HERE IS A LIST OF BUSINESS RESOURCES THAT CATALIST CONSUTLING BRINGS TO YOU to help you get the right "ALLOY" This Network of Professionals are licensed appropriately in their proper capacity to practice their trades including but not limited to CPA's , Attorneys, Insurance Agents:
Accounting*/Finance
 Accounting/CPA services*
 Part-time Bookkeeping/Controller
 Debt or Capital Financing
 QuickBooks Training
 Cost / Expense Reduction & Analysis

Marketing
 Strategy/Planning/Budgeting
 Tactical Internet & Web Marketing
 E-Newsletter/Communications
 Press Releases
 Logo/Branding/Graphic & Web Design

Technology
 Network Admin/Support/IT Consulting
 Mobile Devices & Telephone Systems
 Data Center Services
 Software/Web Development
 Software Training

Human Resources
 Staffing/Recruiting
 Benefits/Health Insurance/Risk Management*
 Professional Employer Organization-PEO
 Job Descriptions/Policy Manuals
 Payroll

Coaching/ Management
 Sales Coaching
 Management Development
 Individual Coaching
 CEO Peer Group
 Advisory Boards


Professional Services*
 Patent* / Intellectual Property (IP)*
 Employment*
 Business Succession Planning*
 Estate Planning*


If you would like to ENGAGE CATALIST & it's VENDOR partners or would like more information on these services... Please CLICK HERE and complete this INFORMATION REQUEST FORM and return as instructed on the FORM.

Also, do you know of companies you would like to recommend? If so, please indicate ON THE FORM. If you have experienced outstanding service from a vendor, we would love to spread the word!

*the CATALIST network represents a list of representative vendors that CATALIST CONSULTING feels has met the TRUST requirements of CHARACTER, COMPETENCE, CHEMISTRY, and COMMUNICATION. CATALIST nor any of it's representatives do not practice Law or Public Accounting, these services are referred out and performed by Independant Licensed Attorneys & CPA's in good standing with their regulatory bodies. These referrals are made on a case by case basis after evaluating the client needs and personality, CATALIST then recommends the appropriate professional to perform their services. Benjamin J. McCann & Associates, LLC is a Licensed Entity for Life, Health, & Accident Insurance in the state of Indiana, Benjamin J. McCann & Associates, LLC has registered DBA(s) for CATALIST, CATALIST CONSULTING, & CATALIST VENDOR MANAGEMENT

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November 10, 2010
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Why We Don't Reach Our Goals - Accountability, Responsibility, Frustration

Magic wands, Aladdin's lamp, wishing wells, fairy godmothers, even Pixie Dust... all symbolize our ultimate desire to transform our dreams into reality.
The fact is, most of us have big dreams, but sometimes the gap between our dreams and our reality is vast.

We expect to be at a place where we don't worry about cash flow, but we do
We expect to work and worry less - it hasn't happened
We expect to have retirement in our sights, but it keeping moving further away
We expected to be in a place where we were nearly debt free; but we aren't close
If the gap between your dreams and reality is larger than it should be, look at how you are approaching your goals and see if you are making any of these fatal mistakes: CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE

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October 28 - November 3, 2010
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What's Your Company Worth in this Economy?

When it comes to determining the market value of small businesses, what is true in the best of times is also true in the worst of times; business with strong cash flow and profits attract buyers. So do business with cutting edge technology. So where do the rest of businesses land in this limp economy?

The November 2010 issue of Inc magazine has an interesting article on company values in today's economy. Business Valuation Resources, a leading provider of information about private company transactions, recorded just 1,006 business sales in 2009 - a 40% drop from the 1,678 in 2008 and a 35% drop from the 1,538 transactions in 2007. BVR plotted some 3,666 transactions recorded from January 2007 through March 2010 to help readers get a sense for how much businesses have been selling for by industry. This can be seen on page 112 and 113 of the November issue.

