I Almost Bought an Accounting Business For Sale - Here's a Great Alternative

It wasn't too long ago that I was looking for accounting businesses for sale. I was also considering bookkeeping or other small businesses for sale.
But my background was in accounting and finance. I had been a chief financial officer for over 20 years in corporate America. So looking into accounting businesses for sale seemed to be the right path for me.
My situation was that I had a burning desire to retire but couldn't afford to. I was tired of the stress in my job. I was tired of working for someone else. I was tired of working 50-80 hours a week. I was tired of the long commute. I wanted out of Corporate America!
Purchasing an accounting business for sale was a personal finance decision that would affect me, but more importantly, my family. I considered several alternatives.
1. I could continue to work in my present job. I think this is the route most people take. Those people may not be willing to take the risk of doing something different. They may not be willing to put in the effort to learn something new. I think many times, people select this alternative and are miserable for all the years that follow. For me, this was not an alternative.
2. I could have found another job. Depending on your age, this could be a great solution to your problem. But it was not for me! For one thing, at my age, it would be difficult to replace my salary. And just the thought of staying in Corporate America, even though it was another job, just didn't excite me.
3. I could buy a franchise. But that would be very expensive. Besides, I think that buying a franchise was almost like buying a job. No, that was not for me.
4. I could start a brick and mortar business. I could find a book store, a retail shop, or an accounting business for sale. But I think that buying a business like that is almost the same, if not worst, than buying a franchise. It's like buying a job. More on that later.
5. I could get into a home based business - a professional internet marketing opportunity. After all, the initial investment of doing this would be far less than buying a franchise or a brick and mortar business.
I strongly considered option 4 - buying a small business for sale.
I was an entrepreneur at heart. I felt that I had the qualities I needed to do well operating my own business.
I then considered the negatives:
· Employees - I wanted to focus on the success of my business. Being responsible for employees can be very time consuming. Don't get me wrong. I have thoroughly enjoyed my relationship with employees over the years. Most were bright, motivated, and eager to learn.
But then there were a few that caused headaches. Most situations worked out. A few didn't work out as well as I would have liked.
· Vacations - Purchasing an accounting business for sale would limit my going on vacation when I wanted.
· Income potential - I felt that my income potential would be somewhat limited by the amount of work I needed to do for my clients.
· Spread too thin - Unless I had a large staff, I was going to find myself spread too thin. I enjoy having a broad range of responsibilities. But I didn't want to be spread so thin that I couldn't do a quality job in all areas.
· Purchase price - There was also the cost to purchase a business. Although accounting and bookkeeping businesses are not extremely expensive, they still may require a fairly sizable upfront cost. Despite proper due diligence, you never know for sure what you are buying.
· The economy - The future of the economy was a concern. At that time, I didn't have someone whose opinion on the economy I respected.
This was a very important personal finance decision for me. Fortunately, I made the decision that allowed me to retire from corporate America.
Well, guess what? I decided to get into a professional internet marketing business. I enjoy running my own business. I go on vacation when I want. I have no commute. I have no employees. I have unlimited income potential.
The upfront cost for my professional internet marketing business was a fraction of the cost of a traditional small business. I work with very professional people.
This business is a financial education company - not an investment service business. It projected the downturn in the economy, including the housing and banking industries, long before it occurred in 2007-2008. I will always be grateful for that.The business allows me the time to do other things that are very important to me. They include church activities, gardening, and studying investments and the economy.

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The Path

Years ago, judging from an average Nigerian's view point of change, which is government/governance the only tool of socio-economic reconstruction. Recently I have come to note that most young minds have come to see that real power lies within the mental exercise that shows each person's psychological capability. This mental strength can be properly harnessed through an organized private and personal effort...these I would say is called ENTREPRENEURSHIP.
Most outstanding entrepreneurs of our time have received the baptism of fire, with the wave of crime and violence that sweep through Nigeria, these a lot of young creative minds have feared to face, they go into recession when the battle is just beginning. Success they say doesn't mean one would not fall, but the refusal to stay down.
The concrete solution to the upheaval in some difficult regions such as the Niger delta is the power of honesty, sincerity, transparency and the will to do good right. Most young entrepreneurs do not have good, well thought out panacea for the prosperity of the region in which they are situated, their services are limited, also no prospective principles have been backed with a commensurate political will that is crucial to making such young entrepreneurs have a change In mind and bring good will into reality for the benefit of a striving economy.
Let us face these facts on most entrepreneurial tales bruited around the country, the tariff structure, taxes and domestic incentives helps crush 80% of young small scale establishments in Nigeria. The question of wealth generated within an economy ought to be shared between the government and private sector, this problem with tariffs and taxes is also seen at another level, the design of fines and penalties for errant conduct, these should be structured in a manner that they are not so low that they do not discourage the conduct that they are meant to, conversely, they ought not to be so high that they encourage persons who fall afoul of the relevant statutes to seek ways of avoiding payment.
A lot in our striving economy can really discourage one, and leave all ideas a paper work. Opportunities are everywhere and lots of needs need to be met, notwithstanding the political tremor and insecurity; entrepreneurship still seems to be the only way out of the economic Turmoil.

