Profitability Channel

Learn six reasons entrepreneurs should never fly to a business seminar again and how networking online can mean money back from Uncle Sam!

The days of schlepping cross country, sitting in traffic, and running through airports to catch a flight are over, and learning new strategies and tactics to grow your business, increase revenue, or manage a growing staff without leaving home can now be found in one place.

Profitabilitychannel.com is where professionals go for trusted, credible business information. This Internet broadcasting network designed for entrepreneurs is where you can break through the clutter to discover tried and true ways to help grow your business. With over 30 LIVE programs and on demand original trainings airing on a weekly basis, plugging into a compelling session and connecting with people just like you without sacrificing your sky miles is literally just a mouse click away.

Profitabilitychannel.com is that place, and the benefits available to members are worth their weight in gold. When you join this information-driven network as a member for a simple $29.00/month or $299/year, not only is this small investment tax deductible (reason #1), but you embark upon a journey that puts you on the fast track to success.

With an array of programs and shows from Human Capital, QuickBooks Training and Bookkeeping, Expert Advisor Talk, Business and Government Partnerships, and Sales and Marketing, Profitabilitychannel.com is the leading online networking portal for enterprising entrepreneurs.

Here are five more reasons why savvy business owners don’t need to jump on a plane to get the answers they’re looking for:

2. Fuel prices are running parallel to mortgage payments
3. Attending a training session on Profitabilitychannel.com connects you with experts and information without the traffic
4. Profitabilitychannel members can view seminars on-demand, 24/7
5. Trainers and program hosts are at your fingertips and accessible after the seminars
6. You can learn and connect with business people in international markets and across the country while wearing your pajamas

Ease of business is what most innovative entrepreneurs are striving for. Profitabilitychannel.com is aware of this demand and maintains a top-notch catalog of informational, entertaining, and insightful business programs that bring the classroom to you. Perhaps the next time you consider spending thousands of dollars to register for a 3-day seminar that doesn’t include travel and accommodations--think about clicking on Profitabilitychannel.com instead...they really do leave the light on for you!

In the hands of the entrepreneur money is a tool. While others see money as “time” or a way to keep score, and thus hoard money, entrepreneurs spend it – putting it to work. Debt; Equity; to the entrepreneur these are simply the means of extracting this tool from otherwise dormant assets.

Asset value has its place, but without liquidity it is very much like a hammer without a nail. So it’s no surprise that entrepreneurs are constantly looking for liquidity, and the financial markets scramble to find more and better ways to get it for them.

On Friday we will talk with business attorney and advisor Michael Cross about a source of capital that many have thought to be simply too costly to consider: the equity locked within self-directed retirement accounts.

These fallow fields may be made to yield fruit both before and during retirement – but only with careful planning. Tune in this Friday at 10:00 AM EST to join our discussion of how funds within qualified retirement plans can – in specific instances – be used to invest in your own business venture without incurring costly penalties.

Stay liquid - Stay profitable – with Advisor Talk, only on The Profitability Channel.

Sandra Beckwith has a story most business owners only dream about. She sent out an eight page newsletter draft gently poking fun at gender differences. A week later Sandra was on all the major morning shows and quoted by every media outlet in the country. Best of all she claims the same thing can happen to you!

There's good news and bad news about this claim. Bad news? It'll take some work. Good news? The payoff can be HUGE.

Ever wonder how or why somebody else gets al the calls and televisions spots - especially when you know the person is not as smart or experienced as you. Perception doesn't replace expertise. But it does color the way others see you and your business.

Follow Sandra's advice and drive business to your company in a whole new way.

My almost 17 year old daughter famously told her seventh grade science teacher there was no reason to learn about weather. If she needed weather information she would go to weather.com. All these years later she hasn't changed her mind.

Shaking your head? Wondering why this generation and the Gen-Xers before them always want to take shortcuts? Yeah, me too. That's why Jim Ryerson's recent show (Sales & Marketing) called "Sales Map" was such an eye opener. Jim and I talked about the importance of writing down each and every part of the sales process.

One of his examples has really stuck in my mind. A client was making a Sales Map. When they discussed the obstacle section the client said the experienced sales reps would tell the new ones what to say. Amazingly the obstacles had not really changed in decades. No one had ever thought to write them down so the newer staff could respond immediately to a customer instead of having to call back. With any luck the customer is still interested.

Want to take the time to write down every system or process? No? I know how you feel. But whether you're interested in weather or additional profitability there's always a price to pay for shortcuts.

