Author: Jennifer Brazer

When starting a new small business, there are several areas of the startup process that an entrepreneur must execute well to ensure the business launch’s success. While starting a new business can be a challenge, here are eight essential steps you can take that will help you avoid making mistakes that will hurt your new small business.

Create a Business Plan

A well-written business plan with all the components needed for potential lenders, partners, and investors is essential for every small business to have. These components include an executive summary, company brief, organizational structure, market analysis, marketing plan, sales strategy, and the financial plan. Your business plan will be upgraded and changed as your business develops and grows. However, the initial business plan should be focused purely on the needs of the startup.

Do Market Research

Though market research is included in the business plan, it cannot be stressed enough how important it is that a new business owner is aware of its market. Knowing your ideal demographic, the geographic advantages, competitor best practices and weaknesses, and other information that market research reveals will be essential at startup and beyond.

Build the Right Team

While a successful small business needs to have a strong and knowledgeable owner, it is equally important to have the right staff. When hiring for your new small business, you must consider skills and experience, but you also need to consider how your staff will function as a team. As opposed to a larger corporation, a small business is dependent on the team getting along well, so aspects of potential employees beyond skills and experience will also need to be factored into the hiring process.

Create an Optimized Website

When the Internet first started, having a company website seemed like an expensive and complicated dream. In today’s digital world, it is an assumption that any business has a website. A small business must have an informative website and lets potential customers know what your business offers. It also has to be optimized with keywords and other data so your business will show up in search engines. Many sites offer free website templates, or you can hire a professional to build and host a website for you.

Obtain Solid Financing

Financing your new small business will be essential. It may be impossible to even launch without it. There are many types of financing to consider if you are unable to finance your startup yourself. Some of the financing types include investors, friends or family loans, bank loans, and grants. The most crucial aspect of the financing is that you have plenty of capital to operate while working to turn a profit. Most businesses that fail do so due to poor finances.

Pricing Your Products and Services

Pricing your products and services may seem like a difficulty. If you price too high, people may not even give you a chance, but if you price too low, you may risk not covering costs and not making a profit. Pricing is another area where research is key, and knowing the market you are in and what others in similar businesses in your area are charging will be vital to setting your prices correctly from the start.

Invest in Marketing

Many small business owners believe they can’t afford marketing. The idea that you have to run ads or slap your product or service on a billboard may seem overwhelming or expensive. In the digital world, when it comes to marketing, you can spend little to no money and drive a lot of business your way if you know what to do. Using social media and some low-cost advertising strategies will make marketing not only inexpensive but easy to accomplish.

Focus on Accounting and Bookkeeping

Since the entire purpose of having a business is to make a profit, every company’s main focus is financial. From the beginning of your small business, you should have an accounting and bookkeeping plan in place. Whether it is employing an accountant or bookkeeper or using accounting software, do not start your business without this in place from day one.

About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud-hosted desktop where their entire team and tax accountant may access the QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools in an efficient and secure environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.

Every business must focus on accounting and bookkeeping to be financially healthy. They will need to have meticulous records for tax purposes, budgeting, payroll, and to produce financial statements required for financial uses. Though it is highly recommended that you hire a professional accountant or bookkeeper (or both), many small businesses cannot afford to do so and must utilize accounting and bookkeeping software.

Most software dedicated to business accounting and bookkeeping is practical and useful. Some are better than others. The software may be superior in quality or function, or it may be better because it is lower cost or more user friendly. Whatever the reason, here are the best five accounting and bookkeeping software and their key features to help you decide which is best for you and your business.

Quickbooks

Quickbooks by Intuit is perhaps the best known and most used in this list. Despite this, it may not be what every small business needs. Quickbooks is widely considered the best overall accounting and bookkeeping software, but this means its price tag is a bit more than other effective software in this category. It can be purchased for a one-time expense for the desktop version, or it can be purchased through a monthly subscription for the portable cloud-based version.

The desktop version is compatible with all computer types; however, the cloud-based version is not compatible with Mac computers at this time. It is expected it will eventually work for all users in both versions.

