Stephen Strasburg, a much heralded rookie pitcher for the Washington Nationals, who came up to the major leagues earlier this year, may undergo Tommy John surgery. Sports Illustrated described Strasburg as “most hyped and closely watched pitching prospect in the history of baseball.” Some people even argued that he should have been selected to the National League All-Start Team despite being in the majors for only a few weeks.

Many pitchers successfully have come back from this surgery and continued their careers (83% of athletes according to a 2008 study by the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine). Kerry Wood, a pitcher with the NY Yankees, was a Chicago Cubs’ phenom in 1998. He was named Rookie of the Year and tied Rogers Clemens record for strikeouts in a nine inning game with 20. The next spring he had the surgery. Although he came back to pitch again in the 2000 season, many baseball people argue that he never did live up to expectations. He has been on the disabled list 14 times in 13 seasons.

If Strasburg is among the 17% who do not make it back, he won’t have to worry about paying the bills, after all, he did sign a $15 million guaranteed contract with the Nationals in 2009 (only 77 seconds before the signing deadline). He is the exception to the rule, not everyone is as fortunate. How many business owners have a $15 million financial cushion to fall back on?

When I ask a business owner about plans for his or her business, the answer is usually, “I’m going to be working in my business for a long, long time. I’m not worrying about retirement yet.  I’m not going anywhere.”

My reply is, “Everyone is going to leave their business someday; the only question is when? Will it be by your choice or will some other event make the decision for you? What about factors not under your control?”

You can almost see the light bulb go off when the person has what I call, The Aha Moment.

The rest of the conversation is usually about the need to develop Plan B. The owner needs to consider things that might occur and possibly derail their future plans. The purpose of the exercise is to consider the possibilities and what, if any, the appropriate action should be. If a worst case scenario doesn’t occur, that’s great. However, if something does happen, you won’t be caught like a “deer in the headlights.”

Ed Baloga is a New York based partner and business advisor with B2BCFO® and can be reached at ebaloga@b2bcfo.com.

This memorable line spoken by Clara Peller of Wendy’s fame came to our attention in January 1984. The campaign ended the following year. It referred to an imaginary competitor’s enormous looking hamburger. In fact, that bun only had a minuscule hamburger patty inside. The line even made its way into politics during the 1984 presidential election.

In today’s online, web-connected world, the line that marketers need to ask themselves is, “Where’s the content?”

This question is answered in an interesting article called The 10 Commandments of Content Marketing by Eric Anderson, VP of Marketing at White Horse, a digital marketing agency based in the Pacific Northwest. He contends that it is no longer enough to have just a web site. The idea that advertising and social media are mutually exclusive is no longer the case. A summary of these Commandments is outlined below:

#1 Content shall be shareable

Advertising is about creating something worth passing on. Broadcast advertisers that top the viral video charts week after week don't shout -- they amuse, entertain, and inspire.

#2 Content shall be malleable

How does the message fit the medium? Brands are built on trust. And trust is built on relevance. Good content is always relevant.

#3 Content shall be collaborative

Doritos let consumers create the brand's Super Bowl ads. These ads were the most-favored and most-recalled of the Super Bowl, and they were the most-shared (see #1).

#4 Content shall be measurable

When you put content out on social networks, on YouTube, on blogs, etc. -- you can measure the traffic that comes back.

#5 Content shall be fearless

Content concerns itself with an exchange of ideas, so it morphs and evolves as new ideas are added.

#6 Content shall invite comment

Most content produced for our customers will fail. This is a good thing; success depends on knowing when things fail, so we can try something else.

#7 Content shall start everywhere

The marketer's core expertise will no longer be knowing how to produce marketing content; it'll be knowing how to channel marketing content in ways that keeps the conversation going.

#8 Content shall go everywhere

Today’s consumers visit blogs, message boards, review sites, and social networks to get the real scoop on the brand. You need content in all of those places.

#9 Content shall be sponsored

It used to be that PR content went to PR outlets and advertising content went to advertising outlets. Not any longer, they go hand in hand.