Just because QuickBooks(R) is designed for just about any type of business, it doesn't mean that everybody needs or uses all of the features available. With the current cycle of products (2006-2008) came the option to "customize" the Home Page - but you may have found it to be limited. From custom reports, to layout defaults, this month’s program is all about how to make QuickBooks(R) your own. We will go through the Preference menu and learn about some of its lesser known features. We will also talk about Memorized Reports, Reminders, and other tools you can use to stay on top of your business finances and make QuickBooks(R) your own. Be sure and call or text in your questions!

Intuition is underrated. So let's call it something else. How about solid business experience or good judge of character or keen sense of team interaction. No matter what you call it the ability to detect a subtle change in a customer, vendor or employee can be crucial to business success.

One of our new hosts told me the following story. He went to a car dealership with the intention of purchasing a new car. He was approached by a salesman and "I gave off all the signals of buying but he never asked for the sale so I walked out". This salesman is in for a rough 2008.

Read the newspaper on any given day and some small business owner has been taken for $100,000 and never saw it coming. Of course it happens to big companies too - Societe Generale comes to mind.

Lots of things happen to business owners that can't be predicted. Yet those are the exact situations that cause the most problems. Take a few minutes and write down the most outrageous events imaginable: The salesman who won't ask for a sale, the trusted bookkeeper with a gambling problem, the sudden death of your forty year old operations manager, employees setting up a competing business, a nasty divorce settlement that includes the complete transfer to your spouse of the business you started before you got married.

While you'll hopefully never intuit a sudden death you can give the unthinkable a lot of thought. Then, when something doesn't seem quite right, you'll feel it. Even better you'll already have a plan.

Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted.
Dr. Randy Pausch

This young, brilliant, dying professor speaking at a final class lecture at Carnegie Mellon was not talking about business. He was talking about life. But if you’re like me and business is life you immediately started thinking of the times experience was all you got.

Then it hit me. Most experience should only be experienced once.

Starting a company on a shoestring (or in a garage or fill in the blank) is very risky. If it hasn’t worked for you before maybe a lot more planning is required. The newspapers are filled with rags to riches stories? No they’re not. They are filled with stories about the same few companies that actually become successful.

“Hired” family because they were free? Nothing’s free. Free workers don’t always feel committed, leave without notice for a real job or cause more problems than they solve. If it hasn’t worked for you reconsider the notion of a family business that is handed down through the generations.

(If working alone is what you’ve always wanted skip to the next paragraph.) When you are the only person in your company actually bringing in money you are simply an employee who pays all the bills. If the huge responsibility and long hours and lack of freedom hasn’t worked for you then come to terms with needing staff, outside professional help and plenty of income to cover those bills.

I won’t tell which of these I have experienced more than once.

There are lots of other examples: Turning over all the bookkeeping/accounting responsibility to an employee, forgetting the financial goals of the company are completely separate from personal financial goals, getting a venture capitalist involved and pretending you still own the company, telling yourself that sales is for people who don’t have a great product or service.

As I thought about all the experience I had and committed to not having again I remembered another famous quote.

Sometimes you just might find you get what you need.
The Rolling Stones

Business and Government Connections host, Karen Rogalski, will talk with leadership author Michelle Randall about her latest book, "Winning Without Compromising", March 7, 2008.

Michelle Randall the author of Winning without Compromising has been working with political leaders, elected officials and other dignitaries. A former executive herself, she is an executive coach and small business owner. There are many similarities between political people who have positional power and the owner of a company.

As Abraham Lincoln once wrote “If you want to test a man’s character, give him power.” This is true in business and in government. In this interview you will learn why positional power is not enough to take your business to the next level. Ms. Randall will demonstrate how personal power is more important and give you a guideline on how to develop your own personal power.

Examples that Ms. Randall has to offer came from hard learned lessons that government officials learned first hand. How does colliding values and professional ethics influence your business development?

This is a thought provoking show for taking your life and your business to the next level.

Learn about Michelle Randall:
Michelle Randall is a leadership author, executive coach and business owner. Michelle has been a pioneer in bringing executive coaching to the political arena, especially in her work with members of the U.S. House of Representatives and state legislative leaders as they transition into office and begin to build a foundation for success. She is the editor and co-author of the book “Winning Without Compromising…Yourself: Unlocking personal and professional mastery in the political arena” (Salon Press, 2007). Michelle also works in the business world, coaching business owners and their teams. She has an MBA, is a graduate of the Coaches Training Institute and is accredited through the International Coach Federation.