Xero

Xero is a fantastic and easy to use cloud-first accounting and bookkeeping software. It has over 600 integrations meant to help business owners with basic accounting, payroll, inventory, and much more. One of its advantages is that it is a cloud-based software compatible with the Mac making it an ideal software for those Mac users who want cloud-based accounting software. One of Xero’s most remarkable functions is a money and time tracking component that will analyze real-time costs for a project using this function.

Zoho Books

Zoho Books is one of the more user-friendly accounting and bookkeeping software on this list. This software includes easy to read dashboards and graphs that are straightforward as far as any user would be concerned. Because it is simple, it doesn’t include some of the features of Quickbooks. Still, if your business doesn’t have payroll or heavy inventory, it is perfect, and the price tag reflects the simplicity. Some of the excellent features it includes are automated payment reminders for your business accounts payable and receivable. It also has some features for project management and smaller inventories. While it is less expensive than other software, the monthly fee will vary depending on the features you choose to include in your package.

Wave

Wave is a free accounting and bookkeeping software that offers only basic personal and business accounting and bookkeeping features. This software was developed with the sole proprietor or freelance businesses, as it has no features to deal with heavy business accounting. It does do the job if you need a simple software and doesn’t have it in your budget to purchase something with more functions

FreshBooks

FreshBooks is similar to Wave in that it has limited accounting features and was developed with the freelance or sole-proprietor business in mind. It does have a few more business-related features than Wave and includes a low monthly subscription fee, but it comes highly recommended by those business owners who use it as intended. It is simple in design, which keeps its user friendly for the sole proprietor.

Conclusion

Suppose you are a small business owner and cannot afford to hire an accountant or bookkeeper. In that case, you will need to implement accounting and bookkeeping software or risk financial issues that could destroy your small business. Consider your needs as a business owner and apply those needs to the information provided to help you decide which accounting and bookkeeping software are best for you and your business.

About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud-hosted desktop where their entire team and tax accountant may access the QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools in an efficient and secure environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.

Before you build a business plan, you need to understand what a business plan is for and how it will be used. A business plan has multiple functions, most of which are financial, but they can also help you know what you need to focus on every new year your business exists. Most people believe you need a business plan to start your business and don’t realize as your business grows and changes, so will your plan. Businesses constantly have to change strategies or budgets. Your business should not be the same as it was when you conceived your initial business plan.

Your business plan is, at its core, an introduction of your business, what it does, and what it is expected to do to anyone who reads it. The target audience of most business plans is those who would be investing in or financing your business. But you are also always going to be a member of the audience of your business plan as you should be referring to it and changing and updating it as your business changes and grows. To make an effective business plan, seven components must always be incorporated. Here they are and what they should include.

Executive Summary

The executive summary will be at the beginning of the business plan, and it is what it sounds like. It is a short but extremely detailed summary and overview of the business plan. It is an “in-a-nutshell” piece that should be engaging and grab the reader, making them want to dig into your business plan’s finer details. If the executive summary is ineffective, most potential lenders, investors, or partners will move onto the next business. Though it is the first thing in the business plan, it should be written last to include a thorough accounting of the entire business plan.

Company Brief

The company brief is the component that will be more about the personality and mission of your business. This area will include your mission statement and what makes your company unique, especially if it is in a market with a lot of competition. Investors, partners, and lenders want to know if this is a good investment, and this component can give them a sense of that.

Market Analysis

For the market analysis component, the title of it says it all. You will have to do a fair amount of research and market analysis to have insight into the market you are entering. For the reader, this area should talk about where the market has been, where it is now, and where it is expected to go, and how your business fits into that flow.

Competitive Analysis

Every business plan should have a strong awareness of the competition. The best competitive analysis component will show where your competitors excel and identify their weaknesses and shortcomings. This awareness will show potential shareholders and lenders that you understand what works and what doesn’t for your business. This will go a long way to gaining financing because the risk versus reward will entice someone aware of how their competitors stack up and that you are aware of their mistakes so they can be avoided.

Marketing Plan

The marketing plan will be of much interest to potential shareholders or lenders because, in small businesses with shareholders, there will be an expectation that some of the invested income be focused on marketing. The marketing plan has to show you understand your business, the market, competitors, and what you need to do to drive your company.

