious

Sometimes in the urgency to fill a vacant position, inferior candidates end up hired into roles with no real chance of success. For example, if a candidate is interviewing for an Office Manager job that requires strong organizational skills, the hiring manager should not ignore the fact they drove up in a filthy car filled with junk that looks right out of the show, “Hoarders”. If the candidate’s public social media profiles imply a low level of immaturity or high level of discontent with society, they will probably not be a good hire either.

Another trap an interviewer can fall into is comparing all of the candidates against each other instead of rating the candidates against the requirements of the job. If a pool of 5 candidates has 4 “F’s” and 1 “D”, the “D” candidate can look like a “B”.

David’s presentation was followed by a lively question and answer session and the attendees were appreciative of learning these new ways to improve the odds and put the right people in the right places to make their organizations as successful as possible.

Through our business coaching services and advisory board, you can get the support and ideas you need and avoid the hassle, stress, and isolation of having to figure it all out on your own. If you’re ready to get moving and start growing, get in touch with our team so we can make your vision a reality.

Getting the Most Out of Your Coaching Sessions

Tue, 18 Jun 2019 19:07:12 GMT

There was once a time that business and executive coaching was reserved for the top-tier of C-suite members or the presidents of multi-million dollar brands, but in recent years it’s been difficult to dismiss the value of coaching for entrepreneurs from all walks of life.

The benefits of coaching have been proven time and again, with the biggest being increased self-awareness and a boost in emotional intelligence. It’s often easy for leaders and business owners to get carried away with the daily tasks, and it’s often not so easy for them to take the same time for self-development. Coaching can provide that opportunity.

Ultimately, the goal of coaching is to learn how you can learn about yourself and find ways to better manage your best assets — your employees — so that your entire organization and staff can grow and thrive. The only thing better than having an amazing product or a globally recognized brand is supporting a workplace culture where managers lead by example and employees are fully on board as ambassadors to the company.

Just like with any other process in your business, however, your return on investment will be proportionate to the amount of time and effort you put into growing your personal skills. Coaching is a big investment — both time-wise and financially — and it’s important to know how to get the most out of your journey.

Open Up a Little (or a Lot)

You may be very comfortable giving feedback to employees or other team members, but how open are you to hearing about yourself in a professional capacity? Be prepared and stay receptive; there’s a good chance you may not initially like what you hear about yourself and your skills as a manager — but that’s okay. The coaches you work with will have unique insight and experience to identify both strengths and weaknesses and give you actionable tips to help with both.

Don’t Get Comfortable

There’s a great chance you’ve turned to coaching because there’s a feeling you hit a plateau or your professional life (or business) has stagnated, it’s because you’re not being pushed to think outside the box. A coaching professional’s fresh eyes will help you get a new perspective on the bigger picture and may identify areas where you can throw out the playbook and find a better, more productive way to do things you may already be doing every day to help run your business.

Keep Your Goal Game Strong

Coaching doesn’t happen in a vacuum, and a good coach will always start the process by discussing and setting goals for you based on where you’re currently at in your job and your life. Use your personal strengths as the foundation for these goals; this can give you valuable benchmarks and a strong foundation to build on as you go forward. If you get lost or find yourself off track, always return to your strengths as a reminder of what you’re working to improve.

Work on Your Weaknesses

Just as much as your strengths can propel you forward, they can also hold you back. Coaching can help you identify when you use valuable assets to your disadvantage — pay close attention! For example, some task-oriented leaders can tend to micromanage, which in turn leads to personal burnout and a disproportionate amount of stress in the workplace. With coaching, you’ll be able to understand how to recognize when you’re overreaching.

Balance Growth With Action

All the top-notch coaching in the world doesn’t mean much if you don’t follow through by utilizing your new skills — but that takes some planning, too. Not only should you be prioritizing time in your schedule (personally and professionally) you should also be honest and transparent about it with your team members. Sharing what you learn with them could have a trickle-down effect and support your own growth during coaching, along with organizational growth.

Over the last few decades, executive coaching has become less of a luxury and more of a necessity for businesses of all sizes. Perhaps one of the biggest benefits can be the fact that business coaches come with experience that can help support decision making and you can avoid common mistakes that so many other new and transforming entrepreneurs can make.

The Alexander Group 2018 Combined Board Meeting

Sat, 15 Dec 2018 19:43:44 GMT

The Alexander Group Combined Board Meeting. On December 12, 2018 we combined monthly peer boards 501, 403, and 404 into one board meeting. The event featured some outside speakers as well as service awards to celebrate significant member milestones. The program was followed by a holiday celebration of a great 2018 for The Alexander Group and for our members.

The Alexander Group Combined Board Meeting Speakers

Fred Moore of Moore Computing gave a presentation about the benefits of creating a digital workplace to attract and retain the next generation workforce. His remarks highlighted some lesser known, but highly valuable features of the Microsoft 365 platform such as video conferencing, file sharing and cloud team collaboration from anywhere.

Joel Green and Nick Schopp from Aegis Law presented “10 Myths About Lawyers”. They shared some powerful examples of how consulting with your attorney before major decisions can save a lot of money and frustration. It can be a lot cheaper to ask first vs. trying to unwind the wrong decisions later.
Keith Kowalczyk, from Ekon Benefits recapped the macro economic trends of 2018 and shared his predictions for 2019. Keith is a board member of Board 501 and is also an Actuary, so he was tasked with calculating the annual “Formidable Forecast” winners for 2018. Keith presented the grand prize to—himself!
Tom Shipley from Cole-Dalton Marketing Services gave the group an update on the emerging issue of ADA accessibility compliance for company websites. He shared some of the possible consequences of ADA non-compliance and gave some suggestions on ADA website accessibility best practices and helpful tools like UserWay.org .

10 Year Service Award

Keith Kowalczyk, Board 501 – Ekon Benefits

5 Year Service Awards

Mike Jerome, Board 501 – Bi-State Utilities Co.
Gus Brecht, Board 501 – Brecht’s Database Solutions, Inc.
Joe Koenig, Board 501 – Brecht’s Database Solutions, Inc.
Richard Greene, Jr., Board 501 – The Richard Greene Co.
Terry Ohlms, Board 501 – T.A. Ohlms, LLC
Steve Stancic, Board 404 – Specialty Mailing
John Cusumano, Board 404 – Lazarus Realty Co./Fresh Warehousing

Thanks to all of our Board Members and Business Coaching Clients for another year of successfully helping each other achieve our visions. We look forward to an even better 2019!

Five Things Business Owners Should Do Before The End Of The Year

Sat, 01 Dec 2018 19:37:23 GMT

Business Owners Should Do. There are plenty of things savvy business owners should do before year’s end: set goals for next year, thank employees for their contributions, conduct year-end reviews, plan the company Christmas party… the list is long. But you’d better add tax planning too!For this blog, The Alexander Group, a top-rated business consulting firm in St. Louis, we will focus on things that will help you lower your taxes for this year.

Sell Losing Stocks

The goal here is for your annual capital losses to exceed your annual capital gains. If you own stocks whose value has decreased since you purchased them, sell enough of them so that you have at least $3,000 in losses. The IRS will then permit you to deduct up to $3,000 worth of said losses from your annual business income. And if you sell more than $3,000 worth of depressed stocks, the overage carries over into next year.

Charitable donations

There are at least 1.5M nonprofits and charities in the United States, and charitable donations are of course a very popular way for businesses to lower their income taxes. Donations can take the form of property and/or money, which you can then itemize as deductions on your taxes. Here are some things our St. Louis-based management consulting company suggests you keep in mind:

501(c)(3) is the IRS’ designated code for charities that qualify for tax-deductible donations
The IRS issues a determination letter to each charity that confirms the charity’s qualifications
This letter and all other relevant information can be easily accessed via most charities’ websites
Churches and other religious institutions are the only entities that can qualify as 501(c)(3) without an IRS determination letter

Regardless of which charities or how many charities you donate to, keep a record of each donation. This is easy, since every charity offers a donation receipt confirming your cashless, “quid pro quo” transaction.

