If you’re making money from something you love, that’s fantastic! But have you considered whether your passion is classified as a business or just a hobby by the IRS? Understanding this distinction is crucial for managing your taxes effectively and avoiding unexpected surprises.
In our latest video, we break down how to determine if your activity qualifies as a business. Here’s a brief overview of the key steps:
Understand IRS Guidelines: This step is crucial because it affects how you report income and claim deductions. The IRS looks at whether you’re making a profit, how much time you spend on the activity, and whether you rely on the income. Knowing these rules helps you stay compliant with the IRS.
Keep Detailed Records: This is where many people go wrong. They don’t track income and expenses properly. Document everything—keep receipts, track your hours, and note your efforts. Proper records are essential if you need to prove to the IRS that your activity is a business, not just a hobby.
Evaluate Your Profit Motive: Treating your activity like a business increases the likelihood that the IRS will see it as one. Set clear goals, make plans, and concentrate on profitability. This approach ensures that your activity is classified as a business, enabling you to benefit from tax deductions and grow your income.
By following these steps, you can confidently classify your passion as a business, allowing you to take advantage of tax deductions and grow your income. For more insights, watch the full video and don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe for ongoing tips!
Joy Lutz, CPA, CTP
As the founder of Aligned CPA, Joy has built a firm that is your strategic financial partner. With a growth centric approach, we build meaningful relationships with our clients because we value their success as much as our own.
Positioning ourselves as the tax and financial strategists for your business, we help you make empowered, financial-based business decisions that lead to long term success.
The FinTech scene in Southeast Asia is drastically changing. In the first half of 2024, investments in early-stage ventures increased by 17 percent despite a 25 percent decline in overall funding. Startups in the area face both possibilities and challenges
as a result of this contradiction.
As the fintech industry develops, momentum alone is no longer sufficient for success. Startups have to proactively adjust to growing competition and changing needs. However, turning obstacles into opportunities calls for maintaining a laser-like focus on
key strengths, giving customer-centric innovation priority, and upholding a firm vision that directs resource allocation, decision-making, and long-term growth.
Trends Shaping the FinTech Ecosystem in Southeast Asia
1. Regulatory Factor
Southeast Asian governments have often viewed FinTech with pragmatism and forgiveness. Indeed, a friendly regulatory framework has been essential to the rapid expansion of regional
FinTech consulting firms.
The strategy has frequently resulted in creating “sandboxes,” which are legal frameworks intended to improve the financial ecosystem across several industry verticals, such as P2P lending, payments, and virtual assets, as in Vietnam’s case.
2. Rise of Digital Payments
Roughly 90% of clients use digital banking in the region’s developed and developing economies. According to McKinsey’s Personal Financial Services Survey, most consumers are inclined to receive extra services via digital channels.
Source: McKinsey
A fresh wave of regulatory intervention in the field, the ongoing adoption of 5G and the Internet, and the COVID-19 epidemic have all contributed to the sector’s maturation. As markets move toward a cashless, contactless world, Statista estimates that 2.15
billion individuals in Asia used e-commerce in 2020, and by 2025, that number is expected to rise to over 3 billion.
Challenges Faced by FinTechs in Southeast Asia
1. Open banking and the fragmentation of data sources
Given the diversity and regulation of banking and financial industries in Southeast Asia, fragmenting data sources and implementing open banking might be difficult. The official authorities’ data sources, commercial local services platforms, and utility
networks’ APIs are inferior to those in the US and European markets. Additionally, the Google Play Store has tightened its approval process for Android applications, which limits access to sensitive mobile device data used primarily for fraud signal detection
and alternative credit underwriting for the underbanked population.
This is in response to growing concerns about data privacy and the implementation of the Pay with Protected Provider Act (PDPA) in many countries.
2. Lack of Tech Talent
The lack of technological resources may present challenges for firms in Southeast Asia. The region’s IT industry is expanding quickly, even though some places may not have adequate infrastructure or highly qualified tech workers as others. Furthermore, there
can be a fierce rivalry for IT resources, which drives up expenses and lengthens the hiring process.
