In the current economy, financial security is at a premium. Record unemployment, bankruptcies (both personal and business), a housing slump that continues to stall economic growth and a rather gloomy consumer outlook is keeping the majority of Americans wondering if their financial situation will ever improve.

Here are three things you can do to gain a toe-hold on financial security:

One: Make yourself more valuable to your customers or employer. If you run a business (providing a service or product) one of the most important things you can do is offer special deals, incentives and added-value bonuses to customers. Work your “house list” consistently with product and service offers that benefit the customers.

A simple way to do this is to customize product and service offers to niches within your customer base if it makes sense. For example, if you sell insurance, maybe you can niche an insurance product offer just to all the clients on your list who are police officers… or dentists… or whatever.

If you’re an employee, you can make yourself more valuable by providing the business you work for with what all businesses need more of: more customers, more sales and more profits.

You could, for example, find out what product or service sells best. Then find other non-competing businesses you can form joint ventures with. And sell your company’s wares to their customers.

Deals like these are done all the time. And they result in extra profits. You can negotiate the deal and get a cut of the profits.

Two: Spend money more intelligently. This may sound obvious but if makes no difference how much money you make if you can’t keep it.

Countless news stories have appeared about wealthy people lived beyond their means and ended up broke. The smart thing is to live below your income but within your needs. Make this step a habit and you’ll always have at least some money available for a rainy day.

Three: Change your consciousness (a.k.a. your thinking) about money. People who enjoy security and success with money “think” differently than people who struggle. The quality of your thinking determines the amount of money in your bank account. So it’s critical to learn how to “think” about money.

Probably the most impactful thing you can do is dump out all your negativity about money. That includes bad money habits, limiting beliefs and feelings of insecurity.

But without having worked on a translation project before, how can you know if your chosen translation company is living up to the expectations they set.

Here are a few red flags to watch out for:

Quality

Quality begins with a translator only translating into their mother tongue. There are, of course, exceptions, but if your translation company is translating your documents from English to Spanish, German, or Chinese without any native Spanish, German, or Chinese speakers on staff, then you may have your first red flag for working with them.

A quality translation also requires subject matter expertise. Legal experts should translate legal documents. Business experts should translate business documents. And so on. It is impossible to stand behind the quality of a translation if subject matter experts aren’t involved with the project. When translating specialized industries, someone that just knows the language will not provide a quality translation. It is important for the translator to really understand the specialized terminology so the translation will be accurate. A word for word translation will not provide the same meaning as intended in the original document.

Costs

Cost should be a secondary consideration to quality, but, as we all know, sometimes costs and budgets dictate choices. Avoid making choices strictly on cost alone, but, if cost is a major factor for your project, then consider these points:

• The cheapest service will most likely create expensive headaches down the road with missed deadlines, inaccurate translations, and poor customer service.
• Most expensive doesn’t mean best. Again, look to quality to see if they are worth the price they are charging.

CISFTA Member Nations

Officially, only eight nations within the Commonwealth of Independent States are involved in the current free trade agreement:

• Russia – Within the CIS, the Ukraine and Belarus are Russia’s major trade partners. Known for its mining and agricultural industries, Russia exports iron ore and precious metals, as well as various machinery.

• Ukraine – Ukraine is a major producer of coke and coal, and exports a good percentage of their petroleum and chemical output to Russia, the United States, and Germany.

• Belarus – Largely industrial, Belarus relies on trade relations with Russia and the Netherlands as they export vehicles and machinery.

• Kazakhstan – A smaller economy within the CIS, Kazakhstan produces on average 65-70 million tons of oil and gas condensate annually.

• Kyrgyzstan – Kyrgyzstan encountered difficulties economically following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, but continue to grow slowly. Main exports include precious metals and hydropower.

• Tajikistan – Turkey and Russia are major exports partners and benefit from Tajikstan’s production of aluminum and cotton, among other agricultural crops.

• Moldova – Moldova has struggled post-dissolution to establish a foothold in global trade beyond Russian borders, but has managed to export food and textiles to Turkey, Romania, and Germany.

• Armenia – Metals and mineral mining are prime industries in Armenia. Russia, Bulgaria, and Germany are among their top trading partners.

Current Issues Within CISFTA

Foremost in the media regarding the CISFTA agreement is Ukraine’s role and the effect, if any, it will have on relations with the European Union. While Ukraine’s involvement in CISFTA should not negatively impact the deep and comprehensive free trade agreement with the EU, it should be noted that both treaties are important to the country. According to OdessaTalk, the bulk of Ukraine’s trade, little over forty percent, is concentrated within the CIS borders. Trade with European Union members holds just under thirty percent, but could have the potential to grow. Should this potential be realized, one may find other member nations of CISFTA taking advantage of such a relationship.