Sales strategy

Sales are the most important area in a company as it is how revenue and profits are generated. Without sales, a business will fail and die. Your business plan should include a strong and well-planned sales strategy. This strategy will go hand in hand with the marketing plan but has unique qualities as to what is included in the strategy. You will need to do research specific to the market you are entering to devise the most winning sales strategy.

Financial Plan

Though your financial plan is at the end of the business plan, it may be the most important when it comes to potential investors, lenders, or partners. This area is where you discuss initial investment needs and both short and long-term projections. In an already existing business, this component of the business plan can be fairly easy to compose. However, for a new business, you are using other businesses in the same market of similar size and using analysis of these businesses to make predictions and projections.  This component will likely be of most interest to your readers because it will give them an insight into what’s in it for them financially.

Each business is different, so your business plan may look different from your competitor’s business plan. But a strong business plan that will have the most chance to help your business receive financing is key when starting a new business or even expanding an existing one.

About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud-hosted desktop where their entire team and tax accountant may access the QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools in an efficient and secure environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.

Most small businesses have equally small budgets when it comes to marketing. While a small business can have a nice client base and steady revenue flow, revenue is often focused on operations and put back into the business or has to go to shareholders and investors after operations are covered. This pull on the small business income leaves little for the business owner to use towards marketing efforts. However, marketing is crucial to all businesses, large or small, and should get your attention, if not your business budget.

Having a low budget for marketing does not mean you do not have some marketing tools to build your business and budget. Online marketing provides multiple options, most of which cost nothing and a few of which have a minimal cost. All you need is some creativity and some marketing strategies, and you can increase traffic, revenue, and client base in no time. Here are six amazing online marketing strategies for small businesses that are sure to increase your bottom line.

Create an Optimized Website

First, just having a website alone is essential as it provides credibility when a person searching for what you offer can see it with their own eyes without ever stepping foot in your business. Your website can further be used to drive traffic that would otherwise never even know you existed. You can spend a bit of money and have someone build your website and host it for you as well as guide you in all you need to know to make your website effective, or there are free website building sites that are fairly user friendly that can guide you in building your website and how to optimize it to drive traffic.

Research Your Competition

It may sound a little on the stalker side to track down what your main competitors are doing or to search out businesses in your same niche that are successful and find out what they are doing to get those dollars you are after, but it’s not, it is good business sense. Since competing businesses have existed, competitors have actively sought out what makes their competitors get business over them. Online you can do searches for what your business offers and see what competitors come up with. Analyze their site and find out what their online presence is and how they use it. This research will provide you the opportunity to drive business your way by taking on the best online marketing practices of your competitors.

Run AdWords ads

Running some AdWords ads will take a bit of your budget, but you can set a cap, and even if you can only afford a bit at first, this will give you a lot of bang for your online marketing buck. AdWords ads help you to boost your site even more than without it based on keyword optimization on your website. Utilizing the optimized website without AdWords ads will have your site doing a slow climb up in the Google ranking for search terms used on your site. AdWords ads speed up this process, so it is worth the money if you can afford to do it for even the lowest level or length of time.

Link Building on Other Optimized Sites

An extremely effective free online marketing strategy is to have links for your website on other web pages. While there are versions of this idea that would cost you to pay a site to have a link to your site on theirs, if you have friends, family, or partnerships with websites, most will easily allow you to link to your site. You can offer a little quid pro quo and have links to their site on yours in some cases. The more your site is linked from other sites, the more optimized your website becomes and ranks higher in Google searches.

Social Media Marketing

While everyone uses social media to advertise and market their businesses for free or paying for ads, it is still an effective marketing strategy to drive business your way. Even if your connections or those who find your business through hashtags and other social media marketing efforts don’t need what you offer now, they will easily know that you offer that product when they do or know anyone else who does or service when they need it.

Conclusion

Marketing doesn’t have to be expensive to be effective. Some of the most successful online marketers spend little budget but have a lot of impacts. Using these five online marketing strategies will increase traffic and let customers know about your business and what you offer, therefore expanding your business and growing your bottom line.

About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud-hosted desktop where their entire team and tax accountant may access the QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools in an efficient and secure environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.

