The start of a business is an exciting time. You’ve got a great idea for a business and are enthusiastic to get started. It’s important to plan ahead to give your business the best chances for success. Planning ahead means anticipating challenges and developing ways to successfully address them, so they don’t upend your start-up. Here are three reasons why start-ups fail and ways you can avoid them Lack of… Read more
Your employees are the blood of your entrepreneurial or small business life. No start-up will survive without a good set of people making sure that things run perfectly. The problem for you and any other entrepreneur is making sure that the people on your team are trustworthy and reliable. Some people have a sixth sense when it comes to reading people, but if you’re not that lucky you can simply… Read more
When customers make a buying decision, they’re not just considering the quality and price of your products or services, they’re also evaluating the ease and convenience of the whole buying process. As a business owner, you should offer different payment options to provide the best customer experience and to ensure you receive timely payments Here are four ways your small business can accept payments in 2022: 1. Credit and debit… Read more
The question of motivating employees is often on a business owner’s mind. It can be difficult to find ways to genuinely motivate employees at work, and often the old standards—performance-based bonuses, increased rewards and commissions—only work in the short-term, if they work at all. In fact, some tests have shown that the usual motivational tactics aren’t always effective. So how can you authentically motivate workers? 1. Share positive feedback Too… Read more
Some small business owners find themselves in the difficult position of running a business that appears to be profitable, but still having no money in the bank. It’s an important situation to address. After all, a lack of adequate cash flow is one of the main causes of small business failure. Here are three reasons profitable businesses have little money in the bank, and what business owners can do to… Read more
Change in business is almost always a good thing, but often poor management means that the workforce becomes disengaged and the change process painful. In the worst cases, this results in irreparable damage being done. It doesn’t need to be this way. Follow these nine steps and empower yourself to successfully lead your people through major organizational change. Understand the change Make sure you understand exactly what is changing and how… Read more
Full-service bookkeepers can be highly beneficial for businesses of any size. They offer expertise and insight into areas that you may not have experience in. They can also take some tasks off your to-do list, freeing up your time and energy to focus on other matters. Here are 4 benefits to hiring bookkeepers to help you manage your business. Expertise An outsourced professional bookkeeper is an expert at managing, sorting… Read more
Managing people is one thing, but anyone with experience of managing managers will know that’s a completely different ball game. A management team that works in complete harmony is a rare and beautiful thing, but it never comes easy. In fact, it’s paradoxical to think it should ever be that a group of people with strong leadership and management skills will operate without conflict for any length of time. The… Read more
Every small business owner knows how challenging it is to cut down expenses without somehow compromising internal or external quality. Regardless of the nature of your business, the first step to reducing your overhead costs is to take the time to go through every single expense you have. Next, assess which ones are necessary for your business to operate smoothly, what can be trimmed down, and what can be eliminated… Read more
Preparing for tax season is really a year-round endeavor. Tip number one for SMB owners is to update financials on a monthly basis, using a streamlined software or cloud-based system. This way, come tax time, everything you need is all in one place. And well organized SMBs are better positioned to minimize their tax bill while avoiding penalties associated with missing or inaccurate information. Here are four more ways to… Read more
Balancing customer experience against your budget is a difficult task. You need the right amount of staff working to keep customers happy, but not so many people that workers are standing around looking for things to do. If your customers have long wait times, that’s good news for you initially—it means your business is popular. The bad news is customers won’t wait around forever for you to fix your time… Read more
The unfortunate reality is most business owners don’t take proper vacations. Usually this is because their business relies on them and they don’t have the support to keep the business running without them. As a business owner, have you ever considered what would happen to the business if you had to take a six months break because of a serious illness or injury? Would the business survive? How would the… Read more
8 things your invoice needs in order to get paid faster So you’ve set up your business and sold some products and services. Now, you have to send an invoice to collect your payment. But what should you include on your invoices in order to get paid faster? Even if you’ve been running your business for a while, you might be missing other information that you should include. So here… Read more
Many small business owners tend to handle their own accounting and bookkeeping, especially when they’ve just started out. However, keeping track of the finance-side of the business– everything from income to expenses to tax compliance– can be overwhelming. Mistakes can happen quite easily and can have costly consequences to your business. Below are five of the most common DIY accounting errors that you should avoid. Unorganised Records It takes excellent… Read more
Now more than ever, more companies are exploring their options when it comes to employees working remotely. There are numerous reasons for doing so: Increased worker morale More flexibility in work schedules Enhanced cost savings by not paying for office space. With all the benefits, it makes sense that employers are considering whether or not working from home can work for their team. Here are 3 steps you can take… Read more
At face value, it seems like a great idea. If you’re a small business owner with just a few employees, you probably think that hiring a payroll specialist is an expense that you can avoid. You feel that you can handle it yourself. You have the best intentions to keep your staff paid right and on time. What could go wrong, right? Well, lots actually. Below are the reasons why… Read more
Your business needs cash. Cash is what keeps your company in operation and enables it to grow, so you should know how much cash your business needs to survive. Although many people think the answer is linked solely to operating expenses, this isn’t the case. There is no single factor that determines how much cash every business needs to have on hand. Somewhere between 3-6 months of operating expenses is… Read more
Receipts are vital to successfully running a business. You need receipts to track your purchases and expenses. Your clients need receipts for their tax purposes and to manage their finances. Paper receipts have been around a long time, so many people are used to them and may even be resistant to moving away from them. Thanks to technology, paper receipts are becoming more a thing of the past. There are… Read more
The turn of the year usually prompts most people to think about some business planning for the year ahead. Here are some tips to make the planning more productive. Get your team involved Business planning works best when it’s a team effort. Involve your key staff and your advisors, such as your accountant, your mentor (if you have one), and others who can contribute meaningfully to the planning, such as… Read more
If you’re looking to grow your business, you might consider expanding your service offerings. Adding additional services is a good way to increase your profitability, diversify your income and expand your market. But there are important things to consider before adding to your income streams. Here are 4 important things to keep in mind when you consider adding to your services. 1. Does the expansion compliment your business? The best… Read more