Probably not. Bean counters are more likely to be counting beans… or just to be on the safe side, producing beans.
You are far more likely find them charging borderline extortionist fees to count your beans. You may even find a few incompetent and crooked ones but many will be trying to climb the greasy pole to get to the top.
It’s got to be said even if people are afraid to say so but why would you allow a bean counter to run your business? Especially an entrepreneurial business of any size. Do you really think that they have the professional training, experience or business acumen to start, build and grow a successful enterprise? More fool you, if you do.
Felix Dennis, the self-made UK millionaire, says that when you get a whiff that your business is in financial trouble you need to seek out a bean counter you…ah hem… “trust”. Some have seen financial failure before “and know that the light at the end of a tunnel is probably an oncoming train”.
The bean counter can give you the hard facts but it takes the advice of a real entrepreneur to know what to do next. In short, he says, forget about counting up your assets, try consider whether your “beast would make money in another man’s kennel “.
What he means is seeing whether your failing or failed business has other uses you may not have considered. If it was viewed in another light, could it be a moneymaker for someone else? If you cannot save your business with capital or help, could you try to sell it?
An example: He launched a magazine that was unsuccessful. Another publisher saw value in the title if it was changed to appeal to other audiences. Dennis sold country market rights to the publisher, keeping some for himself, and ended up doing pretty well for himself.
Excellent advice. Not from a bean counter but from a seasoned, successful entrepreneur. And a fresh perspective from another canny entrepreneur who saw value where others didn’t.
Value is in the mind of the customer. Something you don’t always see. A person had an old fridge to sell. Instead of giving it away at a low price ($20) he sold it at a higher price ($70). A buyer was happy to pay the high price because all he wanted were the drawers in the fridge. He couldn’t get these parts anywhere else.
If you want to find value in your business ideas… and develop them into a money-making “beast”, without being tainted or having the kiss of death from a bean counter, then go have a look at this here for”Breakthrough Ideas”. It’s a new way to get started in markets (local, regional or online) where the rules have changed.
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