Summer plans should include plan review
What a great month June can be: Warm weather. Weddings. Picnics. A trip to Grandma's. The beach. The pool. Summer band concerts. Lunch with your outside accountant and banker (separately, of course).
Wait! How did those business lunches get into our plans?
The fact is that midyear - and we're almost there - is a good time to take a look at how your business is doing; to make certain you're on track with the expectations you had at the beginning of the year; to see whether adjustments should be made to your 2018 plan while there's still time to make them.
For example:
Have a sit-down chat with your accountant, preferably at a quiet restaurant where you can discuss your business' financials so far; how to fix anything that might need fixing; look at income and expenses yet to come.
Cash flow, real and projected, always is a good topic. So are taxes, yours and the company's.
If yours is a one-person consulting business, a phone conversation might suffice. Regardless, if your accountant hasn't already called or emailed to set a date, take the initiative and make the scheduling call yourself.
Take a similar approach with your banker; that discussion will be especially important if you're thinking expansion: Additional space. Additional staff. A merger or acquisition. Sales and competitive trends.
If the banker doesn't raise the subject of SBA loans, you should. Assuming your bank makes them, SBA loans today typically are less of a hassle than they once were, and some loans - the SBA 504 loan, for example - can make qualifying new equipment and real estate purchases easier to handle.
Have the same type of discussion with your marketing team - internal or outside. Do you need to push harder on a certain market segment? Maybe adjust prices or terms? What is your team doing to bring people to your website, especially important if yours is an e-commerce site?
Actually, you might want to begin your midyear review by getting your management team together - both before and after your discussions with outside advisers. The first discussion will be the in-house review of how the year is going and what's ahead. Next will be the reality check, what you've learned after meeting with your accountant, banker and other advisers.
Think about an out-of-the-office meeting with your team and advisers. It's costlier, but getting your key people together has benefits as well. Follow-up with a special catered buffet luncheon for the rest of your staff - the worker bees who likely deserve a pat on the back. You and the management team should do the serving.
Take in a ballgame. From the Kane County Cougars in Geneva to the new Chicago Dogs in Rosemont, minor league baseball is popular, lower cost and typically less of a transportation hassle than a trek to Wrigley Field or Guaranteed Rate Field - though without quite the cachet of watching the Cubs or White Sox.
Soccer might be the preferred outing.
• © 2018 Kendall Communications Inc. Follow Jim Kendall on LinkedIn and Twitter. Write him at Jim@kendallcom.com. Read Jim's Business Owners' Blog at www.kendallcom.com.