Accountants Are You a Business Advisor or Bean Counter?

by Dr Greg Chapman, MBA

[This article was originally published in National Accountant Magazine]

Almost every small business owner has an accountant but how many actually use their accountant as the primary source of (non-tax) business advice? When an owner first starts their business, they are usually very dependent on their accountant for advice. They are seen as knowledgeable, independent – someone they can trust. They help them set-up the business, suggest the right structure and who can help them do the many things a new business owner must do.

However, this dependence does not last.

Google vs Facebook

by Dr Greg Chapman, MBA

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With the advent of Google+ evidently Google sees Facebook as its biggest threat, but is it? Certainly Yahoo, Bing and MSN are almost nowhere to be seen in the English speaking world (although Yahoo is big in Japan and Badu in China).

While Facebook has now overtaken Google in terms of Page Visits in the US, in terms of revenue it is still less than 10% of Google’s. One key reason for this is that advertising on Facebook is more problematic.
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Dr Greg Chapman is the Director of Empower Business Solutions and The Australian Business Coaching Club and is Australia's Leading Advisor on Emerging Businesses and provides Coaching and Consulting advice to Australian Small Business Owners in Marketing & Business Strategies Planning & Systems. He is also the author of The Five Pillars of Guaranteed Business Success and Price: How You Can Charge More Without Losing Sales.

Married to the Business - Priorities

by Dr Greg Chapman, MBA

Married to the Business is a series of posts about a couple who together run a building business. Mike is the builder and Lyn runs the office. (See earlier posts here.)

Mike is always busy, with clients calling him all the time about changes, things that need to be fixed or just progress updates. Inevitably this means that what he plans to do each day and each week get delayed. Mike will often finish a day tired, but feeling he has not achieved anything.

The first thing their new business advisor did was to review their Profit and Loss statement, which at first glance showed a healthy turnover, but on closer inspection revealed hidden cross subsidies in their business.

Builders – Survive the Building Downturn

                                 

With the regular reports of a decline in the building industry builders are starting to feel the pinch and clients are becoming more demanding. This has forced many builders to cut their margins just to keep their team together and stay busy.

If things were not tough enough, the reputation of the industry is also being negatively affected due to a few unscrupulous builders, and the patchwork enforcement of claims by the regulator. This makes clients even more fussy about who they deal with.

Ad of the Month - Do you want Technology with your Pizza?

by Dr Greg Chapman, MBA

My son who has long since left the comfort of the nest, often recommends ads for these posts, and I have in the past used some of the ads he recommends. This is one that I think says a lot about him- he loves both technology and pizza! (I don’t know where he gets it from – it must be from his mother.)

Managing a Star Employee with an Attitude

by Dr Greg Chapman, MBA

In any business there are 4 types of employees. If you understand these types and their key attributes, how you manage them becomes much easier.