The Constant Entrepreneurs: Advice for Running a Productive Business

Your Business as an Investment

When we buy stock in a publicly traded company, most of the time we do it as an investment. We are expecting the value of the stock to rise and for our wealth to increase. We look at the record of past performance and the prospects of future performance, and we look at how the stock compares with the stock of other companies or even other forms of investment. In an unsettled market, we may even decide that a wiser investment is to purchase a certificate of deposit or even to invest in a low-yield money market account. The point is that we are looking to make our money work for us and to maximize the return on our investment.

But how many entrepreneurs look at the money they put into their businesses as an investment, and compare the potential return to other forms of investing their money? I dare say that most people going into business pay little attention to future value – they have a dream of running their own business and put into the business whatever money then can scrape together in order to make the venture work. All too many entrepreneurs then work for years for less than minimum wage and have not increased the value of their business. Their wealth has suffered a negative growth!

Most investments involve calculated risk. The smart entrepreneur weighs the risks, and potential rewards, of investing in his/her own business versus other forms of investment and decides that the business is a good investment. The financially savy entrepreneur is always looking at the business not as a job but as a vehicle for building wealth, and will be constantly increasing the value of the business while at the same time taking a reasonable salary and minimizing taxes.

But it takes a mind-set of wealth, sound strategy, good management, and excellent business, finance, tax, and legal advice to maximize the value of a business.

Will Limkemann
Limkemann Business Advisors
440-871-0976
www.neobizadvisor.com
will@limkemann.net