Kim B. Stoneking, CAE provides corporate, executive and individual coaching as part of Catalist Consulting.  Kim partners with clients by helping them to accelerate profitability by realizing greater potential, personally and professionally.

We’re sure you know that Babe Ruth held the career home run record for decades, but did you know that he also held the record for the most strike outs? He was known to say, “Every strike brings me closer to the next home run.” Wise words from a fearless man.

How often do you let fear of “striking out” get in your way? Whether you’re picking up the phone to call a brand new prospect or putting the finishing touches on your next proposal, how does fear affect you? Here are 5 good things about failing:

1.  If you’re failing, at least you’re working. You should be using failure as a measure toward success. Here’s an example to show how it works: If your goal is to gain 5 clients by making 50 individual sales presentations, you should learn to like a “no.” It only means that very next meeting could be your “yes.” What do you do when you get a “no?”

2. If you’re failing, you should be learning. View every failure as a learning opportunity. We’ll bet you dollars to donuts that when most successful consultants and coaches were first starting out, they were evaluating every call that resulted in a “no.” They were thinking about what was said in the previous call that could help them do better in the next one. How are you learning from your failures?

3. If you’re failing, there’s help for the asking. There’s always room for improvement in whatever you do. Failing to achieve a goal is a great time to reach out to a friend, mentor, colleague, or coach to share that failure, ask some questions, express those fears, seek out best practices. When is the last time you reached out for help when you failed?

4. Failure can make you look good. Yes, we said it, and let’s say it again … Failure can make you look good! How? Because it makes you look human. Others respond to humanity. People want to help. If they see or sense your struggles or fears, they’ll do the best they can to alleviate them for you … if you reciprocate and do the same for others. When is the last time you spied a fear and took action to help someone through it?

5. You are not alone. We all fail … some more spectacularly than others. You could even venture to say that our culture is absolutely fascinated by failure. Take a quick look through reality TV and you’ll see what we mean. While you might not want to show up on YouTube, you can take solace from the fact that we are all inherently human and humans are born to make mistakes. You’re in good company!

6. Failure creates winners. There are countless stories of people who have overcome adversity to rise above and win against all odds. What makes their stories so compelling is their persistence and perseverance … their ability to let nothing get in their way when they have a goal in sight. Yoda had it pegged: “Do or do not. There is no try.”

Are you ready to do?

Note: Subsidies are only available for people purchasing coverage on their own in the Exchange (not through an employer). All individuals and families with incomes at or below 133% of the federal poverty level will be eligible for Medicaid. Others with higher incomes may also be eligible, depending on rules that vary by state.

Subsidies will help individuals and families whose income are less than or up to 400% of the FPL. CLICK HERE to see what your insurance premiums could be on the private exchanges and if or how much subsidy you will receive.

March 13, 2013 Dan Lacy

Stages of Business Growth – Stage 3 – Delegation

Preface – these articles on stages of business growth are guidelines – so use them with some flexibility.  They are also based on number of employees and not annual revenue because different industries will generate different levels of revenue based on employee count.  If you are looking for sales by paid employee for your industry, contact me I have a complete list.  We will cover the following stages:

• Stage 1 – 1 – 10 employees – The One Person Show
• Stage 2 – 11-30 employees – The Ramp Up
• Stage 3 – 31 – 50 employees – Delegation
• Stage 4 -  51 – 70 employees – People Crunch
• Stage 5 -  71 – 125 employees – Professional
• Stage 6 – 126+ employees – Visionary

We have titled this stage of growth “Delegation” because we have between 31 – 50 employees.  The company is no longer CEO-Centric, it is other people growing the company.  The CEO currently has or is working on getting all the right people on the bus in the right seat (Jim Collins – Good to Great).  This stage is a critical stage of growth; it is now more about people (hiring, managing, mentoring, growing) than anything else.  The founder/owner’s role is rapidly changing from doing everything to managing everything.

Management/organizational

The CEO continues to delegate more responsibility to keep up with the growth of the company.  A majority of them now have a formalized management structure with 2 layers of managers with three managers reporting directly to them.  The CEO is meeting regularly with his top managers and mentoring them on how to manage their employees more effectively.  Changes have occurred though. Your employees are a bit harder to manage, they push back more often, their attitude hits you in the face when you least expect it, and you seem to be at odds with them more often than not.

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February 15, 2012 Dan Lacy

One of the biggest challenges facing businesses next year will be Obamacare.  All of us want to understand how this new law will impact our business. The following was found in the March 2013 issue of INC magazine.  It gives a good basic outline of how the program is going to work.  It will impact every business one way or another. ( To watch some VIDEO Overviews, check out this YouTube Channel CLICK HERE )

AFFORDABLE

Employer-based coverage is considered affordable if the lowest-cost single-coverage-age option does not exceed 9.5 percent of an employee’s W2 wages.  If the coverage doesn’t meet the affordability requirement, the employee could be eligible for a tax credit for health premiums – and the employer can be hit with a $3,000 penalty for any full-timer who gets the credit.

