PocketWatch

I am a small town boy from northern Wisconsin, who grew up in the quintessential American family. Dad was a carpenter, mom stayed home, two brothers and a sister. Our politics, and we were political, was always Democrat. My dad always said all you had to do was to look at what each side was fighting for, and it was easy to see, even as a kid, that Republicans were all about big money and rich businessmen, whereas the Democrats were more about social solutions. I spent 6 years in the US Army in the VietNam era as an electronic instructor for NSA, worked as a Field Engineer for a computer firm based in Massachusetts, spent another few years building paper mills around the world for a firm from Washington state, drove long haul truck for a while, did 10 years of servitude in NYC for a large multinational market research company as the Business Manager, spent some more time on the road as a Business Consultant, and the last bit as the Business Manager for a manufacturing firm here north of Houston. I am trying to start up my own consulting firm using all my experience to help small and medium sized businesses stay out of trouble versus waiting until they get into trouble. No one teaches people how to properly run a business. Business schools and MBA programs really don't. There are very basic nuts and bolts that are either assumed or are ignored, and like the house built on sand, businessmen and entrepreneurs ignore these solid foundations at their peril. (Now retired and doing some substitute teaching at a couple of small K-12 schools here in northern Wisconsin. Living in a small hamlet of 340 people, quiet, peaceful, serene.)
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A Little Truth About Business and Taxes

Here is a little ammunition and something to think about the next time you hear that raising taxes on "business" will stop them from hiring or squash their ability or willingness to invest or to upgrade their equipment or infrastructure.

Doing Business – The Right Way (Part 11)

Describing and enacting a rational and balanced Employee Incentive plan that will result in a self-running business.

Doing Business – The Right Way (Part 10)

What do you want... really? What is a reasonable Net Profit Margin? A Rational Incentive Plan for Employees... "cost-free"

Oil and Energy Facts

ME unrest has caused gasoline prices to rise. This article is an effort to have facts concerning oil and other energy sources to use for more analysis of US energy needs.

Doing Business – The Right Way (Part 9)

The Financial Plan as a crystal ball... Overhead... Headache or a simple calculation? Markup - Not getting what you think you are getting Calculating the cost of overhead... Pricing made simple... or is it?

Doing Business – The Right Way (Part 8)

Understanding the sales history Normalizing G&A Building a Financial Plan

Doing Business – The Right Way (Part 7)

More on Understanding the Past... Costs of Goods Sold (COGS) as it relates to sales... Sales, COGS and the time shift...

Doing Business – The Right Way (Part 6)

A Brief History of Sales - Understanding the past... If you already have a business, it's time to gather all the information you can before you start.

Doing Business – The Right Way (Part 5)

Chart of Accounts - A map of your business... You have to take control of this very, very, very important part of your business.

Doing Business – The Right Way (Part 4)

There are three elemental areas of business – any business The three elements are: Sales Operations Finance