TSC sent president and CEO Carolyn Sawyer to Dubai this week to broaden our international reach in the communications business. Carolyn has several meetings throughout the day, but hopefully has had some time to explore the area!
At the office, TSC is focused on business development and new opportunities for 2009!
Last week, we had our monthly tele-book club meeting focusing on "Being Your Own Boss" and "Fiscal Sophistication".
We hope you can join us for the next call! If you have not registered for the book club, you can do so at http://tomsawyercompany.eventbrite.com/. For any questions or follow up of this month’s meeting, please feel free to respond to this email or give us at call at 803-252-8773. We look forward to talking with you on April 8th at 1 p.m.!
Carolyn discussed her change from a sole proprietorship to becoming incorporated. When your business hits the million dollar mark, becoming incorporated allows you to have an automatic separation between your personal and company’s books. It allows you to look at yourself as an employee of the company and requires you to pay yourself! It is critical to keep your business and personal finances separate.
Sally Cohen, one of the book club members, was a great asset to the discussion, having previous experience as a lender in the banking business. We talked about how important it is to have multiple banks and to take money even when you don’t need it at the moment; because somewhere down the line you will.
It is important to have a couple different credit cards and bank lines to cover short term gaps in invoicing. A tip Carolyn gave was that when she knew she was going be awarded a large contract, she went to the bank first and negotiated an increase in her bank line. By the time the government came back with all the paperwork, her line was increased which gave her more fiscal freedom.
A great tool to utilize is the Key Person Policy which helps to insure trust between you and your bank. Carolyn used this policy when buying a new company building; the policy states that if something were to happen to her, the mortgage would still get paid. Buying the building you’re in is a smart business strategy. If you own the building, you company leases the building from you and pays rent to you. If you sell the business, retire, or your business was to go under, you still own the real estate.
A story Carolyn shared during the meeting was about a women she met recently who sent out an RFP to a couple of banks, requesting that they show what they can for her. We all think of the banks as having all the power; however we are bringing our business to them, so they should compete for us. Put your bank on your constant contact list and send them press releases about good things your company is doing. This only increases your trust and reputation with the bank.