Evan Vitale

Accounting Professional

Evan Vitale – Dealing With a Difficult Co-Worker

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By Evan Vitale

Some of us can relate to this situation: we love our job, but we can’t stand to work with so-and-so on a daily basis.

Yes, at times, it’s hard to get along with everyone or understand why other people are difficult to work with, annoying, negative, etc. Everyone has their own personality, habits and mannerisms and we have to figure out how to deal with that person or start looking for another job.

Since we don’t know what a future job holds (you might have two difficult people to deal with at a new job), it’s probably better to figure out how to deal with a current co-worker and stick with the job that you like.

If the conflict is small, you can probably work one-on-one with your difficult co-worker. If the problem is much larger, you may have no alternative than to talk to a manager or to someone in your company’s human resources department.

A good way to start solving the problem is to talk to the co-worker privately. Suggest a coffee break or lunch together. Be careful how you present your problem as you certainly don’t want to make matters worse! Don’t sound frustrated or mad. Be caring and cautious. Communication is a huge key in solving any conflict.

Once you have had a discussion with your co-worker – and the problem continues – then it’s time to consider speaking to your manager about the issue. Here you will find some managers won’t have the interest, time or energy to deal with small personality conflicts, while others will be helpful and will try to find a solution.

If the matter is more serious (i.e., sexual harassment), then you need to speak with your supervisor immediately about the problem. If your manager is acting inappropriately, then you need to discuss the matter with the manager’s boss or with your human resources department.

Evan Vitale – Working For A Startup

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By Evan Vitale

Working for a startup business can be exciting and risky at the same time.

For some, knowing that you’re helping a business work from the ground up is an adventure and it’s a thrill if the startup becomes a huge success (and it makes for a nice addition to your personal resume)!

However, working for a startup can be considered one of the most riskiest career moves that you will ever make. Your starting salary may be low and there may also be a lack of any benefit package. Plus, you never know when you’ll be handed a pink slip due to a cash shortage.

Here are some questions you should ask yourself before you accept a job offer from a startup:

  • Will working for a startup be of benefit to you? Remember, you might have to consider being a part of the startup for the experience and the potential “glory” of business growth. You’ll learn a lot, especially if you’re just starting a career. But, at the same time, you may not be paid your full value.
  • Will you be of benefit to the company? You must feel valued and there must also be some potential career advancement opportunities with a startup as well. As many employees have learned over the years, sometimes being valued by your employer goes a long way.
  • How is the startup financially secured? There’s nothing wrong in asking if the startup is backed by a venture capital company. If you don’t feel comfortable in asking, you can do some of your own research and learn more about the startup. Typically, a VC will publish a press release highlighting funding for startups. You need to feel secure that the startup is going to shutter its doors tomorrow if you decide to come to work for them today.

As you can see, working for a startup has it’s positives and negatives. Do your research, talk to your family and friends and make the right decision based on your goals and financial needs.

Evan Vitale – Utilizing Business Trends

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By Evan Vitale

While you don’t need to be on the cutting edge of every trend, your business can experience some short-term and long-term success by watching and following recent business trends.

Trend watching is especially important in making sure your business doesn’t suffer or go obsolete while your competitors move forward because they took full advantage of a trend.

Take for example, Blockbuster Video. Once a dominate player in video cassette tape rental, Blockbuster didn’t make the switch to DVDs in time and suffered a painful death. By the time Blockbuster jumped on the DVD trend, Netflix and other companies were already offering DVD rentals to your door.

When was the last time you observed at trends in your industry?

Again, you don’t have to be on top of every industry-based news story, but you should be aware of what’s going on in your industry and where and how things are moving. Some of the best ways to do this include:

  • Reading online industry news.
  • Subscribe to online industry newsletters and other publications.
  • Creating Google Alerts based on targeted keywords in your industry.
  • Attending and participating in annual industry conferences. Here, you should be meeting with and talking to vendors; sales reps; media and others in your industry. Be a sponge at conference.
  • Keep an eye on your competition and see how they are reacting to trends. Don’t copy them. Instead, develop your own ideas for services and products based on trends.
  • Become more active in social media and read the industry buzz.
  • What’s everyone talking about? Don’t watch from the sidelines.
  • Get involved in the social media conversation.