Open a Health Savings Account (for the self-employed only)

If you’re self-employed and paying for your own health insurance, a health savings account (HSA) is a combination IRA/health insurance policy with a high deductible. The benefits to opening up an HSA include:

Implement an HSA by December 31 and you can make 12 months’ worth of deductible HSA contributions
HSA contributions can be withdrawn and used to pay for virtually any uninsured health-related expense
Withdrawals are tax-exempt

Buy Business Equipment

Computers, desks, filing cabinets – buy whatever your business needs before year’s end and you can deduct the entire amount from your business income, instead of having to depreciate the expense over several years. The annual limit for this deduction if $500K, and it covers a wide range of business-related items that are used more than 51 percent of the time. Also, through 2019 a “bonus depreciation” is available for first-year business equipment purchases.

Retirement Plans

All businesses are recommended to create and fund retirement plans (401(k)s) for the benefit of their employees and for the related tax-related upsides. For the self-employed, the tax benefits of setting up a retirement plan are especially lucrative, and there several options to choose from: IRAs, Keogh plans, SEP-IRAs, etc. Your contribution limit depends on the plan you choose and your net yearly earnings.

Business Planning and strategy consulting are just two of the high-level services The Alexander Group provides to St. Louis business owners. Contact us today for more information.

Axleboy Offroad & The Alexander Group: A Case Study

Sun, 04 Nov 2018 19:30:21 GMT

Axleboy Offroad & The Alexander Group

Scott Carline, owner of Axleboy Offroad has been working with The Alexander Group as a peer board member and business coaching client since 2010. He credits the relationship with helping his business grow and thrive.

Cornell Meyer: We’re a private consulting firm that works with 35 to 40 private business owners at any one time to help them work on holding themselves accountable to achieving the vision for the business. I was introduced to Scott in 2010 with the idea that Scott had some challenges with fast growth from about $400,000 a year to $1.2 million in one year. The concern I had when I entered the picture was whether or not that rapid growth could be supported because it was all coming from one client. It proved to be an almost fatal mistake. Six months later, the contract ended when American Airlines filed bankruptcy and we had to reprogram the company and re-identify a growth strategy.

Over a couple of years period of time we ascertained whether or not the remanufacturing business for axles was going to be a viable business model or we needed to migrate into something that was more of Scott’s passion, which was the upgrade of off road vehicles, specializing in Jeeps.

Scott Carline: So Axleboy Offroad, we are based mostly upon Jeeps and the off-road lifestyle. It started off as I was a mechanic, a shop foreman at one of the local Jeep dealers and I met some people that were passionate about Jeeps. They took me out four-wheeling and I kind of got sucked in.

I got tired of the dealership lifestyle and wanted to focus on something I could be passionate about 24/7 so I spun off Axleboy. Like most people, I started it off based on passion and I knew how to do Jeeps. I knew how to build Jeeps and work on them. The part that I didn’t know was actually how to run a business. I had no idea at all. I always laugh and said I did everything wrong three times and then on the fourth time I do it wrong one more time and then I would ask for help.

Cornell Meyer: The challenges for Scott really had to do with one of the basic fatal mistakes that private business owners have and that’s that he’s a technician and surrounding himself with proper managers and proper processes to handle to financial, marketing, sales, advisor roles was something we had to work on continuously. The improvements are that he is now 500% larger than he was in 2010. He’s now moved into a facility that allowed him to double his business size, again. And we’re continuing to work on refining his processes and his financial reporting, and even today we’re putting on the new ERP program to help him with his overall management flow and process.

Business Owners’ Biggest Mistakes: Failing to Hold Themselves Accountable

Fri, 24 Aug 2018 18:09:47 GMT

The Perks of “Being Your Own Boss”

One of the most enjoyable aspects of becoming “The Boss” is knowing that as the business owner you won’t have to answer to anybody ever again. In fact, there are plenty of people who start out on their own primarily because they no longer want to serve bosses they don’t like.

With any new business comes the exciting reality for owners that they will get to run their own show. They have complete freedom to make their own decisions. Nobody is looking over their shoulder or telling them what to do. They are allowed to manage their time and resources exactly the way they see fit, and a certain euphoria often comes with that. Especially in the beginning, there are few more comforting feelings for a new business owner than knowing they are in charge.

How a Lack of Accountability Negatively Impacts Businesses

The problem with this is that once a person has become their own boss, they no longer are accountable to anybody. Unfortunately, this means that their business could succeed or fail based on their own skills and knowledge and literally nobody else’s. Whether or not the business fails or succeeds falls squarely on the owner’s shoulders, and that’s a lot of pressure for someone to carry.

Who Can Hold “The Boss” Accountable?

Seeking advice from employees is not always the best bet, since very often those employees will say whatever the boss wants to hear in an effort to keep them happy. What business owners really need is someone to ask the truly tough questions and hold the owner accountable for the decisions they make that could impact the business significantly.

The solution to this dilemma is to consider a business coach and a peer board. The Alexander Group Business Coaching is one option to help business owners find outside advice, support, and partnership in ways that in-house staff simply cannot. We act, effectively, a “think tank” designed to provide support for small business owners. The board includes other small business owners, presidents, CEOs and other managing partners who meet once a month to provide a confidential, non-competitive environment to discuss issues and opportunities they are experiencing in their businesses.

In other words, The Alexander Group provides the accountability that so many business owners need and require. If you would like more information about expanding accountability outside of your own head, contact someone at The Alexander Group, and we’ll help your business get the expert advice and professional support it needs.

Business Owners’ Biggest Mistakes: Seeking Advice From The Wrong People

Tue, 24 Jul 2018 18:06:35 GMT

In our ongoing series about the biggest mistakes we’ve found that business owners make, we take a look at the common mistake of seeking business advice from the wrong people.

Starting a business is such a personal venture, and many small business owners begin their foray into their industries trying to do everything all by themselves. It can be challenging, wearing all those hats at once, but financially speaking it isn’t always feasible to hire help. It is natural to seek advice from your family, friends, employees, and the professional services providers you are working with already.

When first starting out, most business owners are all ears when seeking advice. They will talk to just about anyone who might have some insight. Here at The Alexander Group, over time we have learned that leaning on the wrong people for advice, will often get you the wrong advice.

Here are some of the people who might seem logical to help, but probably are not: Seeking Advice From The Wrong People.

Business Advice from your Spouse

Your spouse probably knows you better than anyone. In most cases, they are also the person in your life you can trust the most. They are usually your best sounding board and can certainly help you think things through when it comes to many aspects of your life, including your business.

However, there is one big problem with relying too much on your spouse for advice. Think about it, the only insight and perspective they have on your business comes from you. In other words, it’s more than likely your spouse has the same take you do on your business because you are the only one they have discussed it with. In some ways, talking to your spouse is like talking to yourself. So, not always the best source for fresh ideas and innovation.

Business Advice from Your Accountant

CPA’s are certified experts in accounting principles and taxes. Most of their formal education was centered around accounting. Even their work-life balance revolves around tax season. We all know they essentially don’t stop working from about the third week of January until Tax Day in April.

But for the most part, that’s really what you should rely on them for-your accounting. They are not trained or experienced in many other aspects of running a business such as HR, sales forecasting, strategic planning or IT. Count on your accountant for accounting advice, not business advice.

Business Advice from Your Lawyer

Lawyers are essential advisors, as they can help you wade through the legalities of your business while also helping you establish a business structure, register your business and help you settle disputes with vendors or employees. You want to do everything by the book as a business owner, and lawyers typically know that book forward and backward.

