Ineffective meetings are meetings with no real agenda or purpose. This is also a big-time waster. Provide an agenda for each meeting. Stay focused on the goals at hand.

GENERAL LEDGER: Once upon a time, accounting systems were kept in a book that listed the increases and decreases in all the accounts of the company. That book was called the general ledger. Today, you probably have a computerized accounting system. Still, the general ledger is a collection of all Balance Sheet and Income Statement accounts. All the assets, liabilities and equity. It is the report that shows ALL the activity in the company. Often this listing is called a detail trial balance on the report menu of your accounting program. The detail trial balance is my favorite report when I am trying to find a mistake, or make sure that we have entered information in the right accounts.

One of the required items was the business description. Within that section was to be a description of the competition. Easy. The reason I knew my idea was a winner was because there was very little competition in the immediate and surrounding area. I simply did a short write up describing those businesses and added a quick comparison showing how my idea differed from and improved upon those existing businesses.

A business owner must know how much cash flow is available daily. If you don’t know this, you are heading for disaster. Because even if it seems to be a lot of cash coming in, you may very well have a lot of expenses that have crept in over the last few months. Every real business owner knows how much cash he always has . The business owner should look at his or her cash flow examples, Balance statement and Profit and Loss Statement weekly in most cases. Most business owners never do and then panic when things “all of a sudden” go haywire with the business.

Your credit will affect many aspects of your adult life such as whether you can get a car loan, a mortgage, and even some jobs. That is why it is very important to keep an eye on your credit score and your credit report. Make sure that you are paying your bills on time, and make sure you are not approaching the upper bounds of your credit limits. You should utilize sites that offer free tips on how to improvement your credit score on a regular basis.

Your expenses could not support any business, much less a high growth business. Have a good understanding of what your expenses will be. Recognize that if you hire people, you don’t just have to pay salaries, but taxes, health insurance and other benefits, workman’s comp, and each of these people will need some square footage, a desk, a chair, a computer, a telephone, an internet hook up, etc. You will need to hire lawyers, accountants, and possibly other professionals. You will need to market your product in some way.

This sounds like pretty basic information, but it can be tough to find. Most companies offer more than one product; a big conglomerate might offer hundreds of different products in a range of industries. Digging into the company’s lineup can give you a better sense of the forces that will drive its results.