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Insider Passive Residual Income THEULTIMATEPASSIVERESIDUAL INCOME TM February2020 The
- FROM THE DESK OF Bill Moist WHAT INSIDERS KNOW ABOUT RV RESORTS THAT YOU MAY NOT KNOW
January is over, along with the hustle and stress of shopping for the holidays, sending out W-2s, and preparing for the year’s close. But for some business owners, the shortest month of the year isn’t a time for celebrating. With festive decorations put away and no holidays to anticipate, customers and clients may be feeling the gloom of winter. Many may also be holding their wallets a little closer as they recover from the December spending purge. To top it off, tax season is in full swing, but this year, you have 29 days to make February count. MAKE THE MOST OF FEBRUARY Why the Shortest Month Is the Hardest for Business Owners STAY AHEAD There’s an old saying about only two guarantees in life: death and taxes. You know tax season is around the corner and your books are up for an intense examination to close out the year. Tax Day, April 15, 2020, and the filing deadline for S corporations, March 15, 2020, will be here before you know it, but if you prepare now, you can enjoy a steady and easy spring. January was the perfect time to wind down from the holidays, collect your plans, and ensure your employees have what they need to file taxes. Now, devote February to compiling everything you need for a successful tax season, and ensure all your employees’ tax documents were filed and sent out correctly. How do you do it?
Bill’s Ennis Chamber presentation
What do insiders know about demand for recreational vehicle resort parking on Interstate 45 south of Dallas that you may not know? I gave a presentation Dec. 5 to the Ennis Chamber of Commerce describing the new RV park project and showing three 24-by-36-inch poster boards with the architect’s renderings. Ennis has twelve festivals each year, and three of those are national events. Many people coming to Ennis have RVs already, and locals are emphatic that this RV resort would be full all the time because they have no place for friends or people on business to park an RV. In the past, if you had family or friends search for a luxury RV park in DFW, then they usually had to park one hour away or even farther. That’s because the RV parks close by are almost always full. Near our luxury RV resort site is a grass-strip RV park. A local told me it is full all the time. When someone moves out, someone else is waiting for the spot. Chamber members were also invited to our groundbreaking ceremony on Dec.16. Five members did attend. We had some very interesting and influential attendees on that cold, windy Monday morning. More about those people next month.
–Bill Moist
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a customer’s needs and make your business stronger than ever for when the busy season hits again. Your team will be better prepared for the onslaught, and their extra precision just might pay dividends to overcome another slow month. The shortest month of the year is nothing to fear! With these tools, you can make this your best February yet.
With Valentine’s Day approaching, stores are filled with chocolates, stuffed animals, and cards for significant others. Love is in the air! Even though you may not realize it, your kids may also be feeling the pressure. Crushes, dates, and broken hearts are part of their lives, too, but they may struggle to talk with you about it. Thankfully, developmental experts have weighed in on how to approach these important and delicate conversations. NO LAUGHING MATTER Judith Myers-Walls, professor emeritus of child development at Purdue, urges parents not to treat their kids’crushes as silly. We may know these early expressions of love aren’t that serious in the long run, but to an adolescent, the emotions are very powerful.“They are very easily embarrassed about those feelings,” Myers-Walls observes,“so parents and other adults should be respectful and not tease about those issues.”Rather than make kids feel Also, commit your organizational energy to your business. What do you need for the IRS or an auditing company? What happened in 2019 to change how you approach things in 2020? What shifts do you need to make for 2021? By March, you’ll be settled from the whirlwind of responsibility the new year brings, and you can coast into spring. CHECK YOUR GOALS At this point of the year, you should have a clear idea for how the first and second quarters of 2020 will go. Because goals can shift, February is the perfect month to assess whether or not you need to make adjustments to the plan you made in 2019. Since business typically winds down to a manageable pace this month, consider how you could ramp it up come springtime. Do you need to press harder with your plans for 2020, or do you need to capitalize on what already worked in January? Compare your post-January projections to those of previous years to get a clear idea about what your next steps should be, and use February to implement them.
EMBRACE THE SLOWDOWN No one likes a slow month in business, but you can use it to your advantage. If February is a historically slow month for you and your company, consider how you could improve internally. Offer extra employee training, provide cross-training events, streamline processes, test new software, or ramp up education for your sales, customer service, or technician staff. Take advantage of the extra hours in the workday not devoted to
VALENTINE’S LESSONS Talking to Your Adolescent About Relationships
ashamed of these early romantic feelings, let them know you’re there to talk to them about it.
RESPECTING OTHERS Dr. David Anderson, a clinical psychologist at the Child Mind Institute, believes it’s especially important to talk to adolescents about respecting boundaries. “One of the big lessons we want to be sending to kids at any age is that there are two people to consider,” he writes, explaining that adolescents tend to only focus on their own feelings and need to learn to consider how their crush may feel about them. This awareness might prevent them from overstepping someone else’s comfort zone. RESPECTING THEMSELVES At the same time, kids and teens should know the importance of respecting their own feelings. Setting boundaries can be especially important when your child is confronted with
an unwanted Valentine’s Day card or request for a date and feels pressured to reciprocate. “Boundary setting is imperative to learn during adolescence because it is a time of identity formation,”writes Dr. Marilyn Price-Mitchell in Psychology Today.“Healthy boundaries allow teens to feel respected, valued, and empowered to build positive relationships in their lives.”It also helps them handle uncomfortable social situations with grace and maturity. Crushes and first dates are a part of growing up, as is learning how to contribute to healthy relationships. Much like a first step or learning to drive, patient, loving parental support makes all the difference.
