I was recently looking to hire a new landscaping company to take care of the grounds each week of the office park where are office is located.  I didn't know who to call so I started off by calling the company that takes care of the common areas in the housing addition. They took down some general information about where the office park was etc. and said they would stop by there and call me back with a quote. 

Later that same day I was driving back to the office and noticed a landscaping crew was taking care of the grounds at the bank right down the street from my office so I pulled into the bank parking lot and sure enough right on the back of their big trailer is the company name and phone numbers so I give them a call and the lady that answers the phone takes down my name and phone number and the address of the office park and says somebody will stop by there and they will give me a call with an quote. 

On the way home that night while driving down the street I see a guy on a big riding lawn mower mowing the grass at a church so I pull in an explain that I would like to get a quote on taking care of the grounds at our office park and I leave him a business card with the address and my phone number and he says I will take a look and get back with you. 

This is where business owners may need to sit down.  Guess how many of them actually called me back?  Believe it or not only one!  Any guesses as to who got the job?  I waited for five days and only one called me back with a quote, unbelievable.  Potential customers are too hard to come by to not follow-up with one that has contacted you looking for exactly what you do.  Because the other two businesses had a sales process that was broken it costs them over $6,000 in revenue just in this one instance.  I can't believe that is the only time that has happened at those two companies that didn't get back with me.  Think about how much revenue they lose a year because their system is broken.  Now think of the life time value of a $6,000 customer if we use them for ten years that is $60,000 in lost revenue because you didn't follow through.  It is this lack of attention to the details that kills businesses.

If you think your sales process may be broken or worse yet don't have one give us a call 405-759-2796 to discuss how to design one or repair your existing process.

If you own commercial real estate you need to know about cost segregation studies.  A cost seg study as they are known is a tax strategy that takes an entire building (real property) that would be depreciated over 39 years normally and breaks it into real property and personal property.  The result is some of the real property is still depreciated over 39 years but the personal property is depreciated over five, seven or ten years.  For example if the building cost $2.5 million you could get an extra $216,000 in depreciation the first year assuming a 40% tax rate that is $86,400 in tax savings.  

This tax savings strategy can even be used regardless if you bought the commercial property in the same year you have the study done.  For example if you bought a piece of commercial property in several years ago you could still have the study done today and realize some significant tax savings.  Cost Segregation studies are just one of the tools we use help our business owners reduce the amount of income tax they pay each year.  For more information on how we may be able to reduce your tax bill give us a call at 405-759-2796.

Recently a client we will call Mr. Smith dropped by the office to pick-up his business and personal tax return.  I happened to be walking by the reception desk where I stopped to visit with him for a second and in passing he asked me to setup an LLC for an airplane he just purchased.  I told him that I would get it taken care of and didn't give it much thought at the time  as it is common practice to setup an LLC to own property or equipment to protect them from liabilities that may arise from other businesses, etc.  Mr. Smith owns a construction business that is setup as an S-Corp where he is a 100% owner and worth around two million dollars.  Mr. Smith and his wife also have considerable personal assets as well. 

Recently Mr. Smith began taking flying lessons and decided to purchase an airplane.  The next day when I was getting ready to start working on the LLC I started thinking about Mr. Smith's situation.  Mr. Smith wanted the LLC setup to protect his business assets and personal assets in the event a liability arose from the airplane.  As I thought through what the end goal was it was clear that just sitting up an LLC would not provide Mr. Smith the protection from liability that he was after.  Let's suppose that Mr. Smith took a passenger up in the airplane and god forbid there was a crash where the passenger was either seriously injured or killed.  In a situation like this there is likely to be a lawsuit.  One possibility is going to be a lawsuit brought against the LLC that owns the plane claiming the plane was not properly maintained, etc.  The other possibility is going to be a lawsuit against the pilot claiming pilot error was the cause.  By setting up the LLC this would protect Mr. Smith's interest in his other business and his personal assets and leave only a wrecked plane as an asset in the new LLC there would not be substantial assets for the plaintiff attorney to go after in this situation.  As a result the plaintiff attorney will turn his focus to the pilot an claim pilot error.  When this happens all of Mr. Smith's personal assets will be at risk such as his personal residence, bank accounts, etc.  Additionally, since Mr. Smith owns 100% of the S-Corp stock of his construction business the business will also be at risk.  If there was an accident Mr. Smith's family could be financial devastated. I called Mr. Smith that day and explained to him my concerns and I suggested he and I met with Heath Merchen who is an Attorney that works in our office to discuss an asset protection plan that will protect Mr. Smith's assets in-case a liability arose from the airplane. 

