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Welcome to the
Next Step Solutions E-Newsletter!
 Dear Margaret,
Happy Friday! Hope
you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Our gathering was small, but
wonderful, with family and a close friend. I managed to trash the
kitchen, as usual, but I had a heck of a good time! I do love to cook and
this has become my major culinary event of the year.
Now, get ready for December! A big month for all of us,
regardless of which winter holiday we celebrate. For most of us, that
holiday is Christmas. Even as we were still making leftover turkey
sandwiches (the best part, IMHO), the holiday lights were going up all
around us. As the song goes, "It's beginning to look a lot like
Christmas."
For those of us with businesses to run, it's the last month
of the quarter and the year. Time to sprint to a big finish! It's also
time to begin planning for the new year. Throw in those holiday
celebrations, and we are all running at top speed.
In this newsletter, as always, we are offering our business
tips and ideas. (Please don't miss the special offer, just for our
readers, included below.) It is our hope that we will give you food
for thought and maybe some good ideas to apply to your business. Let us
know what you think and have a great December!
Next Step in the
Press Again!
by Margaret and
Dennis Purvine
 We are delighted to report that our latest
column, "Listen to the stories your financial statements
tell", has just been published in the Puget Sound Business
Journal. You will find it in the November 30, 2007 issue, both print and
online. Please be aware that the online version is restricted to print
subscribers only for the first 30 days. After that time, it is available
online to all.
Here is a short excerpt to pique your interest! If you are
interested in reading the entire article, click
here. And please let us know what you think!
"Financial statements tell the story of a business. It
can be a story of stellar success or a warning of looming crisis. The
numbers are not just financial details, but form actual shapes that offer
information to help an owner keep his/her business on track. Here's an
example."
Just for our
readers - another financial statement story
by Dennis
Purvine
 Writing a column for the Puget Sound
Business Journal is great, but it does impose serious space restrictions.
We've had to absorb the concept of "word economy". That
necessitates a lot of cuts in our articles and keeping examples to a very
bare minimum. On this most recent subject, I have lots of stories to
tell! So, exclusively for you, our e-newsletter readers, here is one more
very instructive story. Once upon a time...
Taking a look at financial statements and helping my clients
interpret their information is a standard part of my consulting practice.
In working with one particular client, a reseller of several related
product lines, I noticed something missing. His income statement
reflected sales and costs by product line, but only a grand total for
gross profit. I wanted to delve deeper.
Using a spreadsheet, I split out the gross profit number to
show gross profit by product line. What emerged was a clear picture of 5
very profitable product lines and one that was clearly not. Displaying
the information in a graph allowed my client to see this very clearly. He
also shared the information that this particular product line was the one
that gave him the most headaches. This begged the obvious question. Why
continue selling it?
My client dropped the troublesome and unprofitable product
line. Being able to see this key information emerge from his financial
data allowed him to make a management decision based on real data, rather
than on a gut feeling. Ultimately, this view of my client's sales and
profits was so helpful that they made a change in their financial
statements, producing separate income statements for each product line as
well as one for everything.
Moral of the story? Reading your financial statements
regularly, interpreting the data in a meaningful way, and paying
attention to the information that emerges gives you, the business owner,
the power of knowledge. You will be able to make better management
decisions for your business and, ultimately, make more money. To quote
Martha, "That's a good thing."
Special offer
for our eNews Readers!
Teleseminar -
January 8, 2008
To start the New
Year with a bang, we will be offering our popular seminar, The
Purpose-Driven Business, on January 8, 2008. To make it simple, we are
offering it as a teleseminar. Specific details - time and call-in numbers
- will be coming soon. By the way, if you have a preference on time of
day, please tell us.
Normally, this teleseminar costs $29.95. For our readers, we
are offering the opportunity to tune in at no charge. It's one way we can
say thank you for your interest and your subscription. If you are
interested in joining us, please send an email to
info@nextstepsolutions.com and we will make sure you are included on our
list of attendees!
Free Resources
from Next Step
Quotes from
movers and shakers
"Unless it
produces action, information is overhead."
Thomas Petzinger, Jr., Editor, Reporter and Weekly
Columnist, The Wall Street Journal
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