However, lawyers know the law and how to run their law firm (usually) but they don’t know or have had experience running a business like yours. They generally lack expertise in things like inventory management, sales processes, or collecting Accounts Receivable.

Business Advice from Your Banker

Most bankers can give you sound financial advice and loan you money, but they ultimately may not know what is best for your business. Bankers can be highly skilled and knowledgeable in their own field, but they may have little to no knowledge of the ins and outs of running a business. While a banker may be able to help on the financial side, they usually don’t have the expertise to help you navigate the day to day or the strategic challenges of building a successful business.

Business Advice from an Insurance Agent

Insurance agents can help you secure an insurance policy that fits your needs and the requirements of your business. They have experience sourcing policies and selling to clients, but they also usually don’t know the ins and outs of running a business. Often an agents primary focus is to help a client with a claim or sell new policies, not the long-term success of your business. When it comes to details about policies and different insurance options, reaching out to an agent is your best course of action. However, if you are looking for sound business advice, there is a much much better resource…

Other Business Owners

Since you have read through this far, you might have guessed by now our firm belief that the best resource of advice for business owners is other business owners. There really is no better solution to a problem than from someone who has personally experienced that same problem. You will either learn from what they did to solve the problem, or they can tell you what they did wrong so you don’t make the same mistakes.

Here at The Alexander Group, our members get personal one-on-one coaching from us and they meet monthly with a board of business owner peers we facilitate. Members often tell us they listen to the business advice we give in the coaching session, but they confirm that advice with “their board” in the peer group meeting.

The Alexander Group

By definition, coaches are mentors and advisors, so if you are looking seriously at taking your business to another level, we know the professionals here at The Alexander Group can help you. As a business owner without a coach and a peer board, you really are only accountable to yourself. The Alexander Group members tell us they make progress in their business because they promised their board they would do something, and they don’t want to come to the next meeting and have to admit they did not get it done.

The Alexander Group clients become accountable to each other and collaborate to help strengthen and grow companies. The Alexander Group meetings are guided by principles developed over the past 30 years and were created to help grow any business. The Alternative Board is part of a national brand that has more than 175 facilitators across the country. TAB Advisor, Cornell Meyer, has created multiple boards that fit multiple types of businesses. Many businesses have used our services with great success, and if you find yourself with questions that other types of advisors can’t answer, perhaps a business coach is the next step.

Business Owners’ Biggest Mistakes: Not Having a Vision for Their Business

Tue, 26 Jun 2018 16:59:33 GMT

As we continue our series about the biggest mistakes of most business owners, we here at The Alexander Group explore the concept of “vision” and why it is so important for the short-term and long-term success of a business.

Early in any business endeavor, most business owners are forced to focus primarily on dollars and cents—doing whatever is necessary to keep the business up and running to turn a profit. Over time, the business owner must begin to focus beyond just cash flow. Making money is important, but so is success, growth, family, work/life balance and knowing how to make all of those things possible. A business owner may enjoy the long hours and total dedication now, but there may come a day when they may want to scale back or even retire comfortably.

Having a vision for the future of the business is critical, but it’s best done years in advance and adjusted annually to accommodate changes in the business and in the owners family. Investing in small business consulting can help business owners visualize a personal future that aligns with their goals.

The Importance of Vision for the Individual

When starting a business, it is natural to seek advice, but searching for that advice from the wrong people can lead to bad business practices and even to the failure of an entire business. While lawyers, accountants and insurance agents all play a role in specific aspects of running a business, the reality is that true vision for a business starts with the business owner. Here at The Alexander Group, we can help business owners realize their goals in distinct ways, that no other business resource can provide. Lawyers know the law and accountants know accounting, but the best resource a business owner can have for long term business success is an experienced business coach along with a trusted peer board of other business owners.

Map Out Your Personal Vision

Developing that personal vision is an important step in defining the future of a business. Entrepreneurs must ask themselves essential questions centering on the owner’s involvement in and plans for their business. Knowing the answers to these questions can give them the vision they need for sustained success, as well as true happiness for the person running the show.

The following are some of the questions that business owners will answer when completing a personal vision statement:

How Does a Business Owner Bring About the “Big Picture”?

As business owners get into the daily grind of making their businesses profitable, it grows increasingly simple to forget why they started those businesses in the first place. As such, it is important for business owners to keep focus on “Big Picture” impact. What activities can they do within their company that have the potential to bring about “Big Picture” impact? This may mean getting out there for public speaking engagements, selling accounts, or recruiting valuable employees. Business owners must figure out the activities that positively impact their businesses and then devise a plan to focus on those daily.

What Are the Business Owner’s Passions?

Business owners also must consider where they excel and have passion in the context of their business. Their passion may be to create new processes, sell big accounts, mentor employees, or develop strategic plans and alliances. Owners cannot be involved in every single daily activity, so focusing their time on the areas they care about most and delegating the aspects they are not passionate about is an important part of any business plan.

How Will Business Owner’s Delegate and Manage Their Time?

Good business owners have to delegate the work they are not passionate about to trusted and talented employees. It also means a business owner needs to identify talent and work to train and retain that talent to potentially lead the company. There is a saying in the corporate world, “You can’t get promoted until you train your replacement”. The same goes for a business owner, their vision must reach far into the future so the business can continue thrive without them. Often business owners are focused on the short term and can lose valuable planning time.

Certain business activities like day to day bookkeeping can be outsourced to a bookkeeping service, as long as the business owner is reviewing the financial statements. Business owners should know how much time they want to spend working at their businesses during a typical week and how many weeks each year they plan to use for vacation. Delegating certain tasks allows a business owner to stick within those goals.

How Will Business Owners Handle Any Eventual Exit Strategy?

However active a business owner may be, the time may come when they decide to take a step back and reduce or end their leadership of the business. What is that business exit strategy? Will it require selling the business outright or handing the reins to family members? Is there a desire to maintain ownership and control the business with a family member as COO? What if there is not a family member interested or qualified to take over?

Business owners planning to sell to non-family, what is the minimum market value amount acceptable for the sale, and what is the timeline for selling? These answers to these questions are a very important part of the personal vision and often require reflection and adjustment over time. An owner may not even know the answer to these questions yet, but they will need to come to a solution eventually. Planning ahead saves time and effort when that time arises.

What Intangible Rewards Matter Most to the Business Owner?

Sometimes, a personal vision has little do with money. These intangible rewards may include being a leader in an industry, having political influence, philanthropy, creating secure jobs for their employees, or community involvement through non-profits. A business owner should understand exactly where their true personal motivations lie, which then informs the long-term vision for the business.

In What Tangible Ways Will the Business Owner Define Success

Building a business plan is the most tangible way to know where a company is, and where it plans on going in the future. Having a plan in writing and sharing it with employees is a great way for everyone to be on the same page and work toward something positive for the growth of the company. To be successful, human beings need purpose, so getting employees to buy in means having a business plan or mission statement that can return real results. People love goals, and finding ways to turn a vision into real goals is a big step toward achieving them.

The truth is that the vision of the individual and the vision for the business are inextricable. A highly-qualified business consultant here at The Alexander Group can help businesses put together a personal vision statement and bring their visions to life, so if you find yourself in need of business consulting , reach out and we can start the process of fine-tuning your vision immediately.

Business Owners’ Biggest Mistakes: Failing to See the Value in Delegation

Tue, 15 May 2018 16:56:37 GMT

Every business owner wants to see all of their hard work and financial investment result in a company that is well-run, profitable, and successful in every sense of the word, but unfortunately, that does not always happen. There are a number of mistakes business owners can make to put a damper on their best-laid plans, but here at The Alexander Group we find that one of the most common is that employers too often fail to see the value in delegating duties to their employees.

