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Here are some typical examples of common cash flow problems business owners would like to get solved. They want to know
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Paul Smith – Pearl Harbor Survivor at Pearl on December 7, 1991 with his Daughter Sandra Simmons – Member of SDPHS – Sons and Daughters of Pearl Harbor Survivors

On this day, December 7 exactly 70 years ago Pearl Harbor was attacked. My Father, Paul Smith, was a Marine stationed at Pearl Harbor and served there on that fateful day. He spent his entire career serving in the military. He is now 90 years old and still a fierce patriot.

In 1991, on the 50th anniversary of the bombing, I was at Pearl Harbor with my Father for the memorial services. The 8 remaining marines from his battalion, including his commanding officer, were with us. As we took a boat across the water very early to arrive at the Arizona Memorial, I was struck by the stories the survivors told me, and I had them write in my copy of the book ”Day Of Infamy” so I could remember their stories.

Upon returning to Dallas, I wrote a story
about my Father and that trip and presented
it to him for Father’s Day the following year.


Here is the story. I hope you will read it, and I know he would be honored if you would leave a comment for him.

MY FATHER, MY HERO

Just behind me, crouching in the dark, I feel the awesome presence of the ancient volcanoes; their craggy faces bearded with mist, their feet firmly rooted in the dark chasms of the deep. Watching here together from the shore, we face the vast silence of the Pacific Ocean and wait for the dawn.

Standing beside me in the dark my father, Paul W. Smith, speaks to me of this day, over 50 years ago, when he stood here as a young Marine Corporal of 19 years and saw the rising sun appear. It had appeared not as a gentle light to warm the faces of the ancients behind us, but on the wings of enemy planes bringing the horrors of death and destruction that December day in 1941.

“I was permanently stationed here at Marine Barracks, Pearl Harbor,” my father begins. “Our unit, Battery G, 3rd Defense Battalion, had just returned from a 6 month operation on Midway Island where we helped complete the airfield defense installation. A secret warning had been sent from Washington DC. to all points in the Pacific Theater. It said Japan was expected to attack the Philippines, or maybe Borneo. We suspected Midway Island was the most likely target.”

“That Friday evening, December 6, all the battleships were in port here in Pearl Harbor,” my father continued. “I was on regular duty that evening and went back to my barracks soon after my relief took over. The officers and enlisted men who weren’t on duty always spent the weekend evenings at various clubs and parties around the island. In the wee hours of the morning when most of the island was asleep, the guys who were on duty usually listened to the local radio station KGMB play Hawaiian records.”

In the quiet dark, I hear the strained disbelief in my father’s voice as he says, “We didn’t know it then, of course, but we know now that on the Japanese aircraft carrier Agaki, about 320 miles north of here, Admiral Nagumo’s communications officer was listening to the same radio station. Nagumo was about to launch the attack on us and he knew that everything depended on complete surprise. He thought that if we Americans suspected anything, the radio station would show it. But there was nothing on except the usual Hawaiian songs.”

He stops for a moment and listens, as if to that past night, and begins to speak again. “At 7:00 AM the morning of December 7, I left my barracks just 6 blocks from the harbor, and walked to the Marine Barracks Mess Hall to join my battalion for breakfast.” I could hear the strain in his quiet words as he told me, “I had just made my way through the chow line and had started eating half a grapefruit when I heard what sounded like the dull thud of an explosion, and a few seconds later, I felt the mess hall shake. I ran outside onto the parade ground and looked up as a squadron of planes came flying so close down over my head I could see the “red meatballs” of the rising sun on their wings. They were headed toward the harbor and I knew the battleships were their targets. I still had half a grapefruit in one hand and a spoon in the other. I was so outraged at the sight of them bombing our beautiful ships, I threw the grapefruit and the spoon at the planes and ran to get my rifle.”

He shook his head slowly as he continued, “Our Battalion was only issued three rounds of ammunition at any given time. When that was gone, we ran to find whatever other guns and ammunition we could find. We just kept on firing at both the first and second waves of the incoming attack. It broke my heart to see the USS OKLAHOMA capsized and the ARIZONA on fire. It seemed like wave after wave of planes came at us forever. I could hardly believe the whole raid took less than two hours.”

“What did you do when you knew it was over?” I asked.

