Flipping a Failing Business

A family business went from a failing firm to a successful long-term business and investment under my direction. Good accounting can open eyes and make a firm succeed or fail. The family business wasn't always the success it was today. Instead, it was about to fail after multiple attempts to reclaim the market and, more significantly, at the time, balance its checkbook. Such was the first attempt and success I had at running a business. The firm back then would rent its' properties out to anyone interested in the homes. It also would only locally rent, which confined options of best tenants to choose from when one tenant moved out. Lastly, no one knew what money went where and how much it was. When owners looked at their bank statements, they saw negative red numbers and overdrawn bank statements! My first action was to account for all transactions. Lots of money was going to property renovations and mortgages. Such was normal and expected; no alarms here. Further in accounting, I found a rental property management company taking large sums of profit, preventing break even. They also put in less than approvable tenants. After gathering the information, I proposed firing the delegated management company and reclaiming the task of finding the best tenants. My second decision was to stop marketing in the local newspaper and turn to the internet. I followed up on this task and built an excellent primary internet site. Following this, I marketed online with marketers similar to the famous Zillow company. Back then, Zillow wasn't giant as it is now. Also, I took tenant transactions and made them run through an automatic withdrawal PayPal business account. Finally, I increased rents to market values to afford the ever-increasing property taxes, and voile' problem solved! Lastly, I suggested incorporating the firm for protection from lawsuits. Nowadays, everyone is hungry to stick it to the man, even if there is no legit reason to do so. The owners quickly followed my suggestion, and the firm became a limited liability company. When owners accept the wisdom of accounting, timely turnarounds are possible with good accounting and sound business practices. As a result, a niche rental business was on the map of successful real estate investments!