It Starts with a Skill

Many American businesses get their start with just a single person or small group of people that possess a specific skill for which they consider themselves experts. Maybe they are very good at putting new roofs on houses or baking cupcakes or designing and printing banners and billboards. Whatever the case may be, many businesses start by having the talented individual doing literally everything as they work to get their project off the ground. The good ones grow, naturally, but with growth comes increased responsibility.

Eventually, Business Owners Can’t Do Everything

Put simply, many businesses do eventually expand to the point where the original owner flat-out can’t do everything anymore. What starts as an individual doing what they love and getting paid for it turns into something much bigger, with scheduling duties and financial responsibilities and technological upgrades all worming themselves into the business owner’s daily life. At a certain point, while growth absolutely is a good thing for business, the owner just can’t keep up with it all. That’s when the smart ones hire people they can trust to help with these types of duties.

Employees Want to Know They Are Trusted

There very often is a sense among business owners that, “Nobody can do this as well as I can,” which is understandable considering how much of their own time and money they have dumped into the business. However, employees that don’t feel as though their boss trusts them tend to do the bare minimum, to say nothing of how it may affect their morale in the workplace. Employees lose trust in the owner’s ability to lead and manage when they aren’t allowed to do the types of things they were hired to do. What type of boss wants that for their employees?

Good Business Owners Delegate to Trustworthy, Talented Employees

When business owners delegate what they are not good at doing to skilled, competent people, they are going to have a much stronger organization. Nobody is great at everything, and no business owner can be an island. Surrounding yourself with people you know can do a great job is the only way to survive, and entirely too many businesses have failed simply because they could not delegate duties to employees.

It’s understandable that as a business owner you want to oversee every minute detail of your business’ daily operations, but it’s simply not possible. Not only that, but it can create a hostile environment for your employees, and what business ever has been successful employing people that weren’t happy at their job? Make them happier and more productive, and make your business run more smoothly by delegating the duties that honestly require delegation.

Why Video is Essential for Small Business Marketing

Wed, 21 Mar 2018 16:51:22 GMT

Why Video is Essential

Why Video is Essential. For so many reasons, it is not easy to run a small business in a world where mammoth corporate entities seem to have you outsmarted and out-funded at every turn, but that doesn’t mean small businesses can’t see more than their fair share of success. It’s not as if small businesses no longer exist just because Giant Corporation A recently merged with Giant Corporation B. There is a place for you in this current landscape, but you must know how to make your presence known.

That’s why video and video advertising are so important. The following are a handful of reasons why video has become absolutely essential for the success of small business marketing efforts:

Why Video is Essential? Video Draws Traffic

A recent Forbes study found that 80 percent of executives are watching more video today than they were this time last year, and 75 percent of executives say they watch work-related videos on business-related websites at least once a week. Best of all, 65 percent of executives visit a vendor’s website after watching a video, so if the goal is to get people to check out the services that you provide, video is an empirically-proven way to go about that.

You’re Showing Your Value Rather Than Advertising

While many videos (or snippets of videos) can be used as legitimate advertisements, using a full video with relevant content in your field doesn’t just “trick” people into checking out your business website like an ad would. Rather, it shows viewers exactly who you are and what you do, and that revelation of personality is a much more interesting way to draw customer interest than a flashy advertisement.

People Love the Visual

All told, people watch over 500 million hours of video per day on the internet, which accounts for approximately one-third of all online activity. If your customers obviously are enjoying receiving their content visually, why wouldn’t you invest more time and money into ensuring that this is exactly what they’ll get?

It Translates Well Across Platforms

Also, you can get more bang for your buck by running these videos across multiple platforms. YouTube and Facebook are great places to start, but apps like Periscope and InsThe Alexander Groupram should garner your attention, too. No type of content is shared on social media more than video, so if your video should go viral on one of those social media platforms, its format may have had something to do with that.

It’s Great for SEO Value

Businesses need Google to view their websites as relevant, and the amount of time a web surfer spends on your website (likely watching a video rather than quickly skimming just text), the better chance you have of seeing your website rise up Google search results. Everybody knows that if you aren’t on that first page of a Google search, you don’t matter, and video absolutely can help with that.

If you would like any more specific help with any of these items, reach out to someone here at The Alexander Group , and we’ll happily get you started on a path toward using more video and boosting interest in your business today!

Painted into a Corner: An Alexander Group Client Case Study

Wed, 14 Mar 2018 16:44:42 GMT

PaintSmiths of Missouri, Inc. is a family-owned, commercial painting contractor based in St. Louis. Established in 1963, the company is now in its second generation of leadership with Michael Smith as President.

According to Smith, business was good, but he knew it wasn’t as good as it could be. The company fought financially for cash flow even though they had an existing line of credit, which his bank had converted to a fixed loan. In addition, the books weren’t being properly maintained, so Smith had a hard time generating financial statements to make informed decisions.

He first considered joining a peer board in 2014 to bounce ideas off of other small business owners. Instead, he hired an out of town consulting firm to assess his business. “They were here for two months, and I liked what they did,” Smith said. But they were very expensive. He paid the consultants’ travel and lodging, plus a six-figure consulting fee. “They came in, gave me a shot in the arm and then disappeared.”

Hiring a Business Coach

In 2015, Cornell Meyer, president of The Alexander Group was introduced to Michael for the first time. As a prospective client, Smith was invited to sit in on a peer board to see if working with The Alexander Group was something he would be interested in. It was evident to Meyer that Smith had absolutely no time to work on the business by putting new processes and systems in place. And, it was also unmistakable that Smith wanted to improve his business.

“I committed to going to one peer board meeting, and I was intrigued by Cornell’s process. I was hesitant, but I was also interested in what he had to offer. I signed on with The Alexander Group after my first board meeting,” Smith said.

The Alexander Group and the peer board emphasize the importance of month-to-month accountability. Every month, business owners who attend the morning meetings make pledges to do one thing to help their business succeed. Every member of the peer board is accountable to themselves, as well as to Meyer and the other members of the board.

You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know

As the owner of a small family-owned company, Smith says he felt like he was in a cocoon and not exposed to many outside business strategies and ideas. “You don’t know what you don’t know is an expression I use because it’s true for me. Cornell made me aware of things that, as a business owner, I didn’t know that I should know.”

Over the course of the first year, Cornell and Michael took a deep dive into PaintSmiths financials. Cornell discovered the cash flow problems PaintSmiths was experiencing were symptomatic of a larger problem. The real disease was that Smith’s accounting advisor was not giving him the best advice on how to keep his books and records.

Meyer explains that, when they first sign on with The Alexander Group, about 75% of his clients have problems with their financial statements. This situation prevents business owners who are having cash flow problems from presenting accurate financial statements to a bank to demonstrate that they are a safe bet for a line of credit to help boost cash flow.

As part of the repair process, The Alexander Group helped PaintSmiths establish a new banking relationship. Smith was reluctant to change banks because they’d helped out several times when things were financially tough, plus it’s the bank his dad used. He said, “Cornell told me, ‘It’s all business. You need to look at what’s best for you. So, I made the switch.”

The new bank took over the balance of their fixed loan and also gave the company a sizable credit line on top of it because, after working with The Alexander Group, their financials had improved so much that the bank was comfortable with the company’s level of risk. In addition to working with a new bank, PaintSmiths changed CPAs and Cornell helped Michael find an in-house controller to manage the books.

The Numbers Don’t Lie

“Since 2015, my cash flow has been outstanding,” Smith said. “I don’t know whether to attribute that to timing, the economy, or my relationship with The Alexander Group, but I cannot express how pleased and how stress-free it is to have a comfortable cash flow.”

Since he’s been working with The Alexander Group, Smith can now focus more on what he’s good at, and what he likes to do, which is creating more business relationships, acquiring more contracts and getting out on the job site to work with his customers and painters.

“We have the correct independent advisor in place. We have a controller in place. Billings are getting out on time. All of the work is getting billed for, which was something that was not occurring previously,” Cornell said, “And, as a result Michael has had two record years in a row.”

