Most business owners don't know the health of the business because they are not maintaining and monitoring the financial statements in a timely manner. It is hard to 'do it yourself'' because most of the time is spent on running the business. So it is better to have a good accounting professional helping the business. It is also important to find an accounting professional you can trust and it happens if the values are aligned. Shamal also suggested that it is important to hire well, both in-house and outsourced.  ..read more

Joanthan Pop spoke about how from having a Music and Education major in college, he became a wealth management advisor. He sees that many of the successful business owners  need help when it comes to retention of key employees and tax optimization strategies. He mentioned that if a business owner is looking for a good financial advisor, it is important to make sure the advisor acts as a fiduciary, is in the same space (for example specializes in working with businesses and not just focusing on investments) and is a good connector who has a solid partner network because ..read more

Deborah Finestone spoke about her journey from being a journalist to starting her social media marketing company. She talked about her group training program, which is to help small business owners and non-profits who are not in a position to hire an expensive marketing agency. She says that quite often such organizations assign the social media marketing role to a young employee thinking that he or she has been active on personal social media and is comfortable with the various platforms. Being an active social media user doesn't mean that the person is also good at marketing strategies ..read more

JJ spoke about retirement solutions available to small business owners. He said that the California state mandate requires businesses with five or more employees to offer a retirement plan, else they will be fined. However, in spite of being a cost in terms of time and/or money, it also allows businesses to attract talent because offering good benefits to employees shows that they care about the employees. Also, there is a Federal credit available for the first three years to compensate for the cost incurred in setting up a new retirement plan. JJ suggests that there are many options ..read more

COBRA compliance: Yvonne described the COBRA compliance requirements and also the best practices for the employers. Do you have 20+ employees with group health plans? If yes, then Yvonne mentioned that there are federal and state penalties for non-compliance. Beyond the fines, non-compliance can lead to civil penalties that may make your company liable for medical payments, legal fees, and more. She suggests that the best time to discuss implementation of COBRA plan is at the time of setting up a group health plan because waiting till a qualifying event happens would result in panic ..read more

Are you struggling to keep up with the growth that is taking place in your company? Are you closing your books within 7 days or are you really behind with your accounting? Brit Summerill made some very good suggestions regarding best accounting practices and he recommends small businesses to operate with an exit in mind ..read more

Dr. Shree Nanguneri explains his method to remove or reduce the 3 Ds - defects, delays and deviations from organizations. His team uses the socratic approach to not only fix the problems of his clients, but also train them how to handle issues on their own. They convert defects into delights, delays into 'just in time' and deviations into dollars. Dr. Nanguneri says that one of his keys to success has been having the right mentors ..read more

Hiring the best talent is challenging, especially in industries where supply is less than the demand. Jason suggested that an employer needs to feed the hiring funnel and then have an efficient process to screen, interview and hire the right candidates. An employer needs to generate interest among job seekers, validate the opening, convince the candidates that the company is a great place to work and then close it ..read more

A ..read more

A ..read more