I consult with dozens of CEO’s from start-up’s to 20 years old small businesses, many of them have the same problems.

1. How do I get access to capital? (click here to review)
2. What do my financials really mean to me? (click here to review)
3. How do I position myself in the market?
4. How do I grow my revenue?

One could say that all businesses have more than one of these same problems. True, but small businesses make up the vast majority of the US economy and their issues tend to carry a huge weight on our daily lives. According to surveys 99% of US employers have less than 500 employees. Most of my established businesses have less than 20 employees and generate less than $2,000,000 in annual revenue. As a SCORE Mentor and Chapter Board Member I help my clients deal with these issues every week.

In this article I’ll just discuss Problem #3 – Market Positioning.

Whether businesses are in start-up mode or established and trying to re-invent themselves they typically have a challenge with Market Positioning. What kind of business do I want to be? What will be my “brand”, how will I be different? Almost like asking a college freshman, what do you want to be when you graduate?

Usually by the time we get to the market positioning stage of a consulting engagement, the CEO/owner generally knows the product and service that will be offered.

Here are some common discussion points that are typical problems:

1. My business will be the cheaper/lower price provider, since I’m just getting started I can afford this as my market entry tool. I hear this most often, it is usually the worst strategy available. If you are going to launch a business as the low selling price competitor you are going to fail. You just can’t play the pricing game long enough to beat the “low cost” providers. You are going to sell a commodity price less than Amazon and Walmart, really?
2. My business will provide a wide range of products and services, not very well defined. This too is a poor strategy. Competing with who? Most small businesses don’t have a lot of “bandwidth” in skills. Doing a little bit of everything, but nothing really well just won’t be successful.
3. My business just wants a small piece of the large pie. This could be viable as a strategy but you must find a key differentiator or do a market study that show an unfulfilled need.

Here is what you can do, become unique, specialize, research:

1. Instead of being the low selling price provider, become a “highest value” provider in a niche. Consumers will pay a premium for something that is both unique and an overall value.
2. Do something highly focused, really, really well that other don’t do as well. Customers will pay a fair price for a better experience. Well defined boutiques can do well.
3. Do your research, many franchisors do this quite well. For example, they have experience that shows when a new exit is built on a major expressway that a gas station and restaurant will generate good income and higher margins than the same businesses located 5 miles further down the road, in a less traveled area. If there is a growing population area, with a high traffic communing road, a dry cleaner might be a good business. Maybe the next available dry cleaners is 5-10 miles away. If you offer dry cleaning, add on alterations and drop-off for shoe repairs.

The last component of Market Positioning, might actually come before any of the above items come into play.

What kind of business do you want to be when you grow up?

1. Build a Payroll Substitute In this business the owner is really looking to replace his previous pay check and enjoy a “life style” business. The owner doesn’t want to grow, manage and take the risk of a shooting start business, He/she would trade high growth for more flexible time, more company paid benefits, “business trip” vacations etc. Maybe even bring the kids and relatives into work there.
2. Build a “feel good”, Socially Responsible These businesses are fundamentally a way to give back to the community. Doing good is just as important as making a lot of money. Many people don’t understand that a not-for-profit business can have administrative fees, and these can include substantial salaries for the owner. There are various guidelines involved, but these are not necessarily volunteer organizations.
3. Build a Substantial Growth business, maybe even with a “sell the business” as an end goal. In this model, the owner is willing to take calculated risks, invest more money and bring in a higher level of talent right from the start. This CEO needs better business and financial plans along with the desire to work a huge number of hours to get the job done. Many time this business is the founders 2^nd or 3^rd business and he/she knows exactly what to do.
4. Just Buy a Business. Keep in mind that the fastest path to achieving your goals might just be to buy an existing business. Sometimes the existing owner will be willing to work out a payment system instead of all up-front cash. There could be tax advantages.

The bottom line is that it is important that CEO’s of small businesses understand the Market Positioning and type of business they want to start or transform into. In the last article of this series I’ll cover the final topic, How to grow my Revenue.

You can research our Florida SCORE chapter here: https://pascohernando.score.org/

Most investors know how to invest in stocks, this is buying “Equity” in a company. You own a “piece” of the company. Few investors, other than institutions, know that you can also invest in a company’s debt. Investing in debt is much more secure than equity. Investing in a company’s debt is through buying its “bonds”. Most corporate bonds are sold in $1,000 increments in the Bond Market, a very unfriendly place as compared to buying stock on the stock exchange.  There is however another alternative, they are called Baby Bonds.

Exchange Traded Debt issues are known as ‘Baby Bonds‘. They are a safe and conservative investment that can pay you 5-8% interest. They are called Baby Bonds because most of the issues have a face value (par) of $25.00/share and generally are callable at $25.00 plus accrued interest 5 years from the date of issue.

