An Oldie, But Goodie
By Ken DiPrima
In William Shakespeare’s ‘The Merchant of Venice,’ Antonio, who is the merchant of Venice, comes to Shylock, a money lender, to borrow 3,000 ducats for three months on behalf of his close friend, Bassanio. This is so that Bassanio may pursue the courtship of the fair Lady Portia of Belmont.
Antonio, although very successful and wealthy, is currently cash poor, having his funds tied up in several ships, filled with goods and merchandise, off sailing to far flung ports. He fully expects the return of these ships back to Venice, with excess funds, well before the due date.
Shylock, being …
A Great Start For Our Corporate Business Solutions Annual Meeting!
By 
Judi and Liza greeted our attendees with warm smiles.
Our annual gathering for the CBS team was launched with a healthy breakfast, which would make any mother proud! Before a long day of seminars and workshops on business best practices and tax code updates, our analysts and consultants started the day right with a buffet selection of scrambled eggs, French toast, bacon, sausage, grits, hash brown potatoes, fresh fruit, muffins and pastries as well as an assortment of cold cereals, homemade granola and yogurt. Milk, juice, tea and coffee rounded out this appetizing spread. Whatever our attendees’ diet preferences, there …
CBS Consulting Reviews: Implemented The Checks & Balances That We Were Lacking
Situation
An innovative agricultural equipment manufacturing firm with numerous R&D breakthroughs and patents in the industry, operating for over 30 years, looked for Corporate Business Solutions to provide the knowledge to take the business to the next level.
Process
CBS Consulting was able to evaluate the current business plans and activities, management and software infrastructure, and install a dashboard system to allow the owners to gauge the progress being made towards their productivity, marketing and sales goals. Their consultant took “the time to first understand our business, our family issues, and, then, helped to implement the checks and balances that …
Teamwork: All Eight Oars In At The Perfect Time
By Ken DiPrima
“Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships,” said Michael Jordan. Those words, spoken by a six time NBA champion and one of the sports world’s top superstars, apply not only to sports teams, but to almost every endeavor in life.
Winning teams may have at least one superstar on its roster, but how many championship teams are composed of nothing but superstars? Not many, if any, at all. What they all do possess is an organization built on talented players, working as a single unit, executing a well designed plan.
A perfect example of this winning combination is …
CBS Reviews: Turned Weakness Into Strength
Situation
Even before the start of this Corporate Business Solutions engagement, it was necessary for the CBS representative to cross the rifts that had formed between the three owners of this well established (over 40 years) manufacturer of commercial signage. He “held up under hours of uncomfortable dialogue between the owners … until we finally agreed to hire CBS.” The second generation owners direly needed training on how to work together and balance out each other’s strengths and weaknesses as a management team in order to keep the business running.
“As our company was entering the fourth quarter, we found …
The AIDS Walk Kansas City: Walking In Memory Of Lost Loved Ones
Corporate Business Solutions supported Liza’s fundraising for AIDS Walk Kansas City on April 25, 2015, which she walked in memory of a friend of hers from Kansas City.
Liza (center) poses with her team mates at the Walk.
Lisa was proud to share that her team, Truck Stop Marys, met its $1,500 goal while the event raised more than $300,000 to benefit four Kansas City organizations, Kansas City CARE Clinic, SAVE, Inc., Good Samaritan Project and the Hope Care Center, providing assistance with healthcare, housing and counseling among other services in the Kansas City community.
Corporate Business Solutions Reviews: Moving Forward With Confidence & Clarity
Situation
A client in the energy industry for over 50 years, operating as a wholesale distributor of petroleum products, hired Corporate Business Solutions to modernize their financial reporting system.
“Here, we pride ourselves on our tedious bookkeeping and accounting reports. Billing statements, bookkeeping, and accounting reports play a vital role in the daily organization of the business. With our growth, however, and that of the competitive market along with newer technologies coming to the market, we found that our company had outdated and inadequate accounting practices.
We needed help!”
Process
Their business consultant “opened our eyes to the reorganization and …
‘E’ Is For Excellence
By Ken DiPrima
Anybody who has served at sea with the U.S. Navy is aware of the coveted ‘E’ award. The award stands for Excellence and is awarded, annually, based on a fleet wide competition, which measures the performance of each ship against an established set of rigid standards. By any measurement, it’s a big deal. A very, very, big deal…
The winning ship paints a large white ‘E’ on the bridge bulwarks on both the port and starboard sides of the ship. A ship that wins five consecutive battle efficiency competitions will replace the white ‘E’ with a gold one.
All ships …
CBS Reviews: Working Together To Develop A Profitable Future
Situation
A home furnishing retailer with three locations, engaged retail Corporate Business Solutions’ services for a turn-around project. After being in business close to 20 years, “from a start-up retail operation to a multi-million dollar company, we are nearly bankrupt and suffer from severe Cash Flow challenges. We also have family and a divorce between the owners, who both still work in the company, which presents its own unusual circumstances. All in all, we do not have the best environment to worth with for a turn around, much less a successful business.”
Process
Their CBS business consultant has “filtered through …
CBS Consulting Asks: Does Your Business Need Spring Training?
By Ken DiPrima
The pop of a baseball smacking into a catcher’s mitt. The crack of a bat sending a line drive into the outfield. The grunt of men doing wind sprints…
These sounds are a definite sign that spring is just around the corner!
Sites, in both Florida and Arizona, host the thirty Major League baseball teams’ Spring Training. This annual event is both highly practical as well as significantly symbolic.
Every spring, hundreds of hopeful young ball players are given the opportunity to participate in the training camps of these major league teams. They have the chance to “show their stuff” …