Companies may need to be resourceful in their recruitment and allocation tactics to overcome these obstacles, such as outsourcing or developing internal talent. Alternatively, use low-code and no-code tools to piece together the platform with particular
software as a service (SaaS) that fulfills different application requirements.
3. Privacy Issues
When it comes to sharing private information, there is less trust. For some reasons, including a lack of knowledge about the data’s intended purpose, concerns about data security and privacy, and prior instances of data breaches or inappropriate use of personal
information.
To give users peace of mind that they are in control of their information and are aware of the boundaries they are giving out, OCR technology is more frequently used in conjunction with APIs to read information from official documents like ID cards, passports,
and utility bills.
What does the Future Hold?
Despite these obstacles, finance innovation is nevertheless flourishing in Southeast Asia. FinTech solutions can find plenty of opportunities in the region’s numerous economies, each at a different stage of digital and financial development. Innovative financial
services are still in great demand because of the large number of people without access to banking and the rising use of smartphones and the Internet.
Simultaneously, the FinTech ecosystem in Southeast Asia is strong due to its emphasis on inclusive and regional solutions. Startups that tackle particular regional issues like digital payments, microloans, and remittances are well-positioned for expansion.
FinTech has a big chance to promote financial inclusion in the area and give marginalized groups access to financial services.
Southeast Asia has regulatory backing for FinTech. Local governments recognize FinTech’s promise to advance financial inclusion and economic development. Through the creation of digital infrastructure, regulatory sandboxes, and advantageous regulations,
many actively promote the industry.
Conclusion
The market’s fundamentals are still solid even though Southeast Asia appears to be experiencing a FinTech bubble. Southeast Asia will remain a hotbed for FinTech innovation thanks to the region’s sustained appetite for digital financial services, encouraging
governmental regulations, and emphasis on localized, inclusive solutions.
Firms that are flexible and resilient in the face of market consolidation and funding difficulties can prosper and make valuable contributions to the ever-changing financial landscape of the area.
Announcing our senior partner Mark Boyle at National Business Institute (NBI, Inc) presenting his course, “Florida Construction Law: Advanced Issues and Answers”, Tuesday July 26th, 2022
It has been almost one month since I created my Value Portfolio. This post is my first Value Portfolio Update on a long journey of monthly updates. Since it is only one month old, I do not expect a lot of movement.
Every month, I will take some time to talk about the portfolio and the companies in it. This month, I would like to talk about MercadoLibre. You’ve come to the right place to learn why MercadoLibre is also called the Amazon of Latin America.
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In the first month, my portfolio produced a gain of 4.74%. At the same time, the S&P 500 achieved a gain of 2.85%. Of course, 1 month is not a lot of time, so don’t give too much meaning to any of that.
The individual performance of the 9 companies can be seen here:
Since I haven’t yet given that insight, here is my portfolio’s Sector/Industry breakdown.
Source: finchat.io
A Closer Look At MercadoLibre
I would like to use the monthly update posts to discuss the different companies in this basket. In this month’s Value Portfolio Update, we are talking about MercadoLibre.
MercadoLibre is an e-commerce and fintech company operating in Latin America. Both segments are growing rapidly and have a lot of growth potential in the years to come. MercadoLibre has a proven track record of operating successfully and navigating in countries with a high inflationary environment.
In the e-commerce sector, it has demonstrated a strong performance with significant growth. Its Gross Merchandise Volume (GMV) showed substantial growth, reflecting its dominant position in the market. In Q4 2023, MercadoLibre reported a GMV of $13.5 billion, up 39.9% year-over-year (adjusted for currency exchange effects).
The second sector that MercadoLibre operates in is the fintech sector. MercadoLibre offers a product called Mercado Pago. It offers various financial services, including digital payments, credit card issuance, and other financial products. Mercado Pago is integral to MercadoLibre’s ecosystem, providing a seamless payment solution for both online purchases and broader financial transactions. In Q4 2023, MercadoLibre reported a total payment volume of $56.5 billion, up 57.2% year-over-year (adjusted for currency exchange effects).