“After the attack,” he said, “1st Lieutenant H. G. Kirgis, our Commanding Officer, put us to work guarding the fuel tank field where the ships’ fuel was stored and assisting in medical evacuations from the bombed ships. I felt nothing but rage at the attack itself and at our vulnerability to another attack in the wake of the total destruction around me.”

History tells us that Japan’s striking force of over 350 planes succeeded in crippling the United States Pacific Fleet, destroying nearly 200 aircraft and killing 2,403 U.S. Military personnel and civilians. Of those killed, 1,102 are the men entombed on the USS ARIZONA.

“Seven months later, my Battalion was merged with the 1st Battalion and we shipped out to Tulagi Island where we played a key roll in the invasion of Guadalcanal,” he said. “The first thing you saw when you walked onto the island was a sign some unit had put up that said “The Road To Tokyo Starts Here,” and inch by inch, we fought our way up through that chain of islands toward Japan.”

“We could set our watches by the regularity of the Japanese attacks,” he continued. “Once, I was swimming with a couple of my buddies just offshore to beat the awful heat and they came at us out of nowhere. All I could do was watch as their machine gun fire strafed the water just inches from my head.” He chuckled as he said, “All three of us made it through that one.”

My father fought throughout the war, operating a huge searchlight at night to illuminate enemy planes as targets for our antiaircraft gunners. The gunners thought he led a charmed life because the searchlight he was sitting behind was the first thing the Japanese planes would fire at. They wanted to put out that blinding light that followed them everywhere and revealed their position. He survived years of continuous Japanese aircraft strafing that fell inches from his position, and a bomb blast that threw him forty feet. He fought for his Commanding Officer, for his Battalion, for those at Pearl Harbor and for his country.

Today, December 7, 1991, I stand beside my father, my hero, in the darkness on this same Pearl Harbor shore waiting for the bugle to play morning colors. As the daughter of this Pearl Harbor Survivor, it is the first time I have heard his personal story, burned deep in his memory for over half a century. His telling honors me, whose duty it is to carry on the memory of his service here on that fateful day.

Out of the peaceful Pacific emerge the first rays of the sun washing over the craggy, weathered faces of those other Pearl Harbor Survivors standing in silence with us. The ever watchful eyes of these many heroes gleam with sorrow and with pride as the brightening sky over the USS ARIZONA Memorial reveals that, today, no enemy threat approaches these sacred shores.

We are here to remember Pearl Harbor, my Father and I.

We are here to say good-bye to those whose time ran out, my Hero and I.

We are here to say thank you before it is too late, my Father, my Hero and I.

USS Arizona Memorial – Pearl Harbor

I recently got a call from a man in Fort Worth, Texas who wanted to know what I thought would be a good business idea for him. He’s a good salesman, and he wants to be an entrepreneur, but his last couple of business ideas went south.

I started describing what he should do to make a good decision on a business idea, and I realized that what I was describing also applies to business owners who want to add new products or services to their existing business. I thought it would be a good idea to share my thoughts, so here goes…

Acid Test Your Business Idea

Test # 1 – Believe in what you are selling

The first test for a business idea overall is to do or sell something that you are passionate about, and that you can have fun with. Being in business for yourself demands an investment of time, money, the risks and rewards of responsibility, and 100% liability for the business.

Whatever you sell, you have to believe in it. That means really believing in the benefits that the product or service can deliver to your customers or patients. It isn’t enough to get excited about the prospect of making high profits. A high potential profit on zero sales is zero dollars in profit.

If you don’t believe there is lots of benefit for the consumer in whatever you are selling, you won’t be able to sell much and they won’t be willing to buy. Consumers are smart. They can tell if you are sincerely interested in them and what they want, or if you just see them as a wallet you want to get into.

Test # 2 – Check on whether the product or service is in demand

One of the easiest ways to check on the demand of a product or service is to do some keyword research on the internet to see how many people are searching on the topic. High search numbers on relevant keywords and keyword phrases means high interest by consumers. One of the premier search tools is Google’s Keyword Tool and there are many others on the internet to double check your idea.

As of11/16/2011 there are 264,000 local people in the U.S. who search on the term anti-aging each month.

Ask lots of people; friends, family, neighbors, business associates, and people you are standing next to in line at the movies or the grocery store. You’re not asking for their permission to start a business, you’re asking them about their interest in and willingness to purchase specific products or services. For example, “anti-aging” is a hot keyword. So if you are thinking about selling or adding on a line of anti-aging products, that’s what you ask about: have they ever purchased them, have they considered purchasing them, where do they purchase them (in a store or online).

