Five Tips For Small Business Owners In 2019

With the government shutdown, small business owners are facing all kinds of issues right at the beginning of the year. The holiday season is typically quite slow for them, and hence with the start of the new year, business was expected to pick up. However, it is better to be prepared for the rest of the year and take this opportunity to make sure everything else in your business is going as expected. Are you sure your business is doing well and has all the basics covered? Here is a checklist for you to consider!

 Check Your Finances Regularly

Find out how you are doing financially every week. Whether this is by running reports or communicating with your finance team on a daily/weekly basis, keeping a tab on your finances will help you realize how your business is doing. If you see your revenues falling over a course of a few weeks, it will tell you that certain things are not going/performing right and that something needs to be changed. Taking the hint, you can change certain strategies in your business and see if things are looking up. This is the best way to monitor and check the pulse of your business on a weekly basis.

Make Sure You Are Managing Your Everyday Tasks Even On Busy Days

Since your business might still be growing or is smaller than other companies, it is best to find out a system where you can manage your everyday tasks well. Make sure this system doesn’t fall apart even when your business eventually gets bigger. Also, it is important to follow a routine to complete all of your tasks even on the busiest of busy days. This will not only help you keep a track of all the incomplete tasks but also help you improvise your tasks or the task management system.

Make Sure You Have Marked Your Tax Deadlines

For any business, remembering the tax deadline is extremely important. Though April is the month for filing tax returns, small businesses should get everything done well ahead of April 17th. In case you have hired staff/employees, make sure that their W-2 form and 1099 form for contractors are complete, filed, and sent by the 31st of January. You can, of course, outsource all the tax-related tasks to some accountant, but that will cost you money. In case you want to do it all by yourself, sign up for the newsletter directly from the IRS to keep track of important dates and deadlines. You will also need to be organized and collect all kinds of documents kept throughout the year that will help you in tax deduction. As the new year starts, this is the best time to get all tax-related forms and receipts in one place and give you enough time to wrap it up before the big day!

What Kind Of Team Will You Have?

One of the most important decisions you will be making this year is whether to hire additional or, any, employees. If you already have a few, will they be enough for this year or will you need to hire more full-time employees in order to make sure your growing business is working smoothly? One great way to keep things going is by hiring freelancers if certain months or certain periods seem to get too busy for you to handle. Hiring freelancers from websites like Upwork can help you get your job done without the worry of hiring a full-time employee and providing the common benefits they typically receive, like healthcare, tax deducts, and others. This is administrative work that might pile high on your desk if you do not have a full-time accountant yet. Small businesses need to be careful about all these things as they are often short on funds and need to work on a bootstrapped budget.

Pay Attention On Quality And Not Price

Unless you have a product or service that is completely unique, there will always be competition in the market. Other companies might offer cheaper prices and chances are you might lose some customers. However, it is important that you do not lose heart and keep working to make your product and service the best in the market; eventually, when customers will realize it, they will come back and loyal customers will never go at all. They will also spread the word about your good work which will help you win more customers, as word-of-mouth marketing is always the most trusted form of marketing.

We all make big resolutions before and for the new year and yet most of them are not implemented. Make sure that you take this opportunity to see that your business is organized and running smoothly and keep marking your checklist every few months.