10 things you must know before starting your own business

Having your own business and becoming your own boss is an exciting reverie every employee may dream of. But before you leave your job, which gives you a fixed monthly salary and a variety of nice monetary and non-monetary benefits, you should carefully consider the following things before you start your new business.

1. It’s harder than we thought. Thinking business is so exciting, but doing it is a different story. Along the way to your entrepreneurial journey awaits your worst nightmares (bankruptcy, shame, frustrations, isolation, despair and depressions). Sounds horrible? But don’t worry – the saying “no pain no gain” may not be absolute anyway. Just like body building, you should do warm-up first and make a perfect program to achieve your goal.  There’s no need to hurry, instead, you need to do things according to your strategic plan. It’s indeed hard and it takes a right process. But you should not lose patience, hard work and intelligence to avoid the pains of doing business and eventually become a successful businessman. Read more

What is our greatest asset in life?

The question

Have you ever asked yourself what is the greatest asset in your life? So what came in your mind? Is it your million dollar company, prestigious career, expensive mansion or your luxurious car? How about you nice friends and supportive families, aren’t they? Or how about your intelligence or your health and body, isn’t one of them the greatest asset in your life? All of them are great assets a man could have, but the greatest asset in life is not one of them.

Is your mind already flipping around guessing what the heck I am talking here? Okay, we will start to uncover this mysterious question this time. The greatest asset in our lives is the thing that we humans have but other things on Earth (living or non-living things) don’t have. Sounds spinning again? Here is what you need to do. Think of a quality that we humans have but animals and plants don’t have. This may be mind bubbling, but we need to brainstorm to achieve life’s greatest wisdom. So let’s start revealing that mystery now. Let’s differentiate our selves from other species on Earth by considering the following: Read more

General Electric: No.1 in the Forbes Global 2000 List of World’s Biggest Companies

General Electric Company leads the Forbes Global 2000 list of the world’s biggest companies. From no. 2 last year, the American giant company grabbed the no. 1 rank for the Global 2000 list for 2009. Next to GE is 2008 no. 6 ranked Royal Dutch Shell of Netherlands. Japan’s Toyota Motor Corp. who was no. 8 last year has climbed to the third spot. These Companies proved that even in times of global economic crisis, there will always be opportunities for corporate success.

UK’s HSBC Holdings, the no. 1 ranked company in 2008, has slipped down to No. 6 this year. The biggest loser among the top three last year, was Read more

How do the cash flow statement flows?

After understanding your financial condition and performance by reading your balance sheet and income statement, you may now have the picture of how your business is running. However, seeing a positive equity in your balance sheet or a profit in your income statement doesn’t make your financial understanding complete. The cash flow statement is one of the five main financial statements of a company. The cash flow statement tells us how sustainable a company is in a short run. If cash is increasing and cash flow generated by operations is positive, then we can tell that a company is healthy in the short-term. Increasing or stable cash balances means that a company is capable of meeting its cash needs, and remain solvent. This information cannot always be seen in the balance sheet or income statement of a company. For example a company may be generating profit, but still it cannot meet or pay its short –term payables or obligations. Read more

Understanding the Balance Sheet

A balance sheet is a formal statement showing the financial position of an entity as of a particular date. The balance sheet is the only financial statement that reports as of a particular date compare to income statement, statement of changes in equity, and cash flows which all reports for a particular period of time. The balance sheet presents the three elements of financial position, namely assets, liabilities and equity.

Assets are defined as resources controlled by the entity as a result of past transactions and events and from which future economic benefits are expected to flow to the company. In layman’s language these are the properties owned by the entity. Read more

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