Congratulations! Your business has made it another year. Your effort was spent finding out what works, what doesn’t, what you can offer, what’s cost effective, how to handle bumps in the road, the right size staff for your budget and company, and the plethora of other things on your plate this past year. Now it’s tax season and you’re stressing about everything you didn’t keep up with, record and document. I’m sorry, its gonna be a doozy. However! And there is a however.... The Silver lining is another year’s experience. Whether that’s a tacky or blindly optimistic approach, now that you have the major kinks out of your plan and a few more things figured out, this year is the time to fine-tune your operation.
Start with the Basics
Assess your bank. One of the major things you have going for you as a small business owner is your cash. Many entrepreneurs and people in general don’t have a clue how much they’re paying in service charges to the bank every month and exactly what they’re paying for. Request an analysis statement that breaks down your generic monthly service charges. You can then decide whether or not you need them, and if you can reduce costs in this area and take your savings and cash flow to the next level. It might even be beneficial for you, if it’s within your budget, to request other services your bank may provide to keep your finances organized. However, if you have taken the step to have someone else do your accounting for you, those services may already be rendered by him or her. Banks are still business and don’t like losing clients, so small negotiations with your banker could have positive results.
Make a Comparison. It’s great that your company has grown and is continuing to, but do you know how your business stacks up to growth within the industry? Before you do a whole lot of legwork, your accountant most likely has all the industry statistics and data comparison points on file that a lot of entrepreneurs aren’t taking advantage of. Have these numbers available for your future strategy meetings and make your bench mark this year!
Automate It.
Be advanced. Do you have small bills that stack up every month? Instead of paying a $20 dollar monthly bill, pay $120 in advance for 6 months and save time paying all your little bills, not to mention saving money in stamps and accidental late fees! The little bit of effort has a big payoff in stress and time management. If your business has busy seasons and slow seasons, it’s a good idea to implement this tactic during the slow seasons when you have a little looser of a belt. That way it’s already taken care of when your belt tightens again.
Use your (other) brain. Most likely your phone is a priceless asset in time management and helping you keep track of your company day to day. What about month to month? Save yourself the stress of remembering dates and funds or late invoices. Do you have an accounting package that handles your bills? Automate the process. Your accounting software can generate invoices, send email alerts of late payment notices to your clients and handle electronic transfers (along with your bank).
Keep it on Schedule. Making a schedule for multiple employees can be a nightmare. Did you know there are software packages that make scheduling less of a headache? Asgard System's Time Tracker, TimeClock Scheduler and TimeCurve Scheduler among others, are a few software options that have to ability to track employee hours, alert you of any scheduling conflicts and even make payroll easier in some cases. Some of these websites offer free trials as well. You can spend more time building your clients than laboring over the schedule on a weekly basis.
