Ex businessman with ideas to 'Make America great again'

Here are some ideas from an ex businessman on how to ‘Make America Great Again’;

• Low business taxes
• Get other countries to share the burden of American defence spending
• Reorganise and lower the cost of Medical Insurance
• Level the playing field in international trade
• Invest in infrastructure projects

Sound familiar?

Leaving the 'wall' and immigration controls aside, it could be lifted straight from Donald Trump’s manifesto. These in fact are all ideas espoused by Lee Iacocca, then President of Chrysler in the 1980s.

I’ve just finished reading Lee’s autobiography, the modestly titled ‘Iacocca’, written more than 30 years ago. It charts his rise to be number 2 at Ford and his fractious relationship with Henry Ford II.

He was eventually unceremoniously sacked when Henry decided they could no longer work together. Within weeks he was recruited to run the ailing Chrysler business. He quickly found this was a poisoned chalice with the financial situation much worse than he had imagined. With guts, drive and sheer force of personality he managed to achieve ‘equality of sacrifice’ with management, workers, suppliers and banks all tightening their belts. With the help of a hard-won government loan guarantee he managed to turn the company around, paying off the loans early and restoring profitability.

Lee was an engineer by training and a marketeer by inclination. The son of Italian immigrants he believed in the virtues of education, hard work and ‘doing’ rather than just thinking. His politics may sound conservative but he was much more nuanced than that. If anything he leaned more to the left politically and was supportive of targeted government support for industry if it was in the national interest. He was also a strong believer in balancing the books and concerted effort to reduce the national deficit.

One of the final chapters of the book is entitled, ‘Making America great again’. In his heyday Lee was seen by some as a potential future president. Politics wasn’t for him though. He preferred the cut and thrust of business and being able to make and implement decisions quickly.

Another ex businessman is now shaking things up at the White House and at least some of his ideas bear a striking similarity to those of his older contemporary.

www.base52.co.uk

Back on the tools again

The aim of every business owner is to make themselves redundant.

Or it should be.

Over time the lucky ones, or perhaps the more organised and determined ones manage to delegate much of their activity to a capable and loyal team. Their role becomes more of being a guardian of the business. Making sure it still runs smoothly, managing growth and fixing problems.

Problems. Yes, inevitably they crop up. Stuff happens. Again, the savvy entrepreneur is selective about problems they get involved in. The tendency may be to roll up their sleeves and get stuck in if something is not working well. That may not always be the best thing. Giving the team the knowledge and the scope to fix things is a better and more sustainable long term solution.

Occasionally though something comes along which can't be left alone. Maybe a big systems failure or key staff leaving and client service beginning to suffer. In these most extreme cases the only solution might be for the business owner to get stuck in. Effectively to 'get back on the tools' again. The tools might be a paintbrush and roller, an Excel spreadsheet, an HGV or hairdressers' scissors. Whatever you need to deliver your product or service to your customers

At first it feels odd. You are a little rusty. Things have moved on a bit and you need to get used to some new technology or a new way of working. Then it starts to flow. You've still got it. This is fun! This is what I used to do. It's why I started this business. It's what I'm good at.

This is the time that the sensible business owner will pause and think about the longer term. Staying on the tools may be comfortable, familiar and rewarding. But it will take your energy and focus away from where it should be - developing and sustaining the business. So it needs to be a short term thing.

The day you start back on the tools is the day you should start planning to get back off them. Otherwise you might get stuck. Your business will stay small or you will start to burn out - doing too much of everything

For a short time it can be fun while it lasts and reassuring to know that you still have what it takes. But don't let it trap you....

https://www.base52.co.uk/services/consultancy

My 'big 3' for business success

What makes an enduring, successful business?

Well lots of things. There is no magic formula. For most small businesses, success and longevity is down to the drive and commitment of the business owner. More often than not, that's a single individual, the founder - or maybe a small group of 2 or 3. If they are lucky, they are supported by a capable and loyal team.

That's fine but what attributes must the owner have to achieve sustained success over several years? I've boiled it down to three, based on working with and observing successful business owners over the years.

The first attribute is focus. The business is the most important thing in their lives. Ok, family first, but its a close second. It's an obsession. They are never 'off'. If it's a choice of missing a nice relaxing weekend away or finding time to prepare that urgent proposal, the proposal wins. There might be tension with loved ones due to the owner's inability to switch off. Their reading list is business books so even when taking time out they are learning. On holiday they observe other businesses, see how they act, what they do, see what can be applied to their own business. They will always put the business first. That's their main focus. It beats everything else.

The next attribute is resilience. Often things don't go right. A key employee leaves, computers break down, a big client moves to a competitor, business partners fall out. The owner needs to fix it and move on. Sure they might get upset. They might rant and rave and moan and gnash their teeth. But eventually they need to take the medicine, face the problem and get on with the next thing. Here's where having a great support network helps. For most people it might be their spouse or it could be a trusted employee or business pal. Someone to listen and give you perspective. It's then up to the owner to just get on with it.

My last attribute for a successful business owner is being 'sales-minded'. You can be the greatest technician in the world - the best widget-maker, best accountant, best carpenter, best project manager, best shopkeeper, but if you can't find customers and sell to them, you don't have a business. So sales and selling needs to be part of your make up. Not everyone who starts a business is a natural salesperson. But I would argue they need to learn fast. They need to put a lot of thought into why their product or service is different and what price they should sell at. And they need to sell.

There is another attribute which didn't quite make my top 3 but is very important. That's watching the money and the numbers and ensuring the business finances are well managed. You would expect an accountant to squeeze that one in wouldn't you?

So that's my top 3 attributes for business success (or 4 if you include financial management). Following these may not guarantee success but will I think be a step in the right direction.

www.base52.co.uk

Let's dance!

