BIDaWIZ Blog » HIRING

What Qualities Should I Look For In A CEO?

The BIDaWIZ Team — Fri, 13 Jun 2014 21:57:17 +0000

It’s refreshing to learn that you have immediately recognized that you are not the right person to lead the company. We admire that as its one of the key qualities of a leader; being able to recognize your weaknesses and address them with those that are more capable and qualified.

Finding the Right CEO?
How you go about identifying the right person to lead the company typically varies by industry, but there are certainly common themes in what you should be looking for in a CEO.

Expertise
You want to hire someone that has a keen understanding of the industry dynamics and how to position the company for future success. This also includes experience with successfully taking over a business and working with the existing infrastructure to meet long-term objectives. Furthermore, there must be something unique about their knowledge and/or relationships that sets them apart from the pack.

Leadership
Focus your search on individuals that display leadership qualities. This will typically include individuals that are exceptional communicators, strategic-thinkers and are embraced by their employees, customers, partners and stakeholders.

Passion
In order to lead a company, you need to be very passionate about what the company is trying to achieve. If you don’t, then you won’t be able to motivate your employees to help you grow the company.

Integrity
At the end of the day, you want to hire someone that you can trust and is ethical. They set the tone for the entire organization, which magnifies the importance of this key quality. As such, we would focus a lot of time on this area when you’re evaluating potential candidates.

We hope this list of qualities will help you with your search for the right candidate.

More Questions? Ask your business questions or find a business advisor online.

Tags: business questions, hiring questions, small business, Ryan Himmel

Do You Have The Best 401K For Your Employees?

Ryan Himmel, CPA — Fri, 16 May 2014 19:16:50 +0000

Retirement accounts are typically your employees’ most valuable financial asset, with the exception of their homes. Yet, employers don’t always select a 401(k) plan that provides the most value and has the lowest fees. The consequences can be devastating to your employees’ retirement accounts as was recently illustrated in a study conducted by the Center for American Progress. The findings suggested that even modest fees of 1% of assets can wipe out $70,000 in retirement account savings. Fortunately, there are low-cost 401(k) providers in the market that specifically target small businesses. Last week, we had a chance to meet with Robby Forsythe, from The Online 401(k), to learn more about their low-fee based 401(k) plans.

Please explain your company’s value proposition to small businesses?
The Online 401(k) provides low-cost, easy to use, web-based 401(k) plans for small businesses. By sponsoring a 401(k) through our company, businesses attract and retain talented employees and save on corporate taxes. Furthermore, we work with each business separately to design a plan to meets their needs.

We also have a transparent flat-fee pricing structure and we don’t require minimums or employer matching. There are no hidden fees and we don’t charge a percentage of your 401(k) balance for plan administration. This helps to keep your investment costs very low.

What specific types of companies are well suited for your service?
We focus exclusively on serving small businesses. Of our 7,000+ clients, most have between 1 and 30 employees. We work with everyone from medical offices, to software developers, to corner stores. As long as the employees have internet access to view their 401(k), the company is a great fit.

What levels of support do you provide your clients?
We’re an online service, but all of our clients have a dedicated support specialist here at The Online 401(k). That means that whether you’re an employer or employee, you’ll be able to reach the same human being by phone or email each time you have a question.

How is your company able to provide flat-fee pricing?
The fact that we only charge flat fees, and never make any money through asset fees makes us very different from other 401(k) providers. We’ve managed our cost structure in such a way and grown quickly enough that we’re able to provide flat-free pricing.

What types of investment options are available to plan participants?
Our investment platform gives you access to over 26,000 mutual funds, index funds, and ETFs. We also offer turnkey options that help to make things easy and limit the employer’s fiduciary responsibility. If your company would prefer to work with a local investment advisor, we can accommodate that as well.

Can you provide an example of a business that benefited from your service?
I’ll provide two examples. I recently helped a tech startup company who was aggressively recruiting talent. The fact that they didn’t offer a 401(k) was becoming an obstacle. We designed a simple plan that keeps costs low and helps them land excellent candidates.

I also just worked with an orthodontist who had a huge tax bill each year. We designed a plan that allows him to efficiently reach his maximum personal benefit of $52,000 in tax deferred savings annually.

How should a business contact you if their interested in learning more?
They can contact me directly. I’d love to learn about their business and help to design a 401(K) solution to meet their needs. My name is Robby Forsythe and I’m a Senior Retirement Plan Consultant. My direct number is 415-593-5832 and my email address is rforsythe@theonline401k.com. You can also visit us here.