You need to know that it is a product people will buy.

Test # 3 – Run the numbers to see if there is enough profit in it

If you are adding the product to an existing business then the profit margin is easier to calculate because you already know what your overhead is costing you. If this is a new venture then it takes a lot more figuring to see, after expenses, if there is going to be adequate profit to pay yourself a decent wage. All this would be based on the number of the product you think you can sell.

Another good thing to do is to figure out how many of the product(s) you would have to sell to do better than break even. It’s no fun to make just enough to pay your suppliers and make them wealthy and not make enough yourself to reach your financial goals.

I highly recommend that any business owner give themselves a much better than average chance to really prosper financially in their business by purchasing the e-book The Business Checklist To Increase Profits.

Test # 4 – If you can’t answer this one you are in trouble

Okay, so you make a decision and start a business or add to your existing business. The next question you should answer for yourself is, “How am I going to market this?”

There are many ways to market and promote a product or service, word-of-mouth referrals, off-line through print, radio, TV, on-line through video ads, articles, blogs, mobile phone texts, websites, podcasts, and more. The big question is do you have the money to promote like you should because if not then your potential customers will never know that can buy from you.

Yes, I teach business owners to manage their money correctly so they can reach all their financial goals. But, I know that promotion plays a HUGE part in driving enough sales traffic to make it in business. So for my clients it is mandatory to budget money every week to spend on promotion. I never let them make the fatal mistake of failing to promote adequately, because they would lose momentum and their competitors will be promoting and getting the customers if they stop promoting.

For the first half of my career I had the privilege of working with some of the advertising gurus and one-for-one they lived by the motto, “When times are good, promote! When times are bad, promote even more!” Trust me when I tell you that you better live by this motto yourself if you hope to make it. However, the other key thing you have to know how to do is figure out what your ROI is (Return on Investment) on every form of promotion and promotional message.

Wasting your hard-earned dollars on promotional stuff that doesn’t work is NOT fun and can send you into despair. So test what you are doing, keep doing what works, and whatever isn’t working – ditch it fast! Now the one exception is that internet marketing takes a while to gain traction, so give it a fair test. You’ll know in a matter of days or weeks if a postcard promotion is going to bring in lots of business. Internet marketing is slower. It often takes a few months to know if what you are doing is going to work, or if you need to add to it, change it, etc. The internet changes constantly so you have to change with it.

In Summary: So there you have it – acid test every idea. Have a passion for what you are doing and be able to have fun doing it. Believe in what you are selling. Check the demand to see if enough customers will want it before you dive in and make a big commitment. Run the numbers to see if there is enough profit in it. And answer the question on how you will be able to market it adequately to get the sales you need to have enough profit to pay yourself a LOT of money.

I wish you the best success in whatever business idea you decide to pursue. Leave me a comment and let me know about what you decided from reading this article.

Money Management Solutions – Who We Are (Audio Recording) 

Listen as Sandra Simmons, President and Founder of Money Management Solutions, Inc. discusses how the company helps business owners take control of their financial future instead of being controlled by the balance in their bank account.

Transcript:

I’m Sandra Simmons with Money Management Solutions. We provide practice owners with a cash flow management software system and coaching system that allows the business owner to easily take charge of their financial future rather than being controlled by the balance they have in their bank account.

We help business owners correctly manage the cash and assets of their business to insure its survival, and train the business owner how to control the income and outgo of cash to move from just making a living to developing real wealth.

In essence we help them develop into a cash cow company that makes more profit than it needs to survive, and train them to manage the flow of cash so they can raise the cash cow rather than sacrificing it, and reach the financial goals they set when they made the decision to open their practice.

We have worked with practices that are deeply in debt, literally on the verge of bankruptcy, and have dug them out of the soup and set them on the road to solvency.

We have also worked with practices that make so much money that they end up needlessly wasting a lot of it so they have lots of material stuff, but they still don’t have long-term financial security.

To illustrate how that is true for my clients, here’s a testimonial from a client who said

The Money Management System and Sandra’s help allowed me to fix my financial problems and change the way I do business resulting in surviving this economic turmoil. I know for a fact that I would not have been able to save my business without this change.

Our Money Management Planning system gets results – and we guarantee those results when the system is used exactly as intended without alteration.

To learn more about how to turn your company into a cash cow, spend some time looking around at our website or give us a call.