Articles

“Mid-Year Business and Financial Plan Assessment”

BUSINESS TIPS FROM THE EDITOR

July 2025

Richard T. Hendee, Editor
The Silver Fox Advisor

“Mid-Year Business and Financial Plan Assessment”

Well, 2025 is half over, and the month of July is a great time to take a look at your 2025 Business and Financial Plan and assess where your business is actually vs. what you foresaw back in November or December of 2024.

Obviously, there are things that have happened that you probably didn’t plan, on like maybe a key employee leaving or an expansion opportunity that you just could not turn down. And there likely are some big picture uncertainties which are out of your control like tariffs, the excitement about AI and the unrest in various parts of the world.

But as I stated, July is great time to take a deep drive into your business and financial plans and determine what adjustments you may need to make to either get back on track or take advantage of the great results you experienced in the first six months of the year. After all, no plan should be set in stone, and you as the leader of the business need to demonstrate to your employees, your vendors and your customers that your vision and skills were responsible for the business’ great performance in the first six months and that you are ready to make the next six months ever greater. Conversely, if there were problems and issues in the first six months that prevented the actual results to be less than planned, then your leadership skills need to take a different turn and corrective actions might need to be developed and shared with your employees, vendors and customers. Either, way July is assessment time!

Further, I am sure there is probably one reader of this business tip article that didn’t do a 2025 business or financial plan and has been coming into the business every day hoping, and maybe doing a little praying, that everything is going great and the business will do better that it did last year.

If you are that one reader, don’t lose this mid-year assessment opportunity to take a step backward for a day or two, and maybe have a meeting with your key employees, and as a team evaluate where you are today, and together create a short couple of page business and financial plan for the last six months of 2025. The business plan should include some goals and objectives that can easily be measured and plans developed to achieve the goals and objectives. The Financial plan should have some goals regarding sales growth, expense cuts and a bottom line net profit that might be shared with the employees if the goals are met.

If you need help with assessing or creating a business or financial plan, I would recommend you seek an experienced business advisor, coach, consultant or mentor with a financial or business background for your business: Contact a Silver Fox Advisor. Remember, having experience on your side always helps.

We encourage you to visit our Website at www.silverfox.org or www.silverfoxadvisors.com to select a Silver Fox Advisor and also to learn more about the Silver Fox Advisors and their businesses, as well as our great programs and community outreach endeavors.       

It Is Sometimes Lonely At The Top!!!

It Is Sometimes Lonely At The Top!!!

June 2025

Richard T. Hendee, Editor
The Silver Fox Advisor

Something I have seen in my years of experience in advising small businesses that is often very disturbing is a business owner who is not able to identify or accept that the business either has a revenue issue or an expense issue (sometimes both) and then seeks to borrow additional money to keep the business going. There comes a point when the cash flow generated from a business operation simply can not cover the debt obligations. 

Typically loan payments are made from the profits a business is able to generate. If the business is losing money month after month, then it is not generating the profits needed to pay loan payments. Therefore, adding an additional loan payment is not the answer.

When you are a business owner, it is sometimes a lonely place to be. Let me share some examples with you, some of which you may have experienced.

You may have an employee who is key to the operation of the business and who is having some performance issues. This has caused you to lose many a night’s sleep going through various scenarios in your mind. You really can’t discuss this situation with other employees at the company because some of those employees may work for this person, and you do not want the key employee to get feedback from other employees that you are not happy with his or her performance. Further, you really don’t want to take this issue home with you and spend your family time hashing over things from work. So, what do you do?

Another issue is you may also be having some business financial issues that you don’t want to share with your employees for fear they may think they could lose their jobs if the business can’t make a payroll. Again, taking this issue home could also upset your family, so the result is – what do I do next!

Yet another issue some business owners struggle with is when do I look at an exit plan and how do I even go about executing that kind of thing. Once again, you do not necessarily want your employees to know you are thinking about selling the business; they may fear losing their jobs or someone new buying the business and making a whole lot of changes. So here you are in the same place – what now! Talking to yourself and kicking the same ideas around and getting the same unsatisfactory answers is not very productive.

In all of these situations what I recommend is the business owner seek the advice and counsel of a trusted business advisor or mentor. Typically, a business advisor or mentor has either been through all the situation heretofore described, or he or she has consulted with other clients who have experienced similar situations.

Further, with a trusted business advisor or mentor getting from point A to point B usually takes less time, and you are not typically reinventing the wheel.

If you need assistance in finding a trusted business advisor or mentor, I recommend you start by contacting the Silver Fox Advisors. Silver Fox Advisors are former or present business owners themselves, and they have experience in owning and running a business, and in some cases several businesses. We encourage you to visit our website at www.silverfox.org to select a Silver Fox Advisor and also to learn more about the Silver Fox Advisors, as well as our great programs and community outreach endeavors.