How are you feeling about the New Year and your approach to business? It might be a little late to make New Year’s resolutions, but it’s never too late to get into great business habits for the year ahead.
The start of a new year is a great time to resolve to make some changes in your business and to look at it more objectively. As a business owner, you know you need to be keenly aware of what is going on around you.
Here are some great habits you can get into in 2019.
What do you want to achieve this year? Did you have goals from last year and did you meet them? What would you like your business to look like in 2019?
Some of your goals from the prior year may have been met. Was it due to unforeseen circumstances or poor planning? What could have been done differently to have a better outcome?
After reviewing previous goals, you will have a better idea of what goals should be set for the coming year. This gives you a plan for where you’d like your business to be by the end of the year. Perhaps your goals are tangible – a new building; or you’d like to improve profitability.
It’s important to have both a short-term list of goals as well as long-term goals. Breaking down big goals into smaller, more manageable targets make them easier to achieve.
Profitability and growth are two reasons you might consider investing into your business in 2018. Could you expand or diversify you’re offering? Are there marketing opportunities you haven’t yet explored?
For example, you can use email, business cards, signage, newsletters, and many other marketing forms that are inexpensive to help grow your business and generate greater revenue.
You may also consider whether more services should be offered. If customers are asking for certain products or services that are not currently offered, should they be? When sales are strong and profits are consistent that is the perfect time to consider expanding.
If investing in your business is to happen, you must have a strong, stable cash flow. Cash flow is the lifeblood of any small business. If you have drastic ebbs and flows in your cash flow, you will be unable to create enough capital to invest back into the business. If you’re standing still, your competitors already have an advantage.
One way of stabilizing your cash flow is through invoice financing. This finance solution pays you up to 80% of the value of your customer’s invoice within 24 hours, with the remainder paid when your customer pays. This means that you have more cash flow certainty, and you’ll spend less time chasing up late invoices.
A stable cash flow is essential if you want to grow your business.
Planning is vital if you want to foster a growing business. Running a small business can be chaotic and it’s easy to get sucked into the day-to-day operations. Business strategising allows you to take a step back and highlight what worked and what didn’t, while adjusting old goals and setting new ones. There’s no point doing it just once a year because so much can change. Set aside regular time to review your business strategy, and make adjustments where necessary.
Sometimes, not everything you try works. Maybe your sales method isn’t performing well, one of your products isn’t selling or a specific partnership isn’t working out. It’s necessary as a business owner to make hard decisions, like dropping something that isn’t working. Don’t invest a lot of energy into trying to make the unworkable workable. Something better will turn up.
The world is constantly changing, and that’s also true in business. What’s happening in the economy, business, government policy and world affairs might affect your business.
Today, the impact of online retailers, ride-sharing companies, streaming video services, electric car manufacturers, robotics, artificial intelligence and many other factors cannot be denied. For business owners, disruption can occur in the blink of an eye.
If you need help with any aspect of managing your cash flow, your accounts receivable, or your bad debts, make sure you contact us today.
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/305998
https://www.business2community.com/small-business/5-new-years-resolutions-entrepreneurs-2-01981436