Take the lead as CFO
It is okay to delegate and gain help in this specialized area, just don’t abdicate. Review your financial statements with your office manager regularly and insist on having all your questions answered. Use common sense on spending.

Quick Books is a good accounting tool
For the average business owner Quick Books fills the need and is universally accepted. It is easy to use, easy to navigate, and provides enough audit trail and reporting detail to make good decisions. Corrections are easy so there is little chance of getting mired in mis-coding (in other words, you can’t mess it up). Throw away the spreadsheet tracking and do the bookkeeping right.

Use multiple banks
Your credit line can be the life-blood of the company. If your primary bank’s underwriter is having a bad day or takes his/her job too seriously, credit denied! There has to be an alternative so deal with multiple banks with a credit line in each. At Edoc, all deposits go to one bank and disbursements from another, we simply transfer funds to the disbursing institution as needed. Consider keeping your open line of credit as high as possible for emergencies. Increase the line after every good year of operations before it is needed. It is much harder to get when the funds are required. Dealing with only one bank can be dangerous!

Select the right Office Manager
Your CPA is likely very good a taxes and special projects on your behalf but we business owners need ongoing attention. We need an individual “watching our back” so to speak. Hire an office manager with a strong fiduciary responsibility and good business sense. A good office manager will be a self-starter guarding the money and always seeking savings. This person can pay for his/herself in many ways. One word of caution: Even the most trustworthy office managers need separation of duties for security; do your own deposits!

Balance dreams with the numbers
It is natural for entrepreneurs to think big. The caution here is not to let the spending get too far ahead of revenues. Of course we must spend money to make money. Just reflect ahead and be sure the outgo has a potential return and is not about look and feel (i.e. expensive brochures or elaborate office fixtures).

Operate virtually if possible
Operating from home without facility rental (or ownership) is freeing financially and propagating-wise. It is amazing how quickly you can ramp up with unlimited workspace.

Treat your finances as if the money belongs to others; it really does.

Now we are in the thick of it. The Enquirer is running a series on the aging unemployed. Baby Boomers are losing hope with increasing discouragement. It wasn’t supposed to be like this, we were supposed to retire, enjoy our grandchildren, annoy our children and perhaps move to a warm climate with occasional travel.

Why is it happening?
The answer lies not with an economic letdown but rather to a shift in the business environment. We are in a transition that has many more years ahead before it settles some. Information Technology, outsourcing and offshoring plays a big part in this and is not going away. The jobs we used to do as upper and middle managers are gone. The job I had during my career years with Marriott is unlikely to exist today and if it does, it probably pays 30% to 60% less than what I was paid. Regardless of how good any of us were at our former jobs, it doesn’t matter. Those jobs are gone and never coming back! Let’s get over it.

What is the solution?
A recent trip to New Orleans for an Inc. Magazine GROWCO conference was an eye-opener for me. Here is a city that was on the brink before the levies broke. When the levies gave way the flood took away lives and the entire infrastructure. Many people left the city never to return. Yet the city is clawing its way back and showing signs of real recovery in the face of naysayers who said it could not be done. It wasn’t the government who brought it back. It was not the charitable groups (although the outpouring of help after the crisis did help rebuild and lift the spirits of those remaining). It was not the local Chamber of Commerce. It was the individual entrepreneurs!

The solution to our plight is entrepreneurial thinking. It is a mind shift. Forget finding a JOB. Create one! As success builds with each new day of this career choice, you are opening opportunities for others being employed by you. You will be creating a legacy for your family and perhaps even for the entire world! I believe everyone has an idea and a passion to get out of the jobless bucket. There is lots of help out there for success. That is what we business owners do; help other business owners succeed.

To the younger set, start preparing now. Begin thinking and dreaming like an entrepreneur. Study business ownership books and read success stories. Be ready, your day will come.

Unemployment and Social Security?
I’d rather stick a needle in my eye!

The Controller
No CEO wants to spend time doing routine bookkeeping and accounting functions. Yet finance is at the forefront of key strategic decision-making. What are the cash flow projections? What services are profitable and which ones not so? Do we have enough credit lines? When should we increase our credit lines? What is our budget? How should we budget? Does our Balance Sheet have acceptable ratios?

These are all key questions that the CEO must decide. He/she must be on top of this. Delegate the routine work but do not abdicate the key decision-making. CEO’s must be their own Chief Financial Officer!

