June 30, 2007

PKF Texas - The Entrepreneur's Playbook: Who Do You Know?

Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

The adage “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know,” has never been more true than now in this age of global business.

By strategically aligning yourself and your company with key groups both in and out of your industry, you make connections that can take your business to the next level.

A good place to start in Houston is the Greater Houston Partnership. It encompasses world trade, economic development and various local chambers of commerce. Members are provided access to key demographics, such as the Indo-American, East End, Brazilian and Hispanic chambers of commerce.

Encourage your employees to serve on committees where they can meet other members of the business community and promote your company. The staff is well equipped to help decide which committees you and your employees can join. 

Allow your employees to attend luncheons and seminars that are of interest to them. You never know who they might meet or sit next to that can help your business or provide a referral. 

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June 27, 2007

Events for Rice Alliance

I was at a Rice Alliance reception last week and they detailed the calendar for the remainder of the year. They also announced the dates of the 2008 Rice University Business Plan Competition. It looks like there are some great events coming up!

Check out the Rice Alliance website for more updates or contact information.

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June 25, 2007

The Grand Excalibur

It’s always a pleasure to be recognized by one’s peers for workplace excellence.  In this case our blog, fromgregshead.com continues to impress those experts inside and outside the accounting profession. 

It’s a special treat when you are recognized by an organization that is not in your industry, but recognizes the talent your team brings in performing their job.  The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) Excalibur Awards are the “Oscars”, of the public relations industry in Houston.  Not only did we win 5 categorical awards (1 Gold, 4 Silver) but we took home the high coveted “Grand Excalibur Sword” for the best work of the year. 

We won over such powerhouse companies: Shell Oil, Chevron Phillips, Noble Drilling, Conoco Oil and several nationally recognized public relations firms.  I want to be one of first to thank our Practice Growth Team led by Karen Love, and fellow team members: Jen Lemanski, Raissa Evans and Undrea Miller-Hines for all of the hard work and tireless efforts with the blog.  Without them there would be no blog. 

And I also want to thank our management team of Kenneth Guidry, Warren Cole, Sonia Freeman and Del Walker for having the courage to allow us to do something not previously done before in the accounting profession.  

Reflecting back to the early days when we were planning the blog, I am reminded of this quote from Helen Keller, “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing."

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June 22, 2007

PKF Texas - The Entrepreneur's Playbook: Relationships with Your Service Providers

Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

This tip is brought to you by Ty Freyvogel author of Seize the Century!

Key relationships a business owner must not overlook are the relationships with your service providers. 

Think of your service providers as honorary employees.  They can be anyone from the package delivery guy who stops by every day to the materials supplier who keeps your warehouse stocked.

Show them you appreciate what they do for you and that you care about them and their company. You never know when an emergency might arise where they can help you. 

For instance, staying close to your banker assists in keeping your finances secure. If you have a good relationship with your banker and they notice unusual transactions in your account they can and should alert you to a potential problem. 

It never hurts to be on the top of a service provider’s relationship list!

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June 20, 2007

Trailing Google?

With Terry Semel’s resignation from Yahoo! on Monday, will Yahoo! be able become more competitive with Google?

Jerry Yang, incoming CEO, has said that “motivating, developing and attracting talent” will be a priority. 

This is exactly what the accounting industry is facing right now. The need for top talent and the retention of that talent. This is a problem more industries are facing now that the Baby Boomers are retiring and the Next Gen’ers, who are looking to the Google model of effective life/work balance, are filling their shoes. 

Will Yahoo! be able to jump in and compete with Google for talent? Time will tell, but unless all of our industries, not just technology and accounting, take a step back and look at the bigger picture and address this issue, we will all be trailing the Googles of the world.

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June 18, 2007

Houston's Best Places To Work Winners

Congratulations to all of Houston’s Best Places to Work! You worked hard and your achievements deserve the recognition! 

A special congratulations to KPMG, SpawMaxwell Co., Sterling Bank, and Walter P. Moore for winning the Burnett Staffing/PKF Texas Summit Award. They have all received Best Places to Work recognition five or more years in a row!