Clients or customers are the reason businesses exist. A business will not succeed without clients.  When starting a new business, however, having a client base can be difficult. You are building your client base from scratch and with zero reputation for them to refer to unless you have been operating independently. So this dilemma begs the question, how do you build a client base from nothing? The answer is multi-faceted. It would be best if you first started by creating a plan to gain clients. Once you start generating a base, you will need a strong and strategic marketing plan to maintain and expand your client base. Here are five strategies to build a client base for your new business quickly to get you started.

Referrals and Endorsements

Even though you are a new business, you should still have the ability to get referrals and endorsements. Most new business owners think about the business and not their jobs before starting their business that built and utilized their skills. Just as you can get referrals and endorsements from previous employers if you were seeking a new job with another company, you can seek referrals and endorsements from previous employers in your new business. You are not asking them to endorse your business. You are asking them to endorse you. Once you build a client base that can refer and endorse your business, you can build on that to gain more clients.

Partnerships

If you know other business owners, who are well established in the community, you can partner on referrals, projects, and sales. Even if the business isn’t directly related to yours, you can still benefit one another by lending credibility to their reputation and lending credibility to yours. In some cases, whether the products or services are related, you can find ways to do discounts and giveaways for each other’s businesses or partners on packages. These collaborations and partnerships have proven to be highly effective in building credibility and gaining clients and customers to help build beyond your partnership.

Use Social Media

Regardless of its size or years in business, every business can gain quick recognition by simply using social media platforms to tell your connections and followers you have a business and what it has to offer. By building business pages, or interesting and engaging business accounts, you can quickly gain customers from your connections. Also, if you are clever with your hashtags, you can gain customers that are not connected to you who find you through your hashtags. Finding the trending hashtags of the day is easy, and if you can incorporate it into your posts, you will get new eyes on your business and what it has to offer. Also, having a business page is on social media platforms is easy and free!

Offer Incentives

Once you begin gaining clients, you should offer incentives to help retain their business, but you should also offer every new client special incentives for referrals and reviews. Potential customers searching for the product or service you offer will often ask friends or family for what they recommend. Make sure your clients always recommend you by incentivizing referrals. Also, offer something if they write you a positive review. Some companies will even offer free products for reviews.

Identify and Target Potential Clients

Most businesses have a target demographic, have a niche product or service, or focus on a specific geographical area. Knowing who your target audience is, you can focus efforts on targeting groups and certain areas for marketing your business. If you offer a service or product that can only be found or utilized locally, you will want to focus your advertising in your area. If you have a product or service that can be done online, but for use by a certain demographic or group, it would make sense for you to target advertising or marketing to groups that included your target client.

Conclusion

Building your new business may seem like a far too challenging endeavor. However, if you use these easy to implement strategies, you can quickly build a client base, you can continue to grow for years to come.

About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud-hosted desktop where their entire team and tax accountant may access the QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools in an efficient and secure environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.

Businesses, no matter how large or small, at one time or another, have to take out loans or utilize other business credit types to start and operate their business. This is especially true for small businesses. Small businesses often have struggled financially, which causes them to use tools to provide capital until the business can pay down debts and profit. If you are a small business owner, it is essential to consider the types of business credit you can get and how they work to make sound financial decisions that will make funding stress-free. Here are four of the most common types of business credit and how they work.

Business Charge Cards

Business charge cards are similar to credit cards with some primary differences. Though you can charge the same things on a charge card as a credit card, charge cards are expected to be paid in full each month. They also rarely have a spending limit nor interest since they do not have a revolving payment over time. A business would use a charge card to make a significant purchase that needs to be made quickly that would take the rest of the month to save for so you can pay the balance in full as expected. Charge cards are good to have on hand for emergencies and large purchases, but it is recommended that you use them as little as possible, as paying it in full can be difficult.

Installment Accounts

Installment accounts are generally loans at a fixed amount with installment payments. These accounts will have interest, but it will be figured into the overall cost, and the loan payments will be a fixed amount the lender agrees to upon approving the loan. The entire amount is determined over a specific timeframe then a fixed amount is pulled from that total. These loans are generally obtained from a banking institution or friends and family members that don’t charge interest but work with you to pay the loan back in manageable payments.

