Find the Lost Dollars Blog
Turning Processes to Profits
As a design and construction professional you know that a building is only as strong as its foundation. Without a strong foundation, a building will move and settle over time and have lots of problems. The same principles apply to your business. Processes and...
10 New Truths to Win Employees’ Hearts
Turnover sucks. It can ruin projects, destroy client relationships and infect employees with uncertainty. As we are all exposed to more information, it can be confusing to figure out what employees want and need. What will make them happy? What do you need to do to...
How to Review Your Decade
Happy New Year! Congratulations on another year and decade of growth and expansion! A lot has happened in the world, in the country, in the industry, and I’m sure, for you personally. Most A&E firms are much better off than they were ten years ago. But that...
10 Steps to Transition Your A&E Firm from Old-School to Modern and Relevant
Today’s A&E firms are facing the biggest talent shortage in history. Record low unemployment and competition for top talent is forcing firms to offer higher salaries, and become more creative with benefits, work-life balance and culture. On top of the talent...
Five Steps to Increase Profit Margins on Professional Services Projects
With competition tougher and margins smaller for professional services firms, we need to have every advantage to ensure our projects are profitable. Many things erode the margins on our projects including bad estimates, scope creep, poor resource management and issues...
{Guest Post} 4 KPIS to Track Business Development Success
Is your business development (BD) program successful? Whether you answered yes or no, here’s a question to ponder: how do you know? Two challenges facing professional services firms today are both having an understanding of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) as well as...
{Guest Post} Five basic rules for better Go/No Go decisions in A/E/C industry
We fixate on go/no go in this industry. As we should. Go/no go is the pivotal decision point in A/E/C consulting firms’ business where we consider 'spending or not spending' our precious overhead dollars to pursue work. It is an important marketing and business...
Building an AEC Firm: It’s a Business, Not a Hobby
After 30 years as a Principal in the firm KCCT Architects in Washington, DC, Tom Twohey recently retired at the age of 79. Tom was one of the founding partners in the firm, and my client for the last 22 years. Unlike most architects, Tom had a business mind, and...
Are Your Clients Taking Advantage of You?
In today’s post we're sharing a podcast of an interview of June Jewell by STEVE GORDON on The Unstoppable CEO. >> Click HERE to listen If you have a professional service firm… you can’t miss this one. Have you ever done a project and ended up making less than...
Hot Topics at the 2015 Zweig Awards Conference
For the 7th straight year I attended the Zweig Industry Awards Conference held at the beautiful Copley Plaza Hotel in Boston. This event, previously held as three separate conferences, recognizes the Hottest Firms, the Best Firms to Work For, and Marketing Excellence...
How Accountable Learning Can Improve Financial Results
In looking where to invest limited dollars these days, it is critical that every penny spent provides a return on investment (ROI) above what other investments could deliver. Every dollar spent on one part of the business takes away investment in...
{Guest Post} 6 Steps to Holding Employees Accountable
Ineffective communication is the root of all evil. Recent research has shown that the average employee in a professional services firm wastes 40-minutes per day due to ineffective communication alone. In the average company with an average payroll this equates...
Top 10 Topics Discussed at the ACEC Large Firm CEO Roundtable This Year
In April, I attended the Large Firm Roundtable at the ACECNational Conference to find out what pressing issues are top of mind for our clients. ACEC defines a large firm as 200 to 500 employees, and we work with a lot of firms this size. These roundtables are mostly...
Your Profitable Journey – Kickoff a Transformation in Your A&E Firm
As I speak to our Architecture and Engineering clients around the country, the common goal is always how to maximize profits. The daily demands of running an architecture or engineering firm can be overwhelming. And the day to day demands of growing while still...
AEC Business Solutions Partners with ACEC National to Provide New Educational Resources to the Engineering Industry
AEC Business Solutions, LLC is proud to announce that they have met the rigorous requirements to be able to provide continuing education credits and educational resources for Professional Engineers through the Registered Continuing Education Program (RCEP);...
Guest Post: Find the Lost Dollars™ Book Review
Today's post is by our guest author Scott D. Butcher, FSMPS, CPSM. Scott is Vice President of JDB Engineering, Inc. and President-elect of the SMPS Foundation. He has more than two decades of A/E/C marketing experience and is a Fellow of the Society for Marketing...
8 Ways to Make More Money in 2015
I can’t believe it is already 2015. The beginning of a new year is a great opportunity to gain a different perspective and a more effective business management strategy. While we are all in business to make money, it is amazing that we persist with business practices...
You Asked and We Listened: Find the Lost Dollars Training Courses Are Here!
