Who Ya’ Gonna Call?

Your general manager just quit; you need emergency surgery; a fire has destroyed your inventory; your computer system has crashed; your wife has filed for divorce; the bank has called your line of credit; or any of a thousand other possible crisis has just slapped you in the face—you need help and you need it now! You might need only the reassurance of a phone call or you might need someone in your office for the next week. The Fremont Group is announcing the formation of their “911 Crisis Management.” Small business owners in need of emergency support of any kind are encouraged to call The Fremont Group at 303 338 9300 for and ask for Crisis Management or email us and put Crisis Management in the caption. Together we will immediately assess the situation and get you the help that you need.

Your emergency becomes our emergency. You will be pleased to know that for members of The Fremont Group, Crisis Management services do not carry emergency pricing. Members who use our emergency services are charged only our basic rates. Of course, for non-members there is a premium for rearranging our schedules, however, in a time of crisis, the focus should be on the amount “saved” as well as the amount invested. This benefit of membership can be the difference in your company’s survival.

The Fremont Group is a non-profit organization supported by donations and memberships. Memberships start at as little as $9.99 per month. For more information look to the Membership pages on the web site.

February 1st, 2012 | Category: Small Business Management Issues | Leave a comment

Business Boot Camp—Are You Ready?

Are you ready for 2012? Has the last year gone as you planned? Measure twice; cut once is an expression that applies just as aptly to your business as it does to construction. You may not have achieved all you thought you would in 2011 but don’t let a lack of preparation be the cause of a repeat in 2011. You can decide to do everything possible to change in 2012 or choose to just see what happens. Start off right

January and February Only (January is sold out)

In January and February The Fremont Group offers their “Business Boot Camp” You will be assigned a Success Partner who, in one week, will tear your business apart and lay out a plan for SUCCESS IN 2012. They are not “yes men” so be prepared. The Fremont Business Boot Camp is not a seminar—it is an intensive implementation package designed to implement change; not talk about it. If you are not committed to change you should not enlist.

Who is eligible:

Your company must have more than 5 employees and have been in business more than two years. (Call for separate camps for start-up and small firms.)

You must be a “working owner” who is open to change.

You may not have more than 100 employees.

What you will get:

  • Your entire company will become focused and “on the same page.”
  • Obstacles to achieving your results will be aired, addressed and the entire organization will be utilized to eliminate those obstacles.
  • Employee productivity will increase through “buy in” and proper use of accountability and incentives.
  • You will have a clear game plan that is designed to “win the game.” You will no longer be the football coach with a game plan that says, “if everything goes right we will only lose by a touchdown.”
  • What the bank wants to know and how to present it.
  • You will have a foundation for long-term success.
  • Your organization will have a new appreciation of your role as owner of the company.

How you will get it (Sample Agenda):[1]

Monday

Morning: Introduction to staff and tour facility. Meet with owners and key employees and distribute Minding My Own Business questionnaires. Gather financial information.

Afternoon: Identify your goals for 2012 and become familiar with your operations. Gather questionnaires and any additional information needed to complete a SWOT analysis of the company.

Evening: Success Partner completes financial analysis and analysis of the company and analysis of company morale and organizational issues.

Tuesday

Breakfast: Success Partner and Head of Accounting

Morning: Meet with owners to review their analysis of current financial position. Present Accounting 101 to owners and financial staff (if required). Establish company budget and KPI’s. Assign Head of Sales to prepare a summary of the company’s “Sales System” for presentation on Wednesday.

Afternoon: Review the findings from the Employee questionnaires and interviews with owners. Contrast those findings with the owner’s perceptions. Identify current methods of employee accountability and incentives and develop the framework for desired methods of employee accountability and incentives.

Evening: Owners take Success Partner and key personnel to dinner—informal discussion.

Wednesday

Breakfast: Success Partner and Head of Sales

Morning: Review with owners the presentation of the current “Sales System”

Review company goals and re-write them as required. Present SWOT analysis for discussion (Strengths; Weaknesses; Opportunities and Threats). Determine how these should be presented to the staff.

Afternoon: Company meeting. Present SWOT analysis. Review findings of the first two days. Solicit input from the organization. Conclude with the establishment of a management committee (companies with more than 10 employees) and their first meeting.

Evening: Success Partner completes first draft of Action Plan.

Thursday

Breakfast; Success Partner and Head of Operations.

Morning: Meet with Management Committee (or owner in companies with fewer than 10 employees) to identify the five greatest issues facing the company and potential solutions. Review with owner and head of sales critique of the “Sales System.”

Afternoon: Meet with owners to develop a plan to address those issues. Develop a complete Action Plan for 2010. Establish benchmarks for progress.

Evening: Success Partner prepares formal Action Plan for presentation.

Friday

Breakfast and Morning: Meeting with owners to review presentation of Action Plan to the company. Presentation of the Action Plan in full company meeting. Wrap up.

How to enlist:

Call The Fremont Group at (303) 338 9300 and tell them you are ready for Boot Camp. Registration Fee is $9995 plus $500 for non-local travel; $100 for local travel. The travel and $4,000 non-refundable deposit is required to hold a date; balance due at the first meeting. Preferred method of payment is PayPal on this site. Companies who are members receive their discount.