Common Control

No, you cannot break your 60-person business into two 30-person companies in order to avoid the large-employer mandate.  For purposes of determining “large employer” status, the ACA (Affordable Care Act) makes clear that a group of companies under common control are to be treated as a single company.  “The owner of, say, both a car-repair shop and a bowling alley are going to be shocked.”  Says Warren Kingsley, of theAtlantalaw firm Arnall Golden Gregory. ( For some solutions to this Issue, check THIS OUT )

DEPENDENT

The ACA requires large employers to offer health coverage to the dependents of employees.  According to the IRS proposed regulations put out in January, dependents are defined as children under age 26.  There is no requirement to offer coverage to an employee’s spouse.

FULL-TIME EQUIVALENT ( for an easy to use flow chart & calculation tool, CLICK HERE )

A full-time employee is anyone on your pay-roll who works an average of 30 hours or more a week.  But under the ACA, you also must include part-timers in your company head count.  For example, two half-timers equal one full-timer, so a business with 40 full-timers and 20 half-timers would have 50 full-time-equivalent employees, or FTEs, and thus world have to offer health benefits or pay a penalty.  Note:  The law does not require employers to cover part-time workers – only to count them in determining their ‘large employer” status.

GRANDFATHERED PLAN ( Click here for VIDEO )

Employer health plans that were in effect on march 23, 2010, and haven’t significantly reduced benefits or increased employee costs may be considered “grandfathered” and exempt from certain provisions in the health care law, such as the requirement to provide 100 percent coverage for preventive care.

LARGE EMPLOYER (Click Here for More Resources for Large Employers)

A company with 50 or more full-time-equivalent employees is considered large.  Only large employers are subject to the ACA’s “play or pay” mandate to provide affordable health coverage or pay a range of penalties.(Editors note- this is in conflict with what the SBA considers a large company). –  For SELF FUNDED COMPANIES CLICK HERE

LOOK-BACK PROVISION

An employee’s status as a full-timer is determined by looking back at a defined period of three to 12 months, as chosen by the employer.  Any employee on your payroll for an average of 30 hours a week or more during that period is considered full time.  “If you need to make adjustments, the planning needs to happen how,” says Katy Stowers, an attorney at FirstPerson Advisors inIndianapolis.

MINIMUM VALUE

The ACA requires large employers to cover at least 60 percent of an employee’s total health care costs-not just premiums but co-pays, deductibles, and other qualified out-of-pocket spending.  If coverage does not meet that minimum value, the employee could be eligible for received a premium tax credit – and the employer could be hit with a $3,000 penalty for any full-timer who gets the credit.

SHOP EXCHANGE (for more information on Exchanges, CLICK HERE)

Beginning in 2014, each state is supposed to offer small employers access to a Small Business Health Options Program, or SHOP, exchange that offers a variety of qualified health plans.  Different states define small differently.

SMALL-BUSINESS HEALTH CARE TAX CREDIT (for Small Employer resources CLICK HERE)

Businesses that cover at least half of the cost of single coverage for their employees, have fewer than 25 full-time-equivalent works, and have average wages of less than $50,000 a year may qualify for a tax credit of up to 50 percent of employer-paid premiums.

Government has no business being in the private sector, this will create yet another drag on business and economic recovery.   It will also create another IRS like set of auditors that will be going through businesses books.

Have a great week,

Dan Lacy

The Prophet of Profit

An Overview of the ZaneHRA Technology CLICK HERE:

To get a proposal to calculate how a GroupHRA could help your company or to setup a GROUP Exchange CLICK HERE

If you are an Individual and would like to SHOP the CATALIST PRIVATE EXCHANGE CLICK HERE,

If you are an EMPLOYER who would like to facilitate the ability for your employees to enroll in the INDIVIDUAL PRIVATE EXCHANGE CLICK HERE

Why do some businesses succeed while others struggle and some fail?  According to a study by Robert Morris and Associates (who analyze thousands of business financial statements a year), in nearly every industry segment, the top 25% of businesses make 2X – 3X more money than those in the next 50% and 6X – 8X more money than the bottom 25%.  Here are my observations as to why businesses struggle:

1. It’s a Tough Job.

• ​The job of a CEO changes as the company grows.
• The skill set for a $1M company is much different than that of a $3M company or of a $10M company.
• Most businesses will grow to the CEO’s ability to manage people and money.
• Being a CEO is one of the most challenging and lonely jobs in America.

