Posts by Matt Patrick
When should I have a separate legal entity for my small business?
I have previously written about the need to have a number of checking accounts, including a payroll checking account, when starting or running a small business. An additional suggestion I would make to owners who have more than one location, or legal entity or operate in multiple states is to set up a separate legal…
Read MoreHire Slowly: Why You Shouldn’t Rush to Hire That Next Person
As a business owner, I know firsthand how challenging it can be to hire the right people for your team. We’ve all been there—we desperately need someone to fill a role, and the pressure of being understaffed starts to take its toll on you and your team. It’s tempting to hire someone quickly just to…
Read MoreHow do you create leave policies that are generous and practical?
Leave policies are a delicate matter for any company. As a small business owner, I, like you, often struggle with the balance of what is truly expected and what, in my mind, is generous to my employees. I want to be fair, but also don’t want to be taken advantage of. I often fret over…
Read More10 “to do’s” you NEED to address when starting a new business
When I started thinking about opening my own firm, my initial priority was to decide what specific type of work I wanted to do, what tools I needed available to do the work, and I wondered if I could be financially successful enough to pay my bills. I also realized there was a bunch of…
Read MoreHow to set meaningful goals for 2023
I love the process of planning a trip or going on vacation. I enjoy mapping out the details of the agenda and the excitement it brings knowing the fun that lies ahead for those traveling with me. I think of year-end planning or goal setting in the same manner and with a similar process. I…
Read MoreWhy your HR technology isn’t actually causing your HR technology problem (and what to do about it)
About four years ago, we were referred to a potential client that had been using a large payroll provider. They had about 350 employees. The owners had been pretty hands-off in regard to how the HR and payroll departments were processing their bi-weekly payroll and thought everything was hunky dory. During our first meeting with…
Read MoreHow to pay yourself from your business
When I first started my business/firm in 2003, I didn’t know how I was supposed to pay myself. It was probably because I hadn’t paid enough attention in school, but I really didn’t know. I had worked in public accounting for seven years, and nearly all of that time was working on large businesses, so…
Read MoreFive hiring mistakes we’ve made (and what we learned from them)
Oh do I have stories for you about all of the stupid things I have done when trying to hire new employees… The list is S-U-P-E-R long. My favorite is the employee who was literally scared of computers. Not timid, not “not-techy”…actually scared. You would have thought that maybe just maybe we should have had…
Read MoreHow labor cost impacts your profitability
Like a number of our clients, we are a service-based business. Our ability to be profitable is based on our knowledge and technology, but most importantly, is tied to our team or labor costs. Almost all service-based businesses fall into this category. Labor costs are the most critical and highest expenses we incur, and are…
Read MoreTop 5 Ways to “Inflation-Proof” Your Business
I have been fortunate enough to be in business for 20 years now. During that time, I have not experienced a period of inflation like we are seeing today. If I could go back to the 70s and listen to my parents tell me about what life was like with 15-20% mortgage rates, crazy gas…
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