The business went from $3.5 million in 2015 to almost $5 million in two years’ time just by freeing up the leader of the company from the financial side of the business and having the proper people and processes in place. Michael Smith says his peer board meetings and monthly coaching sessions with Cornell keep him accountable to himself and his business. The future is very bright indeed for PaintSmiths of Missouri.

Better Data = Better Decisions. Accounting for Small Businesses

Mon, 19 Feb 2018 17:39:32 GMT

Better Data = Better Decisions. In this blog I’m going to address two types of financial record keeping: cash basis and accrual basis accounting. When I take on a new client, my number one priority is to get the company’s financials in order so the business owners can make more informed decisions. It’s important to any company’s growth strategy to effectively and positively present their business to potential strategic partners such as banks or investors along with developing metrics to gauge progress.

Often, when we initially discuss company finances, the conversation focuses on symptoms the business is exhibiting rather than the underlying disease, for example, a new client might complain about the symptom of having cash flow issues. The problem might be a result of the company not having a line of credit to help out with the ebb and flow of an increased workload when business is heavy. When we dig into the reason why the company doesn’t have a line of credit as a cushion, we find the disease is that the business doesn’t maintain proper financial reporting. As a result, a bank can’t make any sense out of what the business owner is trying to accomplish, because they don’t see any supporting financials. As a result, lending institutions won’t extend them credit, which creates a problematic “Catch 22”.

Maintaining proper financial records is a key to business success. Many small business owners I work with don’t realize it’s acceptable, in fact it’s even recommended, that they keep their financial reporting on one basis of accounting and pay their taxes on another. In fact, the IRS asks businesses to explain the difference between how they keep their books and records versus the tax basis they’re filing.

So, what’s the difference between the two? In cash basis accounting, it’s a simple system of money in/money out. You record payments (and income) as you receive them and pay your bills, and incur expenses, when they’re paid. The accrual basis method of accounting can be a bit trickier. All of your receivables and your payables that haven’t been paid yet are on your balance sheet, where you can actually see how much money people owe you and how much money you owe others, keeping the expenses and income on the same cycle.

Cash Basis Accounting

A prime example of a business that can effectively use cash basis accounting is a small passive income real estate investment company, which may be set up as an LLC. The business doesn’t have any accounts receivable, just rent coming in every month. Money going out the door might be one or two checks a month. In this passive income scenario, it’s absolutely okay to maintain your books on a cash basis.

On a cash basis, you’re only showing how much expenses you’ve actually paid, not how much expenses you have to pay. People get sloppy when they’re on a cash basis and they don’t bother to enter all their accounts payable in, so they think they’re okay because they’re always making just a little bit of money, when in fact the only reason why they’re making money is because they haven’t taken in any more cash to pay more bills.

Accrual Basis Accounting

If, on the other hand, the business provides products and services, accrual basis accounting is highly recommended for bookkeeping and record keeping. I prefer to have financial statements done in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, or GAAP. By and large, Generally Accepted Accounting Principles recommend that companies keep their books and records on an accrual basis or a modified accrual basis.

The In-Between

Modified accrual accounting is used in industries such as construction where businesses book their income based off of the cost-to-date versus expected costs. Billings have nothing to do with profitability when it pertains to income levels, but adjustments must be made for over-building or under-building. This type of modified accrual accounting is called a percenThe Alexander Groupe completion method.

Another type of modified accrual accounting can be seen in manufacturing companies. These businesses book their income the same way, but they cannot claim profit until they ship their materials.

Clear as Mud?

If your head is spinning with all of this accounting talk, I understand. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea. In fact, about 75% of my new clients need help in adjusting the way they manage their accounting.

If your business doesn’t have the proper reporting in place, you can make the wrong decisions, such as laying people off when it’s not necessary or failing to bring on additional help when you’re faced with a surge in business. When companies make the change to the correct method of accounting, they gain better data from which to make strategic and informed business decisions. And, having better data truly is the answer to all problems in business.

In my next blog post, I’ll be featuring a case study about one of my clients who needed more accurate financial reporting to obtain a more robust line of credit. We’ll discuss the company’s symptoms, the underlying disease, and the cure we came up with.

If you’re a small business owner struggling to figure out how to manage your accounting system, we can help, you, too. Contact us today for more information.

Three Quality Offline Experiences Business Owners Can Provide Customers

Thu, 15 Feb 2018 23:05:42 GMT

Three Quality Offline Experiences. Having a strong online presence and investing in digital marketing is important for any business. While social media is important, any good business consultant will tell you that providing quality offline experiences for your customers also is important in its own right.

Here at The Alexander Group, we are firm believers in providing quality offline experiences for customers, which is why we make a point to mention it in every bout of small business consulting that we do. More specifically, the following three offline experiences are great for connecting with customers in real life rather than exclusively online:

#1 Host Interactive Events

Businesses need to create unique experiences for their customers to ensure that they will continue coming back time and time again, and one way to execute that is to host live events that get customers (or potential customers) out of their homes and into actual reality. There are a lot of ways to use social media to encourage this type of engagement, as a time and place for events can be shared that way, but the bottom line here is that people want to feel as though they’re taking part in something unique and memorable if they’re going out into the world to experience it, so give them what they want and ensure those experiences are truly memorable.

#2 Giveaways for Other Real-Life Experiences

If you can’t host the event yourself, perhaps you can engage people by doling out giveaways for other real-life experiences. It could be tickets to a concert, professional sports game, or conference that tickles their fancy, or it could be impromptu experiences in public touting how fun and lively your brand can be. If you can personalize customer engagement throughout this process, all the better. The more they feel like the real-life experiences are catered to them specifically, the more likely customers are to appreciate them.

#3 Run Contests and Hand Out Prizes

One of the best ways to earn the endearment of customers is to give them free stuff, but rather than mailing that free stuff to their homes, have winners claim their prizes in fun and creative ways. Even better is if the prizes you give away are branded swag, since that puts you in the good graces of the customer and helps to create some brand awareness.

Here at The Alexander Group, we do business consulting on a level that reaches your customers online and offline, though spending more time with the latter is a great way to engage a customer base well beyond what they have come to expect from brands that devote all their attention to the online space. The internet matters, as we all know, but creating authentic, personal offline experiences for customers is just as important.

Cut Through the Clutter: Using Email to Market Your Business

Mon, 29 Jan 2018 22:58:35 GMT

Using Email to Market Your Business

Using Email to Market Your Business. If you’re not using email as a way to promote your business, you’re missing out on an enormous opportunity to engage your current customers and attract new prospects. Email marketing is fast and easy, and it should be considered a regular, and very important, component of any business’s marketing arsenal.

The return on investment you can gain through email marketing is huge . For every $1 you spend on your email marketing program, you can realize a return of about $44. In 2017, the median ROI for email marketing was 122%, which is four times higher than other common marketing channels such as social media and pay-per-click advertising.

How Do I Get Started?

If you’re just getting off the ground with email marketing, your mailing list might be fairly small, or even non-existent. Don’t be dismayed! Everybody has to begin somewhere. It’s important to build a good email list, but how do you get started? Really, it’s as easy as simply asking for email addresses. You can ask at point of sale, you can provide an opt-in on your website, or you can ask as part of your contact information collection process.

You can also buy targeted email lists if you are sending business-to-business emails. Just make sure you are complying with all applicable CAN-SPAM laws. Exact Data is a reputable source for business email leads. Once you buy a list, it’s also a good idea to “scrub” the list using a tool like emaillistverify.com . Email scrubbing allows you to eliminate the email addresses that are no longer valid, or worse are “ spam traps “. Spam traps are a type of fraud management tool, used by major Internet Service Providers (ISPs) like Outlook, Yahoo, and Gmail to identify spammers so they can block emails from them.

