NxBizSuccess » Innovation

Importance of Agricultural Tax Planning

Tonia Franklin — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 15:35:33 +0000

Tina Barrett, Executive Director of the Nebraska Farm Business, Inc. discusses farm tax issues common to farm operations. Minimizing the tax burden is critical to a farm business. Planning one to two years ahead helps the producer situate themselves so they are not paying for more taxes than necessary. Actions, such as income averaging, will depend on the farm’s history and current situation. Prepaying input or adding capital purchases are other techniques that can help. It can be difficult balancing decisions based on what is best for managing the farm versus what is best for minimizing taxes. These types of decisions need to be carefully weighed for each farm business. (www.nfbi.com) This video is supported in part by the Nebraska Tax Institute, (http://conferences.unl.edu/tax/). Where the tax professionals go to learn. View Video

The Emotional Side of Business Leadership

Tonia Franklin — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 16:25:36 +0000

Jim Meier, President of Training and Consulting Connection (Omaha, NE) highlights three factors for success: believe in yourself; really, really want it; and do the work, both physically and mentally. Self-knowledge is an important factor as is leadership. You can be the visionary leader, the networking, collaborative leader, or the operational leader. Most people don’t possess all three leadership skills so you need to find others who help fill the void. Find someone you trust for advice and in turn, be coachable. Find people who can help you clarify your ideas, challenge or confront your concepts and nurture your soul. (www.tccomaha.com) View Video

Knowing your Business Self

Tonia Franklin — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 16:17:26 +0000

Jim Meier, President and Championship Thinking Coach, owns the Training and Consulting Connection (Omaha, NE). Jim uses sports psychology and philosophy as it relates to business. In most situations, the biggest competitor is him or her self. Small business owners need to “really” believe in themselves and know how to management the doubts. Most business owners over estimate themselves in the sense of understanding all the difference facets of entrepreneurship that are needed to be successful. The business owner must understand their ‘blind spots” and know when to seek assistance. (www.tccomaha.com) View Video

How To Become An Entrepreneur

Tonia Franklin — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 16:20:01 +0000

Larry Humberstone and Pam Gunderson of PJ Lawrence and Associates (Omaha, NE) discuss key concepts individuals need to consider when starting a business. Individuals must discover their passion for the business, understand what drives them to succeed and consider whether the market is also interested in their passion and business idea. Individuals must be self-motivated to further research the idea. Use the Internet and mentors to help refine the idea. Write down the ideas, make connections, and take action. Validate what works and what doesn’t. When moving from idea to concept, Larry says there must be pain. That is, individuals now move from a comfortable position to putting personal credibility or financial commitment on the line for the business. (http://pjlawrenceassociates.com/) View Video

Motivating Your Sales Force

Tonia Franklin — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 16:07:49 +0000

Keeping a global sales force motivated can be difficult. Gene Beckman, President of Management Communication Services, Inc. talks about their strategies for assisting a global sales force. MCS, Inc. uses a business model that provides for employee autonomy coupled with assistance to help the employees succeed in meeting individual and corporate goals. Keys for motivation are enabling your employees, having the employees buy into the goals, and showing them how they are integral to the process. People need to understand where they have been successful and what value they have and are capable of providing to the customer. (www.mcsit.com) View Video

Becoming a Global Entrepreneur

Tonia Franklin — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 16:39:51 +0000

Gene Beckman, President of Management Communication Services, Inc. shares his story on how he started the business, and why? Gene and his team have grown the firm to $20 million in sales, with half of the revenue generated internationally. A key management decision was obtaining exclusivity from the vendors to provide services. Beckman found that the business model worked in the US and decided to venture into ten other countries. Another key was finding the correct representatives and maintaining high communications. (http://www.mcsit.com) View Video

Evolving a Business to Capture Markets

Tonia Franklin — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 13:10:40 +0000

Jeffrey Hicks, Chairman and CEO of 21st Century Systems, Inc. (21CSI) (http://www.21csi.com) shares his experience working within an evolving company. From employee number five to CEO of the company, Jeff says that the key was learning to give up control for the benefit of the company. 21CSI has shifted focus from R&D to commercial applications. The goal is to learn as a company how to take the capital investments they put into products and further commercialize them to grow the business. (http://www.21CSI.com) View Video

Innovation and Patent Issues

Tonia Franklin — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 15:11:55 +0000

Attorney John Miles from the Lincoln, NE office of Cline, Williams, Wright, Johnson & Oldfather L.L.P. discusses the different patent issues inventors may have when dealing with idea and product protections. http://www.clinewilliams.com View Video

Intellectual Property Protections

Tonia Franklin — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 17:11:36 +0000

Attorney John Miles from the Lincoln, NE office of Cline, Williams, Wright, Johnson & Oldfather L.L.P. outlines the different types of intellectual property rights and details why a business owner needs to protect their these rights. http://www.clinewilliams.com View Video

Bootstrapping a Technology Business

Tonia Franklin — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 15:43:54 +0000

Solving a problem opens the door to opportunity. Dennison Bhola, Owner of Assessment, Learning and Technology Solutions (ALTS) (Lincoln, NE) (http://www.alts.com) discusses how he saw a problem and developed an educational software program to solve the problem. This idea launched ALTS. Dennison outlines the steps he took from idea concept to product prototype to market entry. (http://www.alts.com/) View Video