Summary

1. Baby Bonds are notes and bonds that trade on the stock exchanges just like regular stocks, instead of the bond market like regular Corporate Bonds. They have “ticker symbols” for easy look-up vs. CUSIP #’ that are unique to buying bonds in the Bonds Market.
2. Most Baby Bonds are issued and callable at $25/share vs. $1,000/share for most Corporate Bonds
3. Baby Bonds usually pay interest quarterly vs. semi-annually for Corporate Bonds
4. Most exchange traded debt issues are ‘junior’ to the company’s secured debt and senior to preferred and common shares dividends. If there is a disruption in dividends Baby Bonds get paid before regular and preferred stock dividends.
5. Baby Bonds have lower risk than common stock or preferred stock in the same company.
6. Most preferred stocks are offered by banks, insurers, utilities and real estate companies. However Baby Bonds extend your choices to companies like Comcast, and Ford.
7. A good share of the exchange traded debt issues are investment grade issues. This makes these issues a safer and more conservative investment by those that like preferred shares.
8. As usual with bond investments, the issues pay you interest, which means that all quarterly payments are taxed as ordinary income rates, versus a “qualified” payment taxed at lower capital gains rates.
9. A few Baby Bonds have a “survivor’s option” that may allow your beneficiaries to cash the shares in at par in the event of your death (example: IKJ from Bank of America).
10. Some investors will like the Baby Bonds issues by BDC’s, Business Development Companies, These companies are required to maintain a 2 to 1 asset coverage ratio (determines a company’s ability to cover debt obligations with its assets after all liabilities have been satisfied). Furthermore no BDC has ever defaulted on a bond obligation.
11. When buying any low volume stock, you must use a limit order and just wait for the sale to take place.

Here is an example:

Hercules Capital (HTGC), is a BSD, you can buy their stock today at $12.58/share and get a 10.50% yield. While 10.5% is a very nice yield, the stock like all other BDC’s is volatile. However, the same company has a series of Baby Bonds, one of them is HTGX. Its IPO date was 4/2012 at $25, it is a 7% yield, due 4/2019, and callable as early as 4/2015.

Here is a chart that shows the difference between buying the “Equity” as in HTGC stock or the “Debt” HTGZ Baby Bond. Note the big difference in volatility. The Baby Bond is a very “dull” investment, it just pays 7% interest each quarter.

Hercules Capital (HTGC) Stock vs Hercules (HTGZ) Baby Bond

Here is an excellent resource to find Exchange Traded Debt

http://www.quantumonline.com/, Go to Income Tables —  Exchange Traded Debt

Also check out Dividend Yield Hunter; http://www.dividendyieldhunter.com/

Articles can be found in http://seekingalpha.com/

Here is a sample list of Baby Bonds

Summary:

1. Market (S&P) Futures were up on the open, market would open strong.
2. Gold (GLD) and Gold Miners (GDX) have both been volatile on high volume lately.
3. The best trades are from 9:45AM to 11:30 AM, always looking for the 10 AM reversal.
4. Use a “Candle” daily chart with 1 minute – 5 Minute timing.
5. Used 50 and 200 Day EMA, watched S&P Futures Market and GLD on another screen

The Trade:
Bought 1,000 shares at $30.40, Sold at $30.65, profit $250 total time about 2 hours.

Initial Stop Loss set at $30.33 (loss of $70), Initial Exit order placed at $30.80 (gain of $400). Moved Stop Loss to Break Even after $.10 move, this changed the potential loss to $0. My initial trade had a potential for a $70 loss or a $400 gain, acceptable level of risk.

Tips:

1. Develop a trading plan and stick to it 100% of the time
2. Don’t get greedy
3. Always set stop loss exit trades on every trade.
4. Only trade between 9:45 AM and 11 AM
5. Make or loose and walk away after 11AM.

I consult with dozens of CEO’s from start-up’s to 20 years old small businesses, many of them have the same problems.

1. How do I get access to capital? (click here to review)
2. What do my financials really mean to me?
3. How do I position myself in the market?
4. How do I grow my revenue?

One could say that all businesses have more than one of these same problems. True, but small businesses make up the vast majority of the US economy and their issues tend to carry a huge weight on our daily lives. According to surveys 99% of US employers have less than 500 employees. Most of my established businesses have less than 20 employees and generate less than $2,000,000 in annual revenue. As a SCORE Mentor and Chapter Board Member I help my clients deal with these issues every week.

In this article I’ll just discuss Problem #2 – Understanding Financials.