#10 Content shall be forever

In the past, advertising only lasted as long as you paid for it. Content marketing lives well beyond a campaign because it shows up in archives, on sharing sites like SlideShare and Scribd, on blogs, in tweets, and in content aggregators like Digg and StumbleUpon.

Feel free to email me your thoughts at ebaloga@b2bcfo.com. Ed Baloga is a New York based partner and small business advisor with B2BCFO®.

Almost every hiring manager or recruiting firm, when posting a job description looks for a similar trait, “Ability to multitask.” This may be attributed to the digital age in which we live.

But do we really multitask?

Author Dave Crenshaw, The Myth of Multitasking: How "Doing It All" Gets Nothing Done, might describe the ability to walk and chew gum as “background tasking.” The idea of multitasking is nothing more than refocusing your attention from one task to another.

In her 2008 article in The New Atlantis, The Myth of Multitasking, Christine Rosen writes, “Used for decades to describe the parallel processing abilities of computers, multitasking is now shorthand for the human attempt to do simultaneously as many things as possible, as quickly as possible, preferably marshalling the power of as many technologies as possible.”  Among a number of research studies that she writes about, Rosen describes one study at Vanderbilt University. One of its conclusions was that a bottleneck occurs in the brain when it is forced to respond to several stimuli at once. As a result, task-switching leads to time lost as the brain determines which task to perform.

In a recent New York Times article, Your Brain on Computers: Hooked on Gadgets, and Paying a Mental Price, author Matt Richtel, writes, “While many people say multitasking makes them more productive, research shows otherwise. Heavy multitaskers actually have more trouble focusing and shutting out irrelevant information, scientists say, and they experience more stress.” He cites a research study by Eyal Ophir at Stanford University on multitasking that concluded that multitaskers had trouble filtering out irrelevant information and that they were less efficient at juggling problems.

Are we becoming victims of information overload? Melina Uncapher, a neurobiologist on the Stanford team says that this idea was supported by more and more research. Richtel also mentions a study at the University of California, Irvine, which found that people interrupted by e-mail reported significantly increased stress compared with those who focused on the task at hand. Dr. Gary Small, a psychiatrist at the University of California, Los Angeles says that stress hormones have been shown to reduce short-term memory.

Rosen suggests that maybe we need to pay more attention to the task at hand and to exercise judgment about what objects are worthy of our attention. She offers a quote from Isaac Newton. When asked about his particular genius, he responded that if he had made any discoveries, it was “owing more to patient attention than to any other talent.”

If you need help with the information overload in your business, call Ed Baloga, New York based Partner with B2B CFO® at 914.474.9547 or via email at ebaloga@b2bcfo.com.

I am often asked, “A CFO and controller are the same thing, aren’t they?” Or it might be, “Isn’t a controller a lower paid chief financial officer?” The question generally comes from a business owner. In general, an entrepreneurial company might have one position or the other (unlike their big company counterparts which usually have both positions).

In many cases, a person might have the title of CFO but not the skill set. I recently met a business owner who said that his top financial person was a controller. An appropriate title I thought. I learned that the person was going to school at night to get their bachelors degree in accounting. They had been with the Company for a number of years and their salary was such, that a “bigger” title was needed to justify the amount. Don’t get me wrong, the person was very capable at making journal entries and making sure that the month end depreciation was posted to the books. However, they didn’t have the experience or training to deal with some of the strategic issues that the $20+ million business was facing, e.g., creating a business plan needed for a loan extension from the Company’s bankers.

So what exactly makes a chief financial officer different? Think of your business as a car traveling down the highway. When the controller is driving, he or she is constantly looking in the rear view mirror seeing what has already gone by. Many duties of a controller might be similar. They are concerned with the day to day mechanics of the accounting department. Was the payroll processed? Did the accounts payable clerk record the vendor invoices received last week? And so on…

Although a CFO needs to look in the rear view mirror once in a while, they are more focused on the road ahead. They are looking to see if there are any potholes in the highway to steer around. Are there detours to be navigated? During a long road trip, he (or she) is looking at a map to determine the easiest (a/k/a least expensive) and best route to take. Think of a business plan as being the road map for your business. There are going to be bumps in the road and modifications to your plan will be needed. If your staff and advisors have been down that road before, the trip will be much more enjoyable.

