Blog | Dynamic Capital

Creating Employee Development Plans

Many large organizations use February as a month to identify business objectives to complete during the year and require their employees to complete similar plans for their personal and professional development. This goal and development planning process is a great exercise to complete, whether you have five employees or five thousand employees. Depending on the industry, the planning process can have several names such as Performance Development Planning, Partners in Performance and Professional Development Planning. Regardless of the name used, what these plans do have in common is they represent an agreement between the employee and management on actionable objectives that when completed can lead to success both for the employee and the organization.

Articles - 02/11/2019

Black History Month: Moments in Business

Since 1926, February has been designated as a month to honor African Americans and their contributions to U.S. culture and history. Originally started as Negro History Week by Dr. Carter G. Woodson, it became a month-long celebration of excellence in 1976. While the shortest month of the year, February was strategically chosen to coincide with the birthdays of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln, two men widely credited for their impact on the Black population. Four other notable moments in Black History occurred in February:

Articles - 02/06/2019

Lessons from the Year of the Pig

One of the great things about living and working in this country is the rich tapestry of cultures that make up our nation. We are fortunate to interact with people from different backgrounds who influence our political and social views and our tastes in food, art, and fashion. Tomorrow, February 5^th, our Chinese friends and family will be celebrating the Chinese New Year. Also known as the Spring Festival or Lunar New Year, it is celebrated in seven days filled with a whirlwind of activities, including decorations, reunion dinners, firecrackers, fireworks and the giving of gifts.

Articles - 02/04/2019

Delegating for Better Business

As business owners, we hold many roles in its operations – Leader, Accounts Payable, Customer Relations, Marketing, etc. This juggling of roles is very much necessary, especially when you are first getting the business off the ground because you want to ensure everything is set up properly or you can’t afford to hire help just yet. But what happens when you hire additional staff and still take on many tasks of these on your own? While it may seem admirable or noble to be a leader who “works in the trenches” with his or her team, trying to do too much on your own can have you exhausted and frustrated, leave you with a team of under-utilized employees and impact your ability to properly serve your clients. So, what’s a boss to do to spread the workload and get back to the business of leading? Learn the art of delegating tasks.

Articles - 01/30/2019

Diverse People in Meeting With Speech Bubbles

Effective Communication in the Workplace

Jim Rohn stated, “if you can just communicate, you can get by. But if you communicate skillfully, you can work miracles”. This statement continues to prove itself true in all aspects of human interaction, especially in organizations that rely on teamwork, communication, and understanding to succeed. The art of communication is one of the first things we learn as babies but many of us spend a lifetime doing it wrong.

Articles - 01/28/2019

Tax Refunds Likely To Be Delayed

As reported by the Washington Post, hundreds of Internal Revenue Service (IRS) employees have received permission to skip work during the partial government shutdown due to financial hardship. Per a statement issued by union leaders on Tuesday, they expect absences to surge as part of a coordinated protest that could hamper the government’s ability to process taxpayer refunds on time.

Articles - 01/23/2019

Preparing for National Fun Day at Work

It is estimated that the average adult will spend 90,000 hours of their lifetime at work. This does not include more than 50 hours spent after work checking emails, texts and handling emergencies. These long hours mean more work, less vacation time and more stress. With the amount of time that we spend at work, on and off the clock, wouldn’t it be nice to take a moment to breathe and relax…at work? Well, you’re in luck: Monday, January 28th is National Fun Day at Work!

Articles - 01/23/2019

All Hands on Deck: Participating in MLK Day of Service

On Monday, January 21^st we will observe Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Designated as a federal holiday in 1983, every third Monday in January commemorates the life of Dr. King and his work for justice and equality in the non-violence movement. In 1994 Congress further bolstered this federal holiday by marking it as a national day of service. Charged with leading this service effort, the Corporation for National and Community Service notes that the MLK Day of Service should be observed as a “day ON, not a day off,” to empower individuals, strengthen communities, bridge barriers, create solutions to social problems, and move us closer to Dr. King's vision of a "Beloved Community."

Articles - 01/16/2019

Corporate Social Responsibility – Not Just for Big Business

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) refers to a company’s business practices to be accountable to themselves, their stakeholders and the public in general. This involves making decisions that do not adversely affect these three groups economically, environmentally or socially and implementing programs that will enhance society and the environment. Often, these types of expectations to do good and be ethical are placed on large corporations due to their widespread impact and assumed resources. However, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy 2018 report, small businesses (operating with fewer than 500 employees) account for 99.9% of the United States businesses, employing more than 58 million private sector employees.

Articles - 01/14/2019

How the Government Shutdown Impacts Small Business

On December 21, while many of us were running around trying to finish our shopping and making holiday plans, our government went into partial shutdown mode. At first, we probably thought “oh those crazy politicians are at it again”, shook our heads and thought nothing of it. But now as the shutdown stretches into day nineteen, we are seeing more and more the impact that the shutdown is having on the general population.