If you are a business owner don't assume just because you have setup an LLC or a corporation that your assets are safe.  It would be a good idea to sit down with your attorney and CPA to discuss your unique situation. 

I am continually surprised by how many business owners I meet with whose business is their sole retirement vehicle.  When you ask these same business owners is a wise idea to invest all your money into a one publicly traded company they would say no yet they continue to treat their business as their sole retirement vehicle.  The sad reality is that most of these business owners will not be able to sell their business for what they need to retire on to live a comfortable life.  Think about how many bad things could happen to your business just before you are set to retire:

• The business could be sued
• There could be an economic down turn
• There could be a new competitor
• Your product/service could become obsolete
• You could lose a key employee

These are only a few things that could negatively impact the value of your business when you are trying to sell it. 

Not only is it unwise to put all your eggs in one basket business owners are also missing out on a great tax deduction.  There are a number of retirement plan options for business owners from SEP IRAs to 401ks and anything in between.  We are continually working with our business owner clients to help them grow the value of their business but also working with them on accumulating other assets to be used during retirement. If you are a business owner and you are concerned about the ability of your business to provide a comfortable retirement please give our office a call at 405-759-2796 to setup an appointment to discuss your situation. 

Recently we were working on a consulting project for an oil and gas client in Oklahoma.  During the consulting project we asked to see the client's income tax returns for the four years.  We were shocked at what we discovered and so was the client.  With some proper planning the client could have paid $60,000 less in taxes over a four year period.  Needless to say our consulting project was expanded to cover business entity formation and consulting.  We developed a business entity structure that will help our client to pay less in taxes and also protect his assets.  Give us a call today to discuss your business structure and to see if you have been overpaying on your income taxes. 

If you are a business owner you probably have heard of the marketing funnel.  Picture a funnel which is wide at the top and then necks down to be very small at the bottom.  From a business prospective this means you would put all your potential customers into the funnel at the top and a few would fall out at the bottom and become customers. 

There is a growing segment of the business community that views the funnel as being flipped upside down where the smallest part of the funnel is at the top and the wide part is at the bottom.  The idea is we put our current customers in the top or top prospects and we take such good care of them and provide them ways to refer our business that in the end we have a lot of new customers at the wide end of the funnel.  Think about it if you actively engage in conversations with your current customers and take excellent care of them and let them know you are looking for new business they will more than likely help you obtain what you want.  Think about all the money that you spend in advertising trying to get a complete stranger to purchase your product service.  What was your new client acquisition cost last year defined as total spent on advertising divided by the total number of new clients.  If you had your existing clients working as your marketing department what do you think that number would be in 2012? 

Look for ways to encourage your existing clients to get the word out about your services.  With social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, etc. it is easier than every for your customers to share their experiences with your business than every before.  During 2012 look for ways to "flip the funnel" to help drive up your company's profits. 

Knowing what you know now would you buy your own business?  This is a question every business owner should address before it is too late.  The sad reality is that most business owners never think about it until they want to get out of the business and then they realize all they own is a job and not a business.  I mean really would you want to buy a job?  Most people that have the resources to purchase a business could go get a job without buying one. 

I just meet with a new client last week who owned a business and was considering taking a job with a company in the same field as his business after six years in business.  As we began to discuss his situation it became clear what he owned was a job not a business.  We discussed the possibility of selling the business but there was nothing to sell.  The reality was that all the customers of the business were coming from contacts of the business owner there were no systems in place to generate new customers.  Would you buy a business that was solely dependent on the relationships of the previous owner?  Of course you wouldn't but yet that is what some many business owners are hoping for when they are ready to get out of the business. 