Find the Lost Dollars: 6 Steps to Increase Profits in Architecture, Engineering and Environmental Firms, authored by June R. Jewell, CPA was published in 2013. Since its release many readers asked how June could help them take the book from information to...
Why I Wrote Find the Lost Dollars
I was accidentally “thrown” into the architecture and engineering (A&E) industry in 1989 when I worked for a CPA firm in charge of growing their management information systems (MIS) practice. My job was to help our clients determine their requirements and find the...
Implementing Accounting Software is Like Moving to a New House
If you have moved your home in the last few years then the pain of making the move is probably still fresh in your mind. For some, it is so painful that they pledge to never go through the process again. For others, the memories die away, and the reality of the next...
Architecture & Engineering Book, Find The Lost Dollars, Wins Global eBook Award
Reston, VA, August 22, 2013 – Author June R. Jewell, CPA, recently announced that her e-book, Find The Lost Dollars: 6 Steps to Increase Profits in Architecture, Engineering and Environmental Firms, won a Silver Award in the Business Non-Fiction category for Dan...
SMPS Build Business 2013 – Dream Big!
As in past years, the Society of Marketing Professional Services (SMPS) provided the perfect stage for marketers of all levels and from all over the US and Canada to learn, share and connect at their Build Business 2013 annual conference from July 31st to August 2nd...
The 5 Top Risks to Project Profitability
These days projects are hard to get and project profit margins are declining. With more competition nationally and from overseas firms, it is critical to manage projects with precision, and utilizing best practices for financial management. With some focus on those...
Do You Have a Strong Project Management Culture?
There were many trends discussed for engineering firms at the 2013 national American Consulting Engineers Council (ACEC) national conference last month in Washington, DC. I always pay close attention to these discussions in order to make sure I am on top of the latest...
Find the Lost Dollars Book Successfully Launched
May 2, 2013 was a very exciting day for me as my new book, Find the Lost Dollars: 6 Steps to Increase Profits in Architecture, Engineering, and Environmental Firms was launched at a party at the Tower Club in Vienna, VA. I was able to celebrate the evening with my...
Q&A with Author June R. Jewell, CPA
Why did you write this book? In working with hundreds of A&E firms over the last 23 years, I have seen patterns in the way that they approach their business management practices. I have developed many best practices that when applied, can save a firm tens of...
Find the Lost Dollars Launch Team
We wanted to extend our gratitude to the phenomenal group of individuals who are helping to make Find the Lost Dollars: 6 Steps to Increase Profits in Architecture, Engineering and Environmental Firms an Amazon best selling book! The following people graciously...
Profitability Expert June R. Jewell Raises Awareness of How Corporate Culture Is Stealing Profits from Business Firms
For Immediate Release Profitability Expert June R. Jewell, CPA, Raises Awareness of How Corporate Culture Is Stealing Profits from Business Firms Vienna, Virginia– April 26, 2013 A company’s corporate culture could be its own worst enemy, according to profitability...
5 Ways to Love Your Business Again
Do you remember when you first started your business? The excitement was overwhelming, and the adrenalin was flowing. The main thoughts that occupied your mind were around getting new business, and how to make ends meet. But as your business grew, you realized that...
How to Manage Your Business Like an American Idol Competition
There are many popular reality shows on TV but American Idol has consistently ranked on the top of the charts for many years. Besides just the high quality singers, and celebrity judges, Americans are watching because of the desire to see unknown young people become...
Using Four Metrics to Analyze Performance of a Professional Services Firm
Sometimes the day to day demands of running a professional services business can be overwhelming, especially for creative and technical entrepreneurs and project managers that do not have a financial background. Trying to stay on top of administrative...
Ten Culture Traps that Steal Your Profits
The culture of your firm directly impacts your profitability. How you look at money, deal with your financial management, and manage your staff directly translates into policies, processes and behaviors that cause projects to go over budget. Without a healthy focus on...
Is Your Professional Services Firm Surviving or Thriving?
Three Growth Strategies for Professional Services Firms Times have changed and making money in a professional services business is harder than it used to be. It requires a more defined strategy, a focus on better client relationships, highly motivated and skilled...
Athlete, Artist, Author
In our world of singing competitions, high paid celebrities and athletes, and reality shows, many of us evaluate our own talent as if we are on the stage, and being judged. We label ourselves based on our perceptions of how capable we are, and compare ourselves to...
Welcome to Find the Lost Dollars!
Hello and welcome! As we get ready for the launch of my new book, Find the Lost Dollars: 6 Steps to Increase Profits in Architectural Engineering and Environmental Firms, my hope is that here you can find valuable resources and information to help you build and grow...