Every time I attend a Board Meeting or Management Meeting the participants always wind up asking “what is next on the list” and how the heck we can get it done, who is going to be responsible, how to measure progress and when to call it quits if the results are NOT what we are looking for. I expect you to go through the same process.
After thinking about this I noticed that the way to manage a “Get it Done” process could parallel or maybe should parallel the process followed by professional traders, especially the process used by the most successful traders, who in many cases start with minimum funds and wind-up being millionaires. There are, of course, many unsuccessful traders who lose their shirt along with their trading equity.
There is no one trading format to use. You have to pick one and stick with it until you justify changing to another method. Most successful traders keep a journal to track the good ones and the bad ones. They all figure out a process that gives them an “edge” to produce a higher win rate. Risk and equity management is a must. Stops and other “downside protection” methods need to be understood and executed to lose no more than a minimum of your core investment dollars. In terms of risk, if you are approaching your hard-line risk number what you are doing is not working. And every one of these folks has a set of GET OUT rules that are followed religiously. They may get in a trade at 1:00 pm and close it out and 1:05 pm if any of their trading expectations are not met. They will not ride a loss to see if it will turn around. In short, the entire process and trigger points are set before the trade is made. And most realize that making 2-3% (a day, a week, a month) adds up to a lot of money if proper investment is made. You will be amazed how much can be made starting with truly little.
I find trading fascinating, and Jack Schwager has written a book titled ” UNKNOWN MARKET WIZARDS, ” which happens to be highly successful traders who all found the method that gives them the edge they need to be successful. The bulk of the reading material is interviews conducted by Mr. Schwager where he tries to get an understanding of what these individual traders do and how they manage the process. But the remarkably interesting thing is EACH PERSON HAS THEIR OWN INDIVIDUAL PROCESS THEY FOLLOW. An amazing read worth your time because their process should be similar to your management process to “Get it Done” because your company and personnel overall produce an “edge” you should work with to solve problems or produce game plans for company growth.
In my practice what I preach episode you are all aware of how I have been preaching about the benefits of hiring folks right out of college. And I have an example to share with you. A young lady I know recently graduated with three majors and not knowing what she wanted to do took on a part-time position filling in for company service personnel when they were needed. And as it turns out, the company also needed an AP clerk to properly account for payables, which are somewhat complicated to record properly. To make a long story short, the former AP clerk took most of a week to record the data, whereas the young lady looked over the materials and had it completed in one day. Enough said. And they can assist with computer and ZOOM systems.
Part IV of Job Shock is this month’s feature story in this issue as well as on the MHW website with the previous parts of the series. More disturbing news, but also, in my mind, profit opportunities that could foster a stronger relationship with your customers. Give it a read and share with high-school and college students.
On the tax front, the American Rescue Plan Act contains additional tax benefits for both employees and your company. The Employee Retention Credit is worth reviewing because even if you received both PPP1 and PPP2 funding you can still receive the Retention Credit if you qualify. The ACT also provided another $1,400 check or $2,800 for married taxpayers. You should have received two previous checks plus this $1,400 check. If you did not receive them, you can take them as a credit on your 1040.
As long as we are in accounting mode let me tell you about an article in the Journal of Accountancy titled “8 WAYS TO CALCULATE DEPRECIATION IN EXCEL”. Believe it or not, there are eight ways to calculate deprecation. If you want a copy of the article let me know. Who knows, one of the methods may be a better fit for the way you do business.
There is a lot of talk about Inflation and Deflation, both of which could require some of that planning as discussed above. But no matter what happens every business will need to take steps to mitigate their impact and still retain their customers. We will cover this topic next month.
About the Columnist:
Garry Bartecki is a CPA MBA with GB Financial Services LLC. E-mail editorial@mhwmag.com to contact Garry
