Fiscal Doctor

Dramatically Accelerate Correct Fiscal Leadership Decisions!

FREE Resources

by

What I learned about a $295 Doll (!) And Why You Should Care

Why does this doll sell for $295 while a competitive doll sells for only $19?

The $295 doll

Go to Babyland General Hospital in Cleveland, Georgia like I did and learn why. Cabbage Patch dolls are a top 10 Toyland stop, making this a must go to location, for millions of children over the last 36 years.

This $295 doll is one-of-a-kind, hand-stitched, hand painted, plush Cabbage Patch Kid – original Appalachian Artwork. It takes 2 or 3 weeks to lovingly assemble one by local employees providing almost artisan qualities. The 19 dollar doll is the entry level harder doll made under a licensee arrangement and made in China.

After visiting Babyland and conversations with several Cabbage Patch nurses, several points appear noteworthy:

  1. Passion – Founder Xavier Roberts is still intimately involved with the business he started as a 21 year old art student in 1976.
  2. Innovation – Over 4 decades, the original “Kids” product line has expanded through a series of related product extensions.
  3. Re-investment – From humble beginnings, the new hospital is a 70,000 square foot, southern style mansion on a 650 acre manicured yard.
  4. Value to customers – Wade, the first “baby” sold for $30 and re-adopted for the museum portion of the hospital was valued at $37,000.
  5. Measurable success – Over 128,000,000 babies have been adopted.

Again, the FiscalDoctor part of me struggles to understand how much “Wade” sells for now! My wife Kathy has no such qualms.

Always looking for a way to learn from what seems to be a different perspective, what I think about when I help clients are the following questions:

  1. Which of these points do you do well?
  2. Where could their successes serve as an inspiration for your growth?
  3. Which of your practices should you stop doing, after looking at their results?

Call me at 678-319-4739 to discuss this doll, your situation, or just to say hello.

by

Enterprise Risk Management Expert and Thought Leader Gary Patterson

Selected to join Geniecast as expert in growth, risk and strategy

St Louis, MO and Atlanta, GA — Professional speaker and author, Gary Patterson has joined the Geniecast marketplace to deliver BUSINESS expertise to global audiences. Geniecast is the world’s largest online marketplace of thought leaders, speakers, experts and consultants, all available via live, two-way video broadcast.

The Geniecast marketplace has almost 1,000 different programs led by more than 800 “Genies” who are experts in a variety of topics ranging from customer service and business best practices to leadership and other trending industry topics. Genies include individuals who are members of the CPAE Speaker Hall of Fame and speakers who were named to Inc.com’s list of Great Leadership Speakers for Your Next Conference. Former Yahoo! Executive Tim Sanders, sales guru Jack Daly and New York Times best-selling author Dan Buettner are among the Genies available on Geniecast.com. With Geniecast, education, board meetings and business development become more affordable and accessible.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

You know how your organization sometimes feels like it is a best kept secret, coasting on past success, or just stuck, so you have nagging underperforming feelings?

 Gary Patterson is offering several programs on Geniecast to address those underperforming feelings including The 5 Biggest Mistakes in Growing Your Business & How to Avoid Them. Contact Geniecast at 877-77GENIE to discuss a session on related topics including:

  • Business Growth
  • Sustainability: Organizational
  • Facilitator
  • Accountability
  • Management
  • Risk Management

Learn more or book Gary at https://www.geniecast.com/the-5-biggest-mistakes-in-growing-your-business-how-to-avoid-them.

 About Gary Patterson

Patterson works with leaders to Drive responsibility through your management team, grow top line revenues and reduce risks by making the best business decisions to dramatically accelerate correct fiscal leadership decisions uncovering Million Dollar Blind Spots©. This helps leaders gain control of their financial destinies and capitalize on hidden high return opportunities, while limiting exposure to risks.

Clients call him their FiscalDoctor® and just as every person needs a medical doctor; every business needs a FiscalDoctor and periodic fiscal checkups. He also supports special projects for risk assessments, enterprise risk management (ERM), operational risk management (ORM), fiscal checkups, corporate governance, strategic planning updates, and strategic growth diagnostics.

His book Million Dollar Blind Spots: 20/20 Vision for Financial Growth provides cutting edge follow-up for blind spots: how to identify them, exploit opportunities and mitigate risks.

Keys to Finding and Addressing The Business Opportunities and Risks You May Not be seeing
Keys to Finding and Addressing The Business Opportunities and Risks You May Not be seeing

 

by

Small business and entrepreneurship interview

Get Down to Business Chicago AM560 always discuss small business and entrepreneurship. Typically, Shalom Klein spends the time introducing our guest’s story, discussing his / her campaign or business, the call to action and sharing contact information.

Shalom Klein interviewed me on three top issues to be aware of so Bad Things Do Not Happen to Good Companies. The first 11 minutes of the podcast are my comments. http://shalomklein.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/GDTB-16JUN26.mp3

My three key suggestions for his listeners are to:

  1. Seek out and address the 175-pound gorilla BEFORE it grows up to be a million dollar Blind Spots.
  2. Can you accurately project cash for a minimum of the rolling next 6 months to be able to comfortably make investments and take risk to grow your business?
  3. There is a point at which you need to invest more money on quality and timeliness of issuing the financial statements. After 10 days, the statements reflect history not management information.The takeaway to do tomorrow morning is to look into your heart to address the issue you should address, but do not want to.

Podcasts of previous shows are up at: www.shalomklein.com/weekly-radio-show/.

by

Goldilocks and the Three Lists of Business Priorities

In the classic children’s story, Goldilocks, hungry and under duress, enters the house of the three bears searching for a bowl of porridge that is heated to her liking. As a leader in your organization, you too must find the right balance. Where does your organization place its attention?

When Goldilocks samples the first bowl, she finds the porridge “much too cold.” An organization with a blank list of key priorities is like a ship without a rudder – simply at the mercy of every wind and current that comes along.

Goldilocks moves on the second bowl. She finds the gruel “much too hot.” Practically speaking, an organization which replaces zero priorities with a hundred priorities still has no priorities. Running around with your hair on fire doing a hundred things may give you a sense of urgency and importance, but in a world of limited time and resources, this will not allow you to get the job done.

An organization can’t be all things to all people. You should concentrate your organization on five to seven key but manageable priorities As Goldilocks finds in her third bowl of porridge, you may find that focusing on just a few key priorities “just right.”

I look forward to continuing our relationship in the next year and beyond, and also look forward to your success stories by implementing these upcoming year strategies.

Sincerely, Gary

Or is there a focus?
Or is there a focus here?