To put those numbers into perspective, let’s look at the quarterly GMV and TPV numbers:
Source: finchat.io
Additionally, take a look at the annual revenue composition of MercadoLibre. You can see that both of their segments are really growing in a big way.
Source: finchat.io
MELI comes out of a multi-year margin expansion period.
Source: finchat.io
In the last 5 years, its operating margin has improved from -6.7% to 15%, while its profit margin increased from -7.5% to 6.8%. During the same time, the gross profit margin remained relatively stable. While R&D investments remained stable, SG&A expenses declined from 45% to just 15% of revenue during that timeframe. In other words, MercadoLibre used the last 5 years to optimize its operational cost structure while still remaining competitive through innovation.
During that period, it has built a strong cash position compared to its debt. That strong balance sheet has allowed MercadoLibre to hire people at times when almost all companies have fired workers.
Some First-Hand Insights
Unfortunately, I can’t really try out the services of MercadoLibre myself. But I still wanted to get some first-hand experiences for the sake of this post. That’s why I asked 2 of my professional coworkers – I’m really grateful to have the opportunity to ask them about their experiences! They are currently living in Uruguay and Brazil. One of them even originally comes from Argentina, so I’m getting some good insights on what real people think about MercadoLibre.
Here is what my coworker from Uruguay/Argentina had to say:
Argentina is a very socialist country. But with the recent government change, MercadoLibre seems more aligned to succeed in the long run. But navigating the economy in Argentina is never an easy endeavor. However, being a company that already has dealings around South and Central America, I think it has outgrown all risky Argentina politics. Their reputation for customer experience is excellent. I use it once or twice a month and even recently bought something. Mercado Page is pretty much used everywhere in Argentina and Uruguay. I don’t use it much, but I know many others do. However, there are things that one buys from Amazon or AliExpress when they are imported more easily. Keep in mind that I might be a bit biased here. I know more about e-commerce options than your average Joe.
And here is what my other coworker from Brazil had to say:
Well, at the beginning, they were very “suspicious,” but nowadays, I would say people use it every time. They expanded a lot, and the worst part was mailing stuff; our one and only postal system has problems.. but that is a different subject. Mercado livre (as it is called here) has a very nice reputation. Of course, not sure if you know, but there’s always the “Brazilian way,” and someone will try to scam and make money out of it, but we can trust the “Mercado livre warranty” seal and get our products or our money back. How often do we use it? Maybe once in two months, usually on electronics or something I wouldn’t find very easy. And on sales, of course. My sister, for instance, uses it far more than we do. MercadoPago is something we mostly use as insurance to ensure that something is safe to buy when we are not very sure about the seller. We also use it when we sell something on the platform. My mother use the credit card machine from MercadoPago at her hair salon. As for competitors, there’s OLX which is for selling used stuff, but Amazon marketplace is the biggest (MagazineLuiza as well). Those are big websites with a marketplace inside, and they operate the same way as MercadoLibre.
MercadoLibre Is Down After Earnings, Why?
Why did MercadoLibre take a hit after they reported stellar earnings? That is due to two one-off expenses. Here is what they had to say about this in their Shareholder Letter:
The first one-off expense of $320mn relates to ongoing legal proceedings initiated in 2014 that dispute the Brazilian federal tax authority’s ability to charge withholding income tax over payments remitted by our Brazilian subsidiaries to our Argentine subsidiary for the provision of IT support and other services on the grounds that it would violate a convention signed by the two countries to avoid double taxation. Based on recent developments, our legal advisor’s view is the risk of losing the case is now probable. We booked $58mn of the provision in cost of revenue and $261mn in product development expenses. The total operating expense related to this one-off and incurred in 2023 was approximately $70mn.
The second one-off expense of $31mn – booked in cost of revenue – relates to a recent ruling from Brazil’s highest court that the DIFAL sales tax must be paid for the period April to December 2022, while the legality of the tax was being questioned. The tax was legally reinstated in January 2023 and has been booked in our P&L and paid as an ongoing expense since then; the one-off expense booked in Q4’23 relates solely to the 9-month period in 2022 mentioned above.
