Sampson12
Is our society denying laborers corporate ...

An article was recently published by Business Insider titled “Southwest asking corporate employees to work at airports; staffing”. https://www.businessinsider.com/southwest-asking-corporate-employees-to-work-at-airports-staffing-shortages-2021-12?op=1

It seems that the article is implying that operational employees no longer want to work at Southwest Airlines. In a free market society laborers usually don’t want to leave the stability of their workplace unless there is a reason. I don’t know why Southwest Airlines employees are leaving but based on reasons people typically do leave their employment it could be because of things like hostile working conditions, unfair compensation policies, or a threat against their safety.

So we know that something is causing a mass exodus of employees at Southwest Airlines. And it is a big enough issue that people who would otherwise remain in a stable, employed position are willing to disrupt their lives because of it.

From a corporate accountability standpoint, where consumers hold publicly traded shares in the company, this mass exodus should probably trigger some sort of corporate policy reform. There should be corporate accountability for how executives are directly causing employees to leave in mass at a publicly traded company.

But instead, according to the article, corporate executives are instead asking mid-level employees to “volunteer” to work for free. And yes, this DOES sound like a massive overstep of power. We have no way to know that the “volunteers” are not being coerced to “volunteer” out of fear. This fear might be driven from fear of losing their job, fear of not getting a promotion, fear of executive leadership choosing to run the entire company to the ground rather than reform their policies, or other reason.

I am curious though if the CEO “volunteered” to work any of these 8 hour shifts.

So here are some interesting things to consider. Southwest airlines is a publicly traded company and average middle class U.S. citizens do hold some of those shares. I’m sure that employees of Southwest Airlines also own shares of the company’s stock. So according to how our capital markets are supposed to be working, Southwest’s executive leadership should be aligning corporate policy with the best interest of its shareholders. But the shareholders (i.e. employees) are leaving, possibly being censored in the media, and the remaining employees are working for free.

In a world where corporate accountability was paramount, don’t you think the ideal response of a publicly traded company to be:

  • That it changes it’s policies that are making operational laborers uncomfortable?

  • That it changes it’s leadership which is pushing policies that operational laborers are uncomfortable with?

In a society where corporations were held accountable, I believe the results would be dramatically different. Mid-level employees would probably be paid for the work they are performing instead of “volunteering” to work for free over the holidays. Operational laborers would be able to keep the financial stability of the job they have held for however many years. And middle class consumers wouldn’t see the value in their investment decline as the company loses money over unpopular policies.

Is our society denying laborers corporate accountability? Thoughts on the recent Southwest Airlines labor exodus.
financial planning
Sampson12
5 steps to create your 2022 financial plan

Katelyn here! Earlier this month I shared with my followers in my private FB community “the Savvy Boss Club” the December 2021 financial planning calendar. This calendar is based on the same financial planning calendars that I used many times before at large multinational corporations.

This time every year you can expect your finance partners to be busy finalizing the draft version of the 2022 financial plan by using estimated Dec'21 results (because the full-year results won't be available until January when December has officially closed).

Technically though, I had my business unit dialed in and we had our plan mostly done all the way back in September. Which means that I started sending my team their planning templates back in March.

And I did that because if my team had any hope of getting the money they wanted approved by executive leadership in October, I had to start the negotiations back in July.

Keep in mind I was negotiating for a minimum of $400M.

I am very proactive when it comes to planning for a lot of reasons. One reason is because my dad is a real estate developer. I grew up hearing about how in order to make a profit, first you have to invest in all the resources you need. If you don't have the resources you need then you can't make the thing you want to make and you certainly can't sell it.

And those pesky finance folks can get in the way of allocating the right amount of budget to get those materials and build those houses!

I really do have so many stories of my internal battles with finance coworkers and leadership to advocate for my business to get the budget they requested.

But I couldn't advocate for anything if I didn't have my team dialed in working with me to create our financial plan at the right time.

It is critical for the success of your business to have a financial plan for 2022. And that's just in general, not even counting the sky-rocketing inflation, supply chain crisis, labor shortage, and a ridiculous list of current events that are currently taking a toll on people.

So here are five steps you can take today to create your 2022 estimated financial plan:

Step 1: Download your bank statement into csv or excel format.

Everything should always tie back to your bank statement! Now keep in mind that cash flow is not the same as profit and you have to take extra steps to correctly recognize revenue and expenses.

Step 2: Categorize your revenue and expenses in broad categories.

You can do this easily directly in the csv or excel sheet that you downloaded. Just pick a column next to the data and in the same row each transaction add common category.

Step 3: Make adjustments.

