It cannot be said enough: a great product alone does not make for a successful small business. For any company to succeed, all its ducks must be in a row. Even a little disorganization can result in lost product, unfulfilled invoices, and wasted working hours. Here are several things your business must have in order if you want it to survive.
- Tax Information
There are many reasons a small business can fail, but by far, the worst is the failure to pay taxes. It may be irritating, it may be annoying, it may even be depressing, but it’s vital. You can’t run the business legally if you don’t give the government is due. Spend on accountants or software to make sure you don’t miss a thing.
- Manufacturing
Creating your offering means different things, depending on your business. News websites are always on the hunt for the latest and most exciting information, while app developers are out to develop the next big thing. Whatever you’re selling, you must have a well-documented and reliable way to produce it. If you can’t make your product, you can’t sell anything, and you can’t make money.
- Schedules and Plans for Sales and Promotions
Sales events and promotions cannot be left to the market’s whims. While the event of a sale can find success if launched as a reaction to a prior event, it’s not an ideal marketing method. Taking a reactionary stance often leads to loss of revenue, as while you’re crunching the numbers, the competition’s already attracting what used to be your audience. Plan out your promotions and sales ahead of time. Think about what the market will need or want more at specific parts of the year, and work with that.
- Contracts and Other Paperwork
Death and taxes are inevitable, and so is paperwork. It doesn’t matter what you’re selling or where you put up your small business — you’ll need to do some paperwork. Entrepreneur highlighted this as it’ll run the gamut from employee contracts to legal documents. Not only must you make sure everything is above board, but you also must store them in a way that’s easy to access when you need it for a business deal.
- Client Information and Records
Client information and records are different from your small business’s internal documentation because they involve external information. You must not only keep it organized and accessible when you need it, but you also need to protect it. Sony might be able to ignore the occasional information breach, but a small business can’t survive that kind of negative exposure. Have backups for everything, and make copies of physical records, so that an errant flood or fire won’t doom your company.
- Business means new hires.
In a string of business needs, new hires make it to this list. Workforce and an extra hand to keep up with work are crucial. Entry-level finance jobs mark up accountants, tax associates, finance analysts, and the like as top jobs, especially for new graduates. The variety of skills that each of this job has is significant for businesses to look up too.
Keep the essential things in order, and your company will survive long enough to have a chance at success. These aren’t the keys to success, but they are the bare minimums, things all small businesses must do. They strengthen the foundation of a stable company, without which the business won’t be around long enough to make money. Increase productivity by getting it right at first.
Article written by Aubrey for Oojema.com