My Take On What Happened
These expenses aren’t very pleasant, but it is encouraging that only around 1% of the expenses result from this last quarter itself. They are definitely one-off expenses, from what I can see. If you exclude these expenses, it is another stellar quarter in the books. I’m not too worried about them. Actually, I bought more shares of MELI on the news.
The only negative effect highlighted by the management team is the contraction of their credit portfolio in Argentina due to the devaluation of the Argentine Peso. But in totality, the credit portfolio came in at $3.8 billion, up 33% year-over-year. It’s something to watch, but nothing to worry about now.
Mercado Libre Q4 2023 Results – Earnings Call
Valuation Of MercadoLibre
How can we value MercadoLibre the best? I always refer to a great framework I learned from Brian Feroldi to answer that question. It starts by determining in which growth stage MercadoLibre is:
For MercadoLibre, I determined that it is somewhere between stages 3 and 4.
Getting a reasonable valuation for a company does depend on its stage. For each stage, we have a few different tools at our disposal that we can use to get a valuation.
We can see that the price-to-earnings power is a good way to get a first valuation for MercadoLibre. I assume that a Profit Margin of 25% is a reasonable value for a fully profit-optimized MercadoLibre.
This gives us an Earnings Power P/E Ratio between 17.3 and 32.2, which is in the Normal Range.
The second tool we can use is a Reverse Discounted Cash Flow Model. Without going into too much detail about how to do it (you can get more information and a tutorial for it directly from Brian Feroldi here), here is my result:
The question you need to ask for the above DCF is, “Is a growth rate of 5.4% over 10 years for MercadoLibre too high, too low, or about right?“. I certainly think that 5.4% is on the low end of what MercadoLibre can do. This implies that MELI is currently undervalued according to this DCF model.
What Risks Are Associated With MercadoLibre?
Investing in MercadoLibre for the long term comes with certain risks that investors should consider. Some of these risks include intense competition in the e-commerce and Internet space in Latin America. Potential challenges include:
expanding operations and adapting to evolving technologies
regulatory impacts on the business
credit risks related to lending activities
security breaches
legal liabilities
Additionally, factors like system interruptions, talent retention, consumer trends, reliance on third-party service providers, and political and economic conditions in Latin America can pose risks to the company’s long-term performance. Moreover, MercadoLibre faces risks related to market volatility, indebtedness, potential impairment of digital assets, and the unpredictability of factors like seasonal fluctuations.
The company’s ability to achieve its long-term sustainability goals may also be influenced by various external factors beyond its control. It’s essential for investors to carefully assess these risks alongside the company’s growth prospects, financial performance, and strategic initiatives when considering MercadoLibre as a long-term investment.
Final Thoughts On This Value Portfolio Update
It has only been one single month since the inception of my portfolio. That, of course, doesn’t mean much in the grand scheme of things. But I can use the Value Portfolio Update post to share some of my thoughts on the portfolio itself.
In this update, I’ve provided many details on MercadoLibre as the first company in the portfolio. In the next few updates, I will do the same for every other company contained. So stay tuned for more updates on this portfolio.
MercadoLibre is a stellar company with multiple growth opportunities. However, it is not without competition in the market. No other than Amazon itself is competing with MercadoLibre in the region. The economic uncertainty of the market in Latin America is something that has kept competitors at bay for the most part, but this competition is something to watch. I think MercadoLibre is a brilliant, well-run company with a lot of growth ahead of it.
Do you have any questions about the portfolio, MercadoLibre, or any other company? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
Disclaimer: The information in this blog post should not be considered investment advice or a replacement thereof. They are solely provided for informational purposes. Please consult with a financial advisor for any specific questions on your financial situation. Remember that past performance is not a good indicator of future returns. Also, none of the mentioned stocks are to be understood as recommendations. Don’t buy yourself something solely based on what you read here.
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US battery start-up Lyten is committing more than $1bn to build the world’s first large-scale factory to produce lithium sulphur batteries, an emerging technology that could help break US dependence on China for metals crucial for the energy transition.
