Dashboard: America’s Economy Is Better than Americans Think

[Music] welcome to another 21 hats dashboard brought to you by our sponsor the great game of business I'm Lauren Feldman and I'm here with Gan marks to talk about the things we think business owners should be following this week welcome Jean hey wait hold on for a second I just got to finish up this game of business just give me a second je all right and final roll of the dice great I won the game of business and it was a great game business is not a game Jean it's serious business it is serious business well it's great to speak with you and happy Monday Miss you last week uh happy to have you back uh and yes happy Monday uh Jean you're always writing about stuff that matters to business owners you recently wrote about the problem of employees stealing from owners normally when you talk about employees stealing I think you mean it metaphorically in this case I think you meant it literally and you cited some examples is this a significant problem is this something yeah I mean it is it it's it is a significant problem I mean I um I've always been obsessed by this topic I've written about this a bunch of times over the years because I I love it I I it fascinates me when people steal from their employers you know I I mean I just because it's it's unusual to do I mean it's not like a common thing I mean I hope so yeah people are honest and when you hear people stealing you know you're like how do these people number one think they're going to get away with this long term and then how do they sleep at night I mean I would be just [ __ ] myself if I was taking money from my employer you know and any day now they're going to they're going to catch me there was like uh one woman I decided to write the story because uh one story caught my eye was like in Chicago and uh some woman uh was found to have purchased a million and a half dollars worth of chicken wings you know over like I read that and she was resell you think they were she was reselling them or something right absolutely I mean she was like she didn't eat a million and a half dollars worth of chicken wings well you've never been out with me after I've had a few but you know you're right most people can't do that she was like ordering this is for a school district it wasn't a small business but you know she was in charge of ordering and receiving and doing the accounting so naturally she would order these chicken wings receive the chicken wings and wipe it off the books and then uh you know and then approve it nobody else had approval Authority and then she would intercept the chicken wings before they came into the warehouse put the chicken wings in her the trunk of her car and then I guess take the chicken wings to you know bars and restaurants and sell them black Market chicken wings you know so if any of you guys are ever eating like a chicken wing in the Chicago area and it kind of tastes a little bit like a tire you'll know where it came from but that got discovered because uh they had like a budget overages you know and someone El yeah they had a $300,000 it was only she bought a million and a half dollars worth of chicken wings but they only had a $300,000 budget overage that caught the eye I'm not quite sure how that correlates you would think it'd be a million half and then but here was the bid red flag it turns out they never even served chicken wings at the school the entire district and yet they had a million withth the chicken wings purchas like they're using it for but anyway so you had a bunch of good suggestions for how businesses can avoid this my favorite was you seem to be suggesting that if you think an employee might be stealing make them take a vacation yeah that is I mean first of all in the article this is an entrepreneur.com I wrote uh I I rounded up a bunch of you know different cases of employees stealing from their employers and yeah the you know there's a lots of things you can do to protect fla fraud but and I'm talking here as an accountant here you know so you know putting on the hat you learn this like an Accounting 101 but you know you make your employees particularly your financial employees take vacation you know whenever I dig into when a fraud gets found out the vast majority get found out when somebody is gone from the office they got hit by a bus they tripped over a route they you know they they had to suddenly there was a death of the family and they had to go to a funeral for a week or whatever and somebody fills in and then they're like this doesn't seem very kosher like fresh eyes yeah it's a fresh set of eyes so not only is it help to train somebody in somebody's job anyway in case that person leaves but if you've got that Financial employee that never seems to you know take a vacation because they're such a hard worker that's not a good thing that's a that's a potentially bad thing so my recommendation is you know for anybody running a business anybody that's touching money money or something Financial transactions in general um they need to be required to take vacation with another set of eyes doing their job that is an absolute you know probably the biggest thing you do and the other stuff which is easier said than done is you really want to try segregating duties you know have one person uh do the ordering one person do the receiving one person doing the accounting one person doing the invoicing and another person receiving the cash you know that kind of stuff is really important to do um for for different sets of eyes so the segregation of Duties is is tough now it's tougher for a small business um because you know you don't have as many employees so one one shortcut