Sales Planning and Goal Setting

Meet one on one and establish clear sales goals and action steps with each member of your team. Put them in writing and clarify the goals. Identify what’s in it for the reps relating to their income, and the personal impact their success will have in their life. Schedule this but flex with the individual’s territory and needs. You need to have this conversation at least monthly to quarterly depending on each person’s performance. The more success and longevity, do it less frequently. The less success the person has had and the more they need to learn, do this more frequently. Always follow-up and tie in to your every day conversations.

Coaching One on ones

Every week have at least a brief discussion on the phone with each rep separated by distance or in the office for those close to home: How did it go this week? What did you sell? (Of course you have the reports but you want to hear the rep reply.) Who do you need to follow- up? How can I help? Good job on…, or nice work with…. Redirect them constructively as needed-you closed three sales, let’s get one more next week. How important is that personal goal we talked about? Let’s make more of an effort. What’s the plan this week? Always keep it as positive as possible!

Field Coaching

Make a plan and get in the field. Sales reps need your personal attention and with your help they will improve sales and service. Make sure you goal is to help, teach, support and sell. Don’t just do it to get out of the office, or to “rip” on the salesperson for poor performance or to make catch-up phone calls in the car. Your goal in the field is to help the rep be a better rep and increase sales. Also, do this with your best team members not just the least best performers. You can help them sell even more.

Marketing Plan

One of our customers achieves fantastic results. He is a master at using all the company marketing literature or programs. Teach your team to do the same. Too often companies invest big money in marketing resources and they aren’t used. Be the leader here and execute brilliantly. It will payoff for your team and you. It’s easy success if you do it. Lead by example in all communication with your reps.

Sales Training

Set up a schedule and train your team regularly. Don’t make the mistake almost everyone else does: doing only yearly sales training. This isn’t enough. Yes, have an annual event if you can but also do weekly, monthly or quarterly sessions in group meetings. Use WebEx if you are limited on budget and are separated by distance. While this is not a daily sales management technique, you can send reminders by text and email on a more regular basis. Always keep these positive and upbeat. Share good sales books with your team as well. Over one thousand new sales books come out every year. You can’t read them all but you can read more than your competition.

Sales Reports and Goal Board

Update your numbers daily or at least as often as you can. (In this day and age world-class performance requires “real-time” results.) Post the big picture results on a company or department dashboard. Show what is being sold by whom. This visibly shows and creates a sense of urgency.. It’s a visual and immediate recognition for your reps. It fans the flame of competition between reps and communicates openness about how we work together.

Promotions/Incentives/Contests

If you do all of the above strategies your team will do a better job. This strategy, then, can put the exclamation point at the end of the sentence. You do contests or incentives to excel not just to make the numbers. So whatever your budget, always have something going on and a goal to achieve as a challenge for your team. If you do a contest give every sales rep a chance to win. Otherwise the top performers win most of the time. Personalize some incentives, keep things interesting and have some fun! And, remember recognize progress and achievement as you go.

A great accountant should be helping you grow your business. But, how do you find such an accountant rather than one who just does your bookkeeping and fills out your tax returns?

Start by talking to other entrepreneurs. You want to find someone who specializes in businesses of your size or a bit bigger. If your business is conducted only in New Jersey, you want an accountant who is familiar with federal and New Jersey state tax laws. If you operate in multiple states, you want someone whose clients are also conducting business in more than one state. If possible, you want someone who knows your industry. Asking your family and friends may not be as good a source of prospects as asking your competitors and other entrepreneurs.

Once you have a list of about 3-4 names, start your research. Go onto the internet and look to see if each of your prospects has a website. Check to see if there is other information about him/her on the internet. If your prospect has a website, click through and read each page. Is your prospect a certified public accountant (CPA)? Does the website talk about small business or only about tax returns or other specialties that you don’t need?

After you do an internet review, call each prospect and ask if they are willing to meet with you. Remember, this is a relationship that you hope will be long-term and your accountant will know a lot of information about you and your business. You want to feel comfortable with whoever you hire.

When you do meet with your prospects, ask them about the other small businesses that they have as clients. Ask about how they helped those businesses either save money or grow their profits. Give them a hypothetical situation and ask how they would solve a particular problem similar to one you’ve been having. Ask them about their use of technology in terms of your bookkeeping, coordinating their work with your financial records, and communication with you. Ask them about their other business clients and what types of services they perform for them. You should also ask about billing practices – do they bill by the month or on an hourly basis? Will you be charged extra for photocopies, for travel time or other extras? Ask your prospects who they network with, especially if you want to be introduced to a good banker, lawyer and financial planner. You may also want to find out if they know of possible new customers, vendors or angel investors.

It can be time consuming to come up with a great accountant. And if you discover that your accountant is not living up to your expectations, you should let him go and find one that is more a planning partner to you than a tax form completer. A great accountant is worth the time and effort to find her.