Small Business Administration Awards Luncheon (Photo credit: MDGovpics)

Becoming a successful small business owner takes hard work and absolute dedication to your vision. Unfortunately, not all small companies survive past their first year. To help your company’s chances, you need to embrace some of the most important habits of successful small business owners.

1. Set Specific Goals

Small business owners must constantly set and meet new goals to build success. At first, these goals start small, such as meeting a particular sales quota over the course of a month. Once the company becomes more established, small business owners must make loftier goals to keep themselves and their team from becoming complacent.

2. Manage Money Wisely

For a beginning small business, there is little room in the budget to misplace or squander money. Every cent matters when you’re trying to build a company with only your own savings and pocket money. Successful owners know how to save money when the slow season begins and when to invest money to stimulate growth.

3. Work as a Team

Although a small business owner may have started her company on her own, she will eventually need to bring in more team members to help her company grow. Learning how to let go of some tasks is a difficult job for any business owner. However, a well-managed team can accomplish more than any one person.

4. Work Hard from Dawn to Dusk

From balancing the budget to tracking down new clients, small business owners must tackle a daunting array of tasks every day. If you don’t have the discipline to tackle each of your tasks and keep problems from getting out of hand, your business could quickly become an unmanageable mess. Additionally, your employees will have trouble staying motivated if you spend all your time on the golf course.

5. Manage Your Time

Learning how to manage time effectively is a critical skill that triumphant small business owners quickly develop. You must learn to prioritize your tasks and spend time on important projects first. Getting distracted by a minor issue can derail your entire day.

6. Take Calculated Risks

Owning a small business is a risky venture that offers great rewards. Owners must have the courage to take a risk on an opportunity that could give the company a huge boost. Smart business owners understand, however, that not all risks are worth attempting.

7. Balance Home and Work

Although balancing home life with work is often difficult, it can be especially hard for a small business owner. Your business depends entirely on you, making it tempting to stay late each night or work long hours on the weekend. However, too much work and stress can hurt your ability to function and work efficiently. Effective business owners must learn to maintain relationships and interests outside of work.

This article was written by the team at Horizon Business Systems in Perth, Western Australia. Accredited MYOB EXO accounting and business management software implementers.

Related articles

• Are Small Business Owners Taking On Too Much? [INFOGRAPHIC]
• Small business owners slightly more optimistic
• Top 10 Most Common Small Business Mistakes
• What’s Hurting Small Business These Days?

Going Out of Business (Photo credit: reinvented)

In tough economic times, many people are turned off by the idea of starting a small business. Statistics it may seem are not in their favor. Even when someone does get a business off the ground, keeping it running smoothly and successfully requires more energy than some may be willing to muster.

While situations vary depending on the product or service you sell, there are certain practices to keep in mind if you are trying to keep a small business afloat. Consider the following five points.

1. Maintain the Strengths You Already Have

This usually means maintaining those employees your company would be crippled without. There are likely certain people in the company that are masters in their particular skill. Do everything you can to make sure you don’t lose them. If the possibility exists to do so, consider hiring a backup. Then train that person in the same work. It may be a financial investment, but think of what would happen to your company if that person were suddenly gone.

2. Keep the Workers Happy

Workers are of course the lifeblood of the company. In addition to having backups for particular skills, make sure everyone is working at their optimum level. Address the needs of the employees directly. Sit down and talk with them. Ask them how they are doing and what you can do to help them succeed. Send out emails with helpful tips, encouragement, or praise for good work. When employees know they are appreciated and that their opinion matters, they are more likely to provide quality work.

3. Address Customer Needs

If the customers aren’t happy, the business fails. Recognize and let them know that you know times are tough. Use advertising that appeals to the tough economic times. Offer deals and promotions, as well as products and services that people will want even in a financial crisis. Almost everyone seems to be cutting back on consumption. People are only buying what’s necessary and cutting out the luxury items. Convey to the customer that your product is something they really need, even if they don’t have excess money to spend.

4. Cut Down on Expenses

Many business owners focus only on how much they are selling. While this is certainly the most important thing to consider, don’t forget that a company can save money by cutting back on their own expenses. If your business is small enough, allow employees to work from home. This will save office rental money as well as things like paper, desks, etc. If this isn’t possible make sure all the office supplies are in good shape. Get frequent tune-ups on things like printers.

5. Learn to Delegate

When a small business starts out there may only be a few employees. At that stage there will likely be one person who calls all the shots. As the company begins to grow however, that becomes less and less effective. To increase productivity, learn to delegate responsibilities throughout the company. This will save both time and energy.

About the Author: Robert Cordray is a freelance writer and expert in business and finances. He has received many accolades for his work in teaching small business news.