Small business CEO’s are best served by using financial management software right from the very start, for example QuickBooks. By using this type of software either by an employee or through an outside accounting firm, the CEO automatically gets important financial reports, the company’s “Financials”. The first step in “Understanding Financials” is to actually have access to them.

The issue I stress is that a CEO doesn’t need to become a “CPA”, however understanding financials, helps; a) spot trends, b) manage more effectively, and c) grow the business. The focus is to understand enough to analyze and take action. A great deal of “actionable” information can be gained by strategizing how your financial information is initially set-up.

The Income Statement
Understanding the Income Statement or Profit & Loss statement (P&L), is probably the 2^nd most important report, after Cash Flow and Cash Forecast reports. I encourage CEO’s to start their business using Accrual Basis accounting vs. Cash Basis. Although the IRS allows small businesses to choose a method, starting with accrual or “modified cash” shows a much better view of a business’s performance. Besides, using something like QuickBooks makes this easy.

The very top of the P&L is Revenue and Cost of Goods (COGS). I suggest the segregating of revenue as much as possible and its associated costs of goods where possible. For example, in a services business track revenue and costs by various types of services, and then further separate out all product sales. Therefore when running reports you can easily see, at least, gross profit by type of service(s) and product(s). The ability to accurately determine costs that is unique to revenue vs. general business overhead is quite important. You want to potentially include directly related costs to “Cost of Goods”, vs. Expenses.

I tell my CEO’s the “best” kind of revenue is “reoccurring”, sell or contract once, enjoy it monthly. When possible find ways to provide on-going, auto renewing, contracted services. In a former business about 65% of my total revenue was “reoccurring”, enough to cover all business expenses except sales and marketing. We’ll talk more about this in a future article on “positioning a business”.

The income statement is somewhat meaningless, unless you also have a budget to compare to. Each line item should have a predetermined budget amount. The budget is normally done annually and the monthly portion is shown on monthly financials, similar with Year to Date (YTD). Comparison to budget, is “actionable” information, why are we over or under, what can we do about it.

The bottom half of the P&L is Expenses. The goal in every business is to continually manage and lower expenses as a percentage of revenue. A dollar saved in expenses is worth more than an extra dollar of revenue. The biggest single expense category in most businesses is payroll costs (salaries, taxes, insurance etc.). As business grow they need to add employees, managing this expense is the single biggest lever available to a CEO. Here’s a tip, unless you are in a really fast growth business, do not “let expenses chase revenue”.

Balance Sheet
For all practical purposes, CEO’s need to initially understand only a few items on the Balance Sheet (B/S). A Balance Sheet merely shows Assets, Liabilities and Paid In Capital (Owner Equity). Three items are most critical on a B/S: Cash – Asset, Accounts Receivables (A/R) – Asset and Accounts Payable (A/P) – Liability. Cash is exactly what is in your checking or other business accounts at the end of the accounting period. A/R is the total amount owed by customers, and A/P is money you owe vendors for products or services they have already provided billed or unbilled (accrued costs). Keep in mind that whereas cash is easy to understand, A/R and A/P need further analysis, that’s why they are “aged” on a separate report. The longer out on an aging report the A/R and A/P is, the more trouble you are in. Unless you have very unique business requirements, A/R should be kept as current as possible. If you are carrying accounts more than 30-60 days you have issues. In my past business I changed my terms of sale and specified ACH Debit as my standard method of payment, over 80% of my billings were paid in the month billed. One would look at my AR month end report and think we were in trouble, not so, it was all turned to cash.

That are the two biggest factors that affect AR? First, how you “train” your clients. If you allow them to pay in 60 – 90 days they will take advantage of you. If you call them 1 day after the due date they will get the message. Secondly, happy customers are much more likely to pay on-time. You can’t “make them happy”, but you can treat them really well, they’ll probably decide on their own to be happy.

Cash Flow Forecast
You notice that I’m not referencing a Statement of Cash Flow, but a forecast here. Yes, a cash flow statement is a very important tool, but it is “yesterday’s newspaper” by the time your read the report, it is too late to take action. For small company CEO’s, more important is your forecast for future cash requirements, usually in a spreadsheet format. You can easily build the cash forecast from both the statement of cash flow and your budget. It is a whole lot more comfortable for a CEO to have 3-4 months of cash on hand than to continually worry about making payroll.

The bottom line is that it is important that CEO’s of small businesses understand the key elements of their financials. Getting consulting services from SCORE or a business advisor may help you in your efforts. Once a CEO has a sufficient level of financial understanding he/she can focus on other key areas of the business. In future articles I’ll cover the remaining 2 Problems shown above.

You can research our Florida SCORE chapter here: https://pascohernando.score.org/