Managing the Impossible
Starting with nothing but the force of his entrepreneurial leadership, Omar Minaya took the orphans of baseball and made them winners -- a lesson in grit. Read more
Budgets
Recent Budgets Articles
10 Simple Ways to Lower Your Computer Support Bills
1. When in doubt, reboot. Before you consider an issue a real computer support problem and call your computer consultant, always re... Read more
How to Practice Open-Book Management
Are you prepared to share your financial statements with your employees? Read more
Spotlight: States Flag. So Might You
As legislators all over the country are slashing budgets, company owners should prepare to tighten their belts. Read more
Hands On: Budgeting for Blunders
Lisa Hickey created a fund to support creative risks her Boston-based ad agency, Velocity Inc., takes when trying innovative ideas that might not pan out. Read more
Money Management Tips
Money! That' s what business is supposed to be all about. Then how come so many people in business don' t pay much attention to it? Oh, we may spend a lot... Read more
Controlling Costs
Simple, everyday cost-shaving strategies can help get your business off the ground. Or, if you're further along in the process, these strategies can help you... Read more
Trading Places: Inside the Barter Economy
Once a dusty corner of the economy, barter is emerging as a hot entrepreneurial niche and a valuable tool for cash-crunched companies. Read more
Best Practices: Provide Internal Financial Information
Internal financial reporting traditionally means compiling and distributing generic reports that show a company's past, short-term financial performance. ... Read more
How can I create a reliable cash flow budget?
Finance & Capital mentor Stephen King responds: Cash flow forecasting and the reporting of actual cash flow results are two critical... Read more
Great Bootstrapping Secrets: 45 Ideas that Can Save Your Business Money
Here are 45 money-saving ideas that can help your company do more with less. Read more
Web Expertise in Novel Locales
Now that the Internet has established itself as a must-have component of every business, brick-and-mortar companies are rushing en masse to get online. Th... Read more
How Do I Calculate My Overhead Rate?
A company can use performance ratios, such as an overhead rate, to effectively manage its operations Read more
The Case for Higher Prices
Thanks mainly to Alan Greenspan, it's harder than ever to get customers to accept price hikes. But, argues entrepreneur Norm Brodsky, you're making a big mis... Read more
Making the Most of Your (Limited) Marketing Dollars
Like most small businesspeople, I have a limited amount of funds to devote to marketing and advertising. Even in a relatively small market like Portland, ... Read more
A Simple Approach to Sales Forecasting
How do you forecast sales accurately? The trick is to break the sales down into manageable parts. Read more
A Suite Deal
Trouble finding office space? This business created its own Greg Steckler has been building residential log cabins for 16 years.... Read more
Hot Tip: Budget Branding Campaign
Alexandra Volkmann, CEO of Heavy Duty skin products, in Carmel, Calif., knows how to get creative on the cheap. She needed some art for h... Read more
Best Practices: Developing Budgets
A budget is a systematic method of allocating financial, physical, and human resources to achieve strategic goals. Companies develop budgets in order to m... Read more
Action Plan: Using Economic Forecasts
Track the economy so you can prepare for your business's future. Read more
Hot Tip: Focus On Variable Expenses
As founder of Allen Systems Group, an enterprise software company in Naples, Fla., Art Allen's favorite cost-cutting technique is different from anything ... Read more
Change Leaders
In an excerpt from his new book, "Management Challenges for the 21st Century," Peter F. Drucker suggests that to thrive in the new millennium, managers must ... Read more
IT Outsourcing Can Be Profitable - or a Headache
Here's how to strike a mutually beneficial partnership. Read more
Building a Realistic Sales Forecast
Combine the values of all of your prospects in order to create a total sales forecast. Read more
What's the Key to Great Forecasting?
It helps to start with good, accurate data. Here are 6 pieces of information to gather. Read more
Everyone's a Cost Cutter
Two entrepreneurs give advice on cutting costs through open-book management. Read more
Teaching Employees to Understand Costs
Question: "I run a big assembly plant, and it's hard for the employees to see a connection between the plant's P&L and what they ... Read more
Franchisees Thrive with Open-Book Management
Increasingly, franshisees are hopping on the open-book bandwagon. Two such owner-operators are Jim Brown and Joe Clark who run separate Chick-fil-A franch... Read more
Stay the Course
A noted small-business CEO explains why you should never, (ever!) change your annual plan in the middle of the year. Read more
Budgets: The 10% Solution
A look at what happens when managers are forced to keep budgets down. Read more
The Employee-Run-Budget Work Sheet
An up-close look at one company's budget work sheet used to support open-book management techniques. Read more
Libation Liability
Lawyers advise companies to set clear policies about drinking on site. Read more
How Sales Goals Are Set
A survey asked companies how they set sales goals for sales executives and sales reps Read more
Margin Management
Frustrated with trying to run your company on a budget? Jim McManus has a better way: focus on gross margin. Read more
