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As the clouds parted and the beautiful Texas sky opened up, I watched nearly half of my students graduate from Texas Lutheran University on Saturday evening. Never one to pass an opportunity to give an opinion, I shared some final thoughts with my graduates. Well…..you screwed up….you graduated. Now you have to deal with the “real world.” Remember, I warned you. However, before you go my sincerest congratulations and a few last words of questionable [...]

As a senior operating executive I have been leading companies through transitions for 20 plus years.Sometimes it’s because they have hit a major bump in the business road. A sudden drop in sales resulted in a lack of cash for instance brought on a crisis. But for more companies it was the fact they couldn’t transition past the middle market obstacles that Doug Tatum in his best selling book so aptly described, as the place [...]

You may never have thought the CFO a has sales role to play. I think they do and it gets proved to me again and again. I’m about to present a Marketing for Growth workshop. When you get beyond the basics of marketing techniques, it’s all about the numbers. That’s what I will be talking about at my session to get owners thinking about more than FaceBook and Twitter or blog posts. Sales efforts with no [...]

In one of our last blog posts we provided a checklist of questions and answers that you should consider when searching for and leasing industrial space.  In this post we want to talk a little more about finding the right location in Austin, Tx. In Austin there are a few small pockets of industrial and warehouse space here and there however the majority of it is located in North Central, Northeast, and Southeast Austin.  See [...]

This article is Part 1 of a 2 part series focusing on selling your business. It takes significant planning and preparation to successfully exit a business.  Understanding the strategy behind selling your business will help you make decisions concerning your business both today and when you sell it. Here are several questions you need to consider. What are your financial needs?  The first step is figuring out what you need to get out of your [...]

Dave Sather’s Money Matters It happened so fast; unless you were staring right at it you never saw it. However, one of our clients, Ted, had been watching. He called our office in a matter of minutes trying to determine if he was imagining things—or, had the market truly dropped 140 points and then recovered all in a matter of 7 minutes? Ted’s observation was accurate. As we discussed the odd trading behavior, news stories about [...]

Dave Sather’s Money Matters It doesn’t take long to see that Marvin Rush is a man with a plan. The founder and chairman of Rush Enterprises actually has many plans. Knowing this, I thought it would be beneficial for my Texas Lutheran University students to spend time with the Texas native. One of the first things Rush shared was his five major goals. He wanted to own a GM dealership, a Cadillac dealership, a bank, [...]

Sales projections are always wrong for six reasons. There are questions you can ask that will make them better and more reliable. Below are the reasons, questions, and how to use the answers you get. Sales projections are wrong because… 1. Sales projections are not supposed to be right. They’re a snapshot of what to expect each month based on relevant criteria and are defensible. Projections accepted without question are useless. Questions to ask: Why [...]

In today’s marketplace, keeping up with inventory is an absolute must for wholesale, distribution and manufacturing companies, and QuickBooks (“QB”), even its most basic Pro version, can help. Adjusting Inventory and reporting When you use QuickBooks to enter your inventory items onto Sales Orders, Sales Receipts, or Invoices, it will automatically deduct those items from your inventory. Inventory Reports can show you at a glance how many items are on hand, on Sales Orders, on [...]

Corporations and LLCs are required to keep their minute books up to date.  On an on-going basis you need to document important business decisions.  Oftentimes, this can be handled by a unanimous written consent signed by the business owners rather than holding an actual meeting.  1.  Preserve limited liability status.  Owners, stockholders, directors and officers of LLCs and corporations are generally shielded from personal liability for the debts of these businesses as long as they [...]