Whether you work from home or work in an off site location, you need to do an evaluation to determine whether your business has the necessary resources to make you successful. There are three things you need in order to have a successful business: Working space, materials to function and staff to help make it happen.
When it comes to space: Do you have a working computer? Do you have a desk that is comfortable to sit and and work from? Do you have the supplies necessary to be productive at your job? Do you have the website and online resources necessary to get your business known? Do you have the necessary training to continue to perform at peak levels? Business is always evolving and you need to evolve with it if you want to remain competitive. Constant learning should be part of your business plan.
Materials. The materials you need to run your business are the physical materials needed if you’re a manufacturer. They are the materials you need in order to provide a service to your clients. The materials should include your business plan, any licenses you need to operate in the state in which you’re located. The materials should also include onsite storage and backup for your intellectual property.
Your staff, or vendors on whom you rely. You simply can’t do it alone, nor should you try. The smart entrepreneur understands he needs to focus on his core competencies and hire out the rest. If bookkeeping is not your forte, you’re better served to hire a bookkeeper. If you’re not convinced, do this bit of math: take your hourly wage and determine how long it takes you to do bookkeeping tasks. Are you losing money doing your bookkeeping? Are there other core tasks that you’re putting aside in order to perform bookkeeping tasks? If that’s the case, it is time to hire someone, or more than one person, to take off your plate the tasks that aren’t bringing in clients or money.
Do you have what you need in order to be a success?
Work-life balance is a phrase that has become somewhat cliche, but it is a phrase that resonates. If you’re an entrepreneur who has a family who also is helping out with an aging parent or even giving back to your community — it’s a lot to balance. How do you “do it all” and “have it all” without losing your mind and your health in the process?
Value your own time. If you let others dictate your time you are allowing them the access to do that and you’re showing you don’t value your time because you’re just giving it away.
Learn to say no. Saying no is important to your physical and mental health. Saying no is also something you need to do when you want to stay focused in your business. Don’t get off track in business or personal items because you say yes to everything.
Spend five minutes at the beginning of each day and at the end of each day to count your gratitude. Also, take five minutes at the beginning and end of each work day to make a to-do list and to then plan for the following day.
Don’t multitask. It’s a myth that you get more done if you do more than one thing at a time. The fact is, you don’t do anything well if you’re switching your thoughts between two tasks at the same time. Time block and work on one project at a time for X number of minutes. When you’re with family, be present. Don’t check work email or take business phone calls. Be with your family and turn off the office.
Take breaks and get up and move. Our sedentary lifestyles lead to obesity and other health issues. Set a timer if you have to in order to remind yourself to get up and move every hour. Walk around the house, do jumping jacks, walk on a treadmill. Wear a step tracker and shoot for 5,000 steps per day — work your way up to the recommended 10,00 steps per day.
Taking care of yourself will help you be a viable, happy entrepreneur and individual. How do you balance your work and your life?
Do your employees know what they are accountable for? Are they aware of the metrics by which they are being judge for work performance? If they don’t, how can they be expected to perform at peak efficiency and effectiveness? If you’re working with on site or off site staff you need to hold your people accountable — no matter their role within the organization.
Here are tips to put an accountability policy in place:
Make sure everyone understands their roles. Job duties should be written down and readily available for all employees.
Make certain every employee knows his or her responsibility. If the roles change, make certain responsibilities, accountability and reporting metrics are updated.
Have a clear plan in place for the chain of command. Employees should know to whom they should lodge complaints, ask for help or where additional resources could come from.
Be specific in what is required from each employee and when it is required.
Get buy in when you’re setting up new roles or putting new practices into place. Buy in may take time, and while you don’t have to wait until you have 100% buy in, you should expect that your employees get on board.
Make sure there is two-way communication all the way up the chain of command.
Let your employees know you are open to hearing their thoughts, compliments and complaints.
Reward top performers. Set metrics and milestones in projects and celebrate those with employees. If money is tight, look for non monetary ways to recognize and reward effort.
