Help! My Cashflow is Killing Me

#AccountingAnswers:  3 tips to even out the ups and downs

Fixing cashflow problems is like dealing with the pain of a toothache.

1. Strong painkillers give immediate but temporary relief.
2. A filling or root canal can remove the problem of pain.
3. Improvement in Oral Health with prevent further decay.

In this week’s #AccountingAnswers you’ll get 3 practical step to relieve your business of the pain of cashflow, once and for all.

1. Painkiller – Chase and collect all the money that is owed to you.  Send invoices or statements out of Xero immediately or put debtor chasing on autopilot with Debtor Daddy.
2. Get a filling – Fill the hole and never let it form again by transitioning to charging for your projects upfront and collecting 100% or 50% of the payment upfront.
3. Improve Oral Health – Your throbbing pain is business feedback that you have excessive expenses.  It’s time to cut the fat, get back on the tools & embrace the frugality.  Do this and you’ll prevent further profit decay.

 

 

Each week Inspire CA brings you #AccountingAnswers.  Responses to the most important or most frequent Accounting questions we get from our community.  If you’ve got a burning question you want #AccountingAnswers to then email us on hello@inspireca.com.

 

 

Build an Inspiring Book List with Harvee Pene (Partner & Business Advisor at Inspire CA) as he undertakes his 2016 Challenge:  Read (implement & review) a Book a Week.

Book Review: UNPROFESSIONAL by Jack Delosa – How a 26 year old university dropout became a self-made millionaire.

Happy pre-Australia Day people’s. Turns out this book a week challenge isn’t so hard, once you get your momentum up!

The key is in implementation, rather than passive reading. So here’s my review and an implementation point for this week. Jack Delosa Unprofessional.

It’s a brilliant ‘all rounder’ business book covering the key areas of business, Sales, Marketing, Vision, People, Online Strategies etc.

There’s a line in the book that I’ve never been able to forget which was (something along the lines of…) “most businesses are a solution looking for a problem”.

As an ideas guy …

(I think most Business owners are “Ideas People”, we all had the great idea to go into business for ourselves, dreaming of greater freedom and the ability to do things our way)

… I’ve been guilty of falling in love with my own products / services and trying to get everyone to do the same.

Jack teaches a great methodology of testing and iterating to ensure you achieve product to market fit, or put simply to ensure your product solves a need.

We applied this methodology 2 weeks ago in our own business and have since trimmed 3 service offerings from our menu enabling us to focus on the key 1 or 2 services that are both the most profitable and the most impactful for our clients. It’s also meant we could massively trim down our marketing activities pointing to these services – essentially saving us one Full Time person this year.

As the owner of an Accounting firm (but not an accountant) my favourite chapter that I recommend you read is Chap 7, “Know Your Numbers” as I know how many business owners struggle with this piece of their business pie and he explains the 3 things and the 3 people every business needs, so simply.
10 / 10 Jack. Looking forward to the next one, which I see is only a few months away ‪#‎unwritten‬ ‪#‎reinventtomorrow‬

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Book Review: BUILD TO SELL by John Warrillow – Create a business that can thrive without you

Build an Inspiring Book List with Harvee Pene (Partner & Business Advisor at Inspire CA) as he undertakes his 2016 Challenge:  Read (implement & review) a Book a Week.

1st day back in 2016 and it was highly appropriate to ‘just’ finish this awesome book on the boat ride into the office this morning.

This was the first book in my ‘a book a week in 2016 challenge’ (which you’ll receive weekly reviews of here).

Built to Sell caught my attention as I’m 6 months into my ownership of Inspire and so far so great.

But to be honest I have been torn with what to do in the future…

Build and sell? Or build and hold (aka sit on a cash cow)?

Chances are you too aren’t sure about what to do with your business either?

Regardless of build and sell or build and hold, this is a brilliant read about how to make your business more saleable for the future and in so doing, way more profitable (and enjoyable) for the present!

I’ll take that.

Chances are you (like me) went into business for greater freedom.

But along the way we get caught up (or you could even say lost) in the many hats we have to wear. Sales, Marketing, HR, Cleaner, Bookkeeper etc not including our actual profession!

I’ll personally be implementing this book to help keep me on track with the end goal…

… A business that has massive impact on the world but isn’t solely dependant on me.

Which is a great prospect seeing as I’ve just come down off of a month holiday in NZ!

To me, extended holiday with friends and family is high on my priority list.

Built to sell – A brilliant and easy read (told as a very relatable story instead of the typical business ‘textbook’ style).

Highly recommended.

Ps I’m curious, is your plan to Build and Sell or something else?