[1] The agenda assumes that you business has a person who is the head of accounting; head of sales; and head of operations. In smaller companies the owner may double as this person. Other “tweeks” in the agenda normally have to be made to accommodate the unique situations in each company.

January 24th, 2012 | Category: Small Business Management Issues | Leave a comment

The Fremont Group Blog

The Fremont Group is a non-profit, membership organization.  The most recent blog post is always visible to all visitors, however to search or read other posts you must register and sign in.  There is no fee for registration.  You will be contacted to inform you of the benefits that we offer.  NO OTHER USE is made of this information–it is not sold or distributed.  Registration gives you full access to the blog, however membership is required to receive full access to this site.  There are numerous benefits of membership and hope that you will become a supporting member of our organization.  It is through that support that we offer our educational and mentoring programs.

 

December 31st, 2011 | Category: Small Business Management Issues | Leave a comment

The Lost Art of Profit

Today’s small business environment has been polluted by the coronation of the “entrepreneur.” The “entrepreneur” is the business owner who takes their concept and through new age promotion has created a larger than life business that he then sells for millions. This is so wrong on so many levels and it does not apply to virtually anyone you will ever know—including yourself.

FACT: Most small businesses will never be sold for more than their asset value.

FACT: The rich IPO’s are concentrated in technology—if you aren’t a computer or internet wiz, or a biotech engineer forget it.

FACT: The vast majority of jobs in our country are not in sexy start-ups—they are in boring, old small businesses.

When our fathers started a business they started a business doing something that they understood. They understood plumbing, carpentry, farming, electrical—they understood how to make or service something. They started with no money and did the work themselves. They grew slowly taking the money that they made to support their family and to put back into the business. Earning a profit was not optional—if they didn’t make money they didn’t eat. They enlisted their family into the businesses—sometimes of pride and sometimes of necessity. Their off-spring learned the business and it became the father’s dream and objective to build the business so that it could be passed on to their children. Even if they were very successful they probably still leaned to live below their means. They knew that there was a business cycle and that they had to have a strong company with nominal debt so that they could survive the downturns that naturally occur. Although they lack the business tools that are now, in a more complicated world are essential, they learned to understand their cash flow and learned to control their money and operations so that a profit was produced. Without the aid of a computer they made a good living for their family.

But this wasn’t good enough for the 21st century owner. This was old-fashioned. Basic business practices be gone—we no longer have to wait for our riches, we can get them now. You don’t need to build a business over time—just create a model and sell it off! Profit doesn’t matter anymore—just drive sales (or internet hits). Unfortunately, for some this worked; for most it doesn’t. The rules haven’t really changed—we must still earn a profit for a business to work. But this lesson has been abandoned in favor of get rich quick schemes. Time to go back to the basics.

There are six responsibilities of the small business owner. First you must earn a minimum-mandatory profit. In a meeting with a small business owner in July of 2011, this person who I will not name argued this point! “I am an S Corp—we don’t want to make money!” Amazing. One of the obstacles that we face today is how accountants have convinced people to run their business by tax principles—to the point that they don’t even know what “profit” is. And for those who get past their tax accounting, they still don’t have a plan in place to produce their profit—they really don’t understand how a small business owner earns their money. They want to earn it from their job rather than from their business. They don’t understand the difference between profit and cash flow and they really don’t have financial control of their company.

The second responsibility of the owner is to create cost controls to assure the production of that profit and the third is to create an organizational structure of employees that is responsible for the enforcement of those cost controls. You have to have a financial plan designed to produce your desirable, pre-determined result—a budget. Duh. An owner without a budget won’t be an owner for long. Most owners do it intuitively—like the last generation—and therefore are doomed to owning a job. It is from your budget that accountability and incentives within your organizational structure are created. If you own a company you are delegating the responsibility for portions of your budget to your employees and then holding them accountable for it (and rewarding them for exceeding it). This cannot be done until the owner fulfills their first three responsibilities.

The fourth responsibility is to sell—internally and externally. You must sell to your customers and you must sell to your employees. Climbers, campers and quitters alike must be sold on the benefit of doing their job—producing the minimum, mandatory profit. And then—the fifth responsibility—you must keep what you make. Tax and risk management must be regularly addressed. As the old adage goes, “it’s not what you make it’s what you keep that matters.” Lastly you must have fun. Don’t underestimate this one. Most successful owners don’t believe that they go to work—they are having fun.

There is help available for small business owners are ready to “get back to basics” and re-focus on profit. For those who do not, some will survive on hope and luck; and even for those who do there is no guarantee but decide which road you would rather travel.

July 7th, 2011 | Tags: , | Category: Small Business Management Issues | Leave a comment

The Fremont Group Academy

The Fremont Group is proud to announce the launching of The Fremont Group Academy.  Through TFGA business owners can earn certificates in business management and acquire the skills required for success.  The courses are free to members.  Go to http://tfgacademy.prfessor.com/home and learn more.  We are currently enrolling for “Minding My Own Business”– a comprehensive review of the six responsibilities of a small business owner based upon the book of the same title.  This course is FREE to non-members for a limited time.

November 28th, 2011 | Tags: , , , , | Category: Small Business Management Issues, The Fremont Group | Leave a comment

Winter Webinar Schedule

Check out the Winter Webinar Schedule!  As always, webinars are FREE to members.  Check out this and the other benefits of membership.

January 4th, 2012 | Category: Small Business Management Issues | Leave a comment
 
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