Be sure to add to the end of the data any additional revenue or expenses you expect to incur by the end of the year that are not yet reflected in your bank statement. An example would be if you are running Facebook Ads and the ad is running and you are incurring a liability but Facebook hasn’t charged you yet. Add this expense at the bottom of your transactions list with an estimated amount.

Step 4: Total everything up according to the categories in a P&L format.

If you need help with a P&L format comment below “P&L”.

Step 5: Duplicate the totals and use a multiplier for each category.

Take your 2021 estimated results and use that as the base for your 2022 financial plan. Then multiply each category by a growth multiplier. Especially when there is high inflation, you need to include the impact of expected higher expenses in the future.

If you want to see my live training on these 5 steps you can view it here: https://fb.me/e/4mQunQeoc

Comment below “financial plan” for help creating a custom 2022 financial plan today!

5 steps to create your 2022 financial plan
Commercial Real Estate
Sampson12
Is there trouble brewing for commercial real ...

On February 19th, 2021, the federal reserve issued its semiannual “Monetary Policy Report” (1). A report that I am particularly interested in because it mentioned that “commercial real estate prices remain at historically high levels despite high vacancy rates and appear susceptible to sharp declines, particularly if the pace of distressed transactions picks up or, in the longer term, the pandemic leads to permanent changes in demand.”

I’ve been anticipating this sentence since the beginning of the pandemic as the governors of many states shut down the profitability of many commercial buildings. I fear, however, that readers may not be sure what the federal reserve is talking about or why one could interpret it with concern.

So in this article, I will paint a fictional but relatable and realistic scenario of why there might be concern for the commercial real estate market.

Let’s pretend that there is a yoga studio, owned by Sally, operating profitably in January of 2020. The previous year, the business had the following:

Is there trouble brewing for commercial real estate? (part 1)
Financial Health
Sampson12
Don’t make business decisions based on how you ...

During one of my roles at a large multinational corporation, my business partners asked me to look into the tax benefits of donating material. You see, the team had already bought the material (so it was already expensed, aka “written-off” for tax purposes) but they did not need to use it anymore. They wanted to know if there was any reason for them to donate the material as opposed to just throwing it away. Throwing the material away would be easier so they were looking for an incentive to donate the material.

Since I am a business financial planner, I create and analyze financial budgets and forecasts compared to actual results, I reached out to a tax accountant for an answer. Similarly, in a corporate world, a tax accountant would not answer questions from business partners on planning out the financial impact of future business decisions. Those questions would be deferred to me.

When I reached out to a tax accountant I explained the situation and he answered that since the material had already been written-off (or expensed) there was no further tax benefit that could be gained. When something is expensed then the full value of the item is reduced from taxable income, simplified meaning: you don’t pay taxes on it. Then he said something which embodies so much of what we KNOW in corporate finance but that is not well-known to the average person outside of finance:

Please tell your business partners not to make any business decisions based on how they think it will impact taxes.

Why did he say that? The short of it is that taxes are complicated and a good tax accountant can do your taxes well whether you are making billions of dollars in profit or negative profit. Companies who are making BILLIONS of dollars in profit are paying a relatively small amount in taxes and are using the same tax code that you are as a small business owner. That means that the tax savings are in the tax code and are not based on the business decisions you make. You should make business decisions based on what is best for growing and improving your business not based on how you think it might impact taxes.

And it is something your tax accountant should be saying to you. Similarly to what highly paid tax accountants for large corporations say to their business partners.

Don’t make business decisions based on how you THINK they may impact taxes
Tips
Sampson12
Tips on Attracting Airbnb Customers

I was so excited to start working at a large Tech Company in the Bay Area, but I didn’t want to MOVE to the Bay Area. My family and community all lived a few hours away and I had just gotten out of a traumatizing lease in San Francisco. So I decided instead to commute to the Bay Area during the work week and stay at various Airbnbs or hotels. Needless to say I have quite a few thoughts on Airbnbs and hotels in the Bay Area and have picked up some tips based on my background and discussions with Airbnb hosts.

Let me tell you a little more about the kind of Airbnb guest I try to be:

  • Always try to pick up after myself even during the week that I am staying there

  • Mostly keep to myself especially after long workdays

  • Usually ate dinner at my company, at a restaurant, or lived off snack bars, cheese sticks, and pita chips since I didn’t like cooking in other people’s homes

  • Value cleanliness

  • Faith-centered so I try not to break or damage other people’s things and also not to steal

If you are an Airbnb host and you are looking for customers similar to me I have some tips on how to attract customers like me. And just so you know, if you are new to Airbnb I have heard from Airbnb hosts who have had some really tough customers who weren’t clean and did damage some things in the room. Everybody is different and I’m willing to share what I looked for when choosing an Airbnb room.

