Paul Simister's Business Coaching Blog

How Much Should You Pay Yourself As The Business Owner?

One of the nice things about being a business owner is that, as your own boss, you'll never need to ask for a pay rise.

You'll have to answer the question..

How Much Should I Pay Myself As The Business Owner?

You will have conflicting feelings as you wear both the hats of the employee and the employer.

As the employee, the salary and benefits package you receive will determine your standard of living.

Benefits include things that you could buy as a private individual but the business pays on your behalf. In the UK this includes costs like company cars and medical insurance.

As the employer, you'll be aware that there are many other calls on the money a business has at its disposal:

• Your staff want to be paid more.
• Your suppliers want to be paid faster and they want higher prices.
• Your customers want you to reduce prices and add more free services or better service.
• And of course, the taxman will want his fair share.

What If I've Lost My Mojo For My Business?

Starting a business is one of the most exciting things you will do in your life.

If you think back to when you first started, your mind was full of opportunities and possibilities.

You had a clear and compelling purpose.

Little else mattered.

That purpose (perhaps even a calling) inspired you to work crazy hours, up to seven days each week.

And when you weren't working in your business, you were thinking about it.

Do you remember how good that felt?

But Now...

If you've lost your mojo for your business, then it's a drag.

Why Don't Business Owners Buy More Business Advice?

I've written about buying business advice from the perspective of the business advice junkie or addict in the past.

These are the business owners who buy too much and never get around to implementing much in their own businesses. Unfortunately this has become particularly prevalent in the make money on the Internet niche. I've written an article, Protect Yourself From Guru Greed for these people.

Today I thought I'd look at it from the other perspective...

Training For Small Business Owners & Entrepreneurs

Deciding to start your own business is one of the most exciting decisions you will ever make in your life.

Suddenly you are responsible for everything and while that is thrilling, it can also be very challenging.

Especially when you're investing most of your life savings and money borrowed from your family, friends or a bank.

You need to find the right training for small business owners and entreopreneurs at the right price.

That's where Profitable Growth Strategies comes in.

www.ProfitableGrowthStrategies.com

Small Business Articles

Business owners and the efforts they make to start and manage small businesses has a huge impact on the success of an economy.

Sadly they are rarely given proper recognition for the outstanding contribution they make to a nation's prosperity. Both the government and the media are fixated on the giant companies. Some deserve the attention for the good things they do.

This blog is packed with ideas and advice for business owners to help them build more successful small businesses.

Small Business Articles

Small Business Problems & Solutions

There are plenty of small business problems which can cause difficulties for the business owner but with the time to think and focus, solutions can usually be found.

The symptoms of small business problems are clear - no cash in the bank (or even worse a large overdraft), low profitability or losing money, few customer orders or enquiries, difficult staff, broken promises and commitments.

Small Business Problems & The Pathways To Profitability

In my free report, The Profit Tipping Point, I look at the five pathways to profit:

What To Do When Your Marketing is Stuck

If you are one of the many small business owners who hate sales and marketing and you struggle to find the energy and enthusiasm to think about it, then I believe I’ve found something that will really help when you get stuck.

You know when I mean.

The phone’s stopped ringing.

There hasn’t been an email in days from a potential prospect… much less a hot lead desperate for exactly what you sell.

You need more business but… you’ve tried direct mail and it didn’t work.

You tried networking… and it didn’t work.

You hate telemarketing/prospecting … and you won’t do it.

So what do you do? Your marketing and sales are stuck and you know the simple rule… “No customers, no business.”

Bruce King and The Out'A The Box Marketing Kit

Let me introduce you to Bruce King and his innovative Out'A The Box Marketing Kit.

Bruce is author of 'How To Double Your Sales - the ultimate Sales Masterclasses on how to sell anything to anyone'. (Available from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk – affiliate link)

And Bruce is the inventor of the Out'A The Box Marketing Kit which I think is a brilliant idea.

The Out'A The Box Marketing Kit – affiliate link

Why I Love Helping Cash Strapped Business Owners?

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking recently about the type of business owners I really want to help.

My head and wallet cries out that I should be targeting business owners who are already performing really well, can afford to pay high fees to make more money and are willing to do so.

My heart says No.

The business owners I really want to help are those who are struggling and not doing as well as they’d like to.

These are what I call “Cash strapped business owners”.

Serious Health & Illness Issues For Business Owners

What are the big differences between having your own business and being employed?

The risk and return ratio – you take risks in your own business for an uncertain return (called profit) which can be much higher than you could earn as employee or much lower than you’d accept for a job.

The amount of control you have over your own destiny. An employee (even a senior one) has someone else telling him or her what to do but as a business owner, you call all the shots.

I’ve been self employed with my own consultancy business since 1995 and I can’t imagine ever being employed again.

However the differences between being an employee and being the business owner have been brought home to me over the last two years as serious illness has hit me and my family hard.

What is A Cash Strapped Business Owner?

My tagline for my new small business membership club for business owners - Your Profit Club - is:

"Helping cash-strapped business owners to double profits in 12 months"

This begs the question, what do I mean by cash strapped?