Revolving Credit Accounts

Revolving credit in the simplest terms is credit that has limits, but as long as you make payments on time and keep your charges under the limits, you can charge as often as you want or need to charge. This type of credit can be useful, but with interest, it can be expensive and is not recommended to be a primary business credit source. Business debt is generally already problematic for the small business owner, so taking on an extra debt can quickly overwhelm a business owner and cause debt that threatens the business.

Vendor Accounts

Vendor accounts can be a lifesaver for the small business owner. These accounts are just as the name implies, accounts established with vendors that the business uses for materials, products, services, and other business needs that the business cannot fulfill. Generally, business account balances will have anywhere from thirty to ninety days to pay the balance. The other advantage of a vendor account is that it carries no interest. Also, because vendors and the businesses they serve usually have a positive relationship, if something happens and you can’t make the payment, vendors will generally work with you on a payment plan until you get on your feet without withholding what the vendor offers.

Conclusion

When you are the owner of a small business, it is better not to use personal money to fund the business unless you act as though it is an investment and are a stakeholder paid from profits. Business credit is a reliable way to take care of the business’s needs until the company is self-sustained. You should carefully consider all the options and use what makes sense for you and your company. You can use more than one type of business credit; be sure you keep in good standing, or your business could suffer financially.

About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud-hosted desktop where their entire team and tax accountant may access the QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools in an efficient and secure environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.

Time management is likely the number one thing any person will say they have difficulty with when it comes to their personal life or business. Managing time is essential, but setting realistic goals, deadlines, and productivity quotas are equally crucial. As a small business owner, it is easy to bite off more than you can chew and have time management get away from you. If this is the case consistently with both you and your employees, you need to look at ways to keep everyone productive and able to meet deadlines and quotas without causing burnout. Here are some steps you can take within your business to keep time management under control.

The Value of Timesheets and Production Reports

While it is common for employees to have timesheets to get paid,  timesheets and production reports can also show productivity and goals. It can identify potential issues. Timesheets and production reports can be as general or detailed as deemed necessary to show where time is spent and what work is productive and what is not. It can also identify an imbalance in workloads between employees. Even the business owner must keep a record of production to identify areas of delegation. It is common for a business owner to take on the bulk of the work, especially if it is new or struggling.

Scheduling and Production

Scheduling of employees is a common way to make sure there is coverage, but it can also help balance time management tasks. Schedules don’t only have to cover the hours a person works, but there can be a regular schedule of specific checklists or tasks to ensure production is not only optimal but accomplished at the same time every day. The scheduling of the task can be the scheduling of the employee who will take on the task. Production is essential to every business’s success, and focusing the scheduling to have optimal production daily will contribute to all goals being met.

Setting Milestones and Long-Term Goals

Setting long-term goals is a given within any business; however, it is also essential to set up milestones. Though the owner has overall control of a company’s long or short-term goals, every employee must help control time management by being involved in goal setting and agreement on milestones. Having smaller milestones to meet when there is a larger long-term goal will keep production moving forward. Breaking it down in smaller increments will prevent any employee or owner from becoming overwhelmed. It also helps to keep the time manageable, which is essential for productivity towards goals.

Time Management Can Be Taught

While overall time management of the business is the owner’s responsibility, it is also the responsibility of the employees to manage their own time wisely. There should be coaching and training and opportunities for improvement for those with issues with managing their time. This will ensure that everyone is on the same page regarding time management, productivity, and the best interest of the business. Those employees struggling with managing time or productivity may need to temporarily lessen the workload or tasks while they train and improve.

Conclusion

While time is the most precious thing in a business, it can also be a killer if it is not managed correctly. To ensure the overall business has excellent time management, each employee and the owner will need to work together to optimize their time and production. Using timesheets and productivity reports, scheduling and production, and setting goals and milestones and training as needed will ensure that any business is thriving and has the time to be highly productive.

About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud-hosted desktop where their entire team and tax accountant may access the QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools in an efficient and secure environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.

While the word risk might be considered scary to most, when it comes to the entrepreneur or small business owner, they knew they were taking on when they started the business. Though there is an awareness of risk, it is essential as a small business owner to know and understand the types of risks you will take on as a business owner. Here are four of the most common risks that small business owners need to be aware of to be prepared to overcome them.

