By Elliott Brack
Editor and publisher, GwinnettForum
JAN. 11, 2018 | Today we’re going to treat you with our formula of what you need to be successful in any business enterprise.
It doesn’t matter what type of enterprise we’re talking about, you need three or four essential elements to make anything a success. We aren’t even talking about money, though it helps to have basic financing and a friendly local banker no matter what business you go into.
Of course, you’ll need a good idea for any business to succeed, and yes, you’ll have to give your effort hard work and pay attention to details. Our essentials are much more basic.
Here are our three elements we think essential in any business:
- A good accountant.
- A good attorney.
- But maybe most of all, a good spouse.
Yes, we may sound old-fashioned, especially on the third one. And yes, some bachelors make it without a spouse. But let’s look into these three elements we consider essential.
ACCOUNTANT: When we first ventured into our own business, we inherited the person who had been preparing the financial reports for the small newspaper. We never thought about doing otherwise. Yet over the next couple of years, we felt that we did not always have good advice, so essentially chunked that person, who ran a bookkeeping service, and hired a certified public accountant.
We were amazed at the difference between the two. The CPA was much more up-to-date on regulations, and relatively soon, we got a tax refund from the previous year that the our bookkeeper did not understand we were entitled to. We found ourselves much more pleased all along. We learned that the CPA firm had to attend periodical updates on the field, therefore allowing this person to be a much more informed help to our business.
ATTORNEY: From time to time, most businesses have legal questions pop up. We didn’t employ an attorney on retainer, but had an attorney in town to help us on items from time to time. This person had drawn up a partnership agreement, and guided us in incorporating the firm, etc. And being in the newspaper game, we asked of him, and sometimes our press association attorney, certain technical questions.
At one time we had a story that told of some wrongdoing, and to make sure we would not have exposure once printed, we had our attorney read it. And we told him: “This is a good story. I have the facts to back it up in case we have to defend ourselves in court.”
To this, our attorney simply told us: “My number one job is to keep you out of court. Once you go into court, anything can happen.” And so we didn’t print that story. We realized that we would have to have a better, more solid facts before we could run that story. And our attorney’s advice has stuck with us over the years.
SPOUSE: Realizing in the modern age that this may be old-fashioned, we think a person in business needs to have a solid spouse to support, guide and comfort them in business and in everyday living. It gives great comfort to a businessperson to know that there is someone there that they can depend on wholeheartedly, and who can often offer another view that might be valuable, and certainly needs to be run by them for numerous reasons. A supporting spouse works wonders, and makes life even better.
There you have it: our Three Essentials to succeed in business. The rest is up to you.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
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