Small Business Survey Results February 2010

I've been thinking for some time about the idea of compiling various small business survey results to present an overall picture of what is happening in the world of small business.

Finally I have moved from thought to action so I hope you find these snippets of results interesting and thought-provoking.

There is no doubt things are tough out there for many small businesses so it is no wonder many have cut back sharply on their own spending.

I've given the source of the survey so you can search for more in depth information if something particularly hits the spot.

What Does Being An Entrepreneur Or Small Business Owner Mean To You?

There are many reasons for starting a small business and starting your new life as an entrepreneur and many ways it can be satisfying.

What does being a small business owner mean to you?

For me the big advantages are:

Health Epidemics, Swine Flu & Business: Impact & What You Can Do

Every time I hear the news I hear more about the swine flu epidemic that could be another over-hyped scare story or it could be a huge threat to both businesses and the population.

I am sure that it is making people more aware of coughs and sniffles and could be creating a tsunami of hypochondria.

B2B Marketing To Small Business Owners And Entrepreneurs

The vast of business owners have a business which can be classified as small so why is it that so much of the marketing to small business owners is so bad?

What Is A Small Business

In the UK official statistics we have two classes of "small business"

• micro businesses have up to 10 employees
• small businesses have 10 to 50 employees  

but they are often lumped into a generic SME category which includes medium sized businesses from 51 to 250 employees.

What Small Businesses Need From A Finance Director

I have just downloaded an interesting report from Pegasus (the IT systems people) on the pressures facing a Finance Director (FD) in small and medium sized businesses which outline how an FD can help their business.

A quick summary

1. SMEs are very important for the economy
2. The burden of regulation compliance falls heavily on smaller businesses
    
   
3. The economy is turning nasty

It then gives the five steps you should expect from your Finance Director:

Systematize Your Business & Break Free

The final common mistake of entrepreneurs is to fail to make your business work well without you. You need to systematize your business. 

Is Your Business Dependent On You?

What would happen to your business if you went away for a 90 day around the world cruise?

Small Business Entrepreneur Risks and Rewards

Continuing my series of blogs on common mistakes made by small business entrepreneurs, today I turn my attention to entrepreneur rewards and in particular the danger of settling for smaller rewards than the risks justify.

It was Business Growth expert Mitch Axelrod who defined an entrepreneur as someone who works 80 hours per week for themselves to make sure they don't have to work 40 hour per week for someone else.

Are You Settling For Entrepreneurial Rewards That Are Too Small?

Small Business Entrepreneurs Work Too Many Hours

I am continuing my series looking at the mistakes that entrepreneurs and owners of small businesses make and today I am looking at the issue of working too many hours.

If you are going to work at your maximum efficiency and get the most out of every hour you invest in developing your best it is vital that you try to achieve a work/life balance that works for you and your family.

Do Women Owned Businesses Earn Lower Profits?

I am reading Elizabeth Gordon's book "The Chic Entrepreneur" after a reminder comment and email from Elizabeth yesterday and I've just been jolted.

On page 90 Elizabeth writes "women-only businesses yield much lower profits than those owned by men."

Now I know that men are better drivers than women and better chefs than women but it had never occurred to me that men were better at business. (Just joking ladies, what good is a car driver who is incapable of stopping and asking for directions.)

Small Business Growth Problems & Issues

The issues and problems of small business growth were the subject of a classic Harvard Business Review article "The Five Stages of Small Business Growth" by Neil Churchill and Virginia Lewis back in 1983.

While the article is now twenty five years old, the basic issues that face a small business as it develops over time haven't changed.

Why Entrepreneurs and Small Businesses Fail

In today's blog I look at the issue of why so many entrepreneurs and small businesses fail.

Rich Schefren has been quiet recently but he's back with an interesting blog asking "What Is An Entrepreneur" which celebrates two years since he published the Internet Business Manifesto.

In this free report (details blow) he identified that the big problem for many businesses is they are run opportunistically rather than strategically heading towards a clear vision.

How Much Should An Entrepreneur Or Business Owner Earn?

Yesterday I started answering the question I am often asked "How much profit should I make from my business?" by looking at the issues surrounding profit expectations and I introduced you to the lower profit expectations trap in Business Owners & Managers - Profit Expectations.

Today I am going to consider how much an entrepreneur should earn from working in and owning a business.

Beware The Profit Expectations Trap

A question I am often asked is "How much profit should a entrepreneur / business owner-manager make from their business?"

There are no hard fast answers but there are a few guidelines which I use to help people base their expectations for profit.

Why Are Profit Expectations Important?

Business Health Check - Small Business Early Warning System

A business health check can provide an early warning to entrepreneurs and owners of small businesses that things are not as right as they appear in the business.

I have just reviewed Carol O'Connor's book "Business Health Check" and while it has some good points, I believe that the concept has been under-developed.

What is The CAMPARI Bank Loan Assessment?

This blog looks at how banks make loan assessments and lending decisions using an acronym called CAMPARI

Another day and even more headlines about the global credit crisis which must affect the availability of loans for small businesses.

Banks are becoming much more risk sensitive.If you need extra funding, it is essential that you know how to ask for a small business loan and the banks will make loan assessments under the CAMPARI factors.