Build an Inspiring Book List with Harvee Pene (Partner & Business Advisor at Inspire CA) as he undertakes his 2016 Challenge:  Read (implement & review) a Book a Week.

The Virgin Way: How to listen, learn, laugh and lead

This is one of the only books that have left me laughing out loud, usually in a cafe with everyone looking, because of his amazing stories of both huge success and huge failure in business.

Every reader will take something different out of this book, but regardless of the implementations you’ll all walk away with a massive amount of motivation to make your dream business and life a reality.

This is week 3 or so in my Book a week goal for 2016. What have you enjoyed reading most so far??

p.s. There was so much gold in the Virgin Way, I thought I’d type out my notes of top takeaways.

Enjoy!

1 – Follow your dreams and just do it. You will live a much better life if you just do it and pursue your passions.

People who have the courage to work on the things they love are often the ones who enjoy life the most.

They are also the ones who dare to take a risk and chase their dreams.

2 – Dare to make a positive difference and do some good.

If you aren’t making a positive difference to people’s lives then you shouldn’t be in business.

Companies have a responsibility to make a difference in the world. for their customers. for their staff. Everyone.

The amazing part is that doing good is amazing for business so what are you waiting for?

3 – Believe in your ideas and be the best. A passionate belief in your business and personal objectives can make all the difference between success and failure.

If you aren’t proud of what you are doing, why should anyone else be?

Don’t get stuck blindly pursuing growth and profits. Become the best at what you do and the rest will follow.

4 – Have fun and look after your team. Fun is the most important and underrated ingredients in any successful venture. If you’re not having fun then it’s probably time to call it quits and try something else

If your team members are engaged, having fun and genuinely care about other people they will enjoy they’ll enjoy their work more and do a better job, it’s really that simple.

Find people who look for the best in others lavish more praise than criticism and love what they do

5 – Don’t give up.

On any venture I’ve ever done, there have been times when the easy thing to do would have been to throw in the towel and walk away.

By simply sticking with it, brushing yourself down and trying again you’ll be amazed with what you can achieve.

6 – Take lots of notes and take on heaps of new challenges. Listen more and talk less.

Take notes, lots of notes. If you don’t take down ideas, your own and others they could be gone in the blink of an eye. You’ll be amazed at the challenges a listening culture can overcome.

Delegate and spend more time with your family. The art of delegation is the skill that any entrepreneur must master. Hire your weaknesses if you find people that can take on tasks you are not good at, it frees you up to plan for the future and spending time with your famil.y Whihc is really the most important thing in the world.

7 – Turn off that laptop or iPhone and get your ASS out there.

Rather than sitting in front of your screen all your day, trying switching it all off and going out into the world. Start with your own backyard then go out into the world. Life isn’t a dress rehearsal. With so many fascinating people to meet and so many exciting adventures to embark upon and rewarding challenges to undertake, there’s no time to lose.

8 – Communicate collaborate and communicate some more

Keep it simple stupid and above all else keep it coming. Mushrooms might grow when they’re left in the dark and fed a diet of dung but it doesn’t work with people. Remember Steve jobs and the piazza of people, build open work environments that invite your people to mingle and share their visions.

9 – Do what you love and have a couch in the kitchen

As long as you are surrounded by the people you love and are doing what you love it really doesn’t matter where you are . When we are on necker we tend to spend most of our time in the kitchen. Add a bedroom and a partner you love, and you really don’t need to much more.

Book Review: REWORK – Change the way you work forever

A better, faster, easier way to succeed in business

Build an Inspiring Book List with Harvee Pene (Partner & Business Advisor at Inspire CA) as he undertakes his 2016 Challenge:  Read (implement & review) a Book a Week.

Straight up, people around me would say I’m a pretty impatient man.  So this is my kind of book – and yours too if you haven’t already given up reading.

No chapter is any longer than 3 pages.

You don’t have to read in order.

Every idea is typically a flip on what you have been taught.

For example –

ASAP is poison

UNDERDO the competition

Meetings are toxic

Fire the workaholics / Emulate drug dealers

Pick a fight

Planning is guessing

Inspiration is perishable

A great quick read.

My biggest takeaway – Stop throwing time at problems Harvee!  You’re smarter than that!

I’ve worked in environments where ‘chucking all-nighters’ was not only permitted but some team members would use it as a badge of honour.

I’m guilty of doing a second shift, from 8 pm – 11pm.  That’s weeknights.

And I’d do a sneaky 3 or 4 hour stint on sat and / or sun to ‘get a head start on the week’.