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control an allergies

Allergies of various types make millions of people's lives miserable everyday and the allergies control at least some aspects of the sufferer's lives. This is unnecessary since measures can be taken to keep your allergies under control. There are different types of allergies, determined by what causes the allergy. The most well known allergies are dust mite allergy, mold allergy, hay fever or pollen allergy and pet allergy.

Each of these different types of allergies creates a different reaction within the sufferer and has different sources, but allergy control measures can be applied to all of them. There are a variety of measures that you can put into effect, but they are intended to be back up measures for the allergy control products that it is advised you buy. There is a very large selection of products available currently. These products will help to reduce the allergic reactions of the sufferer by a large margin.

When focusing on the bedroom, there are eight main product types which are manufactured to decrease the effects of allergies. The bedroom should be the first area to be re-equipped since it is in there that the allergy sufferer spends a large portion of their time and it should be a refuge from the effects of allergies as opposed to aggravating the suffering. The different types of products are roughly divided into two groups, bedding products and air products.

In the group of bedding products there are the categories comforters, pillows and mattress pads. Comforters come in a variety of types and a variety of fills including down and a fiber fill. Most people with an allergy problem would automatically avoid down, but it is warmer than a fiber filled comforter, but you need to ensure that the comforter is hypoallergenic. People believe they are allergic to feathers, but they are in fact allergic to the dust and protein that attaches itself to the feather so if the down has been properly cleaned then it is not a problem. Fiber filled comforters are preferred by those in warm climates or during summer.

There are is a wide range of choices for people who would like a hypoallergenic pillow , whether it is foam, natural or synthetic. This choice is dependent on what you require from your pillow and your level of allergy. Mattress pads were the greatest thing ever invented by the bedding industry for an increase in comfort and support. Some of mattresses are created for hygiene, some are created for softness and some mattress pads are for back and joint support, but for allergy sufferers the important factor is whether they are hypoallergenic. The feather beds provided by Pacific coast are created to be an allergy control product. They come in every size to suit you and they are incredibly comfortable.

In the group of air products there are Air Purifiers, Dehumidifiers, Humidifiers, Steam Cleaners and Vacuum cleaners. These products all cater for different needs and different types of allergies. A dehumidifier would be the best option for a person suffering from a mold allergy, but a humidifier would be beneficial to a person with sinus troubles as a result of their allergies.

Dehumidifiers and humidifiers perform opposite functions, but they still perform well as allergy control products. Dehumidifiers lower the humidity level of the area around it in order to inhibit the occurrence of mildew, mold and damp. They are essential for any allergy sufferer who wishes to stop mold spores from growing within their house or in the basement and also wishes to keep the level of humidity low enough to ensure that dust mites are kept at bay.

Humidifiers come in two types, warm mist or cool mist humidifiers. These will both keep the air around them hydrated to a comfortable level to ensure that your allergies are not exacerbated. Warm mist humidifiers are more useful in cooler climates while cool mist humidifiers are better used in a warmer environment. The determining factors are ease of cleaning and noise levels.

Air Purifiers are very important allergy control products. They should be used in with either a humidifier or dehumidifier in order to get the best from them. A good quality HEPA air filtration device is an indispensable element to ensuring that an allergen free and healthy home is maintained. Air filters literally filter out harmful pollen and particles that will cause an allergic reaction in you. In order to ensure that you can select a high quality product we have circumspectly chosen the finest air purifiers to present for you to select from out of the numerous products we have tested.

Steam Cleaners often look like a vacuum cleaner but that is where the similarity ends. The use of a steam cleaner ensures that you can sanitize, deep clean and deodorize in one simple procedure without using any of the chemicals that can be found in supermarket cleaning equipment. For allergy sufferers, there is the built in benefit that the heat of the steam penetrates deep down into any material being cleaned and therefore the dry steam instantaneously kills any and all dust mites, viruses, molds, and fungi that may be there.

A HEPA vacuum cleaner is a highly effective allergy control product that will suck up all the allergens and dust which have become settled onto furniture floors and carpets. These settled allergens are the ones which keep getting stirred up and therefore consequently inhaled by people due to movement within a room.

