Last Update: Thursday November 20, 2008

The lifeblood of your business -- your daily financials

"...have everyone track their numbers."

Portland (OR), Pasadena (CA) and Vernon (TX): Keeping track of business... it is the job of everyone in a business and the best way for everyone to do it is to read, grasp and act on those monthly financial statements. If you share that information and give everyone bottom line accountability through the key ratios, your business will rally. You'll see the impact day by day (even hour by hour).

In this episode you meet three small business owners. Two have gotten control of their financials and one is working to do better.

Unfortunately, most owners do not work closely with their financial data and when they do, it is often too late. With all the features built into today's accounting software programs (be sure you have your latest upgrades), any owner should have the numbers they need to effectively run their business in one place at the push of a button.

Go to all the Key Ideas and Video for this episode...

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Number crunching. We all have to do it.

First, what key critical ratios do you track most closely? If you are not sure just what a key critical ratio is, please, please, please take time with every segment of this episode with Jim Schell.

If you do not track your numbers, you may unwittingly be heading for trouble. That's tough talk, but your numbers are the heartbeat, the blood pressure, and cholesterol count of your business. You need to know how well the synapses are firing between you and your customers, your employees, suppliers... it is all there in the numbers.

An entrepreneur always has four choices:

	Homepage: Meet Robert Orenstein; his 100,000+ friends all know him as BobO. They received a monthly catalog from him for over ten years; they consider him to be a friend. All of them have ordered from him! » Use Numbers to Make Decisions » Yet, here are seven more Key Ideas and videos Key Question: How do I start a business?
	Homepage: Meet Frank Jao from Vietnam and now Huntington Beach, California. He is a developer and founder of Bridgecreek. He advises: » Learn the language of banking » Invest, don't spend » All the key ideas and videos of this episode Key Question: What is a path for growth?
	Homepage. Buy the business formally from the family if there is no succession plan. Here Cindy McEntee of Mo's Chowder in New port, Oregon says: » Implement cost accounting » Put the kids through the school of hard knocks » Yet, here are seven more Key Ideas and videos Key Question: Can my business be my legacy?
	There are many ways to sell your business. Here are four stories to review: 1) eight pointed ways to exit your business with money for your sweat equity and intangibles (all the clips), 2) sell employee stock options (all the clips), 3) sell to someone like you (all the clips), and 4) sell to a publicly-traded company (all the clips). Learn eight possible ways to exit your business! Key Question: Who is the best buyer? Next episode of the show... Prior episode of the show...