Tags: retirement planning, 401(k), small business, Ryan Himmel

Do Your Employees Hate Their Job Or Just You?

The BIDaWIZ Team — Fri, 04 Apr 2014 01:44:21 +0000

It’s typically very difficult for managers to keep all of their employees happy at all times. Having said that, it’s important to understand that most of the time when an employee decides to leave the company, it isn’t always because they don’t like their job. In fact, more times than not, their quitting because of their boss and the management team.

What should managers know?
It’s certainly conceivable to conclude that an employee quit because they aren’t well-suited for the company culture or position. That happens. However, when an employee quits to join a competitor firm or related company, they need to take it personally. The employee is basically saying their quitting on their boss. When this happens, employers and managers need to identify the reason why their quitting. It’s quite possible that this reflection may shed light on a pervasive problem within the company.

Identify what motivates your employees
Your employees will not all be motivated to perform well for the same reasons. Some employees may be motivated by monetary compensation while others may be interested in other rewards. Many employee sentiment studies have indicated that morale can be boosted by recognizing employee achievements. A common complaint among employees across companies is that their manager or peer is taking credit for work that they’ve done.

How are you managing how your employees work?
One of the common themes that we’re trying to articulate is that employees are all very different. Some employees will require structure and clearly stated objectives to accomplish their goals. Others may perform best when they’re given more independence and allowed to take the initiative on their own. It’s important to understand these differences so that you can be a better manager each and every one of your employees.

You must have a common goal
Every employee should know and understand how exactly the company will achieve their near and long-term goals. If this is unclear, then employees will become frustrated and it will be a lot harder for the company to achieve their goals. The tone in many respects is set from the top and if that’s unclear employee morale will falter and people will begin to leave the company. Thus, it’s important for the leadership team to have a very clear message.

More questions? Browse answers or ask managing employees online.

Should You Hire A Web Development Company Or Freelancers?

The BIDaWIZ Team — Fri, 15 Nov 2013 12:50:54 +0000

You’re facing an all too common problem that many business entrepreneurs struggle with everyday. There are pluses and minuses for choosing each option. However, the best long-term option will almost always be to try to hire a team of engineers that can build, maintain and grow your online business. Let’s review the two options in detail below.

Evaluating web development companies
There are no shortages of web development companies available in the market. While options allow you to comparison shop, it is still very difficult to determine which company will be the best choice for your business. In addition, the pricing structures will vary greatly among providers. Some web development companies may offer an hourly price, while others will guarantee a project based price. Although project based pricing provides for an estimate of the total cost, it is really just that. It’s an estimate. Project based pricing largely depends on the scope of work and in many instances that can easily change and is subject to interpretation. You will want to make sure that you have a very detailed and clear scope of work with a wire-frame. Many web development companies will provide an overview of the scope with a few pages to illustrate a specific template to follow. That’s not sufficient. The other issue that you will run into is the fact that the company has other clients and thus you may not be at the center of their attention at all times.

Despite the drawbacks, there are certain benefits with hiring a web development company. First and foremost, you will likely be paying less money to a company than by hiring someone internally and paying them a salary with benefits. Second, there’s typically less flight-risk. You have a signed contract with a company that is being held accountable for the scope of work. They are bounded by the terms of the agreement and their reputation to complete the work. This isn’t the case with hiring a few freelancers.

Hiring a full-time web developer
It’s important to note that it is much more difficult to find an individual web developer than it is to hire a company. Sure, there are plenty of qualified individuals in the market; however, they don’t market themselves the same way companies do. You’re going to have to do a lot of leg-work in the form of networking with friends and friends of friends as well as getting yourself up to speed with the latest web development chagrin. This is going to be time consuming and you will not necessarily be able to easily distinguish between a great web developer and an average one. Their resumes and portfolios of work provide a starting point, but it is by no means an acceptable way to evaluate their ability to code. You need to test their ability to code in your framework as well as their capability to solve problems and meet deadlines. We recommend that you set an evaluation period to see if they meet the qualifications. In addition, you will want to make sure you are hiring a web developer that has an understanding of interactive design. Many developers aren’t designers. As previously mentioned, the other major concern is flight-risk. If you only have one developer, you don’t have the same security that you do when you hire a web development company.

Although there are some drawbacks to hiring internally, it is still likely to be the best long-term solution if you plan on building a long-standing company. If you find the right web developer, you can grow the company together and hire others to build a team. With a web development company, you will reach a point where you cannot develop quickly enough and it then becomes more costly. Also, if you want to gain the attraction of investors and other companies, they will want to know that there is a full-time engineering team working on the product.