Make sure everyone understands the consequences of not meeting expectations. Write down the steps involved in the consequences and follow through if needed.
Do your employees understand what they’re accountable for? When is the last time you looked at the roles and responsibilities of your staff? Do they need updating?
Are you prepared for a business disaster? It could come in many forms — power outage, loss of customers, loss of suppliers for your goods, etc. The list goes on. The wise entrepreneur knows how to prevent a business disaster and if it can’t be prevented, he or she will have back up plans in place to get the business back on track once the disaster has passed.
Here are some business practices you should have in place to help keep your business viable in the event of a disaster or emergency:
Automate computer back-ups. Don’t leave it to chance or memory that you will remember to back up your computers. Losing the knowledge base that resides in your company computers could be disastrous. There are many automated back up systems on the market, you need to determine what is best for you.
Off site back up is also important. Keep copies of vital business paperwork that is not electronic in an off-site, secure location. In many cases you won’t have to worry about storing computer disks in an off site location because your automated computer back ups will likely take place in the cloud.
Keep your computers secure and virus free. There is no excuse to not have virus protection installed on your computers. When the license is expiring, renew before you have a gap. Run any computer updates and website updates to keep your site secure.
Set up remote access to your network. If you can’t get to the office to work, having remote network access will keep your business’s doors open.
Test your system. Don’t leave it to chance that if disaster strikes that your back-ups will function properly. Testing is crucial.
Have you ever suffered a business disaster? Did you have measures in place to keep your business operational? If not, what would you do differently now?
When you’re a business owner, you need to know and understand your income and expenses. Perhaps you don’t need to be the only one involved in your bookkeeping and spreadsheet information, but you do need to run your business like a business and that means knowing your cash flow and what it means to your business success.
Fiscal sense is crucial to your business moving forward. Fiscal sense is also an important part of proving to the IRS that you are, in fact, a legitimate entity. There are three things you need to be aware of when it comes to money management and they are:
Responsibility — you need to know who is responsible for the business and its cash flow. You need to know whether you can handle the bookkeeping and accounting needs or if you need to delegate that responsibility. You need to know who is accountable for which of the company funds, for what purpose and you need metrics in place to track the cash.
Resilience — you need to be able to bounce back from a financial set back. This could mean that you have enough operating cash flow to get you through a tough month. You should be working with your financial advisor to assure your cash flow is there to pay the bills and keep the lights on.
Reflection — take time monthly to reflect on your business cash flow successes or those areas in which you need to make some changes in order to keep moving forward with a positive cash flow. Your business budget is not a one-and-done it is a living, breathing document.
How well-versed are you with your business’s money management?
Everyone, business owners included, typically sit down at the first of the year and set business or personal resolutions. Unfortunately those resolutions fall by the wayside, many times, before the end of January. If you’re a business owner who wants to survive and thrive, I urge you to pull out those first of the year resolutions and business goals, dust them off and see if you’re on track.
Here’s what you should do for your mid-year goal check-up.
Look at your top three goals and see if you’re on track. If not, why not? Do they no longer fit your business model? Have you already achieved them? If so, congratulations!
Decide what three things you want to complete before the end of the year and set incremental goals to reach them before years’ end.
Identify items — one to six of them — that are the most critical for you to achieve before the end of the year. Write down the reasons why they are important to you.
Now, for each goal you’ve set, lay down a road map for achieving them. What steps need to be taken to achieve them?
Break down the steps you’ve identified and put a timeline to them.
Look at some of your other, perhaps smaller, goals and see if they can move up to your daily to-do list so you can check them off.
A mid-year goal check-in and check-up is crucial for entrepreneurs. This check-in will also help you see if your first of the year goals are still important and will also help you celebrate the successes you’ve achieved thus far.
Work-life balance is a phrase that has become somewhat cliche, but it is a phrase that resonates. If you’re an entrepreneur who has a family who also is helping out with an aging parent or even giving back to your community — it’s a lot to balance. How do you “do it all” and “have it all” without losing your mind and your health in the process?
Do they no longer fit your business model? Have you already achieved them? If so, congratulations!