Additionally, the business owner didn't have any documentation on what he did on a day-to-day basis.  Of course when you are starting out in your business you are going to have to a lot of the technical work of the business.  What most business owners don't understand is they need to develop a system that can be put in place so someone else can do that technical work and allow the business owner to do the strategic work of the business. 

Let's pretend that you have a landscaping business and you have four hours of time that you can spend anyway you want.  A lot of business owners would spend that time working in the business on one of the landscaping jobs and make let's say $300.  Was that a profitable use of the business owner's time?  Most business owner's would say yes because they made $300 but I would say to them at what cost?  What if the business owner would have spent those four hours developing a scheduling system that would result in less travel time between jobs.  Think about how much that could potentially save the business over the next  12 months in travel time and fuel?  I am sure it would have been more than $300.  The business owner could have paid someone $60 dollars to perform the four hours of landscaping work that needed to be done and made a profit of $240 plus they could have saved thousands of dollars over the next several years because of the new scheduling system they developed. The business owner could have used those four hours to develop a new referral campaign that could generate thousands of dollars in referrals.  There is so much more to running a business than just doing the technical work the business does. 

Had my new client taken the time to work on his business and not just in his business he might have had something to sell.  Instead he closed his six year old business and all he had to show for it was W-2 income he paid himself over the six years which he could have had if had worked for someone else. 

A business can't grow if the owner only spends his time doing the technical work.  There are only so many hours in a day and only so many days in a year.  If you are already covered-up then how can you grow the business where is the extra time going to come from?  As a business owner you need to leverage your time to make the most of it.  Start thinking about how you can spend your time that will produce the largest return on investment. 

How to start a business

One of the first steps in starting a new business is deciding what type of entity to form, if any.  Business owners have number of different entity structures to select from when setting up a new business.  A few of the more common are listed below. 

• Sole Proprietor
• General Partnership
• Limited Partnership
• LLC
• S-Corp
• C-Corp

The type of business entity selected will dictate what is required to start the business.  There are different rules that must be followed for each type of entity. 

What most business owners don't know is by selecting the right entity structure they can reduce their tax burden around 15% on the profits of the company.  Think about that for a minute tax savings of 15% each year on the profits of the business for the life of the business.  The amazing thing is most business owners don't even seek out professional guidance when making this decision they just do what their buddy did when he or she setup their business.  Additionally, you may be putting your personal assets at risk to creditors or lawsuits if you select the wrong type of entity. 

Before you setup the business meet with a qualified CPA and seek professional advice before you make the decision.  The money you spend on fees could save tens of thousands of dollars in taxes over the life of the business and reduce a lot of unnecessary headaches.  You will be in good shape if the rest of your investments in your business result in that type of return on the money spent.  

Many business owners mistakenly view the price paid for a service as the cost of the service.  The cost of the service runs much deeper than just the price paid.  

Let me give you an example of what I am talking about.  We meet with a business owner recently who we will call Bill.  Bill was not happy with the service his CPA was providing and was considering making a switch.  Bill did not feel the CPA was providing much needed financial and tax advice.  Bill said he was paying around $6,000 to the CPA for the services she was providing.  After discussing Bill's businesses we were able to make recommendations to save Bill around $25,000 in taxes.  In addition there was a real estate transaction that took place where with some creative tax planning capital gain rates of 15% could have been paid instead of Bill's marginal rate of 35%.  

We quoted a price of $18,000 per year for our services.  Bill brought up the fact that his current CPA was "only" charging him $6,000.  We explained to Bill the other CPA's services were actually costing him $31,000 a year (the $6,000 paid to the CPA and the $25,000 in additional taxes).  Professional services are much like anything else you get what you pay for.  

Had Bill been using our service he would have paid us $18,000 which would only cost him $11,700 after tax.  Bill would actually make $13,300 by using our service.  Bill would have realized tax savings of $25,000, which is dollar for dollar as there would be no taxes paid on the savings, less our after tax fee of $11,700.  

The moral of the story is you can't look at only the price paid for a service in determining if it is a good deal you have to look at the total cost.  We believe a good CPA firm can more than pay for themselves.  Our goal as a firm is to save our clients more money in taxes than they pay us in fees.  So how much is your CPA really costing you?