It’s stupid.  There’s family, personal or social priorities that are being sacrificed by these quick 3 hour sessions.

Reminds me of Tim Ferriss in the 4 Hour Work Week when we said “doing something unimportant well, doesn’t make it important’.

Time to get more effective and be ‘ok’ with leaving for the day with a To Do list.  There’ll always be something to do…

 

Have a good week ahead!  Let’s make it great!

Book Review: CREATIVITY INC: Overcoming the unseen forces that stand in the way of true inspiration.

Build an Inspiring Book List with Harvee Pene (Partner & Business Advisor at Inspire CA) as he undertakes his 2016 Challenge:  Read (implement & review) a Book a Week.

This is a brilliant story about the commercial and creative forces that came together to create Pixar.

You can download Creativity Inc here.

Ironically Steve Jobs only played a small role.

My biggest take away: the creative producers of movie like Toy Story would be willing to have their ideas torn to shreds and put back together again, in the interest of coming up with the final, cohesive and emotive story lines that we’ve come to love.

This is the function of a mastermind group.

Join one.

Get your ideas out there.

Let them be improved by the group.

Get accountability from your group.

You are the creative producer of your own life … make it a freaking blockbuster!

p.s. if you’re looking to surround yourself with fellow business owners who are going to hold you accountable to a higher level, start collaborating with our community here.

Book Review: CREATIVITY INC: Overcoming the unseen forces that stand in the way of true inspiration

Build an Inspiring Book List with Harvee Pene (Partner & Business Advisor at Inspire CA) as he undertakes his 2016 Challenge:  Read (implement & review) a Book a Week.

This is a brilliant story about the commercial and creative forces that came together to create Pixar.

You can download Creativity Inc here.

Ironically Steve Jobs only played a small role.

My biggest take away: the creative producers of movie like Toy Story would be willing to have their ideas torn to shreds and put back together again, in the interest of coming up with the final, cohesive and emotive story lines that we’ve come to love.

This is the function of a mastermind group.

Join one.

Get your ideas out there.

Let them be improved by the group.

Get accountability from your group.

You are the creative producer of your own life … make it a freaking blockbuster!

p.s. if you’re looking to surround yourself with fellow business owners who are going to hold you accountable to a higher level, start collaborating with our community here.

Hummingbird House: Supporting a Hospice, for Children

We recently attended a charity for Hummingbird House and while putting on my black tie, inquisitive 7 year old nephew asked “Uncle, what is Hummingbird House?”

I said “Do you know what a Hospice is?”

He said “Yeah it’s a sad place where old people go before they die.”

To which I said “Well Hummingbird House is a Hospice for little children, your age, who are very sick.”

As with all new or complex ideas, he took a while to register and you could see his young mind ticking.

With Family being the most important thing in the world to us, it didn’t take much thinking to realize that we needed to do all we could to help Hummingbird House.

Hummingbird House, Queensland’s only children’s hospice, will operate as an 8 bed, 24/7 medical facility, providing physician and nursing support and pain and symptom management. They will offer scheduled family breaks and emergency respite care as key features of their services.

Here are some photo’s from a recent Inspire tour of Hummingbird House 

  

So it’s our great pleasure to let you know that every Inspiring Business Event we host raises much needed funds for this cause.

Through our January – Inspiring Business Event we raised almost $500 for Hummingbird House.

In February at our #LoversOfBusiness event we aim to raise $1,500.  We’d love your support and to see you there on February 25th at 6:30 pm.

What is an Inspiring Business Event?

The Business journey can at times be lonely.  Your friends, family and employees might not ‘get’ why you put so much blood sweat and tears into your business.

But other business owners understand you.

That’s why each month we bring the local small business community together for an evening of fun, food & craft beers.

It’s called an Inspiring Business Event and are a great chance to meet other Business owners on the same entrepreneurial journey as you, and find out what’s working for them.

The recent Inspiring Business Event was a huge hit with one attendee saying “this is the best meet up in Brisbane!” – here’s the Happy Snaps.

[Photo Diary] Inspiring Business Event: Meet & Greet with Top Entrepreneurs of Brisbane.

A visual memoir of the Australia Day themed Inspiring Business Event on Jan 22, 2016

Welcome to our first Inspiring Business event of 2016!

What started as a small group of like minded business owners getting together for after work drinks and a chat has turned into a Meet Up Movement with almost 500 Business owners having attended one of our Inspirational events!

Congratulations, and thanks for your support.

The purpose of this group is to INSPIRE and be INSPIRED by the compelling stories of the business owners you run shoulders with here.

My name is Harvee and I’m one of the owners of Inspire CA.  We Help Young Families Use Their Small Business to Achieve Big Goals.

