As a Maine-based small business owner, you know that even the most successful companies can get caught in a rut now and then: a vicious cycle of status-quo marketing and current-customer dependence. If this sounds familiar, it might be time to take action to help increase sales and profits. Here are five tips to get  Continue Reading »

In order for lenders to award credit, they need to see detailed budgets, including cash flow forecasts. These have to include realistic projections, not guesses at profit and revenues. Cash flow projections are especially important as they show how small businesses intend to pay back their loans. Even if a Maine-based small business isn’t looking  Continue Reading »

2014 might not have had a very active hurricane season, but it did have its fair share of other natural and manmade disasters, including blizzards, wildfires, mudslides, and riots. These tragedies serve as sobering reminders to always expect the unexpected. When it comes to your Maine-based business, it’s important to remember that it could become  Continue Reading »

Many Maine-based small business owners assume their companies are less susceptible to fraud than large corporations. It seems like their operations are more tightly controlled, with many trustworthy and longtime employees on the payroll. Unfortunately, however, this is not true. According to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) Report to the Nations on Occupational Fraud  Continue Reading »

Many Maine-based small business owners want to develop a company mission statement. They realize that a good one can highlight products and services, as well as align employees around a common vision. But the truth is that many mission statements fail, becoming nothing more than a paragraph within a company handbook. The reason why mission  Continue Reading »

As a Maine-based small business owner, you may be wondering if you can write off bad debts at tax time. Since cash-basis companies don’t recognize revenue until it’s received, and therefore wouldn’t have anything on the books to deduct, only businesses that record income on an accrual basis can write off uncollectible accounts. These accrual-based  Continue Reading »

As all small business owners know, no sale is really a sale until the money is in. Most businesses no longer operate on a cash and carry basis, so customers buy on credit. This means that often the receipt of that money is delayed. Every time a company extends credit it takes a risk that  Continue Reading »

The word “free” is a very effective tool and can help Maine-based small businesses attract attention, bring customers to Web sites and boost volume. In fact, some experts say the word pulls in more business than any other term in advertising. However, small business owners cannot use the word any way they want. Federal and  Continue Reading »

Baby boomer business owners in the United States are looking to turn their years of sweat and toil into cash for retirement, but the faltering economy rapidly turned the seller’s market of a few years ago into a buyer’s market, negatively impacting value. Adding to their woes, the large number of baby boomers who own  Continue Reading »

Credit sales are a fact of business life. An important skill that Maine-based small business owners develop is maintaining the balance between the total cost of bad debts and profit gains. As a small business owner, you need to constantly monitor your total receivables and bad debts. Part of the process involves weighing the benefits  Continue Reading »