Once you start collecting email addresses, you need to give your clients and prospects content to thank them for giving you their contact information. This “thank you” can be in the form of special offers, email subscriber exclusive content (white papers, infographics, etc.), or newsletters.

More than content, however, the real key to an effective email marketing program is consistency. Don’t just send an email welcoming people and never send anything again. A regular stream of emails from your business will keep your company top-of-mind with your customers and prospects. Emails containing how-to’s, tips and product help are popular types of content.

What’s in it for ME?

You can collect invaluable data points from your email campaigns. For example:

Which link did the viewer click on — for example, a link to your website or blog post or a product image? Did they click on more than one link within the email?
If they clicked on a text link, what was the anchor text?
If they clicked on a product image, which items were being promoted and which one did the customer click on?
What did they do when they got to your landing page or website? Did they make an immediate purchase, view additional product pages, or leave your site?
If they made a purchase, did they buy one of the items promoted in the email, or did they buy something else?
If they browsed through your site, which items or product categories did they click on?
Did they forward your email to a friend or colleague? Did they share your email on one of their social media accounts?

Using Email Automation

If you’re fearful that email marketing will be too time consuming, don’t be. With email automation, you can easily set up and send campaigns that are triggered to hit your prospects’ or customers’ inboxes at just the right moment. Companies such as MailChimp or Hatchbuck (HQ in St. Louis!) make sending automated campaigns quick and easy.

These service providers also help maintain the integrity of your email database by automatically flagging and removing bounced emails (aka, bad email addresses).

What If I Need More Help?

There are thousands of marketing agencies out there who can help. Just do your homework and check their references and case studies. Here in St. Louis, the largest marketing services agency is Ansira . They serve Fortune 500 clients around the world. For smaller companies without an in-house marketing department like mine, we like Cole-Dalton Marketing Services .

Once you’re comfortable with the basics of email marketing, you can start digging into analytics and segmentation of your list, which we’ll get into in a future post. Meanwhile, go ahead and get started with your first email. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain!

Vacation, Bereavement, Sick Days, and Jury Duty OR PTO? What’s the best policy?

Sat, 28 Oct 2017 21:51:28 GMT

Vacation, Bereavement, Sick Days

Vacation, Bereavement, Sick Days. As an employer, it’s very important to understand the different types of HR policies when it comes to employees’ time off. As a leading small business consultant company, we’ve grown to understand a lot about how the implementation of HR policies affects different sizes and types of business. We now know that it’s very important to consider the pros and cons of different policies for your company specifically. Let’s consider the three main types of HR policy; paid time off, vacation pay, and sick days. Of course, these are our observations from our years of experience but you should always consult with your attorney regarding your company’s HR Policies…

Paid Time Off (PTO)

Paid time off, or PTO, is a usually the best option for small business owners. It combines reasons for time off, such as vacation time and sick days, and packs them into one policy with a set number of available days off. Essentially, any time an employee is away from work, your company will pay them according to the policy in place. PTO can include any reason the employee is not at work: vacation, sick, jury duty, or just personal days.

Using the PTO is not one size fits all for everybody. It really depends on the size of your company. If you have more than 50 employees, you fall under the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA), the federal labor law that requires employers to provide employees with job-protected and unpaid leave for qualified medical and family reasons.

Requirements for companies with fewer than 50 employees are a little less stringent and PTO can really help alleviate the administrative burden of tracking specific reasons employees are not at work. Most businesses, when they’re below 50 employees, cannot afford to have a full-time HR administrator. As a result, the administration efforts fall on the accounting department or some other staff member and it’s a cumbersome job. The ability to actually track vacation time, sick day time, bereavement time, jury duty time, and all these other items, becomes a burden on the company.

It’s a lot easier on the business and the employees to have a PTO policy. Then, it doesn’t matter whether you take vacation, sick, bereavement, jury etc. We’re not going to count it as that, we’re just going to say you have, for example, 15 paid time off days this year, in addition to your holiday time, and you can use them how you want to. It’s a lot less burdensome on the company and on the employees since they don’t have to make up excuses or lie when they want time off, it’s just irrelevant. If you’re going to take four half days off, it goes against your paid time off. And, you don’t have to go to the doctor and get an excuse slip or have somebody lie for you. It simply goes against your PTO.

Most PTO policies don’t carry over from year to year. It’s a “use it or lose it” system, or you stop accruing when you reach the maximum amount for a twelve month period until you start using the PTO. However, some employers will allow longer tenured employees to carry over two to three days from year to year, just so they don’t have that crunch on the timeline at the end of the year. In our experience, its also best to allocate PTO in no less than ½ a day at a time. Otherwise, smaller increments become too complicated to track across the whole staff.

A disadvantage of PTO is that, depending on which state your business is located, there could be different state legislation in regards to paid time off. This means that there is far less allowance for employer discretion when compared to paid leave being divided into separate categories. What your state considers legitimate reason for time off work will determine which reasons can be put under your company’s paid time off umbrella.

There are negative situations for the business owners which may arise as a result of a paid time off policy. Due to the fact that employees do not need to take off all of their allotted time during a certain period, this can mean a big payout for the company when employees who have managed to save up a lot of PTO leave employment, due to a buy-out clause in their employment agreement if one exists. Such clauses are a necessity to ensure employees get a fair deal, but can cause difficulties for employers later on. There might also be problems due to employees either being too cautious, and not taking vacations because they want to ensure they have available days off left in case of unforeseen circumstances, or not being cautious enough, and booking long holidays with no allowance for illness or emergencies. We also recommend a PTO policy be administered effective the employees anniversary date to eliminate year-end crowding of PTO requests.

For help figuring out a paid time off policy that works for your company, but that will also make your employees happy, your best bet is to think it through and then consult an attorney who understands the labor laws in your state.

Vacation Pay

It can be confusing to differentiate between vacation time and paid time off. Vacation pay is essentially leave that can be taken without condition. This means that, depending on the laws of the local area or the policies put in place, employees will need to be paid for all vacation time.

Vacation time also means that employees have a great deal of discretion when it comes to choosing their days off. This is great news for them, as it allows them to fit their working lives around holidays or important commitments. This arrangement works for employers, as long as a minimum period of advanced notice for holidays is required and company policy requires holidays to be arranged in keeping with a provided business schedule.

The advantage of vacation pay are various: being paid for vacation time is something that will keep your employees very happy. This will have a domino effect when it comes to employee satisfaction and the retention of staff who won’t go looking elsewhere for a job with a better policy. For employers, there are other advantages that come with paid vacation time. Unlike with other forms of paid leave, employees do not have to take a minimum amount of days off to fulfill a legal requirement. It’s likely that many employees just won’t end up taking all of their time off, leading to better productivity for you and your business.

However, some employers are able to save a lot of money by not allowing for vacation pay, and whether or not your business offers paid vacation leave needs to be considered on an individual basis. There are a variety of factors to consider – are the majority of your staff full-time or part-time, how competitive is the job market, how satisfied are your staff at present?

Another disadvantage of vacation pay for employers is that due to the flexibility it offers your employees, you might find yourself short-staffed at busy times such as over the holiday periods. For this reason, it’s important to think deeper into the type of business you want to be, and also your specific needs as a small business owner. For example, a retail business will need to think carefully about how long periods of vacation time for staff in the lead up to the holiday rush might affect them.

With a trained business coach, you will be able to work out how allowing paid vacation time might affect your company and you’ll also be able to understand how vacation time relates to our next HR policy – paid time off.

Sick Days

Paid sick leave is similar to vacation pay, due to the fact that it creates a policy which allows for a certain number of days off for a specific reason, rather than an overall amount of time off as in a paid time off policy. Putting a limit on sick days has both advantaged and disadvantaged groups. For many companies, particularly those with casual or part-time workers, there can be an issue with employees taking ‘sick days’ at times when they really just need paid time off. Putting a limit on the days off they are able to take for any one reason, with a specific HR policy catering for this, means they’re far less likely to take sick days without a valid reason.