The factory, located in Reno, Nevada, is expected to start production by 2027, the first target set for the commercialisation of a type of battery that could challenge the incumbent lithium ion. The battery does not rely on graphite, nickel, manganese, or cobalt — metals in which the vast majority of the world’s supply is controlled by Beijing.
Celina Mikolajczak, Lyten’s chief technology officer, told the Financial Times its battery chemistry offers the US the opportunity to reduce China’s monopoly. The company plans to reach 10 gigawatt hours of production by about 2032 at its Reno plant, producing batteries for drones, satellites and eventually, electric vehicles that can be powered for longer durations than their lithium-ion counterparts.
“The biggest leverage China has on the EV industry, on all the [battery] cell makers, is their graphite supply,” Mikolajczak said, adding the company would source sulphur domestically and lithium from US suppliers and countries outside of China. “If we’re going to do a new cell chemistry, we don’t just sign up for more . . . You’ve got to step away from that.”
The move from Lyten arrives as US battery start-ups race to invent the next dominant battery technology to compete with China, promising materials that are easier and cheaper to procure and greater energy densities that could give vehicles wider driving range and faster charging times.
While President Joe Biden’s landmark Inflation Reduction Act included lucrative manufacturing tax credits for battery makers, stiff competition from Chinese imports, slowing demand for electric vehicles and tough macroeconomic conditions have forced several companies, including LG Energy Solution, Freyr and GM’s Ultium Cells, to pause or delay their projects.
European manufacturers have also struggled. Last week, its top battery maker, Northvolt, filed for bankruptcy in a big setback to the continent’s hope to compete with the dominant players in Asia.
Milo McBride, fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, called the commercialisation of lithium sulphur batteries a “golden goose” for US battery competitiveness.
“The west is not scaling its alternative critical mineral supply chains to the extent that is needed,” McBride said. “What this technology offers geopolitically is a really interesting opportunity for the US to basically put forth a battery that renders some of these minerals and subsequent chemicals less important in the long-term picture.”
Lyten’s technology replaces the graphite traditionally found in anodes of lithium-ion batteries with lithium metal and substitutes the nickel, manganese, cobalt and lithium commonly found in cathodes with sulphur.
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Backed by Stellantis and FedEx, Lyten has raised $425mn in financing and secured a $4mn Department of Energy grant in January. The company estimates it will be eligible for $1.5bn in manufacturing tax credits and is in talks with the state of Nevada for incentives that will cover a “double digit” share of its capital expenditure.
The Republican-led state has emerged as a top destination for electric vehicle and battery investment, securing nearly $7bn in supply chain commitments since the IRA’s enactment, according to the Clean Economy Tracker, despite no support for the law from Republicans in Congress and repeated threats from former president Donald Trump to undo spending if re-elected in November.
The main bottleneck facing lithium sulphur batteries is in its chemistry. While lithium sulphur can offer energy densities that are multitudes higher than their traditional lithium-ion counterparts, they rapidly degrade due to a chemical reaction known as the polysulfide shuttle.
“That’s the Gordian knot,” Mikolajczak said, referring to the effort to use carbon structures to control the movement of sulphur in the battery and boost its longevity. The company plans to enter defence applications such as drones and satellites over the next year and improve its lifecycle to reach electric vehicle applications “over the next few years”.
But even some lithium sulphur battery developers are sceptical that their technology will be able to outdo lithium ion batteries in the electric vehicle market. High interest rates and slowing demand for EVs have also forced investors to tighten financing for capital-intensive battery projects.
“Lithium ion batteries are doing a pretty good job in the EV space and the Chinese are driving battery prices down to below $50 a kilowatt hour,” said Lee Finniear, chief executive of Li-S Energy, a company based in Brisbane, Australia.
Here are new listings for last week over the past several years:
2024: 62,876
2023: 57,229
2022: 59,458
Price-cut percentage
In an average year, one-third of all homes take a price cut — this is standard housing activity. Rising mortgage rates last year and this year have created a growing level of price cuts, especially when inventory rises. When mortgage rates fell recently, the price-cut percentage cooled down a tad; now that mortgage rates are rising again, we will see how this impacts this data line. Seasonality will soon kick in for this data line, which traditionally falls late in the year. As you can see below in the chart when our active inventory levels was at 240,000, the price cut % was historically low, not a healthy thing.