​Continue Reading

I was meeting with a client today and we were discussing, of all things….GOLF.  Not that unusual of a topic as Spring approaches, but it was unusual for us as neither of us really enjoy the sport.  During my days as a Lobbyist, I played much more than I do now as I was expected to play in a number of political type events.

As we talked about the frustrations of the game (bend your knees, straighten your knees, rotate your hands, move your hands back, move your feet forward, move back, fanny in, fanny out, etc)  we realized that there was one thing that kept us going back to the golf course……it was the remembrance of that GREAT SHOT! Well, for me, it was also the fact that no one would buy my clubs and they were too big for the trash compacter, but yes – there was that expectation that I could make another unbelievable shot!!

For me, there are 2 shots I made at separate outings that are forever etched in my memory.  One at a golf course in Lafayette, and the other at Eagle Creek in Indianapolis.  The first was a chip shot of about 30 yards to the edge of the green and then a downhill break to the right towards the hole.   I actually put it in the hole on my shot.  The second came after our “best” tee shot put us in no-where land.  The green was out of sight, up a hill, and over several very tall trees. To make a long story shot, I made the shot of my life.  The ball went high, cleared the trees and had just enough to make it to the green and it rolled within a few feet of the hole.

So yes, I still will play the game of golf knowing that I am more than capable of making that next great shot.

Doesn’t this apply as well to our business?  The next time you’re running on empty, up to you eyebrows in rejections, the lack of motivation to get out of bed to face one more prospect……remember your “great shots”……that big sale you couldn’t believe you made, the client you helped, a reward your earned, the referral that landed a big client for your business, and much, much more.   I can’t tell you how many times a golf shot has left me in a similar predicament as the ones described earlier.  And, every time, I can approach the ball knowing that I am capable of repeating that great shot I made before.

Take the time today to remember your successes and get back out there on the course!

February 13, 2013 Dan Lacy

Preface – these articles on stages of business growth are guidelines – so use them with some flexibility.  They are also based on the number of employees and not annual revenue because different industries will generate different levels of revenue based on employee count.  If you are looking for sales by paid employee for your industry, contact me I have a complete list.  We will cover the following stages:

• Stage 1 – 1 – 10 employees – The One Person Show
• Stage 2 – 11-30 employees – The Ramp Up
• Stage 3 – 31 – 50 employees – Delegation
• Stage 4 -  51 – 70 employees – People Crunch
• Stage 5 -  71 – 125 employees – Professional
• Stage 6 – 126+ employees = Visionary

STAGE 2 The Ramp Up

At this stage, the company is starting to grow and will have between 11 and 30 full time employees.  Revenue is more consistent because there is either a successful product or service.  Cash flow is still a challenge because the company is growing and the addition of higher paid, more qualified people can deplete cash resources if not properly balanced staged-in with revenue growth.  The day-to-day operations of the company are taking more time and the CEO is looking for qualified people who can take over those key responsibilities.

Management/organizational

The CEO is starting to departmentalize the business.  There is a formal organizational structure with hired department managers reporting directly to the CEO.  The CEO is now meeting with these managers on strategic and tactical decisions.  More of the CEO’s time is spent in meetings and how to get the get the most out of the employees.   The more the CEO delegates, the more they realize the importance of hiring the best people possible. The CEO is also realizing that they need more knowledge about financial and management issues than ever before.  A lot of CEO’s will get burned-out in this stage because they struggle making the transition to the Delegation stage and their business stagnates here.

Marketing/sales

The revenue in the company is growing and the average number of customers triples in this stage.   The CEO has now hired one to three sales people and must now learn to become a sales manager.  Each sales person should have weekly or monthly sales goals, turn in weekly sales call reports, and have monthly face-to-face meetings with the sales manager. Marketing planning is becoming much more important because the marketing budget is getting much bigger.  The company is thinking about how to track marketing activity.

Product and/or Service

There is an expansion into new markets and more time is spent in developing new products/services.  This aspect of the business now needs a full time manager and the CEO will spend time mentoring this person in the key functions.  Providing quality products or services is still the key to the success of the business and operations person must maintain the same level as the CEO provided while doing that function.

Finance

As the company continues to grow, managing profit and cash flow is still critical (growing businesses consume large amounts of cash).  The financial function of the business has now gotten more complex: balancing a/r and a/p, borrowing base certificates, working capital, current ratio and debt to worth covenants, financing long term assets, banker reviews and outside CPA interface. Also, the CEO can no longer blindly follow tax advice, they must understand the relationship between profit, equity growth, debt service coverage, funding growth and lending requirements.

The CEO is now considering the viability of an annual budget and monthly cash flow forecast.  The company should have a strong book keeper in place or at least outsource the bookkeeping function working towards a competent controller.  The accuracy and timeliness of financial statements have now become very important – more people are relying on them to measure the progress and viability of the business.

