Starting and maintaining a small business with limited employees can be daunting. It’s important to hire people when needed to keep things organized and running smoothly. Take charge of the chaos using the tips below.
Go Digital
Paper clutter can consume chunks out of your day, leaving you less time for customers and for working on your product. Only keep hard copies of things such as tax statements, titles to prove ownership and business licenses. Scan other important documents into PDF files to keep track of receipts, business contacts and invoices.
Accountable Accounting
Come tax season, most small businesses go into a frenzy trying to locate documents, bills of sale and other items the government requires. From the start, seek professional tax and accounting advice from a professional. They can give you checklists of everything to keep through the year to make springtime and quarterly estimated tax payment times run smoothly. Hiring an accountant can also protect your business from audits or future penalties from things tax laypeople miss.
Contact Management
Contact management should be digital in this electronic age. Enter emails, phone numbers and street addresses into a database for easy accessibility and back it up in a secured, password protected cloud network. This way, if your devices fail or there’s a computer server problem, your contacts are safe and can be downloaded again. Divide these into suppliers, customers, repairmen, and whatever other categories your particular business requires. Invest in a good automated email management system to schedule sales, business events and meetings with ease.
Project Management
If the above ideas seem overwhelming to you, or your business has dug itself into a chaotic hole of papers, stalled products and lost productivity, consider hiring out the work. A project manager with a MS in project management can help reorganize your business and free up your time. These individuals organize massive projects like construction, new product launches, customer appreciation events and technology applications. Some project managers are on hand simply to keep schedules, balance budgets and give a general organized feel to your business life.
Whether you’ve just started a small business from the comfort of your home or you’ve expanded into an office or brick-and-mortar setting, staying organized on a day-to-day basis can bring you peace of mind and keep more of your hard-earned cash in your bank. Know your personal limitations and when to hire the work done to save your sanity and cut down the chaos.
Emma Sturgis is a freelance writer living in Boston. She writes on a variety of things, most often real estate and education. When not writing, she enjoys reading, rock climbing, and film noir. Twitter: @emmasturgis2
