Forward Looking Business Training

Old guys with years of experience have a lot to share! Those who have flown a desk and swung a wrench have even more! My name is Dan Elliot, and I am a Professional Accountant with over twenty years of front-line experience in administrative, mechanical and emergency services environments.   In addition to being an Accountant at the Comptroller level, I served as a military aircraft mechanic, and worked as an operations manager with a vocational training program in the penitentiary system, where we manufactured goods for re-sale as part of this important reintegration program.    I also served as a volunteer fire-Fighter and search and rescue member, where I achieved the rank of Captain in the fire service, and Search Manager and Team Leader in Search and Rescue. I combine my education and experience to provide you a rounded approach to mentorship and teaching. In addition to being available for in-person and on-line training and coaching, I have a number of Forward L...

  Are you one of the many leaders who are making decisions based on emotions versus facts? Are you weeding through the abundance of information and only using what is relevant? If you are making decisions which will affect the lives of others, you owe it to them to ensure you have all the relevant information. Our Forward Looking Guide on Leadership discusses decision making and is available on Amazon Kindle.  Amazon.com: Daniel W Elliot CPA CGA: Books, Biography, Blog, Audiobooks, Kindle Enclosed is an excerpt from that guide: ´Your ability to solve problems and make good decisions is the true measure of your skill as a leader.’ (Brian Tracy)   Whether the problem be an operational issue or ethical dilemma, leaders must be able to analyze the situation using all available reliable relevant information, and make a resolution. In some cases the advise of experts may be required, but in the end the leader must make the final decision and be accountable for the outcome. ...

  Are you struggling to grow your business using social media? Are you one of thousands advertising the service but are struggling to prove yourself? When it comes to business consulting, health coaching, marketing, and various other vocations, establishing ourselves as ‘experts’ takes a little more than bombarding people with motivational quotes, colourful pictures, and cool videos, we need something real and substantial that shows we actually know something… Know, like, and trust! Loss Leader is when a business sells a good or service at a loss, or even gives it away for free, in order to entice customers to buy something else. In my teen years the owner of a particular gas station would sell cigarettes at cost (I know… bad example for this day and age) in order to bring in customers to buy gas. In addition to this, the facility had a fishing tackle store in which the owner would give away free coffee and donuts to the fishermen who came in and purchased items on their way to the...

 There are many discussions surrounding the phrase 'New Normal' meaning how our world has and will change post Covid-19 Pandemic. Included in these discussions is the concept of 'Work from Home' and there are many perspectives. The first thing we must get out of the way is the concept of working from home is not a reality for most professions and organizaions; tradespeople, manufacturers, construction, agriculture, and many other occupations cannot be done while wearing your pajamas and sitting at your laptop at the dinning room table. For those who are able to even consider such an arrangement, let's have a discussion on opportunities, challenges, and practices that have worked for you. Many argue humans are social animals and require face to face interaction; others argue social interaction is a distraction. Couples both working from home argue it is difficult as there is the tendancy to bounce work thoughts off the other as they did in the past with their co-work...

  Refuse to lower your standards to accommodate those who refuse to raise theirs. Unknown. Are your expectations being met? Sometimes we find ourselves in a place where the work ethic, training, and standards are not what we have become accustomed too, and our expectations are viewed as unreasonable. We have experienced this first hand living and operating a business in a foreign country. Should we lower our standards and expectations? Or should we strive to improve those of the ones around us? Rome wasn’t built in a day, and it takes a certain person to keep it moving forward. It took a great deal of work to raise the bar to where it is; don’t let it come down.  Let’s share some examples of what we have experienced, and how we overcame it:

  Relying on one platform for all of your communications with clients may not be in your best interest. Service interruptions and business philosophy conflicts are some of the reasons relying on one provider may be problematic (have you been in jail with your social media account?); however, an important consideration is your potential client base just might be somewhere else. While working with multiple platforms may be cumbersome, it may be to your advantage. Take the time to research where your potential clients frequent, and reach out to them. Forward Looking Solutions can now be found on Linkedin in addition to our blog page; let's have a discussion on your experiences, and what has worked well for your industry.    https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-w-elliot-cpa-cga-391094200

 Be careful answering social media posts such as pet names, first car driven, and facts that may lead to your full date of birth! These may seem fun and harmless but may be data mining for answers to secret questions which may be used to compromise your accounts via password resets. I see this every day, and not all are obvious; however, combined with many other questions, may direct someone to the common security questions. A professional interviewer will ask you a series of unrelated harmless questions in order to put you at ease, and assess your reaction to questions you have no reason to lie about; then they will hit you with the odd question they really want an answer too, but may randomly throw them in so it does not appear obvious.  Many of the questions asked in these social media surveys are directly related to some of the common access/password reset questions,  and others are indirect; when combined with other questions and information, this can lead a professi...