If you need assistance driving your business to your next destination, call Ed Baloga, a New York based partner with B2B CFO® at 914.474.9547 or via email at ebaloga@b2bcfo.com.

A number of years ago, shortly after joining a multi unit retailer with approximately 200 locations, the assistant controller faxed me the monthly income statement given to the board of directors. It looked like a trial balance of every account. It was 2 pages and contained close to 100 lines and had 10 columns. It was the wrong document.

I picked up the phone. “Steve, you sent me a trial balance. I wanted an income statement.” He told me that is what he sent. I looked and it was indeed an income statement. Upon closer inspection, I noticed that there was something wrong with the variance figures. Actual revenue in one category exceeded the budget but yet the variance was negative as it had a minus sign in front of it. I asked him about the error. He replied that the calculation was correct. I needed to look at the small print at the top of the column which showed Dr./Cr. (I will save you the accounting jargon, but basically, an increase in revenue is shown as a Credit (Cr.), which is sometimes shown with a minus sign).

“Steve, how many accountants do we have on the board?”

“None,” he replied.

I proceeded to explain that not everyone understands the idea of debits and credits. What if there was dirt on the glass of the copying machine? That speck of dirt might look like a minus sign on the copy changing the meaning of the variance. I told him to use parentheses instead of minus signs and not to use them for debits versus credits. When someone sees a variance, they understand that brackets are bad and positive numbers are good.

Next was the length of the report. Why so long? It had every conceivable income and expense detail in it. Steve said that he was trying to cover everything in the one document. I asked him to take a look at the New York Times (a/k/a the “Gray Lady”). The most important story for the day is always above the fold and in the extreme right-hand column. Not every angle to the story was covered in that particular article. There were additional stories inside about the headline event. I told him to keep his audience in mind - stay away from the technical accounting stuff and stick to the message he was trying to convey, i.e., we exceeded revenue estimates for the month and were able to keep payroll costs well under budget.

He ended up creating a summary statement with basic information that showed key drivers and indicators. It was a simple document. Senior executives and board members could easily get a sense of what was going on in the business with a quick scan of the statement. If they wanted details on a particular revenue or expense category, the details were inside.

If you need help organizing the headline stories for your stakeholders, call Ed Baloga, Partner with B2B CFO® at 914.474.9547 or via email at ebaloga@b2bcfo.com.

If you want to listen to the Andy Williams’ classic while reading, here is the link on YouTube     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFtb3EtjEic

Having spent a number of years in the toy industry, this time of year was always fun. How could you not smile even when putting in endless hours finalizing budgets? There were talking Alvin and the Chipmunk toys on the bookshelves or the latest edition of Matchbox cars on the desk.

One thing about the toy industry, many toys are not necessarily new ideas. They are an update of an older one. There is nothing wrong with that. People make a lot of money by updating existing ideas. Today, kids use paintball guns. Back in the 80’s and 90’s, they played Laser Tag (the gun emitted a light that set off a sensor on an opponent’s vest). When I was a kid, we used die-cast metal cap guns (there were a lot of arguments about whether you got your opponent or he got you). Even Rubik’s Cube has been updated (an iPhone-like electronic version).

Every so often, a company’s big idea to update or reinvent a product comes up short. New Coke anyone? Even Coca-Cola’s competition isn’t immune. Earlier this year, Pepsi’s Tropicana Orange Juice staged a major re-branding by updating its iconic image to a more contemporary one. Sales promptly dropped 20%. In less than two months they went back to the original image. The problem was that it was harder to find the product on store shelves. It looked like other more generic brands.

Many companies look to reinvent the way they do business. There is one company that comes to mind that has transformed itself a few times. It started as a time recording company, became an office equipment company, then computer hardware. Today it gets the lion’s share of its revenue from technology services. Ever hear of IBM?

Many small business owners find that they must reinvent themselves to compete in today’s world. An acquaintance of mine (an owner of a printing company) feels that in 5-7 years, his company will not be providing traditional print services, but will be more of a marketing design and consulting company. He is laying the foundation now.