Challenges in this stage

• Continued profit and cash flow challenges as revenue grows
• Limited capital to grow
• Hiring quality staff
• Leadership/staff communications gap
• Delegation and mentoring managers
• Strategic planning
• Hiring and retaining good employees
• Marketing and sales
• Adequate financial planning
• Vision and strategic thinking and planning

What to do to get to the next stage

People and cash flow (profitability) continue to be the critical ingredients of getting the company to the next level.  Systems need to be in place for every aspect of the business: sales/marketing; operations and finance.

Every employee becomes critical and an effective method of evaluating their ROI to the company becomes mandatory.  Many times long time employees will need to be evaluated.  The company will want to hire (or replace) qualified people that can grow in their roles.  People management becomes more and more critical.  Up to this point in the company’s history, it’s been CEO-centric – the passion, vision, blood, sweat and tears have carried the company successfully to this point.   When the company hits 25-30, a shift will occur and it’s the employees that drive the company forward.

Have a great and profitable week,

Dan Lacy

The Prophet of Profits

P.S. If you cringed reading the financial section of this stage, I have a work shop starting February 27 that will give you a finance MBA in 9 weeks.  I also guarantee that you will increase the profit in your company 20% or $25,000 whatever is more in 2013.   The group size is kept small to provide a better learning environment; but we have a few seats left.  Call me if you are interested and I will field your questions – 765-644-8887.

 This session is free to those who register http://askdanlacy.eventbrite.com/

This workshop will cover the following subjects:

• The 8 reasons that most businesses struggle and never reach their potential
• What business function is the least understood and causes the most damage
• This tool can punch up your profitability $25k – $100k this year
• Why your profit paradigm will impact your businesses performance
• How your tax accountants’ advice can derail & stunt your business
• What are the real chances of reaching millionaire status from business ownership
• Learn the two tools your competition uses against you
• Growing businesses will falter without knowing this simple principle
• Are your financial statements “friend” or “foe”?
• How to get everything you wanted from your banker/lender
• You will learn 7 tactics about managing business growth
• Each attendee will receive Dan’s latest book “6 Secrets of Business Success”

Dan has mentored and coached hundreds of business owners in manufacturing, construction, service and wholesale industries.  Scores of business owners have participated in his seminars and workshops to enhance their financial knowledge and acumen. To date 21 clients have increased their personal net worth by at least $1,000,000.   Dan’s clients are the recipients of numerous prestigious awards: Entrepreneur Business of the Year, SBA Business of the Year, Impact 100, PACE, Growth 100 and INC. 500 Fastest Growing Companies.

I am also speaking at the Business Growth Conference March 21.  there are over 96 breakout sessions.  Get your free pass here   .

As a result of our partnership with Revenue North we have secured some FREE PASSES and would like to invite you to be our guest at what may be the largest Business Growth Conference in the history of Indiana! On March 21st, over 80 Indiana experts will be presenting 96 breakout sessions in sales, marketing, customer retention, access to capital and much more. At this training focused event, speakers are not permitted to pitch! To see the amazing lineup of speakers and sessions, visit RevenueNorth.com and register FREE using our promo code:A27RH6.
This event will sell out so REGISTER NOW!

CATALIST CONSULTING & VANTAGE GROUP

Presents

“The   Executive Leadership Process:

A   Targeted Class for Non-Profit Execs”

Learn,   interact and network with other executives through 9 developmental session. Sessions   will be scheduled 7-14 days apart.  Topics   will include:

•   The ever-changing executive role
•   Turning solutions into action
•   Transactional analysis
•   Goal setting for success: personal and organizational goal setting
•   Self and organizational evaluation

•   Managing your time
•   Communication & decision making
•   Dealing with negative attitudes and behaviors
•   Productivity & Self Assessments
•   And More!!!

  Kick-Off Date:   Tuesday, March 5, 2013 (dates for the other 8 sessions will be selected at a time   convenient for all attendees)

Time:   3:00 to 4:30 p.m.

Place: Lake City Bank

100 W. 96^th Street,   Indpls., IN   (96^th Street & Meridian)

Total Investment: $875.  Includes everything: audio & written   program content, personal action plan, & unlimited consultations with the   facilitator!

  Kim   B. Stoneking, CAE is the owner of Vantage Group.  As a corporate, executive, and individual   coach, he partners with clients to help them accelerate profitability and   success by achieving greater potential. Kim has more than 20 years’   experience as the executive director of various non-profit organizations.

-Register Today-

Name:_______________________________________  Company:____________________________________

Email: _______________________________________________  Phone: ______________________________

*____Yes, invoice me via Paypal to the email address provided.  (you are not required to have a Paypal   account)

*$400 deposit due by March 1, 2013.     Balance will be invoiced & due by March 30, 2013

Reserve   your spot!  Return to:  stonekingkim@gmail.com before February 26, 2013

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