{"id":68,"date":"2011-05-23T03:18:19","date_gmt":"2011-05-23T03:18:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chiefcookandbottlewasher.biz\/?p=68"},"modified":"2011-06-02T23:26:19","modified_gmt":"2011-06-03T03:26:19","slug":"a-small-business-owners-four-best-friends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chiefcookandbottlewasher.biz\/?p=68","title":{"rendered":"A Small Business Owner’s Four Best Friends"},"content":{"rendered":"

Most of what I learned about Small Business came after starting\u00a0my own.\u00a0 One of the best pieces of advice, however, came from my mother.\u00a0 <\/strong>She was never a Small Business owner, per se<\/em>, but she had several rental properties over the years which involved regular business transactions.\u00a0 We call my mom Naych (which rhymes with the letter “H”), as in Mother Nature.\u00a0(My father thinks this is incredibly disrespectful.)\u00a0 Since I was a teenager, Naych\u00a0has drilled this into me: “There are three people with whom\u00a0you need to\u00a0develop a strong relationship: your banker, your lawyer, and your accountant.”\u00a0 My experience as a Small Business owner has added\u00a0insurance agent to the list.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

Most Small Businesses need these professionals to get started, but they can also be powerful\u00a0assets and invaluable resources for the duration of your\u00a0Small Business adventure\u00a0if you cultivate these relationships early on.\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0Before<\/em> you launch your Small Business, or right now if you already have one, you need to have each of these professionals on your side as a ‘go to’ person when needed.\u00a0 Read on to learn\u00a0why:<\/strong><\/p>\n

1.\u00a0 Know your banker:\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>(Naych would add\u00a0make sure the tellers know your name, as well.)\u00a0 Hopefully your Small Business will make\u00a0money, but you may need money to get it started.\u00a0 Knowing an actual person at the bank can help with that.\u00a0 A good commercial lender can give you guidance in preparing your Business Plan and loan application in order to make your business\u00a0a more attractive loan candidate.\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0 Calculated growth in your business, such as buying a building or more equipment, may also involve\u00a0bank financing.\u00a0\u00a0The unexpected financial calamity\u00a0occurs as well.\u00a0\u00a0When we moved our business about five years ago, our largest client entered our new address into their accounts payable system incorrectly.\u00a0 It took them six months<\/em>\u00a0to correct it.\u00a0 In the meantime, we kept providing\u00a0services on behalf of this client,\u00a0but were not getting paid\u00a0anything.\u00a0 Zilch.\u00a0 Nada.\u00a0 Overnight we lost our biggest source of revenue.\u00a0 In a few months our cash reserves were getting lower and lower, and finally we were at the point that we could not make payroll.\u00a0 After one phone call\u00a0enough funds were deposited into our account\u00a0to cover us.\u00a0\u00a0If the commercial\u00a0account manager wasn’t someone I had fostered a relationship with,\u00a0it would not have been that easy, or even possible, to get a loan so fast.\u00a0\u00a0But he knew us, knew our character, and knew our business.<\/strong>\u00a0 Two weeks later our client got us back on line, and the bank had its money back.\u00a0\u00a0 That was an extreme episode, but having a personal connection at our bank has helped us in less dramatic situations as well, such as to get better rates on loans and lower account fees.\u00a0 Following Naych’s other advice, knowing the tellers makes\u00a0it\u00a0easy to gain access to the many little services you will need in the course of doing business, like securing notary signatures and wiring funds.\u00a0 Having a solid relationship with your bank can help you weather the unexpected and get the best deals for your business.\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0 Know your attorney:<\/strong>\u00a0 Lawyers get a bad rap, and a lot of business people associate them with someone you need if you get sued.\u00a0 There are many other reasons to have an attorney on your speed dial, however.\u00a0 In a nutshell, your attorney’s job is to watch your back.\u00a0\u00a0He looks out for your<\/em> best interests.\u00a0 No one else does that <\/strong>– not your customers, your employees, your suppliers, or your competition.\u00a0\u00a0Bottle Washer and I\u00a0have used our attorney to\u00a0handle the purchase of\u00a0property for our business, review a lease, draw up employment contracts, form a corporation,\u00a0and handle customer collections, all of which are standard business activities.\u00a0 However,\u00a0we have also called upon him for advice when we suspected\u00a0a former employee\u00a0of wrongdoing and when a patron turned into a stalker.\u00a0 We have found that our attorney is a trusted, wise counselor\u00a0when we encounter a situation that we aren’t sure how to handle.<\/strong><\/p>\n

3.\u00a0 Know your Accountant:<\/strong>\u00a0 Of course, accountants do the taxes.\u00a0 A good accountant, however, is a vital resource for the operation of your Small Business.\u00a0 Bottle Washer and I bounce almost every\u00a0major financial move off our accountant before making a final decision.\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0Bottle Washer tends to get emotionally vested in new ideas; I tend to be skeptical.\u00a0 Our accountant is a neutral third party who can look at the objective financial data and provide a balanced opinion.\u00a0\u00a0Usually we\u00a0follow his advice.\u00a0 Sometimes we don’t.\u00a0 Most often he reinforces the decision we were already leaning toward, but gives us more confidence in it.\u00a0 I will also shoot him an occasional email\u00a0with a quick question: “Am I understanding the new payroll tax rules correctly?”\u00a0\u00a0“Does this new legislation mean what I think it does?”\u00a0 Just last week I called him to ask the depreciated value of a piece of equipment we are donating to a non-profit organization.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Because we have a continuous dialogue with him, he always gets back to me immediately<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0 Know your Insurance Agent:<\/strong>\u00a0 All businesses need\u00a0general business liability insurance.\u00a0 If you have employees you will also need\u00a0workers compensation insurance.\u00a0 Professionals, depending upon the field, may need professional liability insurance.\u00a0\u00a0Most insurance agents can provide the first two\u00a0policies at fairly standard prices.\u00a0 Professional\u00a0organizations in your field can usually recommend a specialty agency to handle the professional liability insurance.\u00a0 A great<\/em>\u00a0insurance agent can get answers to\u00a0questions that may come up during the course of your doing business, such as “If I add this product or service, will I still be covered?”\u00a0 If you want to be able to react to market changes quickly and allow your business to be flexible, a good agent will be able to find a plan that suits your new needs in a timely manner. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Establishing and fostering relationships with these four professionals is essential.\u00a0 They should be considered ongoing partners in your business, not individuals that you consult at the launch of your business and then never again.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

What outside help do you consider essential to running your business?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Most of what I learned about Small Business came after starting\u00a0my own.\u00a0 One of the best pieces of advice, however, came from my mother.\u00a0 She was never a Small Business owner, per se, but she had several rental properties over … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[30,28,29,31,8,32,20],"class_list":["post-68","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business-operations","tag-accountant-for-small-business","tag-attorney-for-small-business","tag-banker-for-small-business","tag-insurance-agent-for-small-business","tag-small-business","tag-small-business-owners-best-friends","tag-small-business-ownership"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chiefcookandbottlewasher.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chiefcookandbottlewasher.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chiefcookandbottlewasher.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chiefcookandbottlewasher.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chiefcookandbottlewasher.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=68"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/chiefcookandbottlewasher.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":118,"href":"https:\/\/chiefcookandbottlewasher.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68\/revisions\/118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chiefcookandbottlewasher.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=68"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chiefcookandbottlewasher.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=68"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chiefcookandbottlewasher.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=68"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}