Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

This is my first time Posting a new topic so I hope it goes well....

Here are the basics of my problem.  I just bought a business in Jan 06 and the old owner of the company was "nice" enough to carry the contract.  My August payment through a bank problem bounced.  Here is where I need your help as here in my family we have a huge debate over this. 

Because the check bounced (my fault on my banks end) they ended up with $580.00 in "fees" associated with my check.  My actual check caused a $6.00 "return check fee".  Some in my family think that I should pay only the $6.00 some think I should split it with them.  I am the only one that thinks I should pay all of it.  It was my check that caused the issue (I know only according to them).  I have seen the bank statement and it does reflect the charges. 

Am I wrong in that I should pay for all of it?  I want to run a business that is honest and fair!  So in order to do that don`t I need to walk the walk?  Or am I being silly and "splitting" or just paying the $6.00 is the way to go!?  The reason for the debate is simple, if a customer walked in to the office and their check bounced they would be liable (here any way) for a $25.00 fee, so should I pay the charges based on that reality, or is the "moral" question of do I want to do that to a "friend" the bigger issue?!

I just want to get your opinion.  Let me know what you think and THANK YOU in advance for you guidance. 

 

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Tony Sorensen Performance Detailing www.performance-detailing.com info@performance-detailing.com tojealca@gmail.com

All I can say is... its your business.  You decide at the end.  Your family has other agendas like helping protect your interests.  thats not always the best advice.  And yes, if I was in your shoes, I would pay the entire 580, than confront the bank myself and try to get them to cough up the money by showing the results that occurred by their so called error.  If they have any pride in their banking practices, they will pay for it.  Otherwise, move your account.  After all, whose to say they won`t do it by accident again...

hope it helps.

jerik

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Cu Gelert - The Legend ... If you`d like to know the value of money, go and borrow some... It is especially hard to work for money that you`ve already spent, on things that you never needed... Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it!

Thanks, thats pretty much what I did.  My bank did waive some of the fees for me and I have a call in to their bank to see if they will do the same.  It got even better last week, their banl "lost" my check so it never got redeposited, so they have even more bank fees.  Dont you just love banks!

Thanks again,

Tony

 

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Tony Sorensen Performance Detailing www.performance-detailing.com info@performance-detailing.com tojealca@gmail.com

Good on you Tony - Taking responsibility can be an expensive step - but is certainly the most profitable route in the long term. Well done!

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Making International & Domestic sales easy on a No gain, no fee basis. Benenift from the management of Snowflake Media who have generated sales of over $300 million in the past 6 years. www.snowflakemedia.co.uk www.yournightoff.com

Yes banks are a nightmare these days and getting wortse all the time.  It seems that the bigger they get, the more greedy they become and less flexible.  Heck, 30 years ago this kind of thing was unheard of, let alone 2 banks screwing up on the same incident.  Wow, it truly makes you wonder whether your money is really safe or not...

Jerik

PS.  I`m glad to hear your decision.  Its good business and well done!

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Cu Gelert - The Legend ... If you`d like to know the value of money, go and borrow some... It is especially hard to work for money that you`ve already spent, on things that you never needed... Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it!

I am working on my business plan and am stuck. I need some guidance. I will be starting out selling Hot Wheels and spread out to all major Die-Cast brands hopefully by 2010.

The following I do not know how to find out the information or where to start.

Facts about my industry:

• What is the total size of your market?
  - How could I calculate this? There is one community which is owned by mattel and there is over 40 million registered collectors there.
  

• What percent share of the market will you have? (This is important only if you think you will be a major factor in the market.)
  
  

• Current demand in target market.
  
  

• Trends in target market—growth trends, trends in consumer preferences, and trends in product development.
  
  

• Growth potential and opportunity for a business of your size.

• What barriers to entry do you face in entering this market with your new company? Some typical barriers are:

  • High capital costs

  • High production costs

  • High marketing costs

  • Consumer acceptance and brand recognition

  • Unions?

  • Tariff barriers and quotas?

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Anthony LeGree

President of Basset Communications
Host of the Business with Cents Show

Well I contacted some owners and led me to what I was thinking on my plan. Thanks

Anthony`s right---this is YOUR plan, for the most part. It`s only if you`re going to be looking for outside investment that you`d have to really get involved with details of market, projected share, and so forth.

What you`re trying to accomplish with the above questions is to figure out just how much money do YOU think you can make in this business, and what would it take to make that amount.

For example, Mattel seems to be saying the overall market is around 40-million people. If you were to capture only .01 percent of that, it would be 400,000 people. Suppose they spend only $1 per year with your company; that`d come out to $400K in annual revenues.

The usefulness of the figure is to show you that if you can get only that one tenth of one percent of the market on a regular basis, you could make some decent money.

The next question is to assess how accurate is the "40-million." Suppose it`s overblow by 40 times, meaning the actual market of collectors is only 1 million. At a dollar a year, you`d make about $10-thousand in revenues.

So you have to sit down and figure out whether or not the number from Mattel is realistic, and then how you would expect to sell to whatever percentage of those collectors you can reach. After that, you get a sense of whether or not you want to spend however much time to create and run this business idea.

That`s why a business plan is so useful: It pushes you to write down real things, contemplate the details, and make analytic decisions about how much of your life are you prepared to involve with a particular idea. How well-thought-out is the idea, and what training or help will a person need if they aren`t thinking things through.

As one with 20+ years of marketing experience, I`m not a big fan of the 1% solution. (or .01% either). There is an opportunity here - to identify a subset of the 40 million who are "under served" and make them your target.

I doubt that this is a homogeneous group. If you can select a smaller (more available) target and look to get 10-15% of that market, you will be more profitable and in a better position to ward off any competition.

 

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