A few months ago, on the HousingWire Daily podcast, I discussed that the price-growth data would cool down in the year’s second half. However, I am unsure if the price-growth cooling will match my 2024 forecast, which has prices rising at 2.33% for the year. It does look like I might be too low.
The price-cut percentage data is below 2022 levels and risks an earlier seasonal curve lower than 2022 and 2023. However, mortgage rates have risen recently so we will see if that changes the data in a meaningful way the last 10 weeks of the year.
Here are the price-cut percentages for last week over the previous few years:
2024: 39.62%
2023: 38%
2022: 42%
10-year yield and mortgage rates
My 2024 forecast included:
A range for mortgage rates between 7.25%-5.75%
A range for the 10-year yield between 4.25%-3.21%
I forecast channel ranges with mortgage rates and the 10-year yield because we can all follow the economic data that matters together and look for crucial inflection points with rates. This is the slow dance with the 10-year yield and 30-year mortgage rates I often discuss.
I have a crucial line in the sand around 3.80% on the 10-year yield, and for 2024, with a better mortgage spread, that equates to mortgage rates around 6.25%. For mortgage rates to go below this, stay below or head much lower, you need weaker economic data. We recently had a series of economic and labor data that beat expectations. This podcast goes into that and explains what happened on the day the Fed cut rates and after jobs Friday.
We track all data, but the key is always labor over inflation. If the jobs data came in as a big miss, we would have a different conversation today, but that didn’t happen.
Mortgage spreads
The mortgage spread story has been positive in 2024, whereas it was negative in 2023. We have seen a big move already this year; mortgage rates would have been much higher today without spreads improving. So, as rough as some people in the mortgage community feel, it could have been worse. We aren’t back to normal with the spreads, but it’s a good sign that the spreads started improving before the Fed cut rates, and over time, this has room to head lower.
Purchase application data
Mortgage rates went up again last week. While that increase didn’t have too much impact on last week’s data because the push higher happened two Fridays ago, we should see some of the impact of rising rates in the data pool next week.
Let’s take a look at what the data did when mortgage rates rose from 6.75% to 7.50% early in the year. This is what weekly purchase application data looked like with rising rates starting from the latter part of January:
14 negative prints
2 flat prints
2 positive prints
Even though the purchase application data didn’t show much downside on volumes earlier in the year, the weekly data was very negative. Before late January, when rates started to rise, we had about eight weeks of positive trending purchase apps. Then, as has been typical lately, mortgage rates headed higher, and demand faded.
This is what weekly purchase application data looks like since mortgage rates started to fall in mid-June:
12 positive prints
5 negative prints
6 straight weeks of positives, and last week’s data was flat, which makes it easily the best 7-week period of the year.
3 straight weeks of positive year-over-year data last week came in at 8% positive year-over-year growth
For the rest of the year we will be keeping an eye on how higher rates are impacting the data. Recently it has been minimal but history says that doesn’t last, especially if rates go higher.
Weekly pending sales
Below is the Altos Research weekly pending contract data to show real-time demand. Now, this data line is very seasonal, as we can see in the chart below, and we all know that mortgage rates were heading toward 8% a year ago, so we need to be mindful of the positive year-over-year data. The weekly data firmed up when rates were heading lower, but now we need to see how this data looks with rising rates. Although it’s lost a bit of steam, there’s nothing too harmful yet in the data.
This is the weekly pending sales for last week over the last few years:
2024: 350,455
2023: 325,584
2022: 351,527
The week ahead: Fed speeches, retail sales and housing starts
We will have several Fed presidents talking this week, including Kashkari and Waller; watch out for that. We also have bond auctions and retail sales this week. The housing data will be interesting — purchase apps data should show some sting from rates rising. The builder’s confidence won’t show that sting yet, but we will be able to see their mindset with rates near 6%. Finally, with some bond auctions in the mix, we will have housing starts on Friday — the data line that beat expectations last month and started to send the 10-year yield higher.
