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Planning for Next Year in Your Construction Business |
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Business: |
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Close any inactive businesses. |
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Review status of existing businesses. |
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Check your business filing status at Office of Secretary of State. |
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File Annual Report for your business with your state. |
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Form is usually available from Office of Secretary of State. |
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File "Articles of Amendment" with Secretary of State for: |
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change in address. |
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change in authorized shares. |
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change in Board Members. |
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Hold annual meeting. |
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Bring meeting minutes up to date. |
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Bolster corporate shield by operating as separate, non-personal, entity. |
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Tie up legal loose ends. |
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Make certain your DBA (Doing Business As) is up to date. |
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File for applicable Trademark/Copyrights. |
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Make sure all building permits are up to date. |
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Confirm that your contractor licenses are current in areas where you build. |
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Review retirement account and investments. |
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Marketing: |
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Google your company and review the information you find. |
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Use Google Alerts to flag any Internet entries about your company. |
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Apply to and learn to use Google Analytics. |
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Determine how much you can spend for marketing. |
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Plan next year's marketing effort. |
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Identify your main market demographic. |
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Quantify household size, income, market geography, etc. |
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Make sure the niche is small enough to own, big enough for profit. |
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Determine how you will reach your target market. |
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Identify the specific marketing strategies to be employed. |
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Identify the specific marketing tactics to be used. |
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Identify the specific marketing materials to be employed. |
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Create any additional materials needed. |
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Review your website to identify marketing partnerships available. |
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Review your branding for consistency of message. |
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Logo |
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Site signs |
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Vehicle signs |
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Review, test and update the following on your website. |
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Company information |
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Contact information |
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E-mail routing from "Contact Us" page |
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Automated outgoing messages |
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Copyright |
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Privacy Policy statements |
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Outgoing links |
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Incoming links and user registration. |
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Domain record ownership and renewal date |
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Review your other marketing materials. |
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Business card |
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Letterhead and envelopes |
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Proposal form |
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Consider tracking leads and conversion performance |
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Crew: |
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Make sure you have current W-9 forms on file for all subcontractors. |
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Make sure all W-4 forms are current. |
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Make sure all I-9 forms are current. |
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Know, record and stay on top of status of subcontractor insurance coverages. |
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Make sure all subs have agreed to your company Terms and Conditions. |
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Evaluate employees contributions to Company success. |
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Evaluate Subcontractors contributions to Company success. |
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Choose to begin using the Subcontractor Management Contract system. |
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Project: |
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Choose to proactively manage your client relationships. |
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Make sure you have written and signed Change Orders for all current projects. |
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Close out all completed projects for the past year. |
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Study the financial reports so you know how healthy your business is. |
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Study the Job Cost reports so you know where you made and lost money. |
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Update your estimating database so you are using the right numbers for your proposals. |
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Choose a simple estimating program for better profitability and cost control. |
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Finance and Risk Management: |
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Review current year's Nine Numbers™ of Your Business. |
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Cash Flow Statement (Beginning Cash --> Cash In/Out --> Ending Cash) |
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Income Statement (Sales --> Expenses --> Net Profit (Loss)) |
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Net Worth Statement (Assets --> Liabilities --> NET WORTH) |
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Create a written budget for next year |
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Project your Asset Purchases for next year. |
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Create a ProForma for next year based on your Company Marketing effort |
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Create and maintain a six-week Cash Flow Projection for your business |
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Verify loan amounts on all outstanding loans. |
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Determine when you can rest your Lines of Credit, if possible. |
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Reconcile all bank accounts. |
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Reconcile all credit card accounts. |
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File Management |
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PRINT: Portrait, Margins=Default, Scale=Default |
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