Many trends move quickly. Some catch on right away, while others take time. Start now by catching up on recent trends and try to generate some ideas to help grow your business based on recent trends.

Evan Vitale – Asking For A Raise

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By Evan Vitale

At times we all probably feel that we’re under-appreciated – and under-valued when it comes to working a part-time or full-time job. We put in the hours, do what we’re asked to do, arrive early, leave late and go the extra mile for the company.

However, a good performance review doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be guaranteed the kind of raise in salary that you’re looking for (or hoping for) in 2016. At best, most only expect a cost of living raise. But can you ask for more?

The best way to get that well-deserved raise is to know how to properly ask for it. Here are some basic strategic steps you can take before you ask for a raise:

Do some research around the company as it pertains to pay raises. Refer to the company handbook or ask older employees their experiences when it comes to seeking a pay increase.

Keep track of your work accomplishments and job performance and have it handy when it comes time to asking for a raise. If necessary, create charts or graphs to help prove your case. If you can show that you’ve save the company time and/or helped the company improve sales, increase profits or cut expenses, then it will be easier for them to answer “yes” to your raise request.

Keep in mind what the local market will bear. If the cost of living is 3% and the current market value for someone of your job status is $50,000 per year, don’t expect  – or ask – for a $10,000 pay increase. Be reasonable.

Ask for a meeting with your boss and let them know ahead of time what the meeting entails. Be confident in your request and have your facts ready when it comes time to let your boss know why you’re an asset to the company and deserving of a raise.

Evan Vitale – Venture Capital News

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By Evan Vitale

Let’s take a look at recent Venture Capital (VC) news!

According to GeekWire.com, there was good news and bad news for venture capital activity in the Pacific Northwest. Here, venture capital activity was down 59% in the fourth quarter. However, overall, VC activity was up for 2015.

Last year, a record $2.4 billion was invested in 374 Pacific Northwest startup firms – up from $2.3 billion in 2014 and $1.4 billion invested in 2013.

Not bad!

From the Wall Street Journal, Healthline Media Inc. has raised $95 million from Summit Partners to compete with WebMD.com in the market for consumer-health information. Healthline.com was launched 2006 and provides health information to users through content licensed from third parties. The company was relaunched in 2012 with original content.

Also from WJS, a wine app called “Vivino” has raised $25 million in a Series B round of venture funding. Vivino Inc. is a mobile app for wine reviews and shopping. It lets users scan the label on a bottle of wine using their smartphones and access user-generated ratings and reviews. The new round of funding was led by SCP Neptune International. Other investors included Balderton Capital and Melo7 Tech Partners.

From the Houston Business Journal, a new venture capital fund has launched in Houston, Texas. Digitech is a crowdfunding-meets-private-equity style of venture capital where unaccredited investors will invest $50 to $100 per month. Digitech is targeting both software and technology-based companies, as well as biotech and healthcare. You can read the full article here:

http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/blog/2016/01/exclusive-new-venture-capital-fund-launches-in.html

KidPass, Inc., according to the Wall Street Journal, has started to sell $49 monthly subscriptions that give families access to many children’s activities, including sports, music classes, indoor play spaces, museums, and more. The idea, says co-founder and chief executive Solomon Liou is to give parents a “starting point whenever they are looking for any kind of activity for their children.”

You can check out KidPass here: http://blogs.wsj.com/venturecapital/2016/01/11/seed-funded-kidpass-launches-childrens-activity-subscription-service/

Evan Vitale – Ignoring Gloom and Doom Predictions

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By Evan Vitale

At the conclusion of every year – and the start of a new year – the gloom, doom and boom stories start to appear with business predictions for the next 12 months.

As a business owner, investor, manager or even a staff employee, it can be difficult to sort out what’s good and what’s bad when it comes to reading news involving industry forecasts for the upcoming year.

