This month, I’ve been concentrating on more intangibles within the ideas of busines success, but before you get toooo critical of me, let me explain my logic: 2020 has changed a lot of things for a lot of people. If you’re still trying to do “business as usual” with an unchanged model – maybe the same one you opened up with in 2020, then your days are numbered, and that’s the point of this email.  It’s to point out that the companies and individuals who have thrived in this year...

One of the least common things for many people who get a regular paycheck is a tax bill.  Oh, sure, you might have to pay a few hundred dollars once every few years on April 15th, but for the most part, the United States Tax Code is designed to allow you, as a wage earner, to pay throughout the year and not have any unpleasant surprises on Tax Day.  Now, that changed a few years ago, and it wasn’t fun for a lot of people, but, to the credit of the government, they did tell us exactly...

First of all, I completely understand how the holidays and the end of a year like this one can lead to boatloads of stress and overwhelm, but just stick with me for a few minutes… 2021 is coming, and the rules, even though they seem to be in flux in a lot of places, still apply.  Right now, you’ve got to make time to ensure that things like any charitable contributions, retirement accounts, and maybe even basic bookkeeping are all sorted out and caught up.  Plenty of times,...

It’s hard to believe that the longest year ever is finally coming to a close, but thank heavens, it is.  No matter how you’ve been impacted, this month, I want you to really drill down and think about the challenges you’ve already overcome and how you might set yourself up for success I the future.  For a lot of employees, they’re primary retirement savings platform is the 401(k) and I see a LOT of folks who aren’t necessarily being as smart as they could with those funds.  For...

We’re in the holiday season, and I hope it’s finding you well! As you know, though, my team and I meet and discuss all manner of things, both personal and professional, with clients simply in the course of doing business, and more and more often, as 2020 grinds on, the biggest challenges we’re seeing is the hardest to deal with:  fatigue. A “two week” lockdown to flatten the curve has become a seemingly never-ending process, and even the most astute business owners I work with are...

It’s easy to get lost in the holiday spirit – and with the year we’ve all had, many of us are just glad that 2020 is nearly over.  Nevertheless, now is the time to make sure you’ve done all you can to maximize (or minimize) a few things for your savings and your tax bill. First things first… Charitable giving.  This is the time of year when charities “seem” more visible, but most donations must be dated before December 31st to count on your 2020 taxes.  It’s also not a...

So each week this month, I’ve been sharing with you one component of the overall process you can easily use to not only offload work from you personally, but, more importantly, how you can use the systems you’re creating to foster improvements within your business from “average” people.  Now, first things first – there is nothing wrong with “above average people.” Many of us like to think we are one, and many of our people are highly skilled.  On the other hand, the “better”...

It’s no secret that in these emails, month after month, I give out what could be termed “financial advice.”  Now, that’s not strictly the case, because I’m not officially a financial advisor, but the team and I get a load of calls from clients asking me who I recommend. I guard those names closely. In fact, I’d never simply put out a list of who to call, because it would be extremely unprofessional.  On the other hand, I can share some advice on what to look for if you think...

Well, the media never lets up, but, like I mentioned earlier this month, we’re not going to lose focus on the news right now.  There will be plenty of time for that soon, so don’t worry about the end of the fiscal year just yet.  I’d like to keep working this week on the topic this month – handling and creating systems for change in your company.  In the last two weeks, we’ve discussed the simple fact of creating management systems to save you time, and then, testing and...

Recently, it seems we’ve had a great many calls about retirement and those folks all seem to ask the same things when it comes to their planning.  Last week, you might remember I shared some ideas about retirement saving and the idea of budgeting in your annual savings just like you might budget in your car payment each month.  This week, though, I want to share some ideas about a few things that many people don’t realize will actually cost MORE once you retire… Travel – It might...