The key to making changes in your business is to plan accordingly. The decision comes down to dollars and cents. To put it another way, it is your dollars and does the change make sense? Are the financial rewards sufficient and are you comfortable with the associated risks? Making financial projections and running “what if scenarios” will help in the decision making process. Will this exercise guarantee that you will make the correct decision 100% of the time? No it won’t, but it will help you access the risk associated with a given business strategy. It may not be as sexy as making a decision based on “your gut feel,” but at least you know you’ve considered various options.

If you need help accessing the risks in your business strategy, call Ed Baloga, at 914.474.9547 or via email at ebaloga@b2bcfo.com.

 This was a phrase uttered countless times by Ed Sullivan, an institution on Sunday nights. The Ed Sullivan Show ran from 1948 until 1971 (originally called Toast of the Town and renamed in 1955). Comedian Alan King once quipped, "Ed does nothing, but he does it better that anyone else on television.” The show was even immortalized in song, Hymn for a Sunday Evening, from the 1960’s musical, Bye Bye Birdie.

One lasting memory of mine is the plate spinner that would appear on the show (that and the puppet named Topo Gigio, an Italian mouse). The juggler had long, flexible poles and he would start to spin plates on top of them. He continued adding plates to the remaining poles. He didn’t have any trouble keeping the first few plates spinning. As a plate would start to slow down and wobble, the juggler would go back and vibrate the pole until the plate regained its momentum to stay in place a little while longer.

When the number of plates increased to 10 or so, he did a great deal of running around. Once in a while a plate slowed down enough that it fell and broke. He would quickly start spinning another plate on that pole. When the number got up above 15 or more, a few more plates would crash to the ground until finally, he gave up and they all came crashing to the ground.

I am sure many business owners can relate to plate spinning. In his book, The Danger Zone, Lost in the Growth Transition, Jerry Mills describes how owners (called Finders) create successful businesses by creating products and services to sell, building relationships with customers, and creating relationships with vendors. Finders perform activities that bring sales and cash into the company. This initial success causes the Finder to expand these activities. Eventually, this sales growth cannot be supported by the company’s infrastructure or the line of credit from the bank may be insufficient. Customer service may suffer and sales flatten. The cash needs of the business start to exceed the cash being generated. This is the beginning of The Danger Zone.

The Finder starts performing more and more administrative duties called Minding Activities. These might include:

• Preparing financial projections
• Meetings with bankers and lenders
• Additional meetings with attorneys and accountants
• Spending significant time deciding which bills need to be paid
• Spending time on HR matters

These are tasks that many Finders may not be good at, but more importantly, do not like doing. Think of a homebuilder that has a reputation for building quality homes with fine craftsmanship. They probably did not get that reputation because they knew how to balance a bank statement.

There may be other distractions that may even cause the owner to lose enthusiasm for the business or worse, lose customers. As these disruptions increase, the business continues to decline and suffer unless the owner takes steps to turn the situation around.

If you need help keeping all of your plates spinning, call Ed Baloga, at 914.474.9547 or via email at ebaloga@b2bcfo.com.

It is estimated that 8%-10% of the US population (24 million to 30 million individuals) suffers from diabetes. This includes both diagnosed cases as well as those individuals who may have the disease but have not yet been diagnosed.

Why should this be a concern to employers? Diabetes costs $116 billion annually in direct medical costs and is estimated to cost another $58 billion annually in indirect costs (loss of work, disability, loss of life). As an employer, you can make sure that your health insurer provides programs to help your employees manage their disease. This is something that won’t cost you anything. After all, it is in the insurance company’s best interest to make sure your employees maintain their health, i.e., less complications means lower number of claims paid. It also means that your experience rating as it relates to your employees becomes more favorable resulting in lower premiums.

Another reason why you should be aware of diabetes is the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The ADA is a federal law that prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities. Diabetes may be considered a disability under the law.

Unfortunately, I learned about the ADA the hard way. My older son was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in 2002 when he was 6 years old and certain accommodations had to be made in school. Approximately 10% of the individuals with diabetes have this more serious form of diabetes.

