Business Growth Mastery's Weblog » support business growth

SME Entrepreneurs – all effort, little impact?

businessgrowthmastery — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 20:20:20 +0000

Having read Luke Johnson FT review of “The Illusions of Entrepreneurship” by Scott A Shane, I was left wondering why we all bother…

The premise of the book is that

the entrepreneurs who matter economically are the select few who start innovative, super-successful firms. These tend to be the larger, well-capitalised projects planned by professional teams, not sole operators. All the other small new businesses created every year are pretty irrelevant in terms of job creation and value added. So, if you are not working on the new Microsoft or Google, then give up – you are not going to amount to much!

I find this mentality amazingly frustrating. It simply ignores the fact that micro-enterprises account for over 95% of all businesses and employ over 50% of the working population.

Yes, I’m sure that we would all like to create the next google, or at least generate the type of wealth that google has created for its founders, but being realistic, by applying a simple blueprint for business success,

we can create significant wealth, massive employment opportunities and add value to the economy.Yes, being an SME entrepreneur is hard but I believe that the impact that we have is massive and long may it continue.

5 strategies to improve your cashflow

businessgrowthmastery — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 19:55:39 +0000

One of the biggest challenges that businesses of all sizes face, is maintaining a healthy cashflow.Although I said that businesses of all sizes face this challenge, the ones that feel this challenge the most are typically SMEs.

It can be more difficult for smaller businesses to manage cashflow as they are usually dealing with smaller amounts and ensuring that sufficient money is available to pay suppliers and salaries can put a major strain on even the most successful business. This strain is often felt the most by the owner manager!

Many businesses focus on increasing their sales and profits and often fall into the trap of forgetting about cashflow. If you are making lots of sales and profits, then there will surely be plenty of cash available in the business, right?

Unfortunately, no, it isn’t right!

One of the main reasons businesses fail is poor cashflow. A business can survive for a long time with making a loss as long as they have sufficient cash, but they can’t survive without cash even if they are making good profits.
If you are not sure why cash and profit can be so different, please get some support

BGM Mentor Services

can provide you with professional FD level support that will help you with this and many other challenges faced by growth businesses.Ever heard the phrase – Cash is King?

When it comes to running a business, there isn’t much more closer to the truth. Effective cash management is vital to ensure that your business can survive and thrive.

So how can you manage and improve your cashflow? Here are my top 5 tips to help you along the way….

Is it too late to plan your exit?

businessgrowthmastery — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 19:55:11 +0000

This article could have been titled “What’s going to need to happen to let me maximise the value of my business?

The simple answer to succession planning is that it is never too early to start to plan. You have probably heard the phrase – “Failure to Plan is a Plan of Failure” – this is never closer to the truth than it is as far as succession planning is concerned.

In all businesses, large and small, the way that they prepare the business for a change in leadership can have a huge impact on the future.

In larger businesses, the management team should be constantly looking to groom the next generation and the scope to do so is greater with more opportunities for mentoring, training and job rotation.

However, in smaller businesses, the risk is even greater and the potential to …

18% Capital Gains Tax – a hit or miss for the UK entrepreneur?

businessgrowthmastery — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 19:55:03 +0000

The UK Chancellor announced recently that the rate of Capital Gains Tax will increase by 80% in April 2008.

After years of so called encouragement to enterprise, although with all of the additional red tape and stealth taxes, I’ve never been sure about the underlying motives, the new Chancellor announced that he is ’simplifying’ the Capital Gains Tax rules!

Put simply, this creates a set 18% rate across the board and does away with the taper relief system where business assets held for over 2 years would attract a CGT rate of just 10%.

So, is this simply another tax raising scheme for the Government? On the face of it, I believe that it is!

Especially for honest business entrepreneurs who are looking to build long term returns. A business owner who can sell his/her business before April 2008 will pay only 10p in the £, as long as they have owned the business for over 2 years. From April onwards, they will pay 18p in the pound!

But are there any winners?