Every business ends up short of cash from time to time. But there’s short of cash, and then there’s SHORT OF CASH. In the first case, you’re going to have to wait a few months to buy that new production machine. In the second, you need to figure out some way of covering payroll on Friday. No one needs, or likes that kind of “short.” DOWNLOAD THE CASH FLOW SOLUTIONS DO’S AND DONT’S So, if you are so short of cash that you can’t cover payroll, what can you do to jump that gap, to allow you to get over the hump? Here are twelve things you can do to take the pressure off: If you’re borrowing from ..read more

As we’ve worked increasingly with law firms over the past few years, there are a number of commonalities that we’ve found with many of the firms that we’ve met and have worked with.  Lawyers are really good at taking care of their clients.  That’s the bread and butter of their business and biz dev, and it’s understandable.  But what’s missing is the “home care” that’s needed to make sure that their firm is running efficiently and profitably.  It’s taking care of those things that resolves problems and issues before they become major stumbling blocks.  Here are a few of ..read more

All companies face the challenge of attracting and retaining good talent and appealing to an employee population that is diverse in what it wants and needs. Taking a thoughtful approach to total compensation ensures that money and resources will be well-spent, well-received, externally competitive, and internally equitable. Below are some key guideposts for building a total rewards approach that addresses the following key elements: Total Rewards Philosophy and Strategy Base Salary Incentives Health and Welfare Benefits Retirement Benefits Training and Development Culture Let’s take a minute ..read more

Effective January 1, 2024, the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) requires approximately 32 million existing corporations, limited liability companies, and other business entities formed or registered to do business in the United States, as well as many of the approximately 5 million such entities newly formed each year, to electronically file a beneficial ownership information report (BOI Report) with the US Department of Treasury’s Financial Crime Enforcement Network (FinCEN). Most businesses will be required to file an initial BOI Report. The CTA and the disclosure obligations it imposes upon ..read more

Every business needs to be careful about the procedures that they put in place to keep control over and protect the assets of the company. That may involve management of cash, payables and receivables, payroll, their computer system, employee access and more.  And in most businesses, there is one person at the top that takes full responsibility for everything that happens within the business. Law Firms can be different. Many Law Firms operate as a group of entrepreneurs that are part of a loosely managed organization providing each lawyer with an umbrella of administrative services and ba ..read more

View Part One of this article here Breaking up the ownership of a company can have dire consequences for the company as well as for the business owners. There are things that you can do during the formation of your business partnership that will set the proper, non-combative approach to a change in ownership, but not everyone has the foresight to deal with those things. So, if your business partnership is contentious, and it puts your business at risk, you need to find a way of exiting working with your partner, so you can put it back together, here are some things that you should know to make ..read more

It seems that Illinois is constantly making changes to the way that business owners must work with their employees. The state has become very “employee friendly” and it seems that they annually pass new laws and regulations that business owners need to consider in their ongoing policies. If you don’t implement these changes, there are often fines and penalties coming your way. But the most important thing is that you don’t need to totally revamp how you work with your employees to stay ahead of these regulations. In order to reach compliance in the simplest way possible, it takes more than jus ..read more

If you’re going to embark on a new project, it’s a good idea to figure out all of the steps that will get you on the right path. It really doesn’t matter if it’s a DIY project around the house or baking a batch of chocolate chip cookies. There are steps involved in doing it the right way. Starting a business is no different. Sometimes, just having a checklist to allow you to see all the elements that are involved can provide some clarity about what needs to be done, and what resources you need to get started. This list should provide you with an understanding of some of the many pieces that yo ..read more

When business partners work together, they do so because they get along great. Maybe they jointly developed the concept for their business. Perhaps they each owned different companies and discovered that their businesses were so compatible that they merged their organizations together. Possibly they were part of the same industry and felt that becoming vertically integrated would provide them with better control over the production and distribution of their products. There are lots of reasons why people go into business with each other. And when they decide that they can no longer work togethe ..read more

Decision making is always fraught with fears and challenges. But when you’re looking at the growth of your company and want to figure out the ideal time to make those scalability decisions, there’s always the challenge between doing things too early and doing them too late. Delay in making a decision may well keep you from spending money before you need to, but it also could result in your losing an opportunity. What are the things that you can delay acting on? What are the critical decisions that you need to make to assure that you are positioned for growth? How do you keep from making mistak ..read more