Brain Trust Speakers » In the Media http://braintrustspeakers.com Atlanta Professional Speakers Bureau Tue, 11 May 2010 18:22:54 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 en hourly 1 Atlanta INTown: Make Your New Year’s Resolutions Stick http://braintrustspeakers.com/2010/01/08/atlanta-intown-make-your-new-years-resolutions-stick/ http://braintrustspeakers.com/2010/01/08/atlanta-intown-make-your-new-years-resolutions-stick/#comments Fri, 08 Jan 2010 14:01:29 +0000 Brain Trust http://braintrustspeakers.com/?p=576

By Claire Kurtz, The Well-Organized Woman

Do you remember your 2009 New Year’s resolutions? Did you stick to them? If you answered yes, you are in the minority. If you answered no, don’t be discouraged. Most resolutions fall by the wayside because we are not adequately prepared to fulfill them. We set ourselves up for failure by thinking that simply resolving to achieve some life-changing goal is enough.

The successful pursuit of any goal or resolution depends on organization. While organization cannot itself fulfill a goal, it provides the necessary framework that you can fall back on again and again when willpower and desire wane. So many of us burst out of the gate in January only to fall short of our goals by March, perhaps it is time for everyone to collectively try some “baby-stepping” to pursue our goals.

Read more: http://www.atlantaintownpaper.com/2010/01/online-exclusive-make-your-new-years-resolutions-stick/

]]> http://braintrustspeakers.com/2010/01/08/atlanta-intown-make-your-new-years-resolutions-stick/feed/ 0 Journal of Financial Planning: Dance in the End Zone Book Review http://braintrustspeakers.com/2010/01/04/journal-of-financial-planning-dance-in-the-end-zone-book-review/ http://braintrustspeakers.com/2010/01/04/journal-of-financial-planning-dance-in-the-end-zone-book-review/#comments Mon, 04 Jan 2010 01:18:44 +0000 Brain Trust http://braintrustspeakers.com/?p=518

By Patrick A. Ungashick
Book Review
Reviewed by Jon Ford, CFP®

Jon Ford, CFP®, is owner of CF Financial Planning Solutions Inc. in Mesa, Arizona. He writes a regular “Financial Fundamentals” column for the Cedar Falls Times in Iowa.

Read this book! Dance in the End Zone should be on the bookshelf of every financial planner. It’s about how to stop doing business; and unfortunately many financial planners are considering getting out of the business as a result of the economic crisis. In addition to being a profession occupied by older practitioners, recent sampling discovered that asset managers expect it will take four to seven years to recover from the financial meltdown. Many have neither the time nor the patience in such an economic and political landscape and are looking for an escape route.

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]]> http://braintrustspeakers.com/2010/01/04/journal-of-financial-planning-dance-in-the-end-zone-book-review/feed/ 0 The New Four P’s of Marketing – Pharmaceutical Executive http://braintrustspeakers.com/2009/12/29/the-new-four-ps-of-marketing-pharmaceutical-executive/ http://braintrustspeakers.com/2009/12/29/the-new-four-ps-of-marketing-pharmaceutical-executive/#comments Tue, 29 Dec 2009 14:17:53 +0000 Brain Trust http://braintrustspeakers.com/2009/12/29/the-new-four-ps-of-marketing-pharmaceutical-executive/

The New Four P’s of Marketing – Pharmaceutical Executive

Until relatively recently, pharmaceutical marketers “owned” the relationship with the Four P’s: product, placement, price, and promotion. It was straightforward: Develop a product, place it through a direct-to-physician distribution channel, set the price, and promote it via high-dollar physician events.

But these P’s have shifted their nexus. While product development may still be in the pharmaceutical company’s hands, the other P’s are not. Regulatory constraints have taken placement out of the pharmaceutical marketer’s control. Price is under pressure from managed care and comparison shoppers. And promotion is no longer “directly” anywhere … it’s directly everywhere. Pharmaceutical marketers have lost control.

