Preface: Your CPA wouldn’t advise owning three D11T’s on the fixed asset schedule that are not being efficiently utilized. EquipmentShare solves that problem with a new trend in peer-to-peer equipment lending. Looking for a business idea? How could you apply peer-to-peer revenues in your business or a local industry? Is leveraging peer connections + other businesses credit lines a practical business plan? What’s the risk calculation? Construction Disruption: Q&A with EquipmentShare “Innovation” may not be the first word you associate with the construction industry, but three-year-old EquipmentShare makes a strong case for a reframing of that narrative. The company, which is headquartered in Columbia, Missouri, and has a presence across the urban centers of Texas as well as Jacksonville, Florida, connects contractors with a platform to rent and lend equipment on a peer-to-peer basis, empowering them to earn income off of equipment that would otherwise go unused. More recently, EquipmentShare added telematics and equipment utilization services to the mix. We interviewed Willy Schlacks, EquipmentShare’s co-founder and president, to learn more about technology disruption both within the company, and in the industry at large. ….The construction equipment rental industry is a $40 billion industry, and makes their profit from contractors who aren’t properly utilizing their assets. And what we found was that contractors own about three times as much equipment as rental companies, meaning that there’s a ton of inventory out there–it’s just not being tapped. Read the Q&A   110 Year History of Track Dozers Is peer-to-peer lending and rental a sign of more supply then demand, or excess credit?    

The More Senior Your Job Title, the More You Need to Keep a Journal Dan Ciampa July 07, 2017 Dan Ciampa is a senior advisor to CEOs and boards of directors, especially during a transition, who must implement new corporate strategies which call for structure, systems, and process changes that are significant enough that the culture must change. The most important challenges a leader faces lie at the intersection of strategy, operations, and culture. Dan has devoted his long career to mastering the knowledge, skills, and behavior needed to thrive at that intersection. Often, these changes coincide with a leadership transition. Dan specializes in helping leaders prepare themselves and their organizations for the hand-off to their successors, and in helping new leaders who are just assuming control. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< The French philosopher Blaise Pascal pointed out that “All of humanity’s problems come from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” He didn’t mean sitting quietly in front of a laptop responding to emails. The best thinking comes from structured reflection — and the best way to do that is keeping a personal journal. Also, when we slow things down and reflect, we can be more creative about solving seemingly inscrutable problems. Take, for example, a technique called the “second solution method” that I’ve used in the past. If a group was struggling to come up with options to solve a tough problem, we would brainstorm to identify a list of possible solutions. Before switching to prioritizing, making items specific, etc., we tried to identify all possible options. I found the best approach was to tell the group to take a break and when it reconvened to ask, “What else occurs to you?” Inevitably, this simple question resulted in about 50% more items, often of higher quality. By experimenting, I found that the break that took…

Preface: In his talk, Andre will explain the current and future impacts of Artificial Intelligence on industry, science, and how it will benefit and accelerate human progress.   Addendum: Is there any plausible reason to doubt?        

Preface: What will you do on Monday that’s different? The Drucker Institute provides elint business knowledge in its Monday Maginze edition. Click the Monday Index link to access.   Monday Index Issue #15 | January–February 2017 THE FINE ART OF MAKING THE RIGHT DECISION A decision, wrote Peter Drucker, “is at best a choice between ‘almost right’ and ‘probably wrong’—but much more often a choice between two courses of action neither of which is provably more nearly right than the other.”…. Drucker proffers his own seven steps for making choices successfully: • Determine whether a decision is even necessary. • Classify the problem. Is it common or unique? • Define the problem. What is this situation really all about? • Decide on what is right. That is, make the right kind of compromise. • Get others to buy the decision. • Convert the decision into action—that is, make it somebody’s work assignment and responsibility. • Test the decision against actual results. But, as wise as Drucker’s advice is, many highly effective people have their own tricks of the trade for making good decisions. Here are eight of them, used by a remarkable group of leaders—from business, the social sector and government—to help steer you through the most difficult stretches……..    

Preface: Legislators in the US Senate introduced a new bill this week, The Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017. The following are a few applicable excerpts from the bill.   Senate Bulletin – New Health Care Bill Provisions A new Senate bill was introduced this week: The Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017. Although still a discussion draft documents, the bill has certain provisions relevant to business owners and individual taxpayers. Firstly, the new bill would eliminate the Section 5000A individual health insurance mandate with a reduction of the penalty to zero, effective retroactive to 2016. This is to say individual taxpayers would no longer be required to pay penalties for lack of mandatory health care coverage. Secondly, the new bill would REDUCE the Section 4980H penalty, with regards to employer health care coverage requirements. This would be effective retroactive to January 1, 2016. Therefore, employers would still be required to provide health coverage, but the penalty would be reduced for noncompliance. In addition, the 0.9% Medicaid surtax on high wage earners would be repealed, effective for earnings received after 2022. The 3.8% net investment income tax would be repealed, beginning for the 2017 tax year, legislation states this to be effective for tax years after December 31, 2016. Final approved legislation could differ substantially from current discussion documents. This is not construed to be tax advice. This blog is for education purposes only. For specific details, talk with your tax accountant.  

Preface: The Business Communication Archives…….  

Preface: Proper planning can maximize the amount of compensation a company can pay in a way that will increase its chances of being able to withstand an IRS challenge. Taking High Compensation Without Dividend Danger Owners of a closely held C corporation know that the company’s earnings are theoretically exposed to a double tax. Principlly, earnings are first taxed to the corporation and those that are distributed to as dividends are taxed on your individual income tax return, without the company getting a deduction for the payments. On the other hand, the company can deduct the salary it pays you. While you have to pay tax on the salary, unlike dividends, salary is taxed only once. And while dividend income is taxed at net capital gains rates (at a maximum 20 percent rate if all income exceeds a $470,700 threshold for joint filers, $418,400 for single individuals in 2017), that is an additional 15 or 20 percent that you may not otherwise have to pay with proper compensation planning. What’s more, investment income is also subject to the 3.8 percent Net Investment Income (NII) surtax if an individual’s overall income exceeds a $250,000/$200,000 level. Does this mean that the double tax can be avoided simply by increasing your salary rather than by paying dividends? No, there are two potential problems with that approach. First, the company can only deduct reasonable compensation. Second, if compensation is set at the high end of the scale and is later found to be unreasonable, the IRS can charge the owner with a constructive dividend on the unreasonable portion of the compensation. What then can be done? Proper planning can maximize the amount of compensation the company can pay in a way that will increase its chances of being able to withstand an IRS challenge. The basic…

Preface:  The Leading Brain: Powerful Science-Based Strategies for Achieving Peak Performance. If you work with people, you’ll likely find the gems in this podcast link interesting. Maybe say purchase the book? What Science Says About Achieving Peak Performance  

Preface: Would $10 dollars in price make any difference in your opinion? What is $10.00 on 1% of 125m households in the US market? When does your business miss a $7,000 opportunity in 15 minutes say too? $24.95 vs. say $34.95

Preface: Listen to the future of financial transactions transitioning from person to node to the future of person to person. Myron Scholes talks about getting beyond the node for clearing transactions.   Credits: Peking University, Guanghua School of Management (Beijing, China)— Nobel laureate and Stanford professor Myron Scholes explores the future of finance in Guanghua’s special 30th Anniversary “Thought Leader Series” edition. In this portion of the talk, Myron discusses how financial transactions will fundamentally change from nodes to nodeless. What is Myron really saying about the sequence of transactions and ledger control; and what are the accounting implications for the first asset on every balance sheet?