You want your business to grow faster, but reporting requirements are slowing you down. Your're obligated to pay taxes and levies, and government agencies are asking you to round them in different manners. Confused? Here's a quick guide on how to round your taxes and levies.

Does it feel good to receive a returned cheque from the bank?

Never. As a business owner, it means that my work is not paid, and maybe even cheated.

Five years ago, I had to bank in three cheques from a customer for the same invoice because the first two cheques bounced. In fact, the third cheque had to be presented to the bank twice before it cleared. Today, I can tell you the exact cheque numbers and dates of the whole sequence of events. Do I need a photographic memory to do that? Not at all. Let me explain the traditional method you should use to keep an electronic trail within your accounting software.

“You can't motivate people; people are self-motivated.”

Or rather, self-interested.

This does not mean that you burn your motivational-theory books. What it means is that motivation is not static, but contextual.

For example, a cash bonus is good.

But it's better to personalise the gift. How?

While preparing the above chart, I must have re-designed it a dozen times, or more. It's not perfect, but I have to say "no more" at some point. Here's Parato's 80/20 rule to tame any perfectionist's mind: 80% of the benefit is generated by 20% of the effort. What this also means is that the last 20% to perfection requires an extra 80% of the effort. In the multiple tasks that we do each day, we need to know when to stop.

[3:15] And finally, as long as there's profit to be made from the polluting of our earth, companies and individuals will continue to do what they want. We have to force these companies to operate safely and responsibly, and with all our best interests in mind, so that when they don't, we can take back our resources and our hearts and our minds to do what's right.

[3:40] End of speech.

The above is a speech given by Steven Seagal in the closing scene of his 1994 movie "On Deadly Ground".

Everybody needs to make a presentation at some point in time. When you need to do one, remember this basic presentation rule:

First impression lasts
Last impression stays
Whatever in between, people forget

The relationship between wage and productivity is not a straightforward one.

The normal price-quantity relationship for supply is not a one-dimensional upward sloping curve starting at the zero point. In the real world, it should be a band.

There are people who are willing to perform at zero price, for example:
- the lawyer representing a client at no charge,
- the artist showing up at a charity event for free,
- the student doing internship without salary.

Therefore, being without compensation is NOT being without value.

When business owners don't spend on staff training, it is usually because of 2 seemingly valid reasons above.

The second reason creates a Catch-22 situation: what is cause vs what is effect?

What if they leave because they're not adequately trained?

Introduced in the Singapore Budget 2010 and enhanced in Budget 2011 and Budget 2012 to provide tax benefits for qualified business investments, effective for years of assessments 2011 to 2015. View slide show below...

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