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Home » Business And Finance Articles » Achieving Business Wellness In 2006

Achieving Business Wellness in 2006

The beginning of a new year is a time when many of us make resolutions, some resolutions are intended to improve aspects of our personal life and some are professional life-based resolutions to achieve certain goals. Among the personal and professional resolutions you may be making, consider a resolution to improve the health of your business.

Business wellness is just like personal wellness, when your body, mind and spirit work together to maintain complete health; likewise, business wellness happens when all elements of your business including income, receivables, cash flow, debt and taxes are working together to keep your business at optimum health so you can sustain growth and profitability. And, just as the best way to maintain personal health and wellness is to exercise, eat well and take time to relax, there are keys to planning for and maintaining business wellness. Two important planning tools to maintaining business wellness are a financial snapshot and a business roadmap.

Financial Snapshot

The first step toward business wellness is creating a complete and accurate view of your business' financial position; knowing the financial health of your business right now allows you to begin the process of planning for its future. A financial snapshot includes your sales, expenses, debt, leases, insurance, taxes, etc. It's important you know the core costs of your business, where every dollar is coming in from and where it's going. The snapshot is the initial step to know where your business is financially, at this moment.

Business Roadmap

From the numbers that determine your financial snapshot, you can then create a cash flow model for today and into the future; this is your business roadmap, your financial plan. Your business roadmap enables you to project and plan for how your business should perform in future weeks, months and years. It enables you to plan to buy new equipment, hire staff, restructure debt, apply for capital or expand your location. The business roadmap is vitally important to the success of your business.

Achieving Business Wellness

The financial snapshot and business roadmap are the key tools you need to be knowledgeable and informed about the financial health of your business, where it is today and where you want it to be in the future. These tools enable you to meet your goals confidently and with peace of mind about the stability and success of your business. Here's to business wellness in '06!

And here is another random article you might be interested in...

The Self-employed Employer

It's that time of year again, when all Canadians rush to their mailboxes, their corner stores or their neighbor's houses to read the latest edition of Maclean's Magazine.

For those who don't know it, Maclean's is the Canadian equivalent of Time or Newsweek, and the time of year is the annual Top 100 Employers report â€" the employers who issue more than just a paycheck (although right now a paycheck would be quite a treat!)

Being the frugal shopper that I am, I shunned the mailbox and the corner store â€" no loss, we don't have a corner store in this hamlet â€" and headed right over to my neighbor's log cabin high up on the summit of Mount Okabingbong.

"OK, Happy Guy, what now?" came his usual warm greeting. "No, wait. Let me guess. It's the Maclean's 100 Top Employers edition, right?"

"Right."

"And you want to check if your employer is on the list this year, right?" he continued.

"Right."

"And you'll be disappointed that your employer didn't make it on the list, again, right?" he asked.

"Right. Oh..."

"Happy Guy, you are a self-employed hermit. You don't have an employer," Mountain Neighbor said.

"Yes I do. Me. I am my employer, and a mighty good one at that."

"What makes you think you would be good enough to qualify?" he asked.

"It says right here that they want employers who don't just to woo the best employees, but work to keep them."

"If I were you, I would just fire all your employees," Mountain Neighbor remarked.

I ignored the sarcasm. "Look at what makes these guys a top employer. They have an on-site fitness facility. Well, I exercise on-site, too."

"So you do," he agreed.

"And this employer offers a profit-sharing plan. Well, I do that."

"But don't you have to make a profit first to have a profit-sharing plan?" Mountain Neighbor asked.

"Pish, posh. The plan is in place. All I need now are profits to share."

"Pish, posh?" he asked.

"Look, this employer offers on-site daycare."

"So it does," he noted.

"I offer onsite daycare...with a monitor so that I can hear my children cry and I can leave my desk to find out for myself exactly how it feels to have pickle juice spilled all over me in the middle of a workday."

"That certainly is a benefit few companies would think to offer," Mountain Neighbor agreed.

"When you work in your pajamas, spills are easy to manage. Let's see Amex or Procter & Gamble match that!"

"I suspect you've outflanked them on fashion," Mountain Neighbor admitted.

"This one has opportunities in England, Japan and South Africa. Well I work in Australia, England, Florida, Minnesota, New York, California and all over the place."

"You mean, you optimize websites from all over the place," he pointed out.

"Look at this employer. They have an on-site all-you-can-eat cafeteria and a rooftop patio."

"So?" Mountain Neighbor asked.

"Well, I have a 24-hour cafeteria that makes everything to order, and I sometimes even have a wife spoil me with apple Betty. Yum."

"I guess you missed out on the rooftop patio," he observed.

"Oooh...do you think that's why I didn't make the list this year?"

"Actually, most of these employers offer four weeks vacation, or more, and many of them offer all sorts of other leaves and paid sabbaticals. You don't give yourself more than three weeks a year," he pointed out.

"Yes, I suppose that could be a problem."

"Slave driver," he admonished.

"So do you think that if I take more vacations and build a rooftop patio, I should be able to hang on to my best employees?"

"I don't know..." Mountain Neighbor shrugged. "But if you can't do it, nobody can."