More Questions? Ask your business marketing questions or learn about our email marketing programs for accountants.

The Most Important Milestones For A Startup

The BIDaWIZ Team — Fri, 20 Sep 2013 22:22:25 +0000

The most successful entrepreneurs are typically cognizant of their strengths and weaknesses. Some entrepreneurs often feel compelled to do it all on their own. Rather, it’s best to try to address your weaknesses with the strengths of other team members.

Identify your areas of weakness
The first few milestones will likely relate to hiring personnel and co-founders that make up for your weaknesses. On that note, most technology companies will need to hire a Chief Technology Officer (CTO). If you’re not a technology enthusiast and/or involved with the tech community, you’re going to have to network. Utilize your professional network and attend tech events to begin to become familiar with technology platforms.

The product market fit
Most new businesses have a product or service, but fail in the marketing department. We would recommend that new businesses focus on developing relationships with companies and organizations that serve a like-minded audience. For instance, if you’re serving a young demographic, an affiliation with educational publishers would likely be a significant source of new customers. Of course, you can also utilize some offline marketing channels by gaining the attention of the young demographic in key locations.

Learn from your mistakes
Whatever path you decide to take, make sure you document what you learn. Part of the processing of becoming a great entrepreneur is learning from your mistakes.

More Questions? Ask your startup questions or find a good accountant online.

Are You Paying Your Employees Enough?

Ryan Himmel, CPA — Fri, 16 Aug 2013 21:08:10 +0000

We recently contributed an article to Entrepreneur Magazine in which we examine the factors that employers should consider when assessing employee compensation. An excerpt and link to the full article are shown below.

Pay and recognition are two of the most important factors that impact employee morale, performance and growth. If your business isn’t keeping up with market trends, you can run the risk of losing talented employees and turning away top prospects.Read more.

More questions? Browse answers or ask employee salary questions online.

What Should You Do If A Great Employee Leaves Your Company?

The BIDaWIZ Team — Fri, 05 Jul 2013 04:41:48 +0000

Many businesses go through periods when one of their best employees decides to leave the company. While this may be difficult for your company, this is not a time to lose optimism about the future. Rather, you need to learn as much as possible about what led to their departure.

Why is the employee leaving the company?
First and foremost, it is critical to understand exactly why the employee is leaving the company. If they want to launch a new career, that’s somewhat out of your control unless you’re not providing a stimulating work environment. This is especially true for an employee that wants to start their own company. The more entrepreneurial the work environment for this type of employee, the less likely they’ll leave. If the employee is leaving to go to a competitor, then that may indicate cultural and structural issues with the company. This is the scenario where you need to dig very deep and ask a lot of question about why they are leaving. For instance, ask if it is related to compensation, company culture, benefits or employee development issues? It may be that other employees in the company are experiencing the same low morale and this exit interview may detail the problem and a potential solution.

Ending the relationship on good terms
It’s not only important for the employee to end their tenure on good terms. It’s also in the best interest of the company as well. Sour grapes doesn’t achieve anything and can be potentially hurtful to your company’s brand. In some cases, it may be necessary to celebrate the employee’s contributions with a party and good luck sendoff. Other employees will appreciate the recognition and the word will spread.

Handling the news with current employees
Don’t announce the employee’s decision to leave the company to others. Rather, leave it up to that employee to share the news with their colleagues. They’ll appreciate the privacy and so will others in the company. Once the news breaks and the employee leaves the company, it’s always a good idea to interview other employees that worked with him or her.

Telling your clients
You need to be careful in how you inform clients of the employee’s recent departure. This is of utmost importance if the employee has a strong relationship with any clients. In fact, it is best for the actual employee to tell the client directly and to explain how the transition will occur. Clients always want to know they are in good hands, which will be easier to explain if it is coming from that employee.

Also, actually tell your clients. One of the biggest mistakes companies make regarding client relations, is not telling them that the employee is the leaving. If a client finds out through the grapevine, there is a high probability that they’ll assume the worst. This can lead to loss of a client as well.

More questions? Browse answers or ask small business questions online.

Businesses To Benefit From The Delay In The Obama Healthcare Law

The BIDaWIZ Team — Thu, 04 Jul 2013 04:24:28 +0000

Small to mid-sized business owners can breath a sigh of relief or at least until January 1st, 2015. The Obama administration has recently announced that small businesses will have a one year grace period to comply to the new health insurance requirements as part of the Affordable Care Act. What does this mean for your business?