Human Resources
There are routine record-keeping requirements and communication elements that should be handled at lower levels for time management sake and reasonable compliance. However, compliance is over-played by Human Resource Directors and it is time for CEO’s to get a grip on this and stop acting “afraid of their shadow” so to speak in dealing with their staff. Company staff is far too important to be treated as “lawsuits waiting to happen”. Hiring decisions are critical. CEO’s must be their own HR Director. Would you like to see a sudden increase in company morale? Eliminate the HR Director. With the right team environment, the right people will be selected by the teams themselves and the wrong people will leave via “tribal council”. Let the office manager handle the paperwork.

Sales/Marketing
There seems to be false conventional wisdom that once the CEO has reached the pinnacle of sales activity it must be augmented by sales people. The key question here is, who are the ones actually delivering the services? These are the people who should be out meeting with decision-makers, in fact, aside from the CEO, customer service staff are the only ones who have the right to meet with the decision-makers. In our “transitional” business environment sales approaches are no longer effective. Authentic message sharing is the rule of the day in making sales. Tragically this is often the number one area CEO’s tend to abdicate. The CEO is not required to make sales calls except on high-level exceptions. They are however required to stay in the “drivers-seat” managing the process, watching the metrics, and keeping the marketing and sales activities on track. CEO’s must be their own Sales/Marketing Director.

Strategic Planning
Few people in the company have the same vision as the CEO. If the CEO is delegating this activity, that CEO is in the wrong position. CEO’s must be in control of the strategic planning for the company.

We are in critical times for business. Empowerment abounds, managers are gone, leaders are in and all staff is running as fast as they can, wearing many hats. The companies that win through this are those with the right leaders with the right focus and doing the right jobs.

 Service suppliers fall into one of three categories:

Vendors
Partners
Team Members

Let’s explore the differences. Vendors provide a service, get paid and they are satisfied at that level. It is “a good days pay for a good days work” and that is as far as it goes. “You call, we respond”. All is well. Is it?

Service Partners engage in meaningful ways with clients helping them improve and grow their client’s business. They are proactive, aggressive and client success is paramount with this group. Service Partners engage with top management of client companies.

Service Provider Team Members are proactively engaged with the client internal team helping them achieve positive results. Thus similar to the Service Partner, yet dealing with a lower level management client team with the same fervor.

So where do you fall? For Edoc, we have no desire to be a vendor regardless of the financial potential. We desire results for the clients from our efforts. We will either be a Service Partner or Service Provider Team Member, never a vendor.  Anything less than client success is commonplace; but not on our watch!

One last point, if you are truly driven for success, treat your service partners and service team members well; fire your vendors.

We all have a tendency to believe we are straight and narrow in our day to day business dealings. But what happens when the real success hits? I mean once we have really hit the big time with money rolling in and business activity becomes fast and furious! Regardless of how straight we (think) we are ethically, morally or spiritually rapid success can throw us off course if we are not careful.  This is what happened to Abramoff. Here is a very devout Jewish man deeply committed following all the tenants of his faith plus contributing to community and charitable projects in a genuine and generous way. As his practice grew exponentially with client fees each exceeding $100K per month he began losing his moral compass little by little until his results-only practice began crossing ethical boundaries.

Compromise leads to rationalization and a rapid pace business environment can accelerate principled lapse. Jack Abramoff convinced himself that he was following an upright path both in terms of ethics and fiduciary regard to his clients. He got results leading to enormous profits for his customers. He became very good at what he did. The problem became the tactics used to get those results. Everything seemed to him upright at the time yet when the court proceedings began and he reviewed past emails and other evidence against him only then did he realize his folly.

Once exposed life can be very lonely. Friends and closest affiliates often distance themselves from individuals who are in trouble. This is understandable as most of us do not want to be painted with the same brush as out criminal friends; our own individual credibility can be at stake as well. Suddenly the perp finds him or herself in a situation having to weather one of life’s most horrific storms without a support group behind them. This of course happened to Abramoff as many of his closest contacts were high-profiled representatives who could little afford the publicity hit surely to come with such an association. In Jack’s case, many of these affiliates who benefited from their dealings with him actually turned on him becoming prosecutors.

Consequences can be very severe. The prosecutorial phase was hell on earth for Abramoff and he ultimately went to prison for several years. He describes in his book quite well the pain and emotional strain of being pulled away from his family and how they suffered as a result. He also tells of the harassment he received during his first 18 months by prison authorities feeling the need to keep him in check by locking him down and taking away privileges for routine actions the prison authorities ruled infractions. Even a medium security prison like the one he was in is no picnic! Then there is the issue of trying to get your reputation back and resume a normal life; a difficult endeavor under the circumstances.