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]]> http://braintrustspeakers.com/2009/12/29/the-new-four-ps-of-marketing-pharmaceutical-executive/feed/ 0 Owners should have exit plan | ajc.com http://braintrustspeakers.com/2009/11/30/owners-should-have-exit-plan-ajc-com/ http://braintrustspeakers.com/2009/11/30/owners-should-have-exit-plan-ajc-com/#comments Mon, 30 Nov 2009 19:14:32 +0000 Brain Trust http://braintrustspeakers.com/2009/11/30/owners-should-have-exit-plan-ajc-com/ Owners should have exit plan

By Laura Raines

For the AJC

Timing is an essential part of a class act. You’ve got to have an attention-grabbing entrance, a spectacular performance and a strong finish. The same is true of your business.

You started with a sound marketing and financial plan. You’ve been performing and growing ever since. In 10 years, you’d like to retire to the lake or your next venture. So, what’s your exit strategy?

“Baby boomers have been America’s most ‘entrepreneurialist’ generation, and that’s been good for the economy,” said Patrick Ungashick, partner with White Horse Advisors LLC, Atlanta financial consultants to closely held businesses. “There are about 15 [million] to 18 million closely held businesses in this country and about 60 percent are baby boomers.”

Read more…Owners should have exit plan | ajc.com

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]]> http://braintrustspeakers.com/2009/11/30/owners-should-have-exit-plan-ajc-com/feed/ 0 Atlanta Business Chronicle Q&A: Businesses changing financial plans http://braintrustspeakers.com/2009/11/02/atlanta-business-chronicle-qa-businesses-changing-financial-plans/ http://braintrustspeakers.com/2009/11/02/atlanta-business-chronicle-qa-businesses-changing-financial-plans/#comments Mon, 02 Nov 2009 20:59:42 +0000 Brain Trust http://braintrustspeakers.com/?p=297 From the Atlanta Business Chronicle – October 5, 2009

Businesses changing financial plans

For nearly 20 years, Patrick Ungashick has provided financial and advisory services to business owners — eventually founding White Horse Advisors LLC in 2004.

With 150-plus fee-based clients, White Horse now has more than $1 billion in assets under advisement. Ungashick recently shared with Atlanta Business Chronicle the impact of financial reform on local businesses.

Q. How can business owners evaluate what type of retirement plan is best for their companies?

A. Owners need to determine the primary reason for having a retirement plan. Most larger employers offer a plan primarily as a benefit to employees. However, many owners of medium to small businesses use retirement plans as a means to reduce income taxes, and benefiting employees is secondary. Getting clarity around this issue up front makes determining the best type of plan simpler, because different retirement plans are better suited to meet those two different objectives.

Q. What are some of the major challenges businesses face in terms of financial planning in a difficult economy?

A. Cash, cash and more cash. Cash means survival, or put differently, lack of cash can mean potential collapse. Businesses and their owners have to take aggressive actions to conserve cash. Cash also means the ability to take advantage of opportunities that arise in a difficult economy. Most everything right now is “on sale” — labor, real estate, businesses, etc. Cash is king more than ever in these difficult economic times.

Q. How have businesses changed financial planning strategies in response to the financial market meltdown?

A. Most business owners we work with have become far more conservative than they would like to be in response to the financial conditions. For example, revenue forecasts and budgets are cut way back. Many owners have lowered their paychecks and suspended or cut many of their compensation programs to conserve cash. This is a huge challenge for business owners, because many of them have 50 percent to 90 percent of their net worth tied up in the business and its supporting assets, which means most of the eggs are in one basket. It’s very difficult to diversify away from the business when the owner needs to keep cash in the business.

Q. In your opinion, what investment opportunities are out there for businesses looking to capitalize on today’s market environment?

A. There are many opportunities. It’s an outstanding market to consider buying or increasing leased commercial real estate to set up for future business growth. (Financing is tight but not impossible.) Multiples are also low for business sales — meaning a business owner looking to expand via acquisition can potentially make some great moves right now.

