Show me the MONEY!

It’s a fact. Most businesses go out of business due to a lack of cash to meet their day-to-day requirements.

While it is great for the ego to have lots of sales coming in, a flash website and shiny vehicles, all that won’t amount to a hill of beans if you cannot consistently generate sufficient net profit and free cash flow to sustain the business.

Learn about the top five strategies for generating and retaining more cash in your business so that you can build a sustainable business for the long-term. One that will become a valuable asset and provide you with the kind of lifestyle that matches the effort and risk you put in.

The E-Myth Revisited

Starting a business of your own is just like joining a marathon race. You dream big while you’re on the starting line but as the race progresses you see a lot of fellow racers fall behind. Many are not able to endure the test of stamina and agility the race demands.

The same goes with small businesses worldwide. Only a few can reach the big dream. The majority simply fail no matter how much effort is put into the undertaking. Why is this so?

Michael Gerber reveals the answers in this book, “The E-Myth Revisited”. A summary of this iconic book about small business growth is on the right. The discussions revolve around the philosophies that could make or unmake the future of small businesses. These philosophies are: entrepreneurial myth (e-myth), the turn-key revolution and the business development process.

Cash flow triage strategies

It’s Monday morning and you don’t have enough cash on hand to make Thursday’s payroll – What options do you have?

Cash flow crunches affect every business. Ideally, you can weather these crises by accessing a line of credit or revolving loan you’ve already set up with your bank or tapping into cash reserves you’ve put aside for such an occasion. But what can you do if you’ve failed to plan ahead? Here are 29 triage techniques to help get you through such an emergency. Click on the image to download the guide.

Tradies Risk Management Checklist

Download a copy of BuiltIn Insurance’s handy checklist of the major risk areas that builders and other tradies face in your business. Areas covered include:

  • Assets
  • Building site
  • H&S
  • Third party property
  • Legal and Contract
  • Financial
  • Personal and Family

Once you have run through this list, give BuiltIn a call and book in an insurance risk review. BuiltIn are an industry-specialist insurance brokerage and committed to helping owners lower their stress through better risk management.

Hiring strategies in a tight labour market

If I could have earned a dollar for every time I heard the plea, “I can’t find decent staff”, I would be a wealthy man. There is no doubt that the current building boom has lead to a major shortage of skilled staff and the years of low or no activity in bringing on new talent to the industry is coming back to haunt us.  Acknowledging that it is not simple to suddenly find extra staff with the right skills and the right attitudes, just what can you do to maximise the chances of your hunting success?  Here are six tips that may help.

MARK-UP VERSUS MARGIN CHEAT SHEET

If you need to calculate how much to MARK-UP your direct job costs in order to hit a target job gross MARGIN, then the one-page cheat sheet will save you the bother of figuring that out.  For example, in order to achieve a GROSS MARGIN (PROFIT) of 20%, you need to MARK-UP your direct costs by an average of 25%.

Exactly how to price your jobs is a bit more complex than this guide can provide you, so contact us and we can discuss your situation and the best way to achieve your desired profit levels.

Construction pipeline report – 2020

A copy of Pacificon’s special mid year report on the forward pipeline of work for the next couple of years.

The most significant findings in the report:

  1. Some businesses have experienced a busy time in the construction industry since March – most didn’t expect this, so it is a welcome surprise.
  2. Some architects tell us they are flat out, for both new homes and additions and alterations. People with spare cash (perhaps not spent on international travel) are using it for investment property or major home improvements.
  3. Some builders are still booked out up to 9 months ahead, with pricing for work continuing during lockdown.
  4. One infrastructure specialist told us they have 3 years of forward work with the government’s shovel-ready initiative.
  5. The Industrial sector continues to look quite strong, particularly for building consents.