The Washington Establishment needs lobbyists in spite of the negative publicity we see about the profession. In reading the book, I learned how these people act as a counter-weight to an otherwise uncontrolled legislature. All too often a rogue Senator or Congressman will attempt to slip last-minute wording to existing legislative bills working their way through congress that may not be in the best national interest and serves their own self-interest. Lobbyists watch for these measures and can get it stopped before it is officially passed as law. On the other hand this tactic is also used by lobbyists through their congressional relationships that can have the same adverse effect. Anyone reading this book will learn a great deal about how legislation works including the outside influences both positive and negative.

Jack Abramoff paid a horrific price for his actions. I would suggest it could happen to any of us business owners. Being moral, ethical, and spiritual is important but it is not enough to keep us on the right path in the face of enormous success. Staying on track in success requires accountability partners, spiritual insight, and discernment at all times. Most of all it requires a solid spiritual anchor.

1.    Growing
Business cannot stand still or move backward, we can agree on this fact but keep in mind that growth counts on both the top and bottom line. Growing sales and sacrificing bottom line profits are often necessary and acceptable in the short term but long term success requires growth in both.

How much do you want to grow? According to some experts at Inc. Magazine, once a company reaches $10 Million + in sales the company infrastructure changes dramatically. Are you ready for that?

2.    Adequate Cash and Cash Flow
Entrepreneurs juggle three balls. These are: Cash, Clients, and Staff. It is wonderful when all three balls are on the table but the fact is they usually don’t stay there for very long. There are times when our cash is flowing yet experience staff shortages for client servicing. There are times when staff is abundant and we need more clients to keep them busy. Then there are times when the receivables are extending past normal or a rapid staff ramp-up has drained the cash. It is a juggling act for sure. Cash flow projections can allow time to prepare and eliminate unpleasant surprises.

3.    Little to No Debt
This is the dream of most business owners: Zero company debt! It took us more than ten years to get there and we plan to stay. If you are there as well, relish the day, it is a good place to be.

4.    Appropriate Line of Credit
During our 14 years of business we have learned three important points with regard to banking. For most companies, cash flow is erratic and the LOC is needed to cover those short-term gaps. Here are the points:

• Strike when the iron is hot! Every time the company has a good year, pay off open credit lines and go to the bank to get the line increased. It is nearly impossible to make this happen at the time you really need the credit.
• Don’t bank with just one institution. Bank with two or three different companies and obtain a line of credit from each. All bank organizations have different rules for lending and different underwriter practices. If credit is eliminated at one institution, you need another one to fall back on. We learned this lesson the hard way when we consolidated all our banking due to a friendly staff that helped us consolidate all our debt. Everything moved along fine until the line of credit request arrived at the underwriter and was declined. The friendly staff who lured us into an exclusive arrangement inadvertently put us in a position that could have put us out of business!
• Be aware of underwriter blinders and timing. Our experience with the large banks is that underwriters don’t believe financial statements. The only documents they rely on are completed income tax returns. This is a real bummer when you need additional funding in July due to a rapid increase in staff and the underwriters expect you to wait until March or April to have the appropriate documentation for a line of credit increase. Can’t they look at the increase in deposits for crying out loud?

5.    Safe Staff Environment
Nothing will hurt company growth and productivity more than a demoralized staff. Employees coming to work regularly fearing ridicule, disciplinary action or termination are unlikely to be giving their best for the company. Surveys show that employees in the larger organizations are largely disengaged. This is where small companies like ours can shine! Treat the staff like family and avoid hiring a human resource director!

6.    Minimum Capital Investment
We are in an age of “Cloud Computing”, Voice over IP, SAAS and open-source software. Our company has functioned well in a virtual environment since inception. If you are hemmed in by “brick and mortar” just be sure it is necessary. Working in a virtual environment is a new way of thinking about how work gets done and what is important. Is it important to know how many hours the “at home” staff is working or are they paid strictly for the job and results? How does equipment ownership work? Moving to a virtual structure requires thought, planning and often a culture shift but the savings in capital investment can be huge. Woe to the commercial real estate people!

7.    Uses Technology Well to Enhance Business
Most companies do not begin business with the idea of becoming a technology company. Yet technology is playing an increasing role in how business is done. The good news is that affordable platforms in the cloud are increasing exponentially reducing the need for custom programming or the “lock-down” of an expensive enterprise system. If there is any area of business management that requires a competent team of advisors it is this one, which is surly true in our case. Technology is expensive and changing rapidly. We have been blessed with some of the best talent without the need for dedicated technology people on staff although this could change as we continue to grow.