you can take is this your bank reconciliations just cough up a few bucks and have an outsider do them for you like hire an outside accountant or a bookkeeper you know for for a couple hours a month to to do your bank wrecks because they can go through and discover any anomalies weird looking potential all through ations or signatures or weird looking vendors a lot of times Bank reconciliations can can show if there's a potential fraud taking place I think you also suggested that the owner needs to step in every now and then spend a little time reviewing certain things yeah you really do I mean I you know and I I like to recommend this to you know a lot of business owners particularly when I speak it's like you know just you know once a month like print out your general ledger I know it ain't you know it ain't Hustler mag aine I get it but it's like too much information je yeah right I think hust is that even in prce I don't even know I have to ask my 12-year-old self but the the you know if you print your general ledger that's got all um the details of your business it's the Diary of your business so it's boring but you sit down for a half an hour with a cup of coffee or a shot of Jack Daniels you know depending on how the month went and read through that general ledger and circle any items that you think kind of pop out of you that look unusual I'm hoping you know that they can all be addressed by your accountant or bookkeeper but um you looking at them and answering asking questions will not only get answers for you but it'll also let those people know that you know you're looking at this stuff and that will also help as well all right next topic you wrote recently for the Philadelphia inquir about how businesses can get money to train their employees you were talking about what's available in I think Pennsylvania and New Jersey but this is true around the country as well I believe oh yeah yeah I'm so glad you said that and I'm glad you chose this because this like blew my mind first of all yes what you and I are about to talk about if you're listening to this and you're in Illinois or California or Texas pretty much every state has the same thing but let me just talk about Pennsylvania because that's I wrote it for the Philly inquire yeah I mean like you these I spoke to like you know three or four manufacturers small manufacturers in the Philly area and um you know it was a um Carla was one of them by the way so shout out to her she listens to this podcast chartman yeah she listened to this and um and she was awesome and in fact there's like a big picture of her in the inquire for her as well so you're welcome Carla but it was she was great and and she like belongs to like uh you know an organization called it's the southeast P Pennsylvania manufacturer Alliance and they get funding from the state for for Workforce training grants and I'm using Carla as an example she goes to that Alli she needs to get her employees trained on anything from HR to specific train on how to operate a piece of equipment you know we're going to bring in a trainer for a few days to teach our people and we have to pay them two grand a day it costs but she gets that training done and then she submits it to this Alliance and the alliance gets the money from the state this Workforce Development Grant and then reimburses up like 75% of her training cost 75% so like I spoke to heard a few other people that like they spend tens of they incur tens of thousands of dollars training a year and they get 75% of it covered by the state and that is like not only like upskilling their employees their current employees which then makes them obviously better and more skilled and better suited to train entry-level people but then it also provides resources to get training for those entry-level people I mean our biggest everybody's whining and moaning about we don't have enough unskilled employees out you know skilled employees out there well here you can bring them on and have your state pay to get them trains and up to speed so I I if and it's not just a manufacturing thing I talked to another guy who I couldn't include in the article for space reasons but he's in the tech industry and he belongs to like a technology Association which gets funding from the state of Pennsylvania and you know his people need to get Microsoft certified or some new whatever or how to get trained in AI so they can infiltrate and take over Weapons Systems in the Department of Defense they you know they I'm not kid I'm just kidding about that but gets paid to have these employees trained through the state grants so talk research this at your state because they all have these Workforce Development grants and it's so many people don't even know they exist yeah the point you were just referring to and that I think Carla made in in the article um that I loved is you know in a in a tight labor market to be able to upskill your existing employees so that you don't have to hire skilled employees you can hire uh entrylevel employees that seems like a huge deal yeah it's amazing and and specifically told me like the more that she can get her employees trained it's then easier for her just to go home and take a nap in the middle of the afternoon she really appreciates just kidding Carla if you're listening you're not going home and taking a nap okay just kidding all right uh next topic thanks to the pandemic uh you wrote about how restaurants have had to adjust their business models and the result is they're kind of becoming tech companies uh you about wrote about all the tech they need to to just run a restaurant these days give just a a sense of that yeah I mean really the the the tech is