Related articles

• Corporate skills can help make your small business a winner
• The 5 Employees Every Small Business Needs
• Meeting technology needs for small businesses
• How to work well with your customers to get the best results

Thomas Ballantyne

Inventory-Control-Q-IC da (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Four Points of Inventory Control

Do you operate a business where products must be stored and distributed in multiple locations? If so, then you are aware of how important it is to keep an updated inventory control system. Several factors function within this system, wherein each transition and distribution point must be supervised and documented. Keeping management connected with each division of the company is key. Here are four points to discuss at your next managerial meeting, to help tighten inventory data and maximize efficiency.

• Product Analysis: A crucial part of strong inventory management is a thorough knowledge and documentation of the services and goods at hand. Make sure that each division of the company knows how to evaluate and input product information into your system so that information remains current. If you are operating a small business, you may overlook smaller details related to product data. This can be easily remedied. Small business must keep records of product data, even if the information does not seem to directly affect sales. The statistics of your business will increase your knowledge about sales trends and enlighten you about possible overhead that may have an impact on your budget.
• Site Representation: If your products are traveling to multiple locations or distributed among warehouses and store sites, it is essential to keep close contact with personnel at these locations. This may seem like an obvious point to address, but many key players are easily overlooked. Communication with those in control of the items that create your business should be frequent. On a basic level, your factory, showroom and warehouse
  representatives handle your materials, which you rely upon for business growth.
• System Cohesion: All positions of management should be familiar with your inventory control providers and be able to navigate within the system with ease. A firm command of data entry protocol is necessary. In addition to this, management must have the ability to translate a body of information, including thorough product evaluation, into the data system. This way, all areas of the company will be abreast of new developments and all progress. Making data cohesive throughout your organization will serve to eliminate many financial errors.
• Employee Training: Some inventory companies provide on-site employee training for businesses with fast-growing product and client bases. Inventory system companies can bring each element of your business together to function as a better whole. The most successful businesses put an emphasis on the importance of each employee being familiar with the system. This means understanding each person’s tasks within the system, but more importantly, the system as a whole. The team of people that comprises your business is only as intelligent as the most ignorant individual. Make inventory knowledge and management a priority.

Gabriella only writes about topics that interest her and one of those happens to be moving. If you would like more info regarding inventory system companies, please visit http://www.unigrouplogistics.com/

Related articles

• How to Take Control of Your Company’s Inventory Management
• Five Ideas to Improve Your Business’s Stock Management
• The Breakdown of Warehousing

Top 10 Financial Mistakes Made By Pest Control Companies

Finance (Photo credit: Tax Credits)

Administering to all aspects of your pest control company is never simple. As an owner or manager you must manage workflow, cash flow, sales, overhead, inventory, and your employee’s needs, all while not neglecting customer service. With every one of these responsibilities it can be easy to make mistakes in your businesses accounting and bookkeeping.

Here are some of the most frequent accounting mistakes compiled from current and former PCO’s:

1. Not separating personal finances from your business. Mixing up business and personal money can cause bookkeeping and legal problems.

2. Turning over your financials to someone else. Without an intimate knowledge of your company’s finances, you can’t make successful business decisions. Even if you don’t want to deal with the daily bookkeeping tasks, look at your financial statements every month to help you plan for profits and prevent potential problems.

3. Setting prices too low. Know your costs before you set product or service prices, or you run the risk of losing money on every sale. A simple break-even analysis can help you set prices at a profitable level.

4. Mistaking profits for cash. When you have a lot of credit sales, your company can post big profits without seeing any cash.

5. Not knowing your true cash balance. Due to things like automatic payments and bank charges, money that appears on your bank statement and your checking account may already be spent.

6. Extending credit without checking credit. Until you collect some basic credit information about that new large account, don’t make on-account sales. A sale won’t do you much good if your company never gets paid.

7. Paying bills too soon. If your vendors give you 30 days to pay them, take it! Unless you get a discount for paying early, paying your bills only when they’re due improves your company’s cash flow.

8. Avoiding bookkeeping tasks. Not recording and posting transactions regularly leaves you with a mountain of bookkeeping to deal with instead of a molehill. Plus, the time lag can act like a vacuum, where transactions disappear and never are recorded.

9. Not hiring a payroll service. The minor cost of hiring out this task provides a huge benefit for your company. It can free up your time and help avoid the financial penalties that go along with late and incorrect filings.

10. Spending too much during pest season and not planning for the winter. The winter months are usually slower in most markets, but overheard must still be paid. Look at setting a little aside for this less profitable season.

As with almost every piece of advice, there are some situations that the advice would be inaccurate. I feel that most most of these rules apply to the small business owners of the pest control industry. I hope a few of these financial tips will help in keeping your pest control company thriving.

What other financial advice have you found to be critical in running a successful pest control company? Please comment below!

Related articles

• Do I need an Outsourced CFO?
• Don’t Let the Bed Bugs Bite – What does that have to do with Insurance?
• Fear – An Occupational Hazard to Sales Representatives and How to Deal With It
• Entrepreneurs Growing Forward
• Home & Garden Shows for Marketing Pest Control?

And if you need Charlotte Pest Control call Bulwark Exterminating.