Here is a summary of the information contained in those two pages: ( CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ September 15, 2010
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How Your Taxes Will Increase on January 1, 2011
There is a lot of conflicting information floating around about the change in the tax structure in less than 100 days. We are all concerned about the amount of taxes the government extracts from us. In my opinion, the fewer taxes the better, but that does not seem to be the direction we are headed. The goal of this article is to determine where taxes are headed, who it will impact, and what we can do about it.
This chart reflects the actual (and projected) annual profit and loss statement for the US government. Gray is the actual, and red is the projected. If the column is above the zero line (0), the government spent less than they took in; if it below the zero line, that means the government has spent (or will spend) more money than it took in. (www.heritage.org)

CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING THIS ARTICLE
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August 25, 2010
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Your Competitor is Making 2X More Money Than You

As I was putting together the final touches on a seminar I was preparing for a group of business owners at Truth at Work, I discovered some interesting performance facts. Robert Morris & Associates complies, industry specific financial performance information on businesses (primarily for lenders to bench mark their borrowers). This information is broken down by SIC or NAICS code (the same number on your business tax records).

RMA breaks their data into three groups, the top 25%, the middle 50% and the bottom 25% of businesses in each SIC within an industry. These are not all business, they are just businesses that have been approved for financing - those that were turned down, don't make it into the data records. Each data box is comprised of scores of businesses that make up the data.

My analysis: I choose 11 randomly select SIC codes for businesses between $2 million and $10 million in revenue for each of 6 different industry segments (a total of 66 different SIC's records) and averaged the data. The resulting information was startling. CONTINUE READING HERE

THE TRUTH ABOUT PROFITS
A great question came up last week in the seminar I was giving and it revolved around the term "profits". Since the question created a lot of discussion, I thought it would be good for a short article.

What is "profit"? Google has 9 different definitions for profit and over 202 million responses to a search for "profit" - no wonder it is an unclear concept. Based on my years of consulting experience, here is my definition - "Profit is best known measure of the success of an enterprise, it is the surplus remaining after total costs are deducted from total revenue." We basically understand this; but do most of us really focus on the "profit" in our business? The answer is NO. We don't focus on profit because we clearly don't understand the value profit has in our business. It is much more than the amount of money we have left over at the end of the year that we have to pay taxes on. So before we get into the discussion about profit and taxes, you need to know what profit does for a business (and only one of them is bad, but it's a good kind of bad):

Builds your "cash in the bank" position
Used to pay down debt
Used to pay payments on term debts
Builds equity in the company - improving debt to worth ratio
Increases working capital
One of the key elements in the ability to grow revenue
Increase the company's borrowing ability
Increase the value of the company
Impacts your ability to increase your personal income from the company
Increases peace of mind
CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING....

Six Powerful Ways To Accelerate Cash Flow
Protecting your company's cash position and cash flow is critical to survival. The old adage that "CASH IS KING" is still true today. In today's economy where uncertainty is rampant, many businesses are having problems just staying alive, let alone growing. The outlook for the economy rebounding over the next two years isn't that optimistic either. The Wall Street Journal, Wells Fargo Bank and the University of Michigan all are predicting modest growth for the next 2 years: 2.1% in 2010 and 3.2% in 2011.
What do you do? Here are 6 steps you can take that will have immediate and positive impact on your ability to maintain positive cash flow: CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE:

Is Obama's Leadership Reflective of Most Business Owners? 31 Questions to ask yourself as you plan for next year By Dan Lacy
Last night I was watching the news thinking about our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. The generals say they need more troops and our current "commander in chief" is taking a "wait and see" attitude. Maybe you are related to one of those soldiers and they are working for a commander who doesn't have a plan for success in their theatre of operation. How would you rate that commander....who doesn't have a plan? A commander who squandered blood, sweat and tears without a strategy?

As the Commander of your company, what is your battle plan for 2010? Do you even have one? ....CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING MORE