Ultrasound Guidelines Council Business Presentation
1. The Business of Your Ultrasound Business UGC Educational Program July 29, 2008 Marilyn Schlake Associate Director NebraskaEDGE
2. Certified, Now What? Assessments and Resource Inventories Personal skills, competencies Time Family considerations Industry knowledge Financial resources General business skills
3. Market Research Industry – Stable, to slight increase Angus: 147,958 (2008), 3249 herds % of breeders reporting – minimal Reporting is NOT mandatory, no major push to increase numbers 2003, cow/calf operations – 1,013,570 Current, 160 UCG Technicians
8. Break-even Comparison Variable Cost: $4.50 per unit Fixed Cost: $10,315.00 Expected Sales: 3,000 units Price: $16.00 per unit Total Revenue: $48,000 Total Variable Costs: $13,500 Profit: $24,185.00 Break-even: 897 units Variable Cost: $4.50 per unit Fixed Cost: $10,315.00 Expected Sales: 3,000 units Price: $14.00 per unit Total Revenue: $42,000 Total Variable Costs: $13,500 Profit: $18,185.00 Break-even: 1086 units
9. Break-even Comparison Variable Cost: $4.50 per unit Fixed Cost: $6,583.00 Expected Sales: 3,000 units Price: $14.00 per unit Total Revenue: $42,000 Total Variable Costs: $13,500 Profit: $21,917.00 Break-even: 693 units
16. Good Business Habits Accurate results Timeliness in processing data Timely & accurate billing Cash flow management Help breeders collaborate, reduce costs Return phone calls & email Competitive pricing Continued education/skill development
17. Why Plan Your Business 1. Forces you to look at the whole business 2. Focuses attention on important questions 3. Helps clarify and communicate your goals and objectives 4. Becomes a means of assigning priorities 5. Becomes a framework for daily decision making, and better management 6. Helps maintain a “proactive” business attitude 7. Serves as a benchmark to track performance 8. Stimulates development of new/future business opportunities 9. Becomes a tool to access capital, acquire business partners, attract employees 10. ROAD MAP increases your chance of success
18. Resources NebraskaEDGE or Small Business Training Small Business Development Center SCORE www.toolsforbusiness.info/success-in-nebraska www.nebraska.gov
Hinweis der Redaktion
Talk about premise of knowledge – limited. Using business knowledge onlyBackgroundAsk – How many are currently operating an Ultrasound business? Ask for their input and discussion.
If you are going to start a business providing ultrasounds for producers, or expand your existing business, you need to do some kind of assessment as to your desires, expectations and overall goals for the business. Personal skills, competencies – Are you competent to go out and start working with clients? If you need to develop yours skills, this is one way, but also find some breeders who are interested in helping you practice on their cattle. Easier way to develop a favorable impressions than going out and botching your first paying job.Ask yourself, do you have the time to do this business. If its limited, to what extent are you going to be involved. Where are you willing to travel and how much time to do you expect to be on the road. If its limited, run the numbers to see if you can get a return on your investment and cash flow the operation. The bottom line is to make money at this.Family considerations – Is your spouse, business partner, family members willing to cover for you when you are out traveling. Are they willing to have you take time away from your current work?Industry knowledge – Are you familiar with what is going on in the industry to sell this service to the breeders or new clients. Assuming you want to expand, you are either going to take business away from another technician or you need to expand the target market. So you need to be informed about the hows, whys, and trends when trying to sell your services to the breeder.Financial resources – Do you have the money or credit options to purchase the equipment to get you started. Do you have operating monies to help cash flow the first couple of months until payments from clients start coming in. How you manage your cash flow will be critical especially in the beginning when more money is going out than coming in.General business skills – Besides knowing how to operate the equipment, do you know how to develop invoices, follow-up with delinquent accounts, track revenue & expenses, prepare tax forms, etc. If not, either find workshops or courses to help you develop these skills, or consider contracting out these services. Yes, this costs more, but if you really do not like to do this type of work or are just not good at it….contract labor can save your $$ in the long run.
Industry research – this is the beginning
Full cost for equipment
Equipment at $12,500 ½ price
Breeders are not just calling you for your service…they want something that is going to benefit them. What is that?What can you do for the breeder that will convince them to purchase your services? Convenience of your coming to their farm or ranch to help save their time. Work conducted efficiently so they don’t have to have hired hands standing around waiting on you. Effective scans that are processed quickly for faster feedback to the breeder Guaranteed work? Help organize regional work to reduce costs Help increase the bottom line for the breeder.