By Gina Blitstein

Does your business have inventory to sell? Then you are well aware that it is in your best interest to keep track of that inventory - to know when and where it came from and when and where it goes. Obviously you want to make certain that you have what you need to sell but not so much that you are sitting on a warehouse full of unsold merchandise.

Why is it so important to keep tabs on your inventory?

The goal of efficient inventory management is keeping it moving. Generally speaking, the less inventory you have on hand at any given time, the less costs are involved in its purchase, its storage and in insuring its safety. There's no sense tying up capital in a warehouse!

May Maihien, Executive Assistant at San Francisco Bay Area clothing company, Fiftyseven-Thirtythree, explains, "As a small company, our main source of revenue is online sales. Tracking inventory is crucial when even a "small" loss of resources in truth is not small at all, and can be a major blow to our numbers."

John Krech, President/Founder/Inventor of ePhiphony Incorporated likens inventory to an investment. As an investment, its financial performance must be tracked for profitability. John suggests utilizing technology to help accomplish this goal: "According to a study by Aberdeen, the bottom 30% performing businesses have nine times more inventory than their top 20% performing peers. This is a huge variation in performance and a significant disadvantage when it comes to cash flow. It is best to use technologies than can use business intelligence to analyze demand patterns to not only order materials when you need it but also highlight which items are in surplus."

What is important to track?

John Williams, Partner, B2B CFO® says:

• Date/Expiration of Products. If a person is dealing in perishable items, tracking by date of manufacture or expiration date is critical. This not only insures that customers get high quality products and reduces or eliminates out of date inventory that must be thrown away.
• Location of Products. Good locator systems are also critical if the inventory is of any significance. If one can tie in the sales order system to the locator system, it provides a smooth and efficient way to fill orders and improve customer satisfaction.
• Sales/Billing of Products. An integration of sales orders, inventory tracking and then billing provides consistent information and insures accurate and complete billings to customers.
• Changes in Products in Inventory. Flexibility of use is critical. Inventory adjustments are a way of life and making sure inventory can be corrected by authorized users (and no one else) makes life easier for business owners.

How can technology help keep track of inventory?

There are plenty of choices available for tracking your inventory that are more accurate than paper, pencil and a clipboard. Among the more popular are systems that scan using UPC (Universal Product Code) and RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology. These systems capture information from the product and store it on a computer. Software applications interpret this data into reports that enhance your ability to manage your merchandise. These reports offer not only accurate numbers of what you've bought and sold but can also make suggestions for future purchases based on your inventory's history.

Regardless of the type of system your business employs, technology can help you keep a keen eye on your inventory to maximize your profit and minimize your headaches.

Are you utilizing technology to help you keep tabs on your inventory costs?

By Gina Blitstein

At the outset of a new year, we often feel the desire to reevaluate our progress toward our goals. The first step toward greater accomplishments in business is to identify those goals. Perhaps they are concrete things, like, "Sell a million widgets!" Maybe they are less structured goals, as in, "Increase sales!" In either case, there are measurable steps, or benchmarks, that can and should be tracked along the way so that your progress toward your goal can be assessed.

It's one thing to know whether or not you're making progress toward your goal. It's another to take action when that progress isn't satisfactory. What are the consequences of failing to achieve a desired benchmark? Obviously, it's the "failure itself" - not reaching the goal and the ramifications of that failure upon your business. In a broader sense, each unattained benchmark is an unattained opportunity for greater success. Is there a way to keep your actions on track so that the benchmarks you strive to achieve actually get achieved?

Once you know where you want your business to go and how to quantify your progress toward getting there, an Accountability Coach can help to keep you traveling in the right direction. An Accountability Coach will make sure that you do what is necessary to make your resolution to succeed a reality.

