Daniel Lee, columnist at the Indy Star, featured a story about Runners Forum, highlighting their growth, the challenges that come with growth, and how Milestone has been helpful to them.
Runners Forum operating on a platform of change
New financial practices help pave way for new products
Michael "Smitty" Smith is a dedicated triathlete and runner.
Tom BonDurant is an avid runner, cyclist and triathlete.
So, it's little wonder that the two, along with veteran runner Marty Day, ended up blending their passion for endurance sports with their careers to own the Runners Forum.
It's a classic small-business story: people turning personal interests and skills into careers. A chef opens a restaurant. Runners, well, sell running shoes and gear.
While such expertise and enthusiasm are keys to success for those owning small businesses, they're hardly the only qualities required for survival. There's accounting, procurement, personnel management, strategies for expansion and so on.
Dating to 1978, the Runners Forum has endurance. But just as an aging athlete adjusts training methods to stay competitive, the Runners Forum has changed as it matures.
The Runners Forum, with its flagship store at Keystone Avenue and 116th Street in Carmel, opened a second location along North Delaware Street in Downtown Indianapolis in April 2008.
"That really changed the dynamics of our business," co-owner BonDurant said. "When you're a single operation, you walk in the backroom and you go, 'Do I have it? Yeah, everything is good.' "
With two locations, it's not so simple to get the right mix of shoes, shorts and energy gels and bars at each store. Tracking cash flow and sales was another challenge for a business that now has about 22 employees.
Soon after opening its Downtown location, the Runners Forum hired Indianapolis-based consulting firm Milestone Advisors to handle its finances. Milestone accountant Sarah Loughery helped the company merge its accounting and point-of-sale data.
Milestone also created a weekly cash-flow report, a daily sales journal and separate financial statements for each store, and a detailed payroll report -- additions Smith and BonDurant said make it easier to track expenses, rotate merchandise and pick which items to put on sale.
Milestone, which acts as a sort of rent-a-CFO, is an added expense. The firm charges $45 to $175 an hour, with customers generally requiring four to eight hours of weekly work -- a typical customer may pay $30,000 or more a year.
Click here to read the full article.
New financial practices help pave way for new products
Michael "Smitty" Smith is a dedicated triathlete and runner.Tom BonDurant is an avid runner, cyclist and triathlete.
So, it's little wonder that the two, along with veteran runner Marty Day, ended up blending their passion for endurance sports with their careers to own the Runners Forum.
It's a classic small-business story: people turning personal interests and skills into careers. A chef opens a restaurant. Runners, well, sell running shoes and gear.
While such expertise and enthusiasm are keys to success for those owning small businesses, they're hardly the only qualities required for survival. There's accounting, procurement, personnel management, strategies for expansion and so on.
Dating to 1978, the Runners Forum has endurance. But just as an aging athlete adjusts training methods to stay competitive, the Runners Forum has changed as it matures.
The Runners Forum, with its flagship store at Keystone Avenue and 116th Street in Carmel, opened a second location along North Delaware Street in Downtown Indianapolis in April 2008.
"That really changed the dynamics of our business," co-owner BonDurant said. "When you're a single operation, you walk in the backroom and you go, 'Do I have it? Yeah, everything is good.' "
With two locations, it's not so simple to get the right mix of shoes, shorts and energy gels and bars at each store. Tracking cash flow and sales was another challenge for a business that now has about 22 employees.
Soon after opening its Downtown location, the Runners Forum hired Indianapolis-based consulting firm Milestone Advisors to handle its finances. Milestone accountant Sarah Loughery helped the company merge its accounting and point-of-sale data.
Milestone also created a weekly cash-flow report, a daily sales journal and separate financial statements for each store, and a detailed payroll report -- additions Smith and BonDurant said make it easier to track expenses, rotate merchandise and pick which items to put on sale.
Milestone, which acts as a sort of rent-a-CFO, is an added expense. The firm charges $45 to $175 an hour, with customers generally requiring four to eight hours of weekly work -- a typical customer may pay $30,000 or more a year.
Click here to read the full article.
Runners Forum is a great example of how our Indianapolis consulting services can assist CEO's of entrepreneurial companies with navigating the challenges of growth. By providing part-time controller and CFO services, Milestone not only generated the financial data that was needed to make decisions, but also assisted the owners with the decision-making process.
Congratulations to Runners Forum on their continued success!
Congratulations to Runners Forum on their continued success!
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