Here’s the best approach one can take when “experts” make their good-news, bad-news predictions:

  • Ignore them.
  • If you must read prediction articles, use it for informational (and entertainment) purposes only.
  • Remember, you – and you alone – drive your business. If you read “it’s going to be a bad year for your industry” articles and then spend all day wringing your hands and rubbing a worry stone then, yes, it’s going to be a bad year for your business.
  • Prove forecasters are wrong. Clip or print the article and use it for motivation. Use it as a blog post. Tell everyone you’re going to prove that business is good, etc.
  • Be positive, especially in front of your employees, customers and clients. If you feel negative industry news is affecting your staff, have a meeting or staff lunch. Tell them your plan to keep things moving in the right direction, despite industry “predictions” from an online magazine writer who doesn’t know anything about your company and the customers/client you serve every day.

At the end of the year, no one will remember whether industry predictions were right or wrong. The gloom-and-doom article writer has moved on (perhaps to another company) and will be  writing a new article about the positives and negatives for other business industries for 2017.

One of my business friends always tells me “onward” whether his business is growing, when he celebrates earning new business or if he loses a customer.

Keep your head up and stay positive. Ignore the pundits.

Evan Vitale – VC Money Tight in 2016?

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By Evan Vitale

The venture crystal ball, according to the Silicon Valley Business Journal, reveals that investors are predicting fewer unicorns and tighter purse strings for the upcoming year.

TechFlash Editor Cromwell Schubarth says most of the investors he interviewed at the conclusion of 2015, says the booming trend of venture capital funding is slowing down. Perhaps, we’ve been on a good ride for such a long time, that it’s likely things are going to calm down a bit.

You can read the entire article here:

http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/blog/techflash/2015/12/vc-crystal-ball-investors-predict-fewer-unicorns.html

Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal says the Federal Reserve’s quarter-point rate increase will have very little immediate impact on the startup fundraising environment. However, gradual tightening is expected over the next 12 months. Will this leave companies short of startup cash before they start to see a profit?

Check out what capital investors are saying about this potential cash crunch here:

http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2015/12/17/vc-mailbag-startup-funding-crunch-is-likely-in-2016/

However, once you dig down far enough, you’ll always be able to find some positive news from a venture capitalist.

According to CNBC, New Enterprise Associations general manager Rick Yang says 2016 will be a big year for companies working in virtual reality, edtech and e-commerce.

VC money might be tight, he says, in the first part of 2016 as compared to 2015, but he doesn’t see early-stage companies slowing down. Facebook and Apple, he predicts will look to “acquire more startups to maintain growth and obtain new technologies,” Yang says.

“I don’t think that any of the big tech companies are scared of acquiring companies right now, they still have quite a bit of cash on the balance sheets. And as I kind of mentioned in one of the previous questions, I do think they’re looking to other services outside of their core products for growth in the next year,” he said.

You can read the full article here:

http://www.cnbc.com/2015/12/31/one-venture-capitalists-predictions-for-2016.html

Evan Vitale – Latest VC Headlines

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By Evan Vitale

Here’s some of the latest venture capital news being discussed and shared online:

According to the OC Register, Irvine, California is a quite the “mecca” in Orange County when it comes to winning venture capital funds. A recent report says Irving-based companies raised more money than any of the county’s other 33 cities combined.

The Register went on to say that during the first nine months of 2015, Irving-based companies raised nearly $278 million in venture capital. Newport Beach was next in line with $57 in venture capital funds raised. The report was released by Jones Lang LaSalle Research and PricewaterhouseCoopers MoneyTree.

You can read the full article here:

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/million-698761-capital-companies.html

Recently, Indiegogo unveiled a new service that could “prove to be controversial among its core users by giving an edge to large corporations engaged in crowdfunding.”

In a blog post by the Wall Street Journal, “Goliaths have long since infiltrated crowdfunding sites, trotting out new products and promotional campaigns on platforms like Kickstarter and Indiegogo. But Indiegogo’s new Enterprise Crowdfunding service aims to help increase their chances of success on the platform.”