Articles - 01/09/2019

Dynamic Capital 2019 Economic Outlook: Less Gloom and More Boom

The economic outlook for 2019 can be looked at in one of two ways – through the scope of the pessimistic geo-political noise dominating the headlines, or via the time-tested evidence our economy is spitting out indicating continued strength for U.S. markets. We at Dynamic Capital choose the latter, as do many of this nation’s CEOs surveyed by the Business Roundtable CEO Economic Outlook Survey. Jamie Dimon, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Chairman of Business Roundtable said, “The BRT CEO survey shows that confidence among America’s business leaders remains strong.”

Articles / Insights - 01/07/2019

New Year’s Resolutions & Your Business

Now that the holiday dust is settling, it is time for another annual tradition: the new year’s resolutions. With the mantra of “new year, new me” still resounding in the air, today usually marks the start of many an ambitious goal such as losing weight, getting the finances in order, finding love or starting a new project. While making plans for personal growth in 2019, this is also a great time to set goals for your small business, to create a list of actionable plans that can catapult your business to the next level. The following are five suggested business resolutions for every business owner that you can work to implement not just in January, but throughout 2019.

Articles - 01/07/2019

Using SWOT Analysis to Plan for the New Year

Over the past few weeks, we have been working on year-end checklists, sorting paperwork and reviewing our actions over the year to understand where our business stands. A final step in analyzing the state of the business is reviewing the information we have gathered using the SWOT analysis to develop actionable plans that we can implement in 2019. Using the analysis tool, we took an objective look at our organization to identify the strengths, weaknesses, threats, and opportunities that can impact its ability to successfully meet stated goals and objectives.

Articles - 12/19/2018

Threats Or Opportunities Directions On A Signpost

State of the Business: Opportunities & Threats

Using the SWOT analysis tool, we’ve previously highlighted our internal strengths and weaknesses that can provide a competitive advantage in our operations. Today, in our journey for the continuous improvement of our businesses, we focus on identifying the opportunities and threats that can impact our business’ success. This analysis may require a little more effort to research data and regulations for your market.

Articles - 12/17/2018

Strengths And Weaknesses Computer Keys Showing Performance Or Analyzing

State of the Business: Strengths & Weaknesses

As 2018 winds down, we are continuing to work through our year-end checklist. While many businesses will use this time to simply eat, drink and be merry (which we do encourage), why not also use the last few business days of 2018 to make plans that will allow you to hit the ground running in 2019? To that end, this time of the year presents a great opportunity to evaluate the state of your business and the industry to create a strategic plan to set you off in the right direction in 2019. There is a popular saying that states, “you can’t know where you are going until you know where you have been”.

Articles - 12/12/2018

Spread the Love: Holiday Gifting Tips

Cue the singing: ♪It’s the most wonderful time of the yeeeaaarrrr…♪ The holidays have a way of bringing magic to the end of the year. As we are out here spreading holiday cheer to friends and family, far and near, let us not forget to show gratitude to the people whose support allows our business to be successful. This includes our employees, customers, vendors, service providers, investors, etc. who support and bring value to our businesses year-round.

Articles - 12/10/2018

End of the Year Tax Preparation Tips

Like it or not, the Tax Man Cometh… As we continue our efforts to wrap up for the end of the year, we can’t forget one of our biggest obligations: tax preparation. For some small business owners, this will be an easy exercise since they have maintained records throughout the year. For others, it is time to pull out the boxes and bag of notes and receipts to organize. Whether you fall in Camp A, Camp B or somewhere in the middle, here are some year-end tax preparation tips to consider so you will be ready to meet your obligations and form submission deadlines.

Articles - 12/05/2018

Preparing for Year-End Employee Reviews

Employees and management dread the task of preparing performance reviews, often because they are unsure of how to write them or what they should include in them. The truth is, employee performance reviews serve as a crucial evaluation tool, both for the employee and for the business. Employees can use the year-end reviews to assess their work and accomplishments against their goals and competencies. Management can use the reviews (and the matrixes created for them) to ensure that all employees are fairly assessed, have a sense of accomplishment and understand how their individual work contributes to the overall success of the organization.

Articles - 12/03/2018

Year-End Checklist for Small Business

Santa is not the only one who should be making a list and checking it twice this season. With 2019 upon us in T-minus 33 days, if you haven’t already begun, now is a great time to complete some of the back-office work needed to keep your business running. While the fast and furious holiday activities are calling for our attention, setting aside time to complete some housekeeping in your business can help you hit the ground running in the new year.

Articles - 11/28/2018

Online Sales Surge 26.4% On Black Friday

Black Friday signaled the launch of the annual consumer holiday shopping spree with the trend of consumer purchases being made online surging 26.4%. As reported in the WSJ, internet sales reached $12.3 billion according to an estimate by Adobe Systems, Inc., which tracks activity on thousands of websites.

Articles - 11/27/2018