The Read More Page

Daily Cash Adventures, continued

Generally accepted accounting principals, nicknamed GAAP, are standards and rules for accounting activities in business. Google it, and you will find three years worth of reading.

Here is what you do:

1. Add up all the checks for the day on an adding machine tape. Do it twice and make sure the second matches the first. Tear off the tape and wrap it around the checks. Write the date on the tape.
2. Enter all the checks onto a check deposit form. Use either the one from the bank or create one like this:

Date	Check No.	From	Amount
3/15/12	8175	Johnson Marine	$1,250.00
3/05/12	992	Six Feet Under	$500

3. After you record them onto the deposit slip, put an tiny ink dot in the upper right hand corner above the check number as an auditing mark.
4. Remember, the person who opens the mail cannot be the person who deposits the checks. Protect yourself on this.
5. Now, photocopy all the checks and make sure they are all there.
6. The photocopies go to the person who records them in QuickBooks or into your cash ledger.

There is one more aspect of cash and checks you will need to know.

If you are an employee in a small business, there will come a time for your performance review where you state how you did your job. You will want to know the number of checks you handled in order to have that quantity for the review.

For example, If you write down,"Opened the mail, recorded the checks, posted to customers accounts" you are stating the obvious to your manager. Instead, try "Opened 4217 mail pieces, recorded 673 checks, posted to 19 customer accounts. It shows a productivity of the employee and proves the job is getting done, plus it shows how you, the employee, are working your little fingers to the bone every day.

Establish Your Holidays, continued

New Years Day, Martin Luther King Day
Inauguration Day, Washington's Birthday
Memorial Day, Labor Day
Columbus Day, Veterans Day
Thanksgivings Day, Christmas Day

These holidays should also be paid holidays where your employees are paid for that day. Paying your employees for these holidays does one of two things: First, if you have good people working for you and you want to keep them, pay them and make your business a good place to work. Business magazines and newspapers poll for the "Best Places to Work" all the time. You want to be on that list.

Second, many of your employees have children that are out of school on these holidays and if these adults are not home taking care of their children, it causes a daycare hardship and stresses out your employee. Don't stress out your employees.

Manuel's Determination, continued

Manuel came across the southern border in 1996 legally, a trained cook for 15 years with 2 changes of clothes and a sandwich. A family member in San Diego County found an ad for a local restaurant looking for a cook. Now, stop and look at your resume. See all the jobs and descriptions and dates? Imagine creating a resume that says you cooked off the back of a 1960 Ford pickup over a gas cookstove. Not exactly a chef, right?

Manuel's family had a sofa in the garage that became Manuel's place to live. He left each morning at 5am and did the breakfast shift and got off work at 2pm and headed home. How much was his pay? Manuel worked for minimum wage then at $6.50 hour. It was triple of what he was making in Mexico and he was astounded.

After he got home every day, he showered, put on clean clothes and then walked 3 miles over to the little restaurant operated by his family. Cooked, washed dishes, bused tables, picked up the trash in the parking lot, anything that he could do to help out this litle business. It also helped pay for the roof over his head.

Every day, rain or shine, hot or cold Manuel worked for eighteen months. Then he had enough to get his own place, bought a little $500 beater car and got promoted to the dinner shift.

If you have your own business, you will find you work seven days a week. You probably work another 20 hours a week just laying there awake in your bed at night tossing details over in your head. It feels like months going by and makes you wonder what you are accomplishing.

Here are the facts that you need to keep in mind:

You are making more than $6.50 an hour. Make sure the money you take in is getting spent to build your business and not buying a round of Starbucks.
If you are walking to work like Manuel did, good for you. If you drive, keep your car in good condition because it will be a huge mistake to make your employees wait outside because you can't be there to unlock the door because your car broke down.
You have chosen to start a business about what you know how to do the best. Keep up with the latest information and news about your field and eighteen months from now, hold a little promotion ceremony for yourself with your family. Recognize the milestone of all your hard work.
Determination looks different on all of us. You cannot see it when you look in the mirror. Other people see it in you and if you are lucky, they will tell you about it.

With all the odds against him, Manuel did it. You can do it, too.

Give It Away, continued

I asked Max what market did he want to sell in and after a while he had come up with four different areas. The first area he wanted to get into was the luxury home business where his beautiful rugs could be showcased.
I compiled a marketing list of custom home builders for the three surrounding counties.

Max created little mug rug carpet samples that would fit under a coffee cup and inside a mailer envelope.
The marketing piece was an 8-1/2" x 11" glossy with a picture of a Persian rug and the message was:
"Let us help you sell your fabulous home! Stage your fine construction with a luxurious carpet fit for a prince. There is no fee! Just be sure to credit Max's Rugs in all your advertising."
Max mailed out 32 of these mailers.

Max put aside twelve big area rugs (15 x 25) in several colors and styles.
At the end of the first month, five builders actually came into his store to see how a Persian rug seller could "give away" his rugs.
At the end of the second month, Max had six rugs advertised in newspapers and magazines in the five western states. Those contractors jumped at the chance to make their homes for sale even more attractive.
At the end of the third month, 2 homes had sold and the buyers insisted on keeping the Persian rug so Max made two sales.
A couple of contractors bought different rugs from his store, after they brought in the staging consultants.

It took ninety days to sell two rugs and it took ninety days to get Max's advertising in front of five million people, with no expense to him.

Look around your business and see if there is something that you can "give away" to someone who will see the value in it.