The blog post is here:

http://blogs.wsj.com/venturecapital/2016/01/06/indiegogo-courts-corporate-crowdfunders-with-new-services/

Monsanto Growth Ventures, the venture capital arm of the Monsanto Company announced for the first time its growing investment portfolio; nearly a dozen independent companies that are active in key areas of agricultural productivity, digital agriculture and biologicals.

StreetInsider.com has the news here:

http://www.streetinsider.com/Corporate+News/Monsanto+%28MON%29+Venture+Capital+Arm+Launches+First+Investment+Portfolio/11197249.html

From Bloomberg Business, growing peer-to-peer lending and online money transfer services helped raise a record $3.6 billion in venture capital funding for the UK technology sector last year.

The largest single investment in the industry was attracted by London-based small-business lending platform Funding Circle, which raised $150 million in April. London continues to have an expanding financial technology sector, which had a record year in 2015.

The full article is here:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-01-06/u-k-tech-startups-raise-record-venture-capital-in-2015

Evan Vitale – 2016 Business Predictions

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By Evan Vitale

Everyone, it seems, has a business prediction for 2016.

Here a few of my favorites.

From http://nerdwallet.com:

  • More online small-business loans.
  • More women-owned businesses.
  • More loan dollars guaranteed by the United States Small Business Administration.
  • Entrepreneurs will use more business credit cards to make purchases for their companies.

From http://forbes.com:

  • Expect gradually increasing interest rates and tougher credit for business.
  • Lower oil prices into mid-year followed by gradual increases.
  • This will be a big year in terms of mega-mergers.
  • It will be a challenging growth year for middle-market companies.
  • Politics as usual.

From http://businessnewsdaily.com (who has 50 small business trends and predictions for 2016):

  • Small business growth will continue.
  • Same-day delivery and cross-border selling will expand.
  • More businesses will come up for sale as Baby Boomers look to retire.
  • Small businesses can expect more scrutiny from customers
  • Despite increasing internet connections, human connections remain the most important.

Here are some other notable predictions for the new year:

  • Security experts are expecting there to be new cyberattacks and hacks. This will include attacks through apps. Source: http://www.inc.com.
  • For businesses who utilize Google Adwords and other Pay-Per-Click (also known as “PPC”), ad targeting will be awesome in 2016. Social media ads are quickly becoming a favorite for many businesses. Bing Ads are expected to make a strong comeback. Source: http://wordstream.com.
  • Store front businesses that did well in 2015 (small grocers, hair salons, coffee shops, restaurants, fitness centers, home improvement contracts, retail boutiques and other “strong fronts”), should continue to have a good year in 2016 with, perhaps, some modest growth. Source: http://pymnts.com.
  • The impact of climate change and new technologies (such as the ability to check pricing on smartphones) means 2016 could be a good year for the wine industry, although craft beer and craft cider continue to earn a lot of attention. Source: http://bloomberg.com.

Do you have a business or industry prediction for 2016?

Evan Vitale – Setting Business Resolutions for 2016

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By Evan Vitale

Every New Year’s Eve, people set personal resolutions for the upcoming year. They resolve to go on a diet; drink less; stop smoking; get a new job, etc.

But what about your business? Can you establish some New Year resolutions for your company?

Here are some business resolutions you can implement in 2016:

  • Appreciate your customers. When is the last time you “thanked” your customers for their business? Get into a better habit of sending thank you notes; call your customers and tell them how much you appreciate them. Let them know how awesome they are!
  • Invest more in your staff. This doesn’t necessarily mean a salary raise or additional bonuses, but there are other things you can do to help your employees grow which, in turn, will help your business. Consider additional training; allow them to attend local and regional conferences; give them additional responsibilities and roles (with less micro-managing).
  • Re-evaluate your company and its core competencies. Why do you have a loyal customer base and a great talent workforce? Identify what’s important and secure your company’s foundation for the upcoming year.
  • Growth. What is your ideal business growth for the upcoming year? Set some goals and break them down into smaller, achievable chunks.

Prepare and plan now for 2016. Stick to your resolutions and invest in your customers/clients and your employees. Reinforce your company’s core values. Approach the new year with a “look out, here we come!” attitude.

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You can read another blog by Evan Vitale at http://evanvitale.com