However, for employees who suffer from a particular health condition or who are ill more often than their colleagues, putting a limit on sick days in this way means they might struggle to meet the requirements of the policy and will find themselves in a difficult position. For such employees, a paid time off policy will be far less stressful, as they will be allowed just as much time off as other members of the company which will allow for more sick days if necessary.

Depending on the field your company is in, however, a more traditional approach to days off through different categories might be a good idea. With the right HR policy in place, you’ll be able to find a plan that works for your employees, without creating any vulnerabilities that might cause your company’s paid leave generosity to be taken advantage of.

The best choice for your small business will depend entirely on you, your employees and the type of company culture you want to create. For more information about any of these types of policies, or how we can aid you in creating a fair, mutually beneficial policy when it comes to paid leave, contact us today.

Additional Sources:

http://hrdailyadvisor.blr.com/2013/08/31/pto-and-vacation-whats-the-difference/
https://www.fuseworkforce.com/blog/what-are-the-pros-and-cons-of-paid-time-off-policies

The Business Plan for Both Good Times and Bad

Mon, 25 Sep 2017 21:44:49 GMT

Plan for Both Good Times and Bad. We can all agree that the US economy is flying very high right now, taking small businesses with it, but what are you doing now to prepare for when the engine stalls? The Alexander Group Peer Board Members and Coaching Clients are preparing now by building their marketing engines and reinforcing culture to find and retain good employees for the long haul.

The Sun Is Shining

I spend a lot of time speaking to my business owner clients and most of them say the same thing: right now the US economy is in really good shape. Their revenues are improving, month after month, and the forecasts for their sales pipeline are looking as bright as their bottom line. The biggest challenge they have is finding and retaining good workers, a problem that sounds very good to those of us who made it through the recession that started in 2008.

The statistics all indicate that consumer confidence is high, as is their spending, which has led to a significant expansion in the economy over recent years. This, in turn, creates higher wages and more disposable income, leading to further growth in the economy. Right now our business community is experiencing some very good times.

But Winter is Coming?

The trouble with the economic cycle lies in its title. It is a cycle, which flows in both directions. No matter how high a tide rises, there will always come a moment when it starts to retreat again. That is a certainty. The difficult part of the business game is predicting the moment when that tide will turn.

We are already seeing signs of a slowdown in the economic growth. It’s definitely not expanding at the same pace that it has over the past two years and many economic experts are predicting a flattening in 2018, followed by a mild recession in 2019. As the New York Post makes clear Are we headed for another housing collapse? there are even signs that we are heading towards another housing collapse. Even the good news, such as the increase in GDP growth, does not come without significant disadvanThe Alexander Groupes like an increased risk of deflation US GDP Rise Deflationary Risk .

Senior City analyst Albert Edwards put it well when he said, writing in the Guardian, “If I were a Fed governor I would be pretty shocked/concerned/bemused at inflation developments this year.” Another sign that we could be in for a bumpy ride in the near future is the unemployment rate, which increased 0.1% in August 2017 to 4.4%. These are warning signs that should not be ignored by any business owner.

As you are obviously aware, this gear shift will see us lose the ideal conditions for business growth that we are currently seeing. It won’t be nearly as dramatic as the economic collapse we witnessed a decade ago, but the dominoes will start to fall. Fewer jobs mean lower wages, which means slower consumer spending and weaker businesses.

What You Should Do Now

The most important step you can take is to build awareness of your brand, expanding your customer base through marketing. This will give you a massive head start on your competitors when the times become leaner and the game becomes much more fierce. The businesses that survive the downturn will be those that have the largest client base to draw upon. When the pie gets smaller, you want to make sure you are getting a bigger slice.

If you are going to do this it is essential that you act now. As those who experienced Hurricane Harvey know, there is no point erecting your shutters halfway through a storm when the damage has already been done. Of course, the hurricane could be one of the factors that will contribute to the US economic downturn. Some experts are predicting the devastation caused by Hurricane Harvey will have a major impact on energy prices, which has obvious flow-on effects. Hurricane Harvey Energy Crisis Could Be Nightmare For U.S. Economy

The same principles of storm preparation apply to business. You should not wait until the middle of a downturn to upgrade your marketing efforts. By then you will have missed the starter’s gun and be choking on the dust of your competitors.

It’s an unfortunate trap that far too many of the small, privately owned businesses fall into. Right now they’re flush with cash, so further marketing seems like a waste of time and money. In many cases, they don’t even have enough staff to handle any extra business that marketing might attract. It’s a short-sighted strategy that leaves them entirely off balance when the market shifts and their opportunities begin to dry up. It may not happen for another year, or possibly even a year and a half, but it will definitely happen. No boom lasts forever.

So my main advice is that you need to make investments in your marketing right now. It takes a long time to ramp up a good marketing program. You certainly can’t-do it in 30 days and expect any results.

Similarly, it’s important to attract and retain the best possible employees you can. Look for ways to “lock in” your good employees with tools like deferred compensation, benefits, and phantom stock.

How The Alexander Group Can Help

Any sensible businessperson will see the value in strategic planning that includes an increased investment in marketing. However, it’s not always easy to put that into practice, particularly for small business owners who already feel overwhelmed by the amount of work that is required to optimize the sales process. The difficulties of developing a sustainable marketing strategy – including branding, market placement and online presence – can all be barriers to success. It doesn’t help that the rules of the game keep changing, with an ever-increasing range of marketing techniques available through social media and other avenues.

That’s where we can help. Our business coach services and peer boards will help you seize all the opportunities that are available during the good times and make your business strong enough to weather the bad times. We work with privately held business owners or principals, offering expert guidance that will pay dividends in the years to come. We can help you with your business strategic planning, from inception to expansion and diversification. Our expert team will help you identify the tools you need for sustainable long-term success, no matter which way the US economy may turn next.

5 Reasons Why “Bring Your Own Device” (BYOD) is a Very Bad Idea

Fri, 28 Jul 2017 16:48:38 GMT

The world has turned digital and phones and computers are now an integral aspect of any business. Any business coach or business consultant will emphasize the necessity for a company and its employees to be digitally connected. But how effective is it really?

Peer advisory groups and CEO groups are leading the charge in prompting businesses to be more accountable for their digital connection and communications and, in doing so, are increasing the effectiveness and security of day-to-day business operations. And it all starts with phones and computers that are being used for work purposes.

Many employees use their personal phones and computers for work purposes. They access and send emails remotely, they update calendars and they even use chat apps to talk to colleagues and stakeholders. Personal phones and business have been shown not to mix well for numerous reasons. Here’s a look at some of them…

Personal Phones Are Vulnerable to Hacking

Personal phones are personally managed which means it is up to the user to install anti-virus software and security measures (most don’t bother). Hackers often take advantage of security flaws and connect to a personal phone containing sensitive information like intellectual property, giving them access to company emails, chat conversations and even financial data.

Human Error

People make mistakes, it’s human nature. There are few people on a global scale who can’t lay claim to losing or breaking their phone or laptop at some point. The thing with missing phones and laptops that are used for business purposes is, the company data can go missing with it. If this sensitive information falls into the wrong hands, or even if a phone is being repaired by an illicit hacker, it could be detrimental to the company.

Reliability

Not all employees are ever equal, and not all employees use their phone for the same purposes. Some may use their phone solely for personal reasons and just have their work email installed, while others may have the latest secure and robust models. Don’t forget, some may not even be able to take photos or have a phone at all, so you can’t always rely on them to provide their own devices.

Work Flow

Inconsistency in digital tools in an organization not only compromises consistency, in some circumstances when the phones don’t sync, it can stop key messages from being received. This not only restricts resources, it also confuses processes, frustrates employees and can throw projects off task.