So if you know a business who needs their tax sorted or some proactive business advice, feel free to speak to any of the Inspire Team.

The event theme was Celebrating Great Australian Businesses.

With Australia Day coming up next week it’s a chance to acknowledge how great it is to do business in this land of opportunity.

I know from personal experience, it was my own family who turned up to Aaustralia back in 1988.  We had no money.  No education.  No family.  No hope.  We worked multiple jobs.  We started multiple businesses.  Now I can say we enjoy a freedom and lifestyle most in the world would only dream of.  Thanks largely to Australia, the land of Opportunity.

I’m grateful now to be teaching other families how to build a better business through Inspire CA.

Before we get into our Guest Speaker, I’d like to thank our 3 sponsors for the Meet Up and tell you a very sad but very happy story.

Thanks to Jayden from Discovery Finance, he’s responsible for all the drinks.  Go say thanks.

Thanks to Nathan from Donovan Lawyers, if you need a family lawyer he’s your guy.  He’s covered the lamb pies and Australia Pavlova.

Thanks to Jake from Next Gen Visuals who is doing the filming for our event, and could be doing regular videos for your business.  Our YouTube library is going off thanks to his expertise.

Now thanks to our sponsors, food and drinks are on the house!

 

       

So let’s get to our speaker.  I’m a big fan of this guy.  I first came across his work when I saw a page called Entrepreneurs of Brisbane which regularly shared great stories about successful business owners in Brisbane.  If you haven’t seen it, follow them on FB.

His movement has about 4.000 followers, he’s interviewed many of the great businesses that prove Australia is the land of opportunity.

He’s here for 10 mins to inspire us with both his personal journey in business and to share lessons for the many interviews he has done.

Join me in welcoming Daniel Jacob Rayner.

 

To have a sticky beak (classic australian saying isn’t it?) at the full event photo album, head on over to our Inspire CA Facebook page.

Introducing Inspiring Business Event – February

 

[Photo Diary] Inspiring Business Event: Meet & Greet with Top Entrepreneurs of Brisbane

A visual memoir of the Australia Day themed Inspiring Business Event on Jan 22, 2016

 

Welcome to our first Inspiring Business event of 2016!

What started as a small group of like minded business owners getting together for after work drinks and a chat has turned into a Meet Up Movement with almost 500 Business owners having attended one of our Inspirational events!

Congratulations, and thanks for your support.

The purpose of this group is to INSPIRE and be INSPIRED by the compelling stories of the business owners you run shoulders with here.

My name is Harvee and I’m one of the owners of Inspire CA.  We Help Young Families Use Their Small Business to Achieve Big Goals.

So if you know a business who needs their tax sorted or some proactive business advice, feel free to speak to any of the Inspire Team.

The event theme was Celebrating Great Australian Businesses.

With Australia Day coming up next week it’s a chance to acknowledge how great it is to do business in this land of opportunity.

I know from personal experience, it was my own family who turned up to Aaustralia back in 1988.  We had no money.  No education.  No family.  No hope.  We worked multiple jobs.  We started multiple businesses.  Now I can say we enjoy a freedom and lifestyle most in the world would only dream of.  Thanks largely to Australia, the land of Opportunity.

I’m grateful now to be teaching other families how to build a better business through Inspire CA.

Before we get into our Guest Speaker, I’d like to thank our 3 sponsors for the Meet Up and tell you a very sad but very happy story.

Thanks to Jayden from Discovery Finance, he’s responsible for all the drinks.  Go say thanks.

Thanks to Nathan from Donovan Lawyers, if you need a family lawyer he’s your guy.  He’s covered the lamb pies and Australia Pavlova.

Thanks to Jake from Next Gen Visuals who is doing the filming for our event, and could be doing regular videos for your business.  Our YouTube library is going off thanks to his expertise.

Now thanks to our sponsors, food and drinks are on the house!

 

       

So let’s get to our speaker.  I’m a big fan of this guy.  I first came across his work when I saw a page called Entrepreneurs of Brisbane which regularly shared great stories about successful business owners in Brisbane.  If you haven’t seen it, follow them on FB.

His movement has about 4.000 followers, he’s interviewed many of the great businesses that prove Australia is the land of opportunity.

He’s here for 10 mins to inspire us with both his personal journey in business and to share lessons for the many interviews he has done.

Join me in welcoming Daniel Jacob Rayner.

 

 

 

To have a sticky beak (classic australian saying isn’t it?) at the full event photo album, head on over to our Inspire CA Facebook page.

Introducing Inspiring Business Event – February