Healthcare penalties delayed one year
The government will now delay collecting fines for businesses with 50 or more full-time or full-time equivalent employees that fail to meet the health insurance requirements. The $2,000 penalty per employee for failure to provide health insurance will still be in effect, but not until January 1st, 2015.

What about the online healthcare exchanges?
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the exchanges remain on track to launch by the October 1st, 2013 deadline. However, there has been chatter among politicians and a report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) indicating that the exchanges are behind schedule in terms of enrollment, plan schedules and customer service assistance. Therefore, we are somewhat skeptical that the exchanges will launch on time. Still, eventually the exchanges will go into effect. When this occurs states will have setup Small Business Health Option (SHOPs) programs, which would allow those with less than 100 employees to have the option to buy health insurance as a group. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that this new marketplace will lower health care costs by 1% to 4%.

How beneficial is the delay to businesses?
The vast majority of small businesses are not impacted at all from this recent announcement to delay the penalty until January 1, 2015. Over 90% of small businesses have less than 50 full-time employees. It’s the small to mid-sized businesses that are near, at or above the 50 full-time employee floor that will benefit. This can be very beneficial to businesses that were planning on cutting the number of their staff below 50.

More Questions? Ask your business health insurance questions online.

Which Employees Should Your New Business Hire First?

The BIDaWIZ Team — Fri, 17 May 2013 22:59:15 +0000

While the labor market is still in recover mode, some small companies are beginning to ratchet up their hiring (source: National Federation of Independent Businesses – April 2013 Survey). Typically, when the job market recovers, it’s small businesses that support the growth. Whether your company is in hiring mode or not, it’s important to have a strategy to help grow it quickly while mitigating the mistakes.

Identify the most important needs
There’s no one size fits all answer to the question of which employee should your company be hiring now. This is in part due to the fact that every business has different hiring needs. Having said that, it’s important to identify your company’s most critical needs now. Sure, most new businesses need a bookkeeper, salesperson, account manager, attorney, and a technologist, but the key is to identify the most important need right now. For instance, if your company has a product with some customers, but needs more to keep the lights on, then it probably makes the most sense to hire someone in sales or marketing. Be specific though. If you find that you’re able to perform some of the sales duties effectively but not all, hire someone that complements your abilities. This may mean that you’re going to hire someone in sales to generate new business in a specific customer segment.

Reduce the guesswork
When you’ve identified the most important hiring need, try to focus on specifically what area this person should focus on to help grow the company. If you’re hiring a regional salesperson, make sure that there is a large market and a cost effective way to go after it. Also, try to focus all of your efforts on hiring the very best person for this position. It would be wise to seek a candidate with specific industry experience in the desired target market, product knowledge, early stage company experience and then all of the soft skills and personality traits to fit within the company culture.

Flexibility is key
Many new businesses go through growing pains and need to make changes swiftly. The first few employees need to be very flexible and have the ability to change with the company. You’re going to want to invest a lot of time ensuring that this new hire can adapt quickly.

More questions? Browse answers or ask small business questions online.

Should I Worry About Signing A Contract With A Non-Compete Clause?

The BIDaWIZ Team — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 16:00:04 +0000

Whether you’re an employee of a company or a business owner finalizing a partnership deal with another company, the non-compete clause is often included in the final contract. Should you be very worried and hesitant in signing a contract with a non-complete clause in it?

The non-compete clause
The textbook definition of a non-compete clause is that it is a form of restrictive covenant that adds limitations to the employment or sale contract. These agreements protect the business by restricting the other party from performing similar work for a specific period of time within a certain geographical area. It’s important to note that the courts do not always uphold them. In fact, the courts evaluate non-compete clause for their reasonableness to determine whether they constitute an unfair restraint on trade.

Is the non-compete clause reasonable?
You need to evaluate the non-compete clause very carefully as many of them have a lot of “bark without much bite” language in them. In other words, it’s used as a deterrent in some cases and isn’t actually enforceable because it’s too unreasonable. Most courts will evaluate a non-compete clause based on the time prohibition, the geographic scope and the description of what constitutes a competitor. Typically, the broader the restrictions, the less enforceable the clause will be if evaluated in a court of law. Therefore, if a business contract states that you shall pay x amount of dollars if you fail to meet the conditions of a non-compete clause, you shouldn’t worry so much about that particular penalty as it may not be enforceable.

Always protect yourself
Even though the non-compete clause may not be entirely enforceable, you’ll want to be very proactive in protecting yourself and/or your business. Make sure you negotiate the terms of the contract so that it is at least mutually beneficial for both parties.

More Questions? Ask your non-compete clause questions or find an accountant.