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]]> http://braintrustspeakers.com/2009/11/02/atlanta-business-chronicle-qa-businesses-changing-financial-plans/feed/ 0 The Wall Street Journal online: An Exit Plan For An Aging Entrepreneur http://braintrustspeakers.com/2009/11/02/wsj-practice-management-an-exit-plan-for-an-aging-entrepreneur/ http://braintrustspeakers.com/2009/11/02/wsj-practice-management-an-exit-plan-for-an-aging-entrepreneur/#comments Mon, 02 Nov 2009 19:21:19 +0000 Brain Trust http://braintrustspeakers.com/?p=291 PRACTICE MANAGEMENT: An Exit Plan For An Aging Entrepreneur

By Michaela Cavallaro

A DOW JONES NEWSWIRES COLUMN

Patrick Ungashick’s client was looking for a way out.

The founder of a $50 million wholesale delivery company, the client was 58 and anticipating a day when he’d no longer be tied to the business. Trouble was, practically his entire net worth was tied up in the company, making it imperative to get as much as possible from any sale to fund retirement for him and his wife.

Like many entrepreneurs, he was emotionally tied to his business and felt a strong sense of loyalty to his employees. The workers felt similarly, to the point that they were willing to pay considerably more for the company than an outside buyer would.

But there was one problem: ???None of them had enough money to buy the whole business,??? Ungashick says. ???And the client didn’t want to break it up into smaller pieces ??? it was really important to him, both financially and emotionally, that the company remain intact.???

Ungashick, president of Atlanta-based White Horse Advisors LLC, specializes in helping entrepreneurs devise effective exit strategies that meet clients??? common goal of personal financial freedom.

In this case, he addressed two essential issues: the business owner’s need for dedicated retirement assets not related to the sale of the business, and setting up a structure by which willing employees eventually could buy the company.

Ungashick dealt with the first issue by helping the owner and his wife devote considerable assets to their retirement plan via profit-sharing contributions. This had the added benefit of reducing the business’ taxable income.

The second challenge was more complex. Thanks to the client’s relatively early recognition that he needed outside assistance, Ungashick was able to develop a plan that allowed him to maintain control of the business for now, while moving toward an eventual sale to a small group of trusted employees.

Here’s how it worked: Ungashick helped create a limited liability company (LLC) outside of the operating business. The client is managing partner of the LLC, but owns just 1% of it. The employee-buyers own the other 99%, but have little control over its operations.

Over time, the client put business assets in the LLC. For example, when the company needed new trucks, the LLC bought them and then leased them back to the company for an amount greater than the LLC???s debt payments on the trucks. The extra payments accumulated as profits in the LLC.

The structure has some advantages. Employees can use their ownership stake in the LLC ??? its history and cash flow ??? as collateral for a bank loan when it???s time to complete the sale. This strategy also prevents the double taxation that would occur if the employees were to use the business??? after-tax profits to purchase the company from its owner, who would pay taxes on that income as well.

What’s more, employees are on the hook for any taxes on the LLC. Rather than paying the taxes from the LLC’s profits, each employee declares his or her portion of the operating income as phantom income on his or her own taxes. The tax obligation weeds out employees who aren???t sufficiently motivated to invest in the business: Of the six employees this client had in mind, only four agreed to participate in the partnership. ???The employees have real economic skin in the game,??? says Ungashick.

Today, five years after the partnership was created, it holds what Ungashick describes as ???significant??? value. Says Ungashick, ???My client and his employees are very happy with the partnership. And he???s still planning to exit the business on schedule, at age 65.???

-By Michaela Cavallaro, For Dow Jones Newswires

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]]> http://braintrustspeakers.com/2009/11/02/wsj-practice-management-an-exit-plan-for-an-aging-entrepreneur/feed/ 0 Atlanta Journal-Constitution:Bill Mitchell Regarding the Kathryn Johnston case http://braintrustspeakers.com/2009/11/02/bill-mitchell-in-ajc-regarding-kathryn-johnston-case/ http://braintrustspeakers.com/2009/11/02/bill-mitchell-in-ajc-regarding-kathryn-johnston-case/#comments Mon, 02 Nov 2009 14:58:29 +0000 Brain Trust http://braintrustspeakers.com/?p=266

Family of woman killed in APD raid asks for

sanctions in lawsuit

By Bill Rankin

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

6:20 p.m. Friday, October 30, 2009 A relative of the 92-year-old woman killed in an Atlanta police raid three years ago asked a federal judge Friday to sanction the city for withholding documents in a wrongful death lawsuit.