8.    Credible Leadership
Company managers are either already gone or going! In this business environment managers are no longer needed and leaders are in the forefront. A company is only as good as the people in leadership positions around the organization. Are your company leaders genuine and trustworthy? Hire well in this area and groom people who demonstrate integrity.

9.    Compelling Purpose
What is that driving desire to succeed? Healthy companies are on a mission to positively impact the world! What is your mission, and does the entire staff embrace it? It is a good idea to reflect on this point and “shout it from the rooftops” to the world; especially to the staff.

10. Reasonable Risk Compliance
Businesses are always a target and naturally at risk. The key here is to take reasonable precautions and avoid the trap of allowing attorneys dictate how business is to be done. All business leaders must be on guard for vulnerable areas and install reasonable protection. No business can afford 100% protection for risk avoidance. It is stupid to under-protect and stupid to over-protect. Don’t be stupid!

I recently had a conversation with a CPA supplier asking why they weren’t being more proactive on my behalf and therefore “watching my back” so to speak. The answer astounded me. His answer was, “Jim, everyone wants that kind of service from us but they are unwilling to pay for it.”

What? He in fact admitted that he is not servicing his clients! When I pressed him on that point he disagreed. We changed CPA firms. Message to suppliers: Serve your clients and they will pay!

It is not just CPA firms. When is the last time I heard from my banker with a meaningful question or suggestion? When is the last time my IT support people reached out to me for an IT strategy meeting for our future well-being and growth? I could run down the entire list.

Don’t get me wrong, we have been in business 14 years and pretty much know how to make things happen and get things done. Hand-holding by suppliers is not a desire nor having them constantly on our doorstep. A little show of concern and support beyond waiting for their phone to ring would be nice however.

We attempt to be pro-active with all our clients and it appears to be a wide open field of opportunity. Become a heretic like us and strategize on how you can proactively serve your clients and make a difference for them. At least then we won’t be the last building standing in the village.

In 1968 The Cheney’s moved from Wyoming to Annandale, Virginia in the same apartment complex my wife and I lived. We were literally neighbors with the Cheney’s although did not know them or that fact until I read about it in the book. When I mentioned that to Diane she pointed out that one morning when she was leaving for work there were limousines and either Secret Service or FBI agents in the parking lot of our complex although she didn’t think about it at the time and went on to work.

They moved in when Mr. Cheney was starting his first Federal Government job as a low-level congressional staffer. During that time I was winding down my tour as a Marine in Vietnam. Since I worked in an office there I knew the ropes so to speak on how to request a duty station and exactly when to make the request before rotating out of country. I requested Quantico, Virginia as that was my duty station before I left for Vietnam and I was familiar with the area. I was promoted to Sergeant (E5) just prior to leaving Vietnam which is noteworthy as I had only been in the service two and one-half years at that point. In wartime with a critical MOS these things are possible. My last six months were spent in the OCS processing center at Quantico. I decided to stay in the Washington, D.C. area after my enlistment because judging from the Sunday paper jobs were plentiful. Fortunately I had a Commander who allowed me as much time as needed for job interviews. I was offered a position at a prominent corporation in the corporate payroll department which I accepted and began work there the Monday following the Friday I left the Marines.

When searching for an apartment I took the same route Dick Cheney took a year earlier on the 495 beltway around Washington and noticing the apartment complex at the Annandale, Virginia exit, stopped at the rental office and took an apartment. I drove daily to Bethesda, Maryland to work each day; that was in March 1969. Diane and I married in September 1970 and of course she moved in at that time. The Cheney’s remained there until 1972 and moved into a townhouse in Falls Church. Diane and I stayed until 1975 and bought a house in Falls Church, Virginia.

An event in history had a profound effect on Dick Cheney’s career as well as mine. That was the “Wage and Price Controls” instituted by President Nixon as an attempt to get a handle on the out-of-control inflation plaguing the country. Cheney was working for Don Rumsfeld and Rumsfeld was assigned the task of writing the regulations surrounding this act. Cheney was hoping to get onto the CRP committee (The Committee to Reelect the President later became known as the “Creep” committee during the Watergate scandal) but he was spared this assignment when Rumsfeld insisted he stay with him to work on that project. Cheney and Rumsfeld pulled an all-nighter writing the basic regulations governing this act.

