Joanie Gable, B2B CFO®
Providing B2B CFO® services in Birmingham, AL and surrounding areas

Many business owners are frustrated to find that the people and professionals who surround them do not understand what they want. It has been our observation that almost all business owners have four strategic goals for their business:

• Increase sales
• More cash and personal wealth as a result of the increased sales
• Personal time away from the business
• A successful exit strategy from the business

To achieve any and all of those goals the owner must make optimal use of time. That is why Gordon Segal, founder & CEO of Crate & Barrel recently told INC Magazine, “Getting distracted is the biggest problem entrepreneurs face.”

The mastery of your own time will determine whether you will be able to increase sales and cash, take personal time away from the business and experience a successful exit strategy.

Figure 1 (below) illustrates how your company is organized today. This organization is present, whether you are consciously or subconsciously aware of it. This organization exists whether or not you want it to exist. It exists regardless of the industry in which you work. Your future success is dependent upon whether or not you are able to properly function within this organization.

Key definitions:

Finder:

Minder:
The administrative, accounting and operational staff of the company. Minders are historians. They work in the past.

Grinder:
The people who do the physical work of the company. Grinders may be construction workers out in the field or telemarketers at a desk. Grinders work for today and are not concerned about the future or past. 

THE CANCER NAMED MINDING ….

Finders open the business relationships and ideas that allow sales to flow into a company. We can tell the value of a Finder by viewing the increase in sales of a company. Increased sales are the result of a Finder’s leadership, vision, ideas and future direction.

As sales increase, we see a quiet type of business cancer grow within the business – the cancer of incrementalism. We call this Minding Cancer.

Step-by-step, we see a business owner being dragged from Finding activities into administrative activities, which we call Minding activities. The Finder then changes roles, as is illustrated in Figure 2 (above).

MINDING CANCER EFFECTS ….

A Finder with Minding Cancer can forget about spending personal time away from the business. Things are too complex to get away from the office. In fact, time at the office begins to increase instead of decrease. We have had owners tell us “I have not had a vacation in three years,” or “I missed my daughter’s high school graduation because of my business.” These Finders often feel trapped and boxed into a corner.

Minding Cancer follows them 24/7/365. Any “vacation” or other time spent away is mixed with minding the business. The owner goes online and looks at cash each day, calls/emails the staff regarding checks to cut, spends significant time answering emails, and so forth. Time at a child’s ball game or other event is spent on the cell phone running the business. The Finder’s voice is raised, blood pressure goes up and everyone around feels uncomfortable. The children of the Finder, hungry for attention, notice what the Finder is doing and often feel disappointment, anger or rejection as a result.

The damaging effects of Minding Cancer extend beyond the business. Divorce, damaged relationships with children, diminished time with friends, damage to personal health, decreased mental health and diminished spiritual health are some of the results of Minding Cancer.

A CURE TO MINDING CANCER ….

There are at least three steps to curing Minding Cancer. The Finder must:

1. Recognize the cancer signs.
2. Have a desire to get out of Minding and back to Finding.
3. Hire people that will help the Finder be cured of this cancer.

As a parallel, cancer often takes outside intervention, such as chemotherapy or other such treatments to kill the cancer. Avoidance of these interventions can lead to death.

Likewise, Minding Cancer often takes outside intervention to help a business owner with the tools necessary to get back into Finding activities. Avoidance of this intervention can cause a company to run out of cash, which eventually can cause the death of the company.

The result of getting rid of this Minding Cancer looks like the graph shown above in Figure 3.

BACK TO FINDING ….

Now the Finder can get back to the role of being the visionary, the leader, the idea generator and the catalyst for future change. Sales should then increase, and the company’s organization should begin to be better balanced. This time, the competition narrowly missed an opportunity to move in for the kill. They will continue to hunt the Finder’s company. But a wise Finder will create a vision to keep ahead of the competition. A really good Finder will be able to turn the tables and purchase or quash key competitors. Survival goes to the fittest Finder.