According to Accountability Coach, Anne Bachrach, author of, Excuses Don't Count...Results Rule!, "The Number One reason that stops people from achieving what they really want is simply lack of accountability." On her web site, accountabilitycoach.com, Anne goes on to say, "Left to our own devices most people don't do all the things they know they should to get to where they want to ultimately be. Unfortunately, our good intentions don't always control our actions." She continues, "Sometimes we do take action on our good intentions, but in short a matter of time, many of us find we start to slip and revert back to our old ways. Having someone in your life that helps you follow through with your good intentions by holding you accountable, will in the end, turn those intentions into the results you desire."

So exactly what is an accountability coach? According to Anne, "Your Accountability Coach is a process expert, guiding your journey and coaching you to your destination, with the end results accomplished by you. Bottom line: Your Accountability Coach holds you accountable to follow through with your good intentions."

An Accountability Coach:

• Listens to the issues you are experiencing. By utilizing proven tracking systems, they help you set specific goals, develop a plan, and require you to implement your plan.
• Provides candid feedback to you.
• Helps you identify opportunities.
• Provides objectivity by helping you think outside the box – and see what is possible.
• If necessary, recommends other specialists that can assist you.
• Helps you through the transitional periods as you learn and grow to your next level.
• Assists you in balancing your professional life with your personal life.
• Encourages and motivates you.
• Keeps you focused on your highest payoff activities to achieve your goals.
• Helps you look at the big picture for your professional and personal life. It is about creating life balance.

On her blog, Anne explains, "Talking to a coach who will hold you accountable on a consistent basis immediately improves the odds of you achieving your goals. It’s too easy to let the crisis of the day or little distractions and interruptions alter your ideal day... Working with a coach provides the accountability you need to enable you to do what needs to be done; to stop making excuse after excuse and letting your goals and dreams slip away."

How does accountability coaching motivate? The desire to do what it takes to succeed actually comes from within each person, declares Anne. Each person's core values are the emotional magnet that pulls them in the direction of doing the hard work that is necessary for success. Anne believes, "What gets tracked gets measured and so many people just don't track anything. People who work with me get a proven system for goal setting, tracking, and effective time management that helps them stay focused and offers some level of accountability."

The combination of having your goals clearly defined, measured and tracked - along with some help to stay accountable for your actions - can help you turn your good intentions into success.

Could an accountability coach be the "kick in the pants" you need to realize your goals?

By Gina Blitstein

Freelancers must take proactive measures to make certain they are paid for their services. In most cases, clients will respect your work, take your invoice seriously and pay up accordingly. But what if they don't? What if - for whatever reason - a client doesn't pay you for services rendered? What recourse does a freelancer have that won't create a myriad of other expenses in terms of time spent on collection efforts resulting in a loss of billable hours for paying clients?

It is a difficult situation for a freelancer; since you have a finite client base, every client is particularly precious. You can't afford to alienate someone who may simply be slow to pay by coming on too strong in your efforts to collect timely payment, implying they are a "deadbeat." On the other hand, you need to be paid in a timely manner for exactly the same reason: You have a limited number of clients from whom you earn your livelihood and when someone fails to come through with their share of your wages, you feel an acute financial sting.

Gwen Hoover, Director of Public Relations for Altitude Marketing, says that when a proactive approach including clear communication and contracting fail to compel the client to pay on time, she advises the following steps:

• Re-bill overdue bills immediately. As soon as your first bill is past due, re-bill promptly as a gentle reminder. Alternatively, send a monthly statement with the amount that is outstanding clearly labeled as past due. The “aging” statement automatically generated by QuickBooks are difficult for the customer to understand. I recommend recapping in an email and attaching the aging report.

• Call the client. Emails are easy to delete and can lead to misunderstanding, which is why for clients who make delinquent payments, it’s important to call them if you aren’t paid after two weeks – especially if they haven’t replied to your emails. There could be a completely valid reason behind this, but it’s important to hear it from your client directly. There are many reasons why a client may not be paying, and usually it’s not because they are dissatisfied, so don’t be afraid to ask.

