Boating Industry

May 2016

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36 | Boating Industry | May 2016 [ Building a better budget ] www.BoatingIndustry.com for unit sales and build it into the agenda of weekly sales meetings to track how well the departments are doing. That being said, dealers should not spend too much time worrying about the budget while they are tracking it. Irwin takes advice from Spader to "look at the budget monthly, but worry about it quarterly." "Until we get into [the end of the quarter], we don't really start sweating it unless we're way off. You look at [the budget] but you have to look at it with some educated eyes and knowing where you're going to be off a little bit," Irwin said. "We get into Octo- ber and October's a little bit off, you worry about it but you know 'Well, that's October,' and there could be some variances. Looking at it at different times of the year with more emphasis [and] looking at it as an overall view, is really important: knowing when to sweat it and when to just watch it. It's definitely a management tool." At Lake Union Sea Ray, all line managers are watching how they are doing compared to the bud- get, but the drilling down into the minutia of the num- bers rests of Majewski's shoulders. "Ideally, the month will close, I'll get most of the expenses put in place so I can say we're close enough now to look at it. The managers will look at it, I'll start drawing some conclusions and then they are these things where I'll do some research and ask [questions], and conversely they might come back and say [with their own questions]," said Majewski. "So it's a two-way street. I'm asking questions to the people that run the revenue centers and they often will ask me to drill down into expenses that they can't figure out or see." CDK LIGHTSPEEDEVO 800-521-0309 www.cdkglobalrecreation.com lightspeed.sales@cdk.com DX1 888-425-6309 www.dx1app.com dx1@dominionmarinemedia.com EVERLOGIC 904-998-4066 www.everlogic.com mike@everlogic.com INTEGRATED DEALER SYSTEMS 800-769-7425 www.ids-astra.com sales@ids-astra.com MYTASKIT 561-969-2882 www.mytaskit.com info@mytaskit.com PARKER BUSINESS PLANNING 407-843-8808 www.parkerbusinessplanning.com david@parkerbusinessplanning.com SCRIBBLE SOFTWARE 800-972-7423 www.marinaoffice.net sales@posscribble.com SPADER BUSINESS MANAGEMENT 800-772-3377 www.spader.com info@spader.com SYS2K 407-358-2000 www.sys2k.com sales@sys2k.com Company Phone Website E-mail BUDGETING RESOURCES Below is a list of marine budgeting and accounting software for dealers. TOP MONEY MISTAKES Managing financials can be tricky and there are several mistakes a small business owner in any industry makes. These mistakes could have a small impact or inflict a fatal blow to a business. Here are some of the most common mistakes among small business owners and how to avoid them. Not having enough cash reserves. Small businesses often overestimate how quickly they will make a profit and underestimate the expenses attributed to running a business. Make sure you always have a steady base of operating cash. Mixing business and personal funds. This is a recipe for disaster, and it is all too com- mon for small businesses to do. Keeping track of how much money the business is actually making or losing becomes increasingly difficult if you use your business credit to pay for a personal purchase and vice versa. Even if it seems like a good idea at the time, keep those entities entirely separate. You'll have cleaner books because of it. Keeping insufficient records. Speaking of the books, one of the biggest mistakes small businesses make is to not stay on top of recordkeeping. Make sure you are tracking you bud- get as regularly as possible. Not reinvesting in the business through hires. The old adage of "you need to spend money to make money" rings true for small businesses. Particularly when it comes to new hires and wanting to hire the best, you get what you pay for. Being dependent on credit cards. Whether through a small business loan, a capital infu- sion or your own funding, get out of credit card debt and build sufficient operating capital. Not seeking credit on time. The worst time to ask for a line of credit is when you need it the most. Seek funding when your business is solid and healthy, which is when you will have the most bargaining power to convince a lender you will be able to repay. Poor risk management. Always be prepared for the worst-case scenario by protecting all of your assets, including space, equipment and all key employees, including yourself. This means budgeting for and buying adequate property and casualty, liability, disability and life insurance. Shorting yourself on compensation. While it seems like a good decision in the early stages to redistribute profits back into your business, not compensating yourself along the way will harm your personal finances and long-term financial good standing.

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