Finders should not allow themselves to become distracted. Rather than simply keeping busy, Finders should be engaged in activities that are truly productive. Ideally, Finders should spend the majority of their time in Finding activities and delegate the Minding and Grinding to others.

B2B CFO NAMED IN PRESTIGIOUS INC. 5000 LIST

184% Growth Earns B2B CFO Spot in the 2010 List of Fastest
Growing Companies in America

Phoenix, Ariz. August 24, 2010 – B2B CFO, nation’s largest
provider of CFO services to small businesses, has been named to the
prestigious Inc. 5000 list of fastest growing companies in America.



Now in its 29th year, Inc. Magazine’s annual ranking judges US-based
and privately held companies by their revenue growth. This year’s
list was ranked on the percentage in revenue increase from
2006-2009. B2B CFO’s growth earned 84th place in its industry.

“There are approximately 27 million small businesses in the U.S.
today,” said Jerry L. Mills, founder and chief executive officer of
B2B CFO, “It is a huge honor to be among the fastest growing and the
most successful businesses in the country. Our firm has experienced
tremendous growth over the past few years and we are on track to
continue expanding. I am especially grateful to all of the firm’s
dedicated Partners who continue to advocate our services around the
nation.”

In a personalized letter congratulating B2B CFO on this
accomplishment, Jane Berenston, editor-in-chief of Inc. Magazine’s
wrote “Congratulations: your company, B2B CFO, has made the 2010
list of the fastest growing private companies in America. This
achievement puts you in rarefied company, especially if you consider
that over 27 million businesses are registered in the USA. The elite
group you’ve now joined has, over the years, included companies such
as Microsoft, Timberland, Visa, Intuit, Jamba Juice, Oracle, and
Zappos.com. I look forward to congratulating you in person in
Washington, D.C.”

B2B CFO’s growth is reflected in numerous awards this year. The
company was also recently named in ACE Corporate Growth Awards,
which recognized the most successful and fastest growing companies
in Arizona.
In August 2010, B2B CFO has grown to 170 Partners across 39 states,
representing 5,000 years of cumulative experience. Each Partner is a
seasoned financial executive who serves as CFO to growing businesses
on as-needed basis. Approximately 80% of the Partners have a
background that includes senior executive positions at the Big Four,
and all of the Partners have held high level executive finance
positions in various industries in corporate America. Together, B2B
CFO Partners work with more than 500 businesses in the nation with
combined annual sales of more than $3 Billion.

Jerry L. Mills and many of the B2B CFO Partners regularly dedicate
time to educate business owners on financial matters. Mills is a
frequent speaker and contributor and has been featured on many
national media networks including FOX Business, Fortune Small
Business, Smart Money and many others. Mills is also the author of
The Danger Zone – Lost in the Growth Transition, and Avoiding The
Danger Zone – Business Illusions, both business non-fiction books
that help entrepreneurs understand and build a strong financial
strategy.

“We look forward to participating in the Inc. 500|5000 conference in
Washington, DC this fall,” added Mills. “Along with my colleagues, I
look forward to the October 2nd awards ceremony and to meeting the
entrepreneurs that created the other 5000 fastest growing companies
in America.”

About Inc. Magazine

Founded in 1979 and acquired in 2005 by Mansueto Ventures LLC, Inc.
is the only major business magazine dedicated exclusively to owners
and managers of growing private companies that delivers real
solutions for todays innovative company builders. Inc. provides
hands-on tools and market-tested strategies for managing people,
finances, sales, marketing, and technology.

Inc. Magazine’s 29th annual Inc. 5000 ranking of the fastest-growing
private companies in the country is available online at
www.inc.com/inc5000/list

About B2B CFO

Headquartered in Phoenix, Ariz., the firm was founded in 1987 by
Jerry L. Mills. B2B CFO is the nation’s largest CFO firm serving
entrepreneurial, growth and mid-market companies with revenue under
$75 million. The firm’s partners have an average of 25 years of
experience and each individual partner is a senior level executive
with a broad range of expertise. Please visit online at
http://www.b2bcfo.com/