Business Strategy & Marketing
General business related topics including strategy, marketing and of course, finance. Fraim, Cawley & Company, CPAs provides business advisory services along with a full array of accountant services to the Roanoke area. Learn more »
We Aren’t Special
We Aren’t Special “‘Normal’ is the cruelest of all insults” ― Mike Snelle That quote embodies the perspective that most of us have. No one wants to be typical. No one wants to be a simple cog in the machine. No one wants to be a faceless blob indistinguishable...
Willful Ignorance: The Pitfall of Purchasing Double Standards
Willful Ignorance: The Pitfall of Purchasing Double Standards “Everyone loves a witch hunt as long as it’s someone else’s witch being hunted.” ― Walter Kirn Every single one of us is guilty of some kind of hypocrisy. Try as we might to avoid double...
Expert or Impostor? Careful Whom You Take Advice From
Expert or Impostor? Careful Whom You Take Advice From “Advice is a peculiar commodity. Those who have the capacity to give good advice generally have too much sense to waste their time trying to get rid of it.” – William H. McMaster In our last article we...
Coach or Rent-A-Friend?
Leslie: “No Ann, please. I beg of you. Will you just shut your beautiful pie-hole? Just sit there, let me stare at you while you silently support me on this game plan.” Ann: “Leslie…” Leslie: “Shh, Ann! Your quiet support means the world to me, as well as your tacit...
No One Cares About You or Your Mission
No One Cares About You or Your Mission “To love his maker, for he was SELF-MADE! Self-made, self-trained, self-willed, self-satisfied, He was himself, his daily boast and pride.” – “Two Millions” by William Allen Butler Last year I went to a conference at which...
Obstacles or Excuses?
Obstacles or Excuses? “I have tried to lift France out of the mud. But she will return to her errors and vomitings. I cannot prevent the French from being French.” – Charles de Gaulle Most of the people who walk into my office work. And work very hard. They put in...
The ROI Multiplier: Debt
The ROI Multiplier: Debt “Debt can be a very good thing. The calculations are pretty simple. Some people just seem to think I’m lying to them with math.” – Me (Micah Fraim) – just now People hate debt. It is almost universally viewed as negative – and in many...
Relationship Dynamics: Employers vs. Customers
Relationship Dynamics: Employers vs. Customers “Take this job and shove it I ain’t working here no more My woman done left and took all the reasons I was working for You better not try to stand in my way ‘Cause I’m walkin’ out the door...
Gold: The Fallacy of “Safe” Investments
Gold: The Fallacy of “Safe” Investments – I am far from an investment expert – and I’ve never tried to be one. I’ve always contended that a financial advisor has a very different skillset than an accountant – and that those who try to be both are...
Fortune Teller Business Planning
Fortune Teller Business Planning “I’ve gone into hundreds of [fortune-teller’s parlors], and have been told thousands of things, but nobody ever told me I was a policewoman getting ready to arrest her.” – NYC detective Small business owners are some of my favorite...
What Sort of Customers Are You Attracting?
What Sort of Customers Are You Attracting? “He was a tycoon, then a cheapskate Went out looking for a keepsake To tuck into his suitcase on Viceroy’s Row He had a satchel full of cash And dishes full of ashes He went from boom to bust In the blinking of a...
Low Price and Diminished Value
Low Price and Diminished Value A few weeks ago I wrote an article about the importance of charging appropriately for the services you render. The article focused on the common phenomenon of “what have you done for me lately?” and the corresponding need to charge...
What Have You Done For Me Lately?
What Have You Done For Me Lately? Years ago when I was first starting my business I picked up a client who’d had a series of terrible accountants. How terrible? The first accountant had made some material errors that cost him over $100,000 in tax penalties. The...
My Failure with Referrals
My Failure with Referrals I have always tried to be a good referral partner. Whenever people bring up that they are looking for someone in a particular field, I almost always have someone I am able to send them to that will do an excellent job for them. But I recently...
Greenspan, Agassi, and How Others See Us
Greenspan, Agassi, and How Others See Us “ I know you think you understand what you thought I said but I’m not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant” – Alan Greenspan I remember being in a meeting a few years ago when the railroad unveiled...
My Advice on MSN, Fit Small Business, SCORE, Trusted Choice, and Insureon
My Advice on MSN, Fit Small Business, SCORE, Trusted Choice, and Insureon Over the past month I have been featured on a number of different publications. I wanted to archive the links to them here for any readers of the blog: MSN Money asked me and some other tax...
“If I”
“If I” With the year already coming to a close, people are likely reflecting on what has happened this year or what they want to happen in the coming year. Whether the past year has been one of disappointment or accomplishment – the calendar resetting to...
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