Financial Risk

While every business could be considered a financial risk for its shareholders, it is the highest risk at startup and initial investment. It has no financial track record to show returns. Financial risks can range from the products or services the company offers risking a disconnect or failure with customers, to unforeseen disasters that can devastate a business in the beginning stages of operations. The financial risks a small or startup business faces are many, but the rewards can be significant even beyond profits if the risks are managed.

Reputation Risk

When owning a small business, you automatically take on risk to your reputation. These risks extend once you start the business to its reputation separated from you as the owner. Understanding that you and your business reputation can affect the success or failure of the company is essential. The management of the risks on your reputation is made more difficult in our digital world where feedback, both positive and negative, can be given within minutes of experience. Social media has made information and the sharing of it instant and, in some cases, viral. As a small business owner, this is another risk that has high satisfaction reward if you take it on and understand that you can minimize this risk by awareness and being proactive.

Security risk

Anyone that is on the internet taking a security risk. This risk is particularly daunting for the small or startup business owner. A single cyber-attack could potentially destroy a company in a fell swoop. Understanding security risks for both the brick and mortar business and online business gives you an advantage when it comes to protecting against them. If you are unsure how to protect against cyber-attacks through software and protocols, it would be prudent to hire someone to safeguard your professional system. Some professionals deal with security at the brick and mortar business front as well. While security risks are common, they can also be minimized by taking proactive measures.

Investment Risk

Risks in investments made by the business are the same as individual risks made in investments. If the business makes investments in stocks or other businesses, it is the business that takes the hit if there is a failure or downturn. Before making investments in the business name, you as the business owner must understand the risks versus the rewards and make investment decisions based on the business’s tolerance to take a hit. Most of the business risks should be in the business itself rather than outside investments until it is profitable and productive.

Conclusion

A small or startup business owner needs to be prepared to deal with all types of business risks and challenges. While these risks may seem overwhelming or even too risky, if you are informed of the risks and understand them and how to manage them, they should not hinder you from having your dream of owning and operating your own business.  Every business owner has to face risks in life and finances. Managing risks and using your understanding will guide you in making sound financial decisions that will help you succeed in business and life.

About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud-hosted desktop where their entire team and tax accountant may access the QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools in an efficient and secure environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.

Debt is an unfortunate part of life that almost every person has to deal with at one time or another. When it comes to small businesses, there is no exception. Virtually all new or established small business owners have to take on and deal with business debt. While likely, this debt does not have to cause a financial burden on you or your business if you follow these six easy ways to reduce your business debt.

Reduce Expenses

While reducing expenses may sound like a no-brainer, many business owners and staff allow expenses to get out of hand. Reducing business expenses is no different than what you might do to reduce expenses in your finances. As with any budget, you have to take a close look at where all your income goes. While there may be significant differences in what the company spends and what an individual might spend personally, how you handle your finances should be the same for reducing spending. If your budget is tight, consider cutting expenses that bring no value to the company operations.

Rework Your Budget

While having a budget is and should be a vital part of your company’s business plan, it is not something that you can prepare and leave. It needs to be reworked regularly when the business grows or finds shortfalls when it comes to spending versus profits. Revising your budget doesn’t have to be an overwhelming chore. It can be as simple as adding or removing line items or ensuring that expenses you eliminated are depicted on the current budget plan. It may help to look at your budget as a living, breathing thing to stress the importance of reworking as changes occur.

Pay with Cash on Hand

Just as with personal debt, business debt can often trace back to loans, the use of credit cards, and other sources of business finance that include long or short term payment plans and interest. If you find that your business is becoming buried in this type of debt, you should choose a period that you only use cash and profits on hand to cover expenses and payroll. Taking on more debt to pay debt can cause a cycle of debt that cannot be overcome.

Creditor Communication

While it is common for the small business owner to have financing that creates debt and creditors, some owners may not know the advantages of communicating with those who hold their debt. If your business is doing well and the debt you carry is under control and paid down quickly and steadily, nothing needs to be done when it comes to your creditors. However, suppose your business debt becomes overwhelming and seemingly insurmountable. In that case, many owners don’t know that by merely communicating with your creditors, you can get your debt reduced or, in some cases, even eliminated.