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In this solo episode, CJ provides a comprehensive guide on annual planning and delves into the complexities of budgeting for hypergrowth companies. He covers topics such as building sales capacity, modeling out rep time, over-assignment, designing marketing budgets, and costing out the full P&L. He discusses the role of various departments in the annual planning process, including R&D (Research & Development), marketing, sales, customer success, and customer support. The podcast highlights the significance of headcount in budgeting, the intricacies of sales capacity modeling, and the necessity of interdepartmental collaboration. CJ offers practical tips for managing expenses, planning for future growth, and ensuring that sales teams are adequately supported to meet their targets. The episode is a deep dive into the strategic and operational aspects of financial planning in high-growth environments.
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TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Preview and Intro (01:20) Sponsor – Leapfin | Mercury (03:54) Key Stakeholders in the Annual Planning Process (06:02) Bottoms Up Versus Tops down Budgets (09:00) Creating a Budget Envelope (12:53) Sponsor – NetSuite | Maxio (14:50) Building Sales Capacity (17:00) Quota to OTE Ratio (18:07) Ramping (21:00) Over Assignment (23:08) Seasonality (24:56) The Sales Pod and Surrounding Resources (26:45) Sales Capacity Planning Mistakes (32:25) Marketing: Generating Pipeline Coverage (33:23) Over-Assignment in Marketing (35:01) The Marketing Funnel (38:34) Setting the Pace of the Marketing Pipeline (39:30) Tracking Marketing Costs (41:05) Common Mistakes with the Marketing Budget (43:42) Expenses: Follow the Headcount (45:53) A List of Possible Expense Types (49:05) The Three Buckets of Cost of Goods Sold (50:16) Cost Benchmarks at Department Level (53:47) Laptops (54:22) Annual Bonuses (56:14) Tips for Budgeting for Hypergrowth (1:02:08) Wrap
The Insurance Centre Agency is highlighting area businesses, which help to make up the fabric of our great community. Featured today is Lanning’s Restaurant, 826 N. Cleveland Massillon Rd., Akron.
Comment, like or share to help promote Lanning’s and one lucky person will win a $100 gift card.
If you haven’t been to Lanning’s Restaurant or it’s been a while, it’s well worth your time to make a visit.
If you’ve been to Lanning’s recently, then you know: new owners Dean and Bethany Martin have done great things since purchasing the iconic Summit County restaurant in 2020.
Lanning’s Restaurant is located at 826 N. Cleveland Massillon Rd. in Bath, Ohio, less than a mile from Interstate 77. It’s a fine dining steak and seafood restaurant, which has provided superior tuxedo service for more than50 years.
The Martins have taken a classic and given it modern updates, making it even better.
This isn’t your grandma’s Lanning’s anymore.
Lanning’s Restaurant is a refreshed, sexy, stylish, and updated fine dining experience with the classic service standards that customers have grown to lovespanning several generations.
Lanning’s offers a variety of premium steaks and seafood, an award-winning wine menu, craft cocktails, and a vibe that is not found anywhere else in the Northeast Ohio area.
“We’ve done a complete refresh of the restaurant, bringing a cool downtown Vegas vibe to Lanning’s, complete with live music four nights a week and an award-winning wine menu,” said the Martins, when asked what makes Lanning’s unique.
With far too many chain restaurants dotting the landscape in Northeast, Ohio, it’s truly refreshing to spend an evening at a true original like Lanning’s.
The waiters wear tuxedos and they provide great service. They serve classic dinners Lanning’s is known for, such assteaks, rack of lamb, Oysters Rockefeller, scampi and more.
Many reviewers have called their steaks “the best in the Cleveland area.”
Next time you’re ready for a night out, consider the fine dining and atmosphere at Lanning’s.
Lanning’s Restaurant Quick Facts Address: 826 N. Cleveland Mass Rd., Akron, OH 44333 Website: lannings-restaurant.com Hours:5-10 p.m. main dining; 4-10 p.m. Deano’s Lounge at Lanning’s. Phone: 330-669-1159 Service options: Dine-in, takeout, delivery Reservations: opentable.com Follow Lanning’s on Facebook