• Build Bridges. If a payment is past-due, make a point of seeking out and ask to be connected to Accounts Payable (call the client front desk or operator). Check whether the invoice was received and if you can help in any way. All the while maintain a positive relationship. Don’t hang up until you get a verbal agreement confirming when the payment will be made. Be willing to stretch out the payments if necessary. Follow-up with an e-mail confirming the conversation and ALWAYS maintain a paper trail.

• Never apologize. Never apologize for chasing payment or even consider bargaining. No matter how much empathy you feel for a client who is struggling financially or otherwise.

Gwen advises, "If engaging a collection agency, hiring an attorney, or going to court aren't attractive or viable alternatives, you can always report the company to the Better Business Bureau. You may not get the money you are due, but at least it lessens the chances that they will do it to someone else." The key is striking a professional, no-nonsense stance that the client will respect and respond to. In reference to these methods of collecting what she was owed from her clients, Gwen says, "Good news--once their cash flow was back all but the one who went bankrupt have come back to do more business."

While it's uncomfortable for most freelancers to be in "collections mode," it is important to assume and maintain an assertive attitude when it comes to getting paid for services you provided in good faith. Consider it one of the "necessary evils" that come with being your own boss. You'll be rewarded with a sense of self-sufficiency when you gain control over your cashflow and professional relationships.

What do you do when clients don't - or won't pay?

By Gina Blitstein

The beginning of a new year invariably evokes a sense of renewal; of hopes for a fresh start and a recharged battery. Many people attempt to take advantage of the "clean slate" a new year represents to make resolutions to start or stop behaviors to increase their overall well-being. We all want to resolve to be better and do better in our lives and businesses from one year to the next. Unfortunately most resolutions, while well-intentioned, fall unrealized by the time February rolls around. How can we turn a resolution into a reality?

Some resolutions are easy to identify and act upon, like, "Stop buying widgets!" Others are more challenging to pinpoint and resolve, such as, "We need to speed up our production!" While both resolutions are intended to increase profits, the second will take more than hiding the checkbook to actually happen. Resolving to run our businesses more efficiently and profitably takes some diligent and determined planning and execution.

Sandy Roos, Virtual Assistant and owner of Shadow Executive Services, says that the first step to making improvements in our business is being aware of the components of that change so as to measure our progress toward the goal. Sandy refers to the components as "benchmarks." As defined by dictionary.com, a "benchmark" is "a standard of excellence, achievement, etc., against which similar things must be measured or judged." By breaking down bigger goals into managable benchmarks, Sandy says you can identify improvement and progress along the way.

Sandy explains that benchmarks can be anything an individual or business chooses to track. There may be an industry standard, for example, of the amount of time it "should" take for a certain task to be completed. By measuring the amount of time you or your employees take to complete the task, you can determine that you fall below (slower than) the benchmark or above (faster than) the benchmark. A benchmark is simply a measuring device to quantify your progress toward your ultimate goal.

Measurement of that progress is the first step toward achieving goals, Sandy continues. "You need to know where you are now and where you want to be in the future. Without that forward vision, you'll never see your progress from here to there, which is very inspiring."

Sandy advises the following guidelines for using benchmarks to measure your progress:

• Choose individual goals. You may not be able to match or exceed another individual's or company's goals, so use benchmarks to track your own progress. It's not a competition between you and "them." Think of it as achieving your "personal best."

• Let benchmarks inspire, not discourage you. As long as you are making progress toward your own goals, benchmarks are a beneficial yardstick. Reassess your benchmarks if they prove unattainable. Remember, "Slow and steady wins the race!"

• Be accountable for your progress. Once you know where you're headed, you must keep moving in that direction. Whatever it takes (meetings, reports, incentives...), if it's worth measuring, it's worth seeing through.

Benchmarks are a useful tool for taking stock of where you stand today and envisioning where you want to go. It is vital to find an appropriate way to measure your progress toward your greater success. Without a way to measure, there is nothing for which to be held accountable. Without accountability, there is little to no chance you'll stay on track. And we all know what happens when we fall off the resolution track.

What benchmarks do you use to assess your progress toward your business goals?