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STEALING MISS HELEN ‘Ocean’s 3’ Attempt a High-Stakes Heist
The aquarium staff was grateful to have Miss Helen back unharmed, despite her ordeal. “She’s a tough little horn shark, I’ll tell you that,” affirmed Jamie Shank, the assistant husbandry director at the aquarium.
On a hot summer day in late July 2018, three people entered Miss Helen’s home, forcibly removed her, put her in a stroller, and ran toward their getaway vehicle. This might sound like a typical kidnapping story, but Miss Helen is no ordinary person. She is a 16- inch horn shark living at the San Antonio Aquarium. Fortunately, their fishy behavior didn’t go unnoticed, and someone alerted the aquarium staff. One perpetrator drove away with Miss Helen in tow, but the other two were stopped by aquarium staff, later confessing to their involvement. Thanks to some observant witnesses and aquarium surveillance, police were able to identify the third thief and obtain a warrant to search his house. As it turned out, he had an extensive aquarium in his home and possibly hoped to add Miss Helen to his collection. After being identified, Miss Helen was returned home safely.
NO MINOR CRIME
While many animal lovers might disagree, animals are considered personal property, so stealing them is a crime of theft, not kidnapping. The penalties for stealing animals vary depending on each state’s laws, and some states have specific laws regarding animal theft. In Texas, larceny law designates the theft of property valued between $1,500–$20,000 as a felony. In the case of Miss Helen, who’s valued by the aquarium at $2,000, the thieves committed a felony. Also, transporting certain animals requires special permits, which led to additional charges against the three thieves.
The Animal Welfare Act, which was adopted in 1966, is the only federal law that regulates the treatment of animals in research, exhibition, transport, and by dealers. Interestingly, it only applies to warm-blooded animals, so if Miss Helen had needed further protection, she would be left out in the cold.
Take a Break!
Inspired by The Minimalist Baker
DATE TRUFFLES
Valentine’s Day is all about love…and chocolate. Enjoy these chocolate peanut butter date truffles with your date this Valentine’s Day.
Ingredients
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1 lb medjool dates, pitted (about 1 1/2 cups)
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1/4 cup peanut butter 1 cup bittersweet or dark chocolate, chopped 1 tbsp coconut oil, melted
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1/2 tsp sea salt
Warmwater
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Directions
1. Using a food processor, blend dates and sea salt until dough can be formed into a ball. Slowly add enough warmwater to mixture to thicken dough. 2. Roll dough into tablespoon-sized balls. Freeze for 20–30 minutes. 3. In microwave, warm 1/4 cup peanut butter for 30 seconds, then drizzle peanut butter on top of balls. Freeze balls for another 20 minutes. 4. Meanwhile, in microwave, warm chocolate with coconut oil until melted. Stir well. 5. Coat balls in chocolate and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. 6. Top with additional salt and freeze for 30 minutes. Serve at room temperature.
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INSIDE THIS ISSUE From the Desk of Bill PAGE 1 A Business Owner’s Guide to Surviving February PAGE 1 Crushes, Valentine’s Day, and Parenting PAGE 2 A Slippery Crime PAGE 3 Take a Break PAGE 3 Date Truffles PAGE 3 Get More Love Back From Your Customers (When You LoveThem First) PAGE 4 Professional Equities, Inc. BILLMOIST'S Boosting customer retention by any amount can have a huge impact on your revenue. A study conducted by Bain & Company and reported by the Harvard Business Review found that even a 5% increase in retention can boost revenue by 25%–95%. In short, your ability to retain the right customers canmake or break your business. Businesses are constantly searching for ways to achieve customer loyalty. After all, it’s far more cost-effective to keep the same customers coming back to you than it is to constantly go after new ones. Marketing to new customers can cost up to 25 times more than simply catering to your existing customer base. Loyal customers who love your business are an incredibly powerful asset. They can do a lot of your marketing for you through social media and other word-of-mouth channels, convincing others that your business exists and has value.
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GIVE LOVE, GET LOVE TURN AMAZING CUSTOMER SERVICE INTO A MAJOR REVENUE SOURCE
Another way you can win loyal customers is just by being present. One way to do that is by answering phone calls, emails, and online inquiries immediately . The more time you put between the initial customer contact and your response, the worse it looks for you. When people visit your business in person, be there to offer a hello, answer questions, and engage in casual conversation. When you’re there for your customers, your customers want to be there for you.
But how do you get to that point? How do you develop a strong bond with your customers that is hard to break and will keep them coming back time and time again? It really starts with stellar customer service. Poor customer service is the No. 1 cause of customer loss. Upward of 71% of people say they cut ties with businesses over poor customer service. Customer service includes your employee-customer interactions, your response to problems, your response time , and your approachability on social media. Look to businesses that have figured out how to do customer service right, like Apple, LEGO, and other beloved businesses in your community. Consider what you can incorporate into your own customer service experience or become a customer yourself and see just how far other businesses are willing to go for you.
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