“Such evasion and misconduct makes a mockery of the truth-finding process that is at the heart of the judicial system and must be severely punished,” said a motion filed by Sarah Dozier, the victim’s niece.

An APD spokeswoman, Sgt. Lisa Keyes, deferred comment to the city’s law department. Acting city attorney Roger Bhadari said the city is reviewing the motion and “will respond accordingly.” Beyond that, he said, the city has no further comment.

In 2007, Dozier, the niece of Kathryn Johnston, filed suit against the city and APD over Johnston’s killing.

In November 2006, an APD officer obtained an illegal, no-knock search warrant, allowing police to batter down the 92-year-old woman’s front door. After a terrified Johnston, thinking her home was being invaded, fired a warning shot, she was killed as narcotics officers unloaded their weapons into the home. Three former city police officers are now serving prison terms for their roles in the incident.

The lawsuit contends an APD quota system was the “driving force” behind Johnston’s death. To meet their arrest and warrant quotas, narcotics officers lied on the search warrant, the suit said.

The family’s lawyers previously asked APD to turn over any documents about a quota system as part of a pretrial fact-finding process known as discovery. The department indicated no such documents existed, and APD Chief Richard Pennington, in pretrial testimony, denied the existence of a quota system, the motion said.

But the motion said that Dozier’s lawyers obtained documents showing the existence of a quota system from APD Sgt. Scott Kreher, the head of an Atlanta police union, who got the documents from anonymous sources. During pretrial testimony, APD officers verified the documents’ authenticity, the motion said.

The motion asks Senior U.S. District Court Judge Marvin Shoob to enter a default judgment. This would mean no trial would be necessary to determine whether the APD was liable for Johnston’s death. In that case, the only thing left to be determined would be how much the city would pay in damages.

“I’ve never seen a situation like this…where there were quotas that were explicitly set out and implemented throughout the department,” one of Dozier’s lawyers, Bill Mitchell, said Friday. “It’s shocking.”

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]]> http://braintrustspeakers.com/2009/11/02/bill-mitchell-in-ajc-regarding-kathryn-johnston-case/feed/ 0 Chicago Tribune:Faking organization http://braintrustspeakers.com/2009/09/21/faking-organization/ http://braintrustspeakers.com/2009/09/21/faking-organization/#comments Mon, 21 Sep 2009 19:49:00 +0000 Brain Trust http://braintrustspeakers.com/2009/09/21/faking-organization/
Check out The Chicago Tribune’s The Faker column where The Well-Organized Woman shares her top 6 tips for creating the illusion of organization. Get organized in spite of yourself by starting with these steps!

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]]> http://braintrustspeakers.com/2009/09/21/faking-organization/feed/ 0 11 Alive News: Organizing an Empty Nest http://braintrustspeakers.com/2009/08/25/wxia-11-alive-news-appearance/ http://braintrustspeakers.com/2009/08/25/wxia-11-alive-news-appearance/#comments Tue, 25 Aug 2009 14:47:00 +0000 Brain Trust http://braintrustspeakers.com/2009/08/25/wxia-11-alive-news-appearance/ The Well-Organized Woman recently appeared on WXIA’s Saturday morning show to help parents with organizing an empty nest. Click here to view!

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]]> http://braintrustspeakers.com/2009/08/25/wxia-11-alive-news-appearance/feed/ 0 Organize.com: How to Crack the Ice on Decluttering http://braintrustspeakers.com/2009/03/14/wow-appears-on-organize-coms-mrs-organized-discusses-just-how-to-get-started/ http://braintrustspeakers.com/2009/03/14/wow-appears-on-organize-coms-mrs-organized-discusses-just-how-to-get-started/#comments Sat, 14 Mar 2009 20:56:00 +0000 Brain Trust http://braintrustspeakers.com/2009/03/14/wow-appears-on-organize-coms-mrs-organized-discusses-just-how-to-get-started/ The Well-Organized Woman’s second appearance on Mrs. Organized, an Organize.com blog, focused on how to get started with decluttering and organizing.  Read it now and pick up some great tips on how to crack the ice when you don’t know just where to start!

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