I want to preface these tips with the understanding that for many people and Airbnb is an alternative to a hotel room. Here are the accommodations I can usually expect from the hotel rooms (*pre-covid) I would consider as an alternative:

Tips on Attracting Airbnb Customers

vegetarian

Ingredients in Meatless Burgers may be Similar to Dog Food

Ingredients in Meatless Burgers may be Similar to Dog Food

I am a big believer that food is “healthy” or “not-healthy” based on whether it was processed, the chemicals it was exposed to, synthetic mutations, and other unnatural exposures as opposed to the base form of the underlying food item. If I grow a bunch of fruits and vegetables in my backyard and make an all veggie meal that sounds pretty healthy. Whereas if I go to a store and buy dog food made from some form of a vegetable that is run through multiple machines, accumulated dust and other chemicals, and packaged in plastic that doesn’t sound as healthy to me.

I recently read an article posted on drovers.com by Greg Henderson titled “@GHGGuru: Fake Meat ‘Not Very Different from Dog Food’”. The article discusses an interview with University of California/Davis professor Frank Mitloehner on the AgriTalk Podcast about how ingredients in the impossible burger and beyond burger are very similar to dog food except for a few additional spices for taste. This is different from the word of mouth opinions I have heard on the health attributes of these meatless burgers.

I have been told by word of mouth from a few people that the impossible burger and the beyond burger are “healthy vegetarian options”. I didn’t try and explain my different opinion on the subject in those instances because it didn’t seem like the right time. I consider healthy vegetarian options to be mainly organic grains, fruits, and vegetables with as minimal processing and chemicals as is available. So why do we have 2 very different opinions? Mainly because we listen to different types of advertising.

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5 Natural oils to moisturize your lips

5 Natural oils to moisturize your lips

Natural oils are not just great for cooking but also for skin care. I only started using natural oils a few years ago after I bought argan oil as a facial oil. I started putting argan oil on my lips and noticed an immediate plumping and moisturizing effect. This effect was temporary however and required frequent re-application.

Aside from natural oils I have found that drinking a lot of quality water is the most effective and long-lasting way for me to moisturize my lips. For example, I started drinking Fiji water a few years ago and found that it helped with my dry lips! When I went back to drinking other bottles of water my dry lips returned, which has led me to believe that water with a lot of chemicals, salines, or chlorine in it may do little to help with dry-lips.

Many people seek out ways to effectively ward-off dry lips and try lip balm. I have tried lip balms as well and have found that even the brands with the most natural ingredients don’t seem to get absorbed into my skin like oils do. Try them out for yourself and you should be able to find most, if not all, of the oils on this list at your closest natural foods store.

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5 Quick, easy, and natural face masks with ingredients from your kitchen

5 Quick, easy, and natural face masks with ingredients from your kitchen

Raise your hand if you have searched the internet for quick and easy natural face masks with ingredients from your kitchen and then decided against trying anything you found because it took too much time. Similar to cooking or baking, most of the “recipes” I found included measuring out teaspoons and tablespoons of various ingredients which for me was just too much. I’m busy, I have things to do, and I have to save my energy for making recipes to cook food I can eat so that I don’t starve.

Here is a life-hack on how to eat healthy and quickly and easily get the benefit of temporarily rubbing natural food with antioxidants on your skin as well:

  1. Eat a piece of fruit

  2. Spread the peel or the remaining part of the fruit on your face

  3. Wash off soon after

I started doing this with a papaya (see #1) because some of my favorite skin care brands boasted about the papaya enzymes in their products. I thought to myself, “I’m eating a papaya, can’t I just smear this on my face and get some of the benefits of the papaya on my skin?” So after I finished eating I took the inside of the papaya by the skin and rubbed it all over my face and washed it off after about 30 seconds. I felt that the results were significant, although seemingly temporary.

My skin looked tighter and clearer immediately after washing off the face mask! To be fair this only lasted until my face got oilier as the day wore on but isn’t a big part of healthy-looking skin maintenance? I’m hoping to prevent aging as best I can by frequently doing a little to add moisture and nutrients. I tell myself it is worth the dedication.

For example, if I was dedicated at the age of 14 to maintaining my facial skin health I would be in pretty good shape. Unfortunately, I didn’t start really working on skin maintenance until about 10 years later. I’m not commenting on how successful I have been in preventing my skin from aging but I strive to keep my skin looking like it is today and hopefully prevent aging tomorrow.

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