You’ve heard me (drone, rant, speechify) about the need for vision, mission, and goals for every enterprise and every individual. And, I also believe in branding- but, that’s less important for small firms than delivering what is expected (or more) every time. We- that’s you, me, and everyone else need to make our efforts into a religion, a belief, an “ISM”- Integrity, Simplify, and Magnify.
Continue reading Gimme that “old time religion”- and give it to everyone else, too!
I was working with a client this past week to refocus their company. Now that the recession seems to be ending (I know, the light at the end of the tunnel; but the issue this time seems more related to our psychological reactions- our belief has been shattered), it wants to insure its growth and profits over the next decade. Its people must work in concert to do so.
Continue reading Man on a Mission (the sexist version still sounds best, sorry)
OK, now, you’ve started on your family budget- what about your business budget? And, does that plan coincide the goals of your business plan? (Don’t even start by telling me you don’t have a business plan. If you don’t know where you want to go- how will you get there? And, how will you know if you did?)
Continue reading Businesses need budgets, too!
I am sure you are all knee-deep into arranging all your receipts (I am sure that it’s not just my clients that use shoe boxes or banker’s boxes) since taxes are due (corporate/partnership/trust due in 39 days, individuals in 73 days), here are a few hints if you are involved in a business (that means you make a profit 3 out of 5 years- otherwise the IRS considers it a hobby).
Continue reading Business filers- don’t forget these travel deductions
We need to change our paradigm. Not because of the dramatic 
changes occurring in the Middle East (but that would be a good reason, anyway. May the changes bring democracy to that part of the world). No, because we Americans have learned the wrong things from our own recent history- and those errant ways will make it difficult for us to grow and prosper as a nation.
Continue reading We need to learn NEW lessons from these 3 failures
As we discussed in Parts 1 and 2, it sure looked like BankUnited was a “success” on paper. Its mortgage portfolio (the value of loans the bank held) had escalated from $ 6.1 billion in 2004 to $ 12.5 billion by 2007. (Unfortunately, some 70% of their entire portfolio was based upon Option ARM’s.) A few months later, the value of these Option ARM loans were equal to almost 6 X the entire capital held by the bank. (Capital is the money the bank has on hand to insure against failure; it is not the same thing as the bank’s assets [which would be the loans, in this case]- but if the assets are homes subject to mortgages that exceed their worth, you can see the obvious problems.) By the spring of 2008, 92% of BankUnited’s Option ARM’s were underwater. And in 2009, BankUnited was taken over by the Feds.
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Yesterday, we talked about negative amortization. Today, we’ll see how the BankUnited “success” became unsupportable as the Option ARM’s term proceeded.
Continue reading This Bank is Going to Be a Real Pain-in-the-… And our pocketbooks