Employee Trust

Every organization is riddled with intellectual property and many don’t consider to take into account that each employee who has access to it has it sitting in their pocket, hiding in their phone. When an employee leaves an organization or even gets frustrated with them, they can use this intellectual property against the company. They may take it to a competitor or they may use the contacts for personal uses; either way, a company’s intellectual property is best kept safely and securely within the company.

The most efficient companies have streamlined their processes by providing their employees with company-issued phones and computers. This way, all intellectual property can be tracked, the employee can protect the data with the latest company-issued antivirus software, and the chances of an employee using the devices for illicit reasons are minimized.

Business Websites and ADA Compliance

Wed, 15 Mar 2017 18:58:56 GMT

This a guest blog from Tom Shipley at Cole-Dalton Marketing Services. Business Websites and ADA Compliance. Tom helps The Alexander Group and several of our clients with all of their marketing needs. Tom is also a board member of TAG Board 404.

Business Websites and ADA Compliance. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is federal law and mandates that all websites are easily navigable by people with visual, motor, cognitive and/or auditory disabilities.

Recently, the ADA has become something of a stumbling block for some businesses. You may have read about the legally blind man who sued Playboy Magazine for violation of the law. In certain cases, companies have been hit with threats of lawsuits from attorneys who focus on this new area of litigation. In fact, one of my clients recently received one such letter from a California attorney who represented a blind consumer. In it, the attorney stated the website didn’t pass the Website Accessibility Evaluation (WAVE) protocol and that, under the ADA, his client was entitled to a minimum of $4,000 in statutory damages.

Aside from the irony that when I looked into the details, the attorney’s website was far from compliant, it turns out that businesses should take ADA compliance seriously to avoid litigation in the first place. You may be thinking, “Well, I’m a small business owner so this doesn’t apply to me!” Unfortunately, that’s where you’re wrong. The law applies to every business website, regardless of company size.

Further, it’s important to check your business insurance policies. Employment Practices Liability and General Liability policies only cover the cost of your defense, not remedies made to the plaintiff.

Making your website ADA compliant can be a complicated task but ensuring that it is can be important to the success of your business. Why? Primarily because you want everyone who views your website to have a friendly user experience… and also because it’s the law.

Potential customers or clients navigate your site using diverse methods based on their specific needs. For example, someone who is legally blind might use a screen reader to hear details about your company’s products. Someone who has a motor disability might check out your business offerings by navigating with the tab key rather than a mouse or trackpad.

Consider your business’s website: Is it user-friendly for everyone? Could a site visitor fully understand your content without viewing it on a monitor, navigating it with a mouse, or hearing a video?

While it might seem like a difficult task to handle, making your website ADA compliant will provide a user-friendly experience to all of your prospects and customers. To explain more about the importance of not running afoul of the ADA, we’ve put together a short guide to help you be proactive about compliance.

Being Proactive about ADA Compliance

The ADA has two levels of compliance: Level A and Level AA. Level A items should be considered the barebones requirements to ensure compliance.

Level A ADA Compliance

Images have alternate text that can be read by screen reader software.
Recorded video content includes captions.
Video or audio-only content is accompanied by text transcript or description.
Links are provided to media players required to view content.
Headings are presented in logical order.
“b” and “i” tags are replaced with “strong” and “em.”
No empty links or heading tags.
Presentation does not rely solely on color.
Automatically played audio does not occur or can be stopped.
The keyboard can be used to navigate the site.
Keyboard focus is never stuck on one particular page element.
Time limits provide notifications to the user.
Automatically scrolling or blinking content can be stopped.
No strobe effects or rapidly flashing colors occur on the site.
“Skip navigation”” functionality allows keyboard users to quickly access content.
Page titles clearly and succinctly describe page content.
Buttons and links are clearly and logically named.
The language of each page is identified in code.
Elements receiving focus do not change content in a substantial way.
Invalid form input is identified to the user.
Forms have labels and legends that can be read by screen reader software.
No major validation errors.

Level AA Compliance

Live video or audio content includes captions.
Contrast ratio between text and page backgrounds is at least 4.5-to-1.
Text on pages can be resized to 200% while still maintaining form.
Images are not used where text can achieve the same purpose.
Pages on the site can be accessed in multiple ways.
Keyboard focus is visible and clear.
The language of content is identified in code with any language changes.
Menus and buttons are used consistently regardless of the user’s location in the site.
Users are given suggestions on how to solve input errors.
An error prevention technique is used whenever the user is entering sensitive data.
Underlined text that does not provide a link is removed.
Redundant links on the same page are eliminated or minimized.

If you’re concerned that your website isn’t ADA compliant, you can use one of the many free or very inexpensive tools available—such as WaTool for WordPress or UserWay —to scan your website. And if you find an ADA compliance issue, talk with your website expert to fix the problems.

Why Most Business Generational Transfers Fail and What You Can Do About It

Sun, 15 Jan 2017 22:55:02 GMT

Most Business Generational Transfers Fail. For as long as people have lived in communities and practiced trades, it has been the dream of mothers and fathers that their children take over the family business. Just as kings pass the crown to their progeny, so too do today’s business owners hope to bequeath their lot to their children rather than retiring and putting the job in the hands of a complete stranger. It is basic human nature to want this, but unfortunately it fails about 70 percent of the time (Williams and Presser, 2001).

So what are those 30 percent of families doing right that the rest of them are missing? Here at The Alexander Group, we have management consulting strategies for ensuring that business owners can see the fruits of their hard work stay in the family for generations, but that means overcoming some significant hurdles that have caused so many others to fail.

Why Most Generational Transfers Fail

There are a number of reasons why these businesses fail, but the following are a few of the most common:

Entitlement

If a second-generation or third-generation family member feels as though they are owed the business and the money that comes with it, they may not have the drive and motivation to keep building the business for growth. Sometimes offspring only recognize the fruits of their parents labor while not taking note of the labor part.

Indifference

Sometimes, parents will put their children into positions that they don’t actually want. Parents can want their children to takeover the business so badly that they don’t pay attention to what the son or daughter really wants to do with their life. If the next generation is not passionate about the business, then there is no way the business is going to flourish under their watch.

Lack of Resources

When the older generation retires, they sometimes can take out a lot of the equity in the business to ride off into the sunset, but if the business does not have adequate cash flow it will struggle to stay afloat through any sort of difficult times.

Lack of Knowledge

Put as simply as possible, sometimes the next generation just is not qualified to take over the positions their parents want them to take over. Without proper education, experience, and business acumen, how are they supposed to be successful?

What You Can Do About It

Despite all of this, there are some things that we can help with to guide family businesses through that tough generational transfer, including:

Gauging Commitment

One really important step a lot of families skip is gauging whether or not the next generation actually wants to take over the position intended for them. An impartial third party like an experienced business coach can uncover the gap between what the parents want to believe vs. what the true capabilities and motivation of the offspring.

When the kids truly don’t want to take over the business, they are often relieved to have the help of a business coach to help the parents understand the reality. Getting everyone on the same page helps the business transfer into the right hands and preserves the value of the business.

Ensuring Proper Training

Obviously, the next generation will need a proper level of education to be prepared to run a business. But they also get preparation for running the family business by leaving it for a time.

In order to learn, they should get several years of professional experience outside of the family business. Further, to be sure they are absolutely qualified and motivated, they should be measured for the job against potential employees that are not part of the family.

Considering Non-Family Mentors

Those non-family applicants should get real consideration, but even if the job really is meant for the family, consider adding non-family leadership mentors to stay in the business until the next generation is truly ready to lead.

It is not easy ensuring that generational business transfers go smoothly, but by following these tips and engaging an experienced business coach throughout the process, you could be among the 30 percent of family businesses that do make it to the next generation successfully.