When I was coming up to 40 I learned to juggle. 

A set of juggling balls appeared in my Christmas stocking with a little instruction book. So I thought, 'Let's do this'. Following the little book I practised for 5 or ten minutes a day. The first attempts were pretty hopeless but then gradually I started to get the hang of it. Starting with 2 balls, then (with a struggle) moving to 3, then clubs, then rings, then a few tricks. I never mastered 4 balls though and soon stopped practising.

Twenty years on I can still do a basic three ball juggle but that's about it. If I had kept practising, who knows I may have had a second career as a street entertainer in Covent Garden.

So what, you may say. Well, it kind of stuck with me that something that seems impossible can be achieved with practice and consistent effort for just a few minutes a day. Not rocket science I know but it works for me.

So l'm doing the same thing now with dance. Dancing is not my thing. I'm really, really bad at it. Which is very annoying considering I am part of a large family where all my siblings are naturally good dancers. I just missed out on the dancing genes.

A few weeks ago I was asked to join in for a charity dance event. Me and eleven other novices have been paired with 12 people who can dance. We get a month to practice and then we perform at a glitzy event. A bit like a local, low budget Strictly Come Dancing.

I know that I will never be the next Anton du Beke and will probably never reach even Ed Balls standard (No offence Ed - I think you did really well). At my first lesson I quite literally was unable to move my feet. A couple of weeks on and with daily practice, I can see some progress. That's a wonderful feeling. Going from no knowledge and no proficiency to the semblance of a routine in a short space of time.

I'm not sure how the event will go but whatever happens I will have gained on a personal level. I've made a new friend in my long suffering and patient dance partner, I've started to learn a new skill and who knows, at the next family gathering I might be able to give my dancing siblings more of a run for their money.

I think the lesson for me is that it's never too late to learn something new. You may not reach dizzy heights of brilliance but great enjoyment and satisfaction can be gained from achieving your own personal goals

Oh the charity we are dancing for is Pancreatic Cancer Research. If you are able to support this cause with a small donation I would be really grateful

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/fredhcd

A lesson in value

It sounds rather grand but for the last few years I have hired someone to help with the gardening. It's never been my favourite thing, more a chore than a hobby, so getting some help to do the pruning and heavy lifting seems to make good sense.

The chap I have been working with is his own man and he works around his own schedule. I've tried to book him for specific times in advance but he prefers to keep it more flexible. So it turns out that when I need him he's not always available and when I don't need him (in the depths of winter) I get a text asking if we have any work.

That said, he knows his plants and generally his work is tidy and he's reasonably efficient. His hourly rate is quite high but all in all, he is reasonable value for money.

I was walking to town the other day and saw a young chap with a hedge trimmer attacking my neighbour's privet. I stopped for a chat and found out he charged half the hourly rate of my man. This seemed too good to miss so as the garden needed a tidy up I arranged for the young man to come along and have a look. We had a chat about what needed doing and arranged a time.

Big mistake! Turns out this chap is basically a 'man with a lopper' who appears to know nothing about plants. He has butchered the Rosemary at the side of our steps so it has gone from being a luxuriant shrub to a misshapen bunch of leafless twigs. He carved all the flowering heads off the Buddleia to leave a sorry looking clump of withered leaves and he left when the bin was full of debris so one half of the garden was untouched and half was left scarred by his indiscriminate attack.

As the saying goes, 'You get what you pay for'. My new guy was cheap, but an unmitigated disaster. He sent me a text asking if I would like him to come round and finish the other half. I have gently said that I have this covered

So I am back with my somewhat inflexible but knowledgeable and expensive original gardener. I rather sheepishly told him about my trial with the other chap and he took a little too much pleasure in letting me know what a mess he had made. I think I heard him whistling and chortling while he went about his work.

So a few lessons learned there but the main one being that 'cheap' isn't necessarily good value. I will take a little more care next time I think something is too good to miss.

www.base52.co.uk

Join our VAT simplification scheme - oops no, that's aggressive tax abuse

The VAT Flat Rate scheme was introduced by HMRC in 2002 as a 'simplification scheme'. The idea being that it was simple and beneficial for the small businesses who were eligible to participate and simpler for HMRC in terms of compliance. Essentially the way it works is that a business pays a lower 'flat rate' VAT to HMRC which varies according to their sector. As a trade off the businesses are not able to recover any VAT on expenditure. So a win/win and small businesses signed up for the flat rate scheme in droves. HMRC even offered a 1% discount on the flat rate for the first year of VAT registration.

So all this changed in the last Autumn statement. HMRC have introduced a new concept of a 'Limited Cost Trader' to describe businesses which have minimal expenditure on HMRC's definition of 'goods'. For these businesses they will need to use a new flat rate of 16.5% of VAT inclusive turnover which by my maths comes out at 19.8%. Er...no thank you, we might give that a miss. 

That's all fine but instead of HMRC saying they got it wrong initially and the rates were too generous (even without the 1% first year discount they threw in) or that economic circumstances have changed, low and behold, HMRC have blamed it all on the businesses who took up the scheme.  There is a Technical Note on HMRC's website with the heading, 'Tackling aggressive abuse of the VAT Flat Rate Scheme'  - as if these businesses were doing something wrong? I'm struggling to understand what is aggressive or abusive about adopting a scheme which HMRC devised and promoted and then changed their minds about.

For many businesses the best option will be to revert to standard VAT accounting and recover VAT on their expenses. Depending on their turnover and business sector some businesses will be a few thousand pounds worse off each year as a result of this change. Coming on the back of the dividend tax introduced last April and pensions auto enrolment it's another unwelcome burden for some of the smallest of small businesses. Implying that it was their fault that the scheme is being changed adds insult to injury.

www.base52.co.uk