Tending to Business: Improving your company in a bad economic setting

Stressing over a bad economy doesn’t pay the bills

Crying the woes over short money, big expenses and tightening client budgets?  Put some creativity to work, step back and take a closer look at everything that makes business grow and shrink.  Even in the face of a recession or economic downturn, there are a number of ways you can grow your business.

The keys to staying profitable

Staying strong takes staying positive.  Realizing that past economic shifts happen with regularity and future upward cycles are just as predictable.  Those who stay engaged will find a way to survive and thrive in the next season.

Growing the business is all about cash flow.  Positive cash flow is maintained through a simple equation: keep the expenditures shrinking against the revenue.  Even a one percent change can have significant effects on your success.  The four main components of maintaining a positive cash flow include lowering accounts receivable, reducing level of inventories, pricing to maintain a healthy gross profit, and reduction of debt—especially high interest debt.

Read the full article: Tending to Business: Improving your company in a bad economic setting

More Employers Committing to Wellness Initiatives

By Kathy Gurchiek from SHRM.com

In a National Business Group on Health report just released on July 14, 2008, they explain that wellness programs are on the rise in businesses all over America.
According to the article, “health risk appraisals to weight management programs to providing health coaches, employer wellness programs and strategies continue to rise.” Employers have begun to make the connection between employee lifestyle and employer payout on health coverage says the NBGH president Helen Darling at a press conference.
Gurchiek writes “Chronic illnesses account for 75 percent of health care spending, according to the NGBH”, and “employers are putting a much higher priority on wellness and lifestyle improvement programs than ever before,” Darling said.
The article explains that small steps make a big difference. “Initiatives as simple as providing healthy alternatives in workplace, vending machines, and promoting walks around an organization’s facility can be effective in their own way for changing lifestyle habits, said Dr. Don W. Bradley, chief medical officer and senior vice president of health care at BCBS of North Carolina.”
The main message for employers is that over time, changes in physical activity and healthier eating habits will lead to lower health costs to the employer.