Consolidate

Debt consolidation is commonly used in both personal and business finances. It is a simple yet effective way to get debt under control or eliminated quickly. While it is not suggested to take on yet another loan, if your business credit is in good standing, you may qualify to get one lower interest rate loan to pay off all your debts, thus leaving you with one monthly, more controllable payment. If you don’t qualify for such a loan, you may be able to restructure a current loan to pay off other debts, or if you have a credit card with a lower interest rate and a limit that will cover your debt, you can create the single payment yourself. If attainable, debt consolidation is one of the most effective ways to get your business out of the red and into the black quickly.

Hire a Professional

Some professionals and firms were explicitly created to help individuals and businesses deal with debt consolidation or elimination. When choosing a professional, it is best to use an individual or firm with an excellent reputation. While hiring a professional will come with a fee, in some cases, the fee is a small price to pay to get your business out of debt.

Conclusion

Business debt is not uncommon and is nothing to be ashamed of or a cause for worry. However, if your business debt cannot be overcome by reducing expenses, reworking your budget, communication, and consolidation, or hiring a professional, there are other options you can consider, such as downsizing or selling your business.

About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud-hosted desktop where their entire team and tax accountant may access the QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools in an efficient and secure environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.

When starting or maintaining a small business, your business finances are essential to ensure smooth financial operations. To do this, your business accounting and bookkeeping practices must be reliable and accurate. A business owner should take steps when contemplating the business’s financial needs alongside personal financial needs.

Accounting and bookkeeping are essential tools for keeping business finances in order, but first, there are other issues you need to address as a business owner. One of the most important first steps to your business’s financial stability is to separate your finances from your business finances. It is a common and understandable mistake for the business owner to co-mingle their personal and business finances. While when you are first starting your business, combining the finances may not be significant. Once a business starts growing, separating business and personal finances should be a priority.

Once your business and personal finances are separated, there are other steps to keep your business finances in order. Here are five accounting tips to get and keep your business finances in order.

Focus on Accounting and Bookkeeping

Whether your business is large or small, accounting and bookkeeping is an essential focus for your business. Larger businesses may need an entire accounting and bookkeeping department, while a small business may use accounting and bookkeeping software to keep up with the business finances. All businesses of any size have in common that they need to focus on the business’s accounting and bookkeeping. This focus will ensure that your business finances are organized and easily kept in control.

Fixed and Variable Expenses

Fixed and variable expenses exist in any business. Fixed expenses are those business expenses that are the same and expected every month. These expenses could be rent or mortgage, utilities, or long-term loan payments. Variable expenses are those expenditures that vary monthly. They can be recurring but vary in amount or when they are due. Variable expenses include production supplies or materials, salary payouts, and commissions, or various fees. To keep your business finances in order knowing what these expenses are and the differences will help in your business accounting.

Billing Strategy

A common issue in businesses of all sizes is billing challenges. While large businesses can cover the deficits they may suffer because of billing issues, invoices not being paid can deeply impact small businesses. No matter the billing issue’s size or depth, a business must come up with a billing strategy. There are a few ways you can structure billing to maximize your accounts receivable and company bottom line.

• Shorter Payment Window
• Early Payment Incentives
• Discounts for Full Payments Upfront
• Automated Payments

Bookkeeping Strategy

Whether using a professional bookkeeper or using bookkeeping software, you must keep on top of your books daily, weekly, or monthly. If you only concern yourself with your books and business finances sporadically, you may not be prepared to handle them properly if there are financial issues. If you are keeping up with what is in your books regularly, there should be no surprises in business finances or accounting issues. If you are handling your business’s accounting or bookkeeping yourself, make all entries immediately to ensure nothing gets missed. It is vital that your bookkeeping be a priority.

Practice Good Financial Habits

As with personal finances, business finances require you to have good financial habits. Being aware of your books and bookkeeping practices is just one aspect of your business finances. You need a budget and to stick to the budget just as you do in your household. Every expense should be accounted for to be aware of areas where you need to improve your financial habits.

Conclusion

Keeping your business finances in order is easy if you follow a few steps. Separating your personal and business finances, having billing and bookkeeping strategies, understanding essential aspects of accounting and bookkeeping, and practicing good financial habits will ensure your business finances will stay organized and in order and never out of hand.

About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud-hosted desktop where their entire team and tax accountant may access the QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools in an efficient and secure environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.