One allergy control product will help you to lower the allergen level in the area of your bedroom, but it is recommended that you utilize a combination of products in order to bring the allergen level to it's lowest possible point and therefore bring your allergic reactions to an absolute minimum.

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How to Win a Tender Or Proposal

You are ready to write your proposal or tender. You know what you want to do, you've priced it up and you think that you have a great idea that will solve all your potential customer's business problems so what can go wrong?

Well here are a few ways to lose that tender, bid or proposal:

• Price: You can get the price wrong by bidding too high on a price sensitive bid. Evaluators often tell you what percentage that will give to the price. If it is over 50% you should pay a lot of attention to your price. Government proposals should always be price sensitive. In these cases you should bid the minimum solution that is required and price accordingly.

• Timeframe: Yes people still don't plan their proposal writing properly and either miss the deadline or squash everything into the last few hours. Yes, it does matter if you are late - that is usually a non compliant bid. A hastily prepared bid or proposal shows and you likely to miss off vital things. So plan your bid writing and leave enough time to complete all of your bid.

• Presentation: Ensure that you include your name and contact details, an executive summary and signed cover letter. These do get left off and the do not reflect well on the ability of a company to complete all of a task. Remember to write your proposal so that you are emphasising the best bits of your suggested solution and hiding all the weak areas. Use graphics to explain complex matters.

• Quality: You want to show that your company will undertake quality work - so make sure that your proposal reflects how your company will work.

• Inappropriate: Never bid with the hope that you can do the work if you win. A required business solution that you can't do properly and profitably will only end up with your company looking unprofessional and lose you money big time!

• Risk: There is always risk within any proposal so you need to learn how to recognise and mitigate risks. Ignoring them can be very expensive!

If you remember all of the above you are well on your way to winning your next proposal. Good luck!

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Taking Charge of Your Files

One of the first steps is to box up last years files. However, before you do that be sure to go through your files and clean them out. The files that can take up a lot of space during the year, can be easily tossed. For example, your correspondence file, newsletter files, chron files. You can also combine your completed client files for the year, both seller and tenant buyers.
After you have gone through the paper file cabinet, be sure to do the same with your computer files. Years ago when computer memory was at a premium, people did not keep all the extraneous garbage on their computers, like people do today. Just like your paper files, move the files to disks or your zip drive if you need to, or just delete them. You don't need every letter you sent, every e-mail, or all the newsletters you've been meaning to read. Also go through your favorites and clean them out.
Treat your computer like memory was at a premium and you won't hold on to items you will never use. Unfortunately today everything is in gigabytes rather than megabytes.
After you have cleaned out the paper files and computer files, next step is to make up your files for this year.
Avery Label Pro is excellent for doing up file labels. In fact all type of labels. It allows you to run another set of general files out very quickly. Remember time management and organization are keys to not wasting your time. I'm sure that many of you are thinking boxing up and making up of files is a waste of time. However, when a client calls and you can't find something they want to know, it will become of paramount importance. So, keep your files organized, both paper and computer.
Once you have your files set for the new year, the next thing is to clean out the calendar or day planner you use. Change the pages. Tip, you can run day planner pages out of Outlook and then whole punch. A lot cheaper than buying the pages. This is also a great option for those of you without a day planner. Buy a small binder and make your own. Again, a lot less expensive option. Once your calendar is set up, be sure to pencil in your daily, weekly, and monthly goals, in addition to any standing appointments you have for the year. Last but not least, rubber band the pages from last year together and add it to your file box. For those of you using chron files be sure to place those in a separate file box, so you can very quickly put your hands on any of last year's correspondence.
Next is to set up your tickler file for the year. File any extraneous papers you keep in your tickler file (e.g. calendar pages, meeting agendas, notes, etc.) Be sure all your month files are in order. Go through the January sections and place them in the appropriate date, so you will be ready for the first month of year's appointments.
Next is to deal with any outstanding mail from the last year. Answer it, read it, file it or toss it. This will ensure your mail folders are in order for the upcoming year.
For those of you doing lease purchasing, you will also want to check all your databases (prospects, sellers, tenant buyers, consulting jobs, pending properties, etc.) and diligently go through them to weed out those not producing results. You will also want to update your FSBO sites, and start making new calling lists for the new year.
Last but not least is to add up your expenses for the year. If you are using the monthly envelope method, total those for the year. If you are using Quickbooks or another type of accounting/bookkeeping program, run your numbers for the year (e.g. for expenses - supplies, telephone, fax, computer, office, utilities, etc.; for profits - consultations, assignment fees, notes, cash flow profits, etc. This will give you an idea of what you made after expenses. Then develop goals to do even better for the new year.