all revolves around their their point of sale systems you know and um you must have seen this as well Lauren you know like you go in there's been a lot of upgrades in point of sale systems at restaurants at least the ones that know what they're doing and they are really leaning heavily on their point of systems Point of Sales Systems to because I I interviewed like a guy from toast that's one of them that's out there there's plenty of other good ones toast is very good these guys you know they they all they provide the ability to manage inventory take orders and then also um do you know you know orders online as well all together in one place they they all now come with the ability for QR codes to like place the orders it goes right into the system and then um a lot of their their staff now are coming to tables finally because this has been going on in London for like a hundred years but now finally I'm seeing people in Philadelphia come to my table with a point of sale device so I could just pay like right there I S some frustration in your voice Jean yeah oh my God it's like you know there is still there's like a restaurant right near me that we go to all the time love them but it's like they it's still with they still with the check okay I'll take the check they come there they give me the check I look at the check then I give the credit card they go back to the cash register they put the check there they come back with the check so I can sign it with a pen I'm signing it with a pen and then leaving a tip and then I'm walking away with this paper receipt and I'm like we have been doing this forever and meanwhile when I go to London that that never happens you go and they bring up the device to you it's you know and you just you know snap the device with your with your credit card and you're done you get the receipt you know email to you you know finally some restaurants are are starting to do this in America uh which is good to see and a lot of these you know Point of Sales Systems are leading the charge the other thing that they're doing which I also like and I I didn't mention the piece but I thought I would is um is the whole tipping thing I forget if you and I might have talked about this in the past but like the whole you know you go in for like a coffee and now like you you have to you know it asks you if you want a tip you know we have talked about this yeah and it's showing up in places you're being asked to give tips for things you didn't used to give tips for yeah and it's becoming a real convers like I ordered a takeout like some takeout falafel from some place in Philly and like the ordering system wouldn't let me go unless I left either a tip or left a 0% tip I'm like which doesn't feel good no I'm thinking like I'm going to get a Falafel with a bunch of saliva inside of it so I might as well leave like a tip you know what I mean just to make sure it gets really strong arming you but for a business um I I think that's kind of cool for the business owner because it it's great for their employees you know the more money they make the more happy they are in their job business owner ain't paying for it I don't know if you saw it but there's a development on this last week uh that I highlighted in in the morning report the IRS wants to change tipping rules did you see that yeah I did I mean they're they're going to be addressing how they're taxed because because there hasn't been a lot of compliance and they want to take it straight from those point of s systems you were talking about that is that is correct and I think that is a great you know it's a great point I mean that's you I mean the the Tipping compliance has been tough and it's not just the IRS it's also the states want to get on the action as well of course because there's money to be had uh but listen I mean like I said it's it's it's a real opport I mean I was thinking like there's like a bakery across the street where I live which we love and we buy our bread there it's eight bucks for a loaf of bread I can't even but it's you know it's fresh stuff and I go in there and uh you know I I leave a tip there we never used to tip because they had a tip jar you know and who carries cash but now I leave you know a dollar tip or a $2 tip and and everybody's doing that so the bre's $10 now yeah well yeah but you know what everybody's doing that I noticed in line and like these employees now are F they're getting paid pretty good good for them and again the business owner who that Bakery it takes a little pressure off of her because her employees are making the money that way and I so these are all the technologies that I think they're that are helping not only just employees but you know the business owners as well all right last topic this is not a story you wrote although you wrote something related we'll get to that but I'd like to get your opinion The Economist recently ran a piece that argued that the US economy is doing far better than most other advanced economies and much better than most Americans seem to realize uh I think there's something to that what do you think so if you look at a map of the US economy that's broken down by GDP by state compared to countries it is I mean Lauren there like the the entire economy of California I think is the fourth or fifth biggest economy in the world you're you're right on let me let me give you a stat that was in that story America's uh GDP last year was 25.5 trillion which represented fully one quarter 25% of the world's total GDP yeah it's crazy California's economy alone is bigger than all of the UK uh Tech I know this my heart because I show this map when I do like presentations Texas economy is bigger than