Here are the rest of the winners:

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June 15, 2007

Promote Your City

Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

In the competitive market for talent, you can’t afford to only promote your company when you are recruiting entry-level and experienced professionals.

You also have to promote your city and what makes it different from others recruits may be considering. 

What advantages does your city have over others? Lower taxes? Cheaper average gas prices? Unique social scene?

Houston, for example, has one of the lowest costs of living of major cities in the country. That is certainly attractive to recent graduates just starting out, as well as experienced professionals looking to relocate from more expensive cities like Los Angeles or New York City. 

For next generation talent, where they live is just as important as their job. So don’t just sell your company, sell your city too.

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June 13, 2007

Association for Accounting Marketing Honors PKF Texas - The Entrepreneur's Playbook

Good news for fans of PKF Texas – The Entrepreneur’s Playbook! The Association for Accounting Marketing has honored PKF Texas with a Marketing Achievement Award for the PR campaign associated with PKF Texas – The Entrepreneur’s Playbook.

Thanks for listening to the spots on the radio, on The BusinessMakers website, and reading the scripts here. They have been a great success and I hope you’re finding the tips useful.

If you ever have topics you’d like to see covered let me know!

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June 12, 2007

Are You Going to Jump on the iPhone Bandwagon?

So the iPhone is coming out in a couple weeks. Now that we’re closer to the reality of actually owning one, are you going to spend the $500 to be the first to have one?

I’m still not sure that I want to replace my pocket pc and my iPod with one phone. But given how quickly iPods caught on, is this a viable alternative? And will they take over the market as quickly as the iPod did?

If you do get an iPhone, let me know. I’d like to hear how people like it and if it’s worth the money to switch. 

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June 8, 2007

Last Week's BusinessMakers Radio Show

Due to technical difficulties, last week’s PKF Texas – The Entrepreneur’s Playbook didn’t run on KPRC 950 AM.  The entry from 5/26 ran.  Rather than repeat last week’s script here, I thought I’d just post this message.  Technology is great when it works isn’t it?

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June 6, 2007

Best Places to Work Next Week

The Best Places to Work award luncheon has been moved from October to June this year and will be held next Friday, June 15th.

While the nominations for this year have already closed, it’s a great time to start thinking about next year’s awards. What does your company do that sets it apart from the rest? 

PKF Texas is once again a sponsor of the luncheon and the Summit Awards, which are given to the companies who have received Best Places to work recognition 5 or more years in a row. 

I’ll have the winners for you next week, or check out the June 15th issue of the Houston Business Journal.

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June 4, 2007

Procurement Blog

Ran across an interesting blog by Jon Hansen the other day. http://procureinsights.wordpress.com/

It’s a new blog for procurement professionals, and has good information about supply chain management. We’ve covered supply chain management several times in PKF Texas – The Entrepreneur’s Playbook.

Let me know what you think of Jon’s blog and feel free to pass on any interesting blogs you may run across. I’m always on the look out for interesting reads.

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June 1, 2007

PKF Texas - The Entrepreneur's Playbook: Force Field Analysis: Implementation

Note: Running most Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the Entrepreneur's Playbook page of the PKF Texas website.

This final segment deals with the implementation process of Force Field Analysis.

Have your group identify three tasks from your total list of positive and negative ideas to implement over the next three to six months.

It doesn’t matter if all three tasks increase the positive influences or reduce negative influences. It can be a combination of both. The point is to get an agreement on the ideas that will yield the quickest and greatest results.

Identify a “champion” who is most qualified to supervise the improvement initiative and therefore will be held accountable for the results of each task. 

Consider the tasks necessary to complete the project and develop a plan to achieve those tasks. 

Clear any obvious obstacles such as lack of time for implementation, resources needed, etc. 

Establish deadlines and times to meet to discuss progress over the next month. 

Make this project a priority for the manager in charge. 

Finally, establish a time to meet in three to six months to gauge the company’s success on the implementation of your improvement initiatives.

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