Copyright DeFiore Enterprises 2002

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The Day I Learned to Start Saying No

It was the fall of 1998 when I had just started my first business as a marketing communications writer. Most of my clients hired me for newsletters, brochures, and sales materials, but I would get the occasional request for something different. At the time I was too naive to consider saying "no" to any project that didn't fit me perfectly. (Especially when I was living paycheck to paycheck.)
A perfect example of this was when a colleague named Chip asked if I could write a short script for a customer service training video. "Wow," I said. "Video! That sounds like fun. Sure thing. I'll take it on!"
Big mistake.
Sure, at first it seemed exciting. But after I got into it, I was miserable. Not only did I spend three times as many hours as I'd planned JUST on figuring out what they wanted, but I honestly didn't know what I was doing. I'd never written a video script in my life! I thought it would be simple, but it was a whole other world.
This thing not only sucked up all my time, taking me away from my best clients, but it also drained my energy and my confidence. Even worse, I couldn't take on a wonderfully perfect NEW project that I was offered in the meantime.
I felt sick every time I looked at that project folder. I lost sleep worrying that I wasn't doing a good job on it, and worst of all, my fears were confirmed...
One day Chip left a message on my answering machine that MORE major revisions were needed. Then, it sounded like he hung up the phone, because there was a soft click. But then I heard him start to talk about me with his partner (obviously unaware that his speaker-phone was still on).
At first I stopped the message from playing, because I knew I was not supposed to be privy to this conversation. But I wanted to know the truth, so I listened. My heart sank as I heard things like, "This writer doesn't know what she's doing on this... we should have hired a real video writer... I feel bad she's trying so hard, but this just isn't getting better."
I got so ANGRY!
Not at Chip, but at myself.
Here I was... an award-winning writer for marketing communications. Marketing communications! That means marketing materials. NOT training videos!
So why had I taken on that project?
A good friend of mine calls this "bright, shiny object syndrome", and it happens to many entrepreneurs. You see, we love ideas! We enjoy moving from idea to idea, and it's easy to get distracted by something that seems new and exciting.
Especially when you start experiencing success, it's as if every opportunity in the world starts falling in your lap. You have to become a master of saying "no". That was very hard for me.
But by sticking with what you KNOW you are good at, you are always confident and calm in your work. You know how to market yourself, and you know who you're marketing to! (Plus you can charge high rates with confidence.)
I've become so clear now at what I'm amazing at, what I offer, who I'm marketing to, and how I want my life to look like, that any business or life decision is crystal clear. I know exactly what to say "no" to.
(And they say for every "no" you give, a better "yes" comes along!)
So today, make a list of what you are good at, what you're confident in doing, what you want to do, and who you do it for. And then practice saying, "No!" to anything else.
You'll find that your marketing and your business will magically become easier, more enjoyable, and more successful!

© 2003-2008 Alexandria Brown International Inc.

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3-Step to Start a Work At Home

Many people tend to overlook the opportunities that a down economy provides and tend to focus solely on the negative aspects. One unique business that does thrive in a down economy is the recruiting world and now is the perfect time for you to follow a 3 step plan to start your own work at home recruiters business.

The reason that this business thrives over others is because the search for new and the best talent takes a different turn when completion for jobs increases. Corporate recruiters are in a unique position where they have an enormous pool of people to choose from to fill a variety of positions. They are constantly bombarded with applicants from all over the country and they tend to become quickly overwhelmed, however this does not rid their need for new hires.

In an effort to get an upper hand on the situation they have turned to all sorts of new technologies like online resume sites. The problem with those is that they too are saturated and in effect only make it easier for more people to apply for jobs and further burden the human resources department of companies. This is why there is a high demand for work at home recruiters.

This is also why many times the human resources department will work with professional staffing agencies. By placing a middle man between themselves and their recruits they ensure that by the time a person shows up for an interview they have passed the basic background checks and are more qualified to be in that position then a random person of the street or from an online application. You can see the huge role that an intermediary person can serve to assist in the recruitment industry.

As part of the 3 step plan you want to start this business in the most professional manner possible. Your reputation will go a long way in getting your recruits places and getting you paid. As a work at home recruiter you will be on the front lines of the job market and need to have any edge you can for instance it would be beneficial to start a website where job seekers can submit their resumes and apply for positions.

The next part of the 3 step plan is to present your services to the industry folks this can be done individually or at job fairs and if you can get recruiters to believe in your business then you will have a direct line to them which will enormously benefit your work at home recruiters business.

The last step in the 3 step plan is to get as much help as possible prior to starting your business. There are many books and how to guides written on this topic and you want to get as much info as possible to have your work at home recruiters businesses succeed.

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