Canada Florida's economy is bigger than um than Mexico New Zealand's sorry not New Zealand sorry North Carolina's economy is bigger than Sweden's economy and Sweden is my favorite country because that's where Abba comes from Pennsylvania is bigger than South Korea it can go on we live in a giant economy and like you said that represents 25% of the entire world's economy that's why when people say to me like oh is the dollar going to lose you know its status in the world you know is people going to go to they're gonna like what what the Chinese one is going to become the main currency like people want to you know people want the dollar people want to come into this country because the economy is what it is and the opportunities are what they are and this past year so I wrote a piece for the help and try we're all trying to predict what you know when this recession is going to happen because I've been we've been predicting here for about eight months I think yeah it's been going on and on when's the recession where's the recession where's the recession you know when's the recession coming of course it's it's the Republicans that are asking that question the Democrats are like we're not seeing a recession we're doing fine you know there like this 40 or low unemployment so okay so we have so when's it going to come so I I looked at demand I'm like we have all these stats and metrics and economic indicators but you know [ __ ] it I mean it's it's demand it's supply and demand in an economy and yeah over the past three months the demand for vehicles the demand for durable goods restaurant sales retail sales plateauing and tapering a little bit so we're kind of heading into a Slowdown in this economy if you just look at because supply seems to be fine now we had those issues but if you just look at demand of all the the Maj Goods that consumers buy and in the end it all winds up with the consumer hands it's it it's definitely trending down okay so okay not a great sign but take it a step back though even trending down the levels of sales of like vehicles for example retail sales durable goods still like all-time highs still significantly higher than what they were even a year ago and this don't even say oh it's inflation because vehicles sales units of vehicles in this country up like 9% over a year ago you know so you know and and we you and I see this all the time right Lauren I mean I talk to my clients they had a good year I mean even my rightest of righty right right clients will all admit like yeah the economy is going good but I know that recession's coming damn it because Biden sucks you know it's you know it it yeah okay maybe there is going to be a slow down coming but can we all like agree that the economy has been churning pretty damn good the past couple years now again it's a big country so if you're in Tech you're not so thrilled and if you're in commercial construction you're you're pretty scared with people working from home but yeah retail's recovered restaurants recovered there has been recession in certain industries I mean housing has been tough of course of course in certain areas the country as well you know depending but then again you got Texas and Florida and you've got you know you've got you know again you know convention you visitors and I was just in Nashville this past week places like bumping you know it's a crowded and busy and you know that my airplane was was was you know packed there was a big just smelly guy sitting next to me that coughing the entire flight and nothing to do about that so it you know you know what I mean like to your point in The Economist article is that it's been a very resilient strong economy because um this country's [ __ ] great that's the reason why anything you're working on that we should know about look for this week yeah what am I working on this week yeah you know I'm working on um a story it's Philly based but it has National you know inferences about um resources for women entrepreneurs um which which kind of interests me as to um you know what is out there and what's new for women entrepreneurs so that's definitely one thing that I'm working on and then also um just coming out as well is just a piece for the guardian which which actually came out yesterday Sunday and it's all about um um it is all about interest rate impacts they're really starting to have their impact on businesses we talk about you know the economy it's you know I am seeing that and that's something we can talk about which hit the Housing Industry first uh mortgages down and now it's spreading it's spreading because you know it's the interest sensitive Industries get hit Tech housing you know um and now consumers are going to start getting hit it's happening so you know I think that's contributing to up softening and demand as well so all right we will look for that I'm sure we will talk about it in the future Gan marks is a CPA who writes weekly on small business for the guardian the hill the Philadelphia inquire the Washington Times the Chicago Daily Herald Forbes and entrepreneur you can also hear him on ABC radio's eye on the world with John Bachelor Jee hosts two small business podcasts with payex Corporation and the Harford this episode was brought to you by the great game of business right Jean the great game of business I love those guys do you want to talk some more about them no I was just giving you an opportunity in case you had something lined up I do love those guys the great game of business helps businesses use open book management to help build healthier companies you can learn more at Great game.com thank you Jean thanks Lauren we'll see you next week have a great week everyone