Type 1 diabetes (juvenile diabetes)
This form of the disease can occur at any age, but most commonly is diagnosed from infancy to the 30s.  In this type of diabetes, a person's pancreas produces little or no insulin. It is an autoimmune disease and one does not “outgrow it” as they get older.  People with type 1 diabetes must inject insulin several times every day for the rest of their lives. Others such as my son wear an insulin pump that delivers insulin via a cannula inserted under the skin (24 hours a day, 7 days a week).

Type 2 (non-insulin-dependent or adult-onset)
Type 2 diabetes typically develops after age 40, but can appear earlier, and has more recently begun to appear with more frequency in children.  In this form of diabetes the pancreas still produces insulin, but the body does not produce enough or is not able to use it effectively.  Type 2 is a metabolic disorder and in many cases can be managed with weight loss and exercise.

Gestational Diabetes
About 2 to 5 percent of pregnant women develop high blood sugar during pregnancy. Although this type of diabetes usually disappears after the birth of the baby, women who have had gestational diabetes are at high risk of developing type 2 diabetes later in life.

Warning Signs for Type 1 Diabetes

Knowing the warning signs for type 1 diabetes (juvenile diabetes) could save a life as these may occur suddenly:

If you or someone you know exhibits one or more of these symptoms, call a doctor immediately. More often than not, the disease goes undetected until the individual goes into what is known as diabetic ketoacidosis (“DKA”). This can be a life threatening event and the individual must be taken to the hospital where intravenous fluids and electrolytes must be given while the diagnosis is being made.

Individuals with diabetes successfully perform all types of jobs from heading major corporations to protecting public safety to being a professional athlete (Jake Cutler, the starting QB for the Chicago Bears was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in 2008). Yet, many employers still automatically exclude them from certain positions based on myths, fears, or stereotypes. For example, some employers wrongly assume that anyone with diabetes will be unable to perform a particular job (e.g., one that requires driving) or will need to use a lot of sick leave. The reality is that, because many individuals with diabetes work with few or no restrictions, their employers do not know that they have diabetes. Some employees, however, tell their employers that they have diabetes because they need a "reasonable accommodation" a change or adjustment in the workplace to better manage and control their condition. Most of the accommodations requested by employees with diabetes such as regular work schedules, meal breaks, a place to test their blood sugar levels, or a rest area do not cost employers anything to provide.

If you need additional information or questions, do not hesitate to contact me at ebaloga@b2bcfo.com or visit www.JDRF.org.

…until the fat lady sings.

This quote was originally attributed to sportscaster Dan Cook. Cook used the expression in a television broadcast on May 10, 1978, before a Washington Bullets-San Antonio Spurs playoff basketball game and popularized by Bullets’ Coach Dick Motta. Later, first use of the quote was attributed to the late Ralph Carpenter, the former Texas Tech sports information director, commenting when the Aggies rallied for a 72-72 tie late in the SWC tournament finals two years earlier in March 1976.

The saying refers to a Richard Wagner opera suite, Der Ring des Nibelungen and its last part, Götterdämmerung. The "fat lady" is traditionally presented as a very buxom lady with horned helmet, spear and round shield. The aria lasts almost ten minutes and marks the end of the opera.

Obviously, the advertising department at the Philadelphia Inquirer isn’t familiar with the quote or another one by that great American philosopher, Yogi Berra, “It ain’t over till its over.”

The Inquirer ran this ad for Macy’s on Monday congratulating the Phillies on winning back-to-back championships. There was a minor problem; the Phillies trailed the Yankees, having lost three games while winning one (the earliest that the Phillies could win the Series is Game 7 on Thursday).

Dewey Defeats Truman anyone?

Hey, things happen.

We’ve all seen the occasional typo in the newspaper. Most people have at one time or another experienced spell-check gremlins when writing emails. You might use the word there when you meant to use their and spell check doesn’t catch it. However, this was not a “business card size” ad or an email. This was a three-quarter-page ad that appeared on the back page of the Philadelphia Inquirer's front section.