While Cheney was moving on his career in the West Wing, I was at work in the payroll department for one year, the next year as a supervisor in the Accounts Payable Department and the third year in the Architecture and Construction Department as an administrative assistant to Jack G, Vice President of Construction. Jack was not a highly educated man (I don’t think he finished high school) although one of the most natural-born leaders I ever met. One day Jack called me into his office for an assignment. Our company was constructing a facility for an airline at LaGuardia in New York. Bribes were involved to the construction site inspectors. Our company construction superintendent by the name of Marvin, a decent man, miscalculated the amount due the rogues and when they threatened to shut down the project the scene became ugly almost resulting in a fist fight in the construction trailer. Jack asked me to take a suitcase full of cash to the inspectors. This if the first I knew of this and was appalled. I refused to do it and told Jack that if he insisted I go I would also stop at the Attorney General’s office while I was there as an informant. Jack sent someone else to perform the deed. It was that event that motivated me to return to college and get my accounting degree. I was prepared to leave the company and had my resume out around the D.C. area. It was at this time the Wage and Price Controls regulations were published.

When the Corporate Controller heard I was seeking part-time employment he had an assistant call me and offer me a position in the corporate accounting department to oversee company compliance with those regulations. I almost fainted when they offered me the same salary I was making full time in A&C and gladly accepted. The next four years were spent shuttling between college classes and work (often late nights at work and study).

There is no need to bore you with more details on this. Dick Cheney moved in and out of public service, you know the latest history of his career. I moved from corporate accounting to another division (in four different cities) for the rest of my 23-year career with the company.

We were neighbors with the Cheney’s no doubt shopping the same stores and may have even passed one another in the parking lot. Who would have known?

But it’s hard to focus on conversation, because people are randomly bolting out of their chairs, running around the tables to other banqueters, thrusting glasses of wine in their faces, and shouting, “Ganbei!” This translates roughly as bottoms up. It is not a suggestion. Failure to drain your glass on cue is a shocking breach of protocol, something along the lines of slapping away a hand offered for a friendly shake. As soon as your emptied glass hits the table, it will be refilled and ready for the next gambei assault.

          This routine sometimes goes to the point of hospitalization for alcohol poisoning for some of the participants. But allowing yourself to become an alcohol-poisoned wretch is not a sign of personal failure or weakness—on the contrary, it is a badge of trustworthiness, conferring what some call the hangover of honor. You are laying bare your true idiot self for your potential partners to evaluate. Even many top executives and influential politicians will hold you at arm’s length until they have seen you wrecked. Drunken dinners are not entertainment after a hard day of business meetings. They are the business meetings, at which the key decisions about who will get the deals are forged. What happens during the day is often merely about preliminaries of ironing out details.

Call me naïve but I stopped drinking years ago and have no intentions of getting back on that merry-go-round. During business with openness, genuine-ness, and most of all integrity is the way I believe Americans should conduct business.

Web Developer (Brian Boyer, President of Web Pyro, LLC) developed the website for our local Ethical Business Committee (www.ethicalbusinessguide.org) and shared with our Rotary Club an education experience he had in Hong Kong as an exchange student during his final year at Miami University. Brian attended a course about doing business in China essentially teaching students to embrace what would be by Western standards corruption. Brian expressed how shocking and counter this teaching was to our ethical business principles listed on our website. Brian goes on to explain however that this is more of a culture disconnect than criminal. Bribery to the Chinese business person is considered simply giving dollars to expedite their permit application. The way Americans conduct business is considered rudeness to the Chinese as they feel we devalue family and friends in business transactions.

The question I have is this: Can grownups do business in China and still remain credible with their dignity in tact? I would like to hear from you, please weigh in.

This year’s Inc. 500 (a listing of 500 of the fastest growing private companies in America) speaks volumes to the character of the elite business owners in this exclusive club. I have said from day one of our company start, “Success is not real unless accompanied by true character” and have always endeavored to live by that code. This year’s 500 listing bears that out. Consider this:

• Inc. 500 recipients recognize the value of their employees as emphasized throughout this edition with numerous examples
• Regarding “pet peeves” of the staff, sloppy grooming habits tops the list at 40% and at the very bottom only 1% of the owners are peeved at fundraising on behalf of child
• 52% of the Inc. 500 business owners rarely consume alcohol
• Note the marriage stats

• 79% Married
• 6% Divorced
• 15% Single

Our Federal and local governments continue to scream: “Jobs, Jobs, Jobs!” Forget the jobs folks, the jobs are gone. Make a real difference, start a business and do it with character.