The Private Business Owner

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Will The USPS Changes Impact Your Business?

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usps-mailboxes

It’s not news that the United States Postal Service is losing money. At a recent press conference, a USPS spokesperson claimed the organization loses were approximately $23 million per day. As a result, the USPS just announced it will be closing 252 of its 461 mail processing centers beginning early next year. This is a basic network cost optimization maneuver and nothing more.

However, the result is that the USPS logistical network will be permanently changed and it will force the delay of first-class mail. Regardless of how you feel about USPS and its approaches to dealing with their revenue shortfall, its changes are reality, and they will impact your business. In this post, I’ll evaluate the problem and provide some alternatives. [Read more…]

Being Realistic With The 20-Day End Of Year Calendar

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The Wednesday before Thanksgiving I had an owner of a small business call me about a project he wanted done. Though an immediate response was provided to them, the real follow-up didn’t take place until the Monday after Thanksgiving. The business owner’s thought Monday was, “It’s been six days since I contacted you!”

Let’s start from there to talk about the reality of getting things done during the holiday season. [Read more…]

Getting Things Done – Back To The Basics

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Due to the economy, businesses are being asked to do “more with less.” Not only do we as business owners have more to do these days but we also operate in more complex worlds. Still, sticking to the basics is the key to time management and getting things done. In this article, I’m going to share my version of “the basics.”

There are three variables that apply to getting something done: the task(s) at hand,  the time available,  and the resources required to do it. In the spirit of providing helpful guidance, I’ll put the winning formula up front. If you want to get things done, use a fixed timeframe, optimize your resources, and reduce the tasks at hand in order to succeed at getting things done.

[Read more…]

Why Small Businesses Should Fear Data Breaches As Much as Big Companies [Infographic]

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Being the owner of a hosting company, I see thousands of data breach attempts on a weekly basis. The attempts are crafty, pointed, and have one purpose–breaching our servers. Even though we’ve invested exorbitant amounts of time and money to protect our infrastructure, it still makes us nervous.

You too should be nervous, as the target of a potential data breach is small to medium business infrastructure as much as it is that of a large corporation.

[Read more…]

The Golden Rule of Payables

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money-cash-flowDuring times of economic uncertainty, payables and receivables become a core focus of any privately owned business. The reason is simple: They govern cash flow.

Instead of trying to provide you with a mathematical or system-based approach to optimizing your cash flow, I wanted to take a step back and have a realistic discussion about your business mindset when it comes to accounts payable. I’ve called it the “Golden Rule of Payables” because we really do want others to treat us well when it comes to our receivables. If we start by doing our part in paying our bills, good things can happen. [Read more…]