I’m sure the conspiracy theories are circulating. It was a deliberate attempt by some Yankees’ fan to embarrass the Phillies. Whether it was accidental or not is irrelevant. The question should be, were controls and operating procedures in place? This is something that all organizations, both big and small, face when evaluating their operations. Business owners and other management personnel should be asking themselves the following questions:

Do we have adequate controls in place to make sure the chances of business mistakes are minimized (or worse, possible theft of assets)? If not, then what must we do to safeguard our assets?

If procedures do exist, do my employees follow the procedures and guidelines? If they are not following them, do we have a larger HR issue?

If you need assistance with these and other issues contact Ed Baloga, Partner with B2B CFO®. 

I recently attended a seminar conducted by Skip Weisman. After completing a 20-year career in Minor League Professional Baseball management, Skip launched Weisman Success Resources to help small to medium sized companies improve their approach to their businesses.

"Champions do not necessarily do extraordinary things, but Champions always do fundamental things extraordinarily well!”

Think about it – it’s the little things that count. One of the most boring drills in spring training is the pitcher covering first when the ball is hit to the right side of the infield. The drill is repeated over and over. Can you recall a time when your team’s pitcher failed to cover first and the runner eventually scored?

It’s the little things. Even in this month’s playoffs, you can see examples. The Twins’ Nick Punto assumed that a ground ball up the middle went through to the outfield. He rounded third and headed for home. The Yankees’ Derek Jeter fielded it behind second base and threw the ball home to catcher Jorge Posada, who threw to Alex Rodriguez and caught Punto diving back to third.

Nick Punto was quoted as saying, “I wanted to dig a hole, crawl inside it and die. It was really embarrassing.”

One would have thought that the Twins learned in the fourth inning of a scoreless Game 2. Carlos Gomez fell rounding second on a single by Matt Tolbert. Delmon Young was heading home; Gomez failed to get in a rundown and was tagged out before Young could score, costing the Twins a run and possibly the game. We know what happened in the series.

It is when the little things are done correctly and become second nature, an organization proceeds to the next level.

In his article at WeismanSuccessResources.com , Weisman writes that there are five areas on which company leaders must focus to create a “Champion Culture" which results in a high performing, high morale workplace that will generate outstanding results and set you apart from the competition. With Skip’s permission I am sharing them below:

C = Commitment

Athletic teams become champions because their athletes are committed to the compelling Vision, Strategy and Purpose of getting to the championship game. In business, companies can create a similar commitment by creating and communicating a compelling Vision, Strategy and Purpose to their team members.

Are your employees committed or just complying with their job descriptions to collect a paycheck?

H = Humility

Athletes become champions because they continually improve as they face tougher competition every step of the way. This means they must be open to regular feedback and continually look for ways to get better.

Does your company culture espouse an environment where learning from mistakes is encouraged and asking for help is seen as a strength?

A = Accountability

There are two components to accountability that create champions, setting clear performance expectations and measuring job performance against those expectations. It works in athletics. But most companies fall short in managing specific job performance accountabilities in order to maintain consistent progress toward agreed upon objectives.

What is your company’s process for communicating specific upfront performance expectations and managing accountability to the desired performance?

M = Motivation

Champions are action oriented. When obstacles arise champions find a way through, over, around or under to stay on track. Procrastination (the opposite of motivation) is not in their mindset or habits. How many business owners, CEOs and other business professionals have significant challenges with the habit of procrastination.

How motivated is your team? How are procrastination and avoidance issues negatively impacting your company’s bottom line?

P = Preparation

Champions show up prepared. They practice almost every day in-season when not playing games. They review films of their opponents to learn the tendencies, strengths and weaknesses they can exploit. Yet in business, you've probably experienced far too many team members showing up ill-prepared. Not enough time is invested in preparing for the work week, the workday, key meetings, and sales presentations.

How can your company raise the bar on preparation to begin functioning as a CHAMP?

If you need help in creating a championship culture and mindset at your company please visit www.WeismanSuccessResources.com or feel free to contact Skip at Skip@SkipWeisman.com or contact Ed Baloga, Partner with B2B CFO®  at ebaloga@b2bcfo.com or at 914.474.9547.