{"id":5583,"date":"2016-09-19T09:10:58","date_gmt":"2016-09-19T07:10:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.invoiceberry.com\/?p=5583"},"modified":"2024-04-13T21:33:02","modified_gmt":"2024-04-13T19:33:02","slug":"9-finance-tips-small-business-succeed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.invoiceberry.com\/blog\/9-finance-tips-small-business-succeed\/","title":{"rendered":"9 Easy Finance Tips to Make Your Small Business Succeed"},"content":{"rendered":"

Starting your own business can be difficult even with great finance tips. From learning how not to burnout<\/a> in the early stages, to using social media correctly for your online presence<\/a>, there\u2019s a lot of stuff you need to cover.<\/p>\n

But the most important, for your success as a profitable business, is the financial aspect. You have to take care of your finances if you want to succeed.<\/p>\n

Most small business owners are not finance experts\u2014they have an overall strategy, but they don\u2019t like to pore over Excel spreadsheets and do endless reporting.<\/p>\n

So today we\u2019ll look at the 9 best finance tips to help entrepreneurs and small business owners succeed.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t put off your financial responsibilities<\/h2>\n

One of the best finance tips is to stop procrastinating when it comes to sending invoices or creating expense reports. But what you don\u2019t want to do is put it off until that magical time called \u2018later\u2019 because it rarely comes. What ends up happening is you have too much work that you\u2019ve put off for far too long, and it\u2019s coming back to bite you.<\/p>\n

For most small business owners and entrepreneurs, you can take care of these things easily with tools such as InvoiceBerry<\/a>, which has simplified the invoicing and expense tracking software.<\/p>\n

Whatever you do, though, don\u2019t delay. Divide it into manageable categories (sending invoices, tracking and categorizing expenses, paying employees, etc.) and just do it.<\/p>\n

Want to know all the invoicing hacks? Check out our best\u00a0tips\u00a0here:\u00a0Top Invoicing Tips for Small Businesses and Freelancers<\/a><\/strong><\/span>.<\/div>\n

Educate yourself on important statements<\/h2>\n

The best thing to do, besides just surviving through your financial reports, is to educate yourself so they become easier. You need to know your four essential financial statements \u2013 cash flow, income, balance sheet, and statement of shareholders\u2019 equity.<\/p>\n

Your cash flow statement<\/strong> will measure your investments and your operating and financing activities. Your income statement<\/strong> shows how much revenue you\u2019ve earned in a certain time period. Your balance sheet<\/strong> concerns your assets, liabilities, and shareholders\u2019 equity. And the statement of shareholders\u2019 equity<\/strong> discusses the amounts that the company is financed by way of common and preferred shares.<\/p>\n

Get yourself familiar with these statements now to save yourself headaches in the future.<\/p>\n

Separate your business and personal finances<\/h2>\n

Don\u2019t mix your business with pleasure, at least when it comes to financials. Keep your business finances separate from your personal finances. This will help you track your expenses more accurately and keep your spending under control.<\/p>\n

While you\u2019re at it, be sure to use separate bank accounts, get a business expense or credit card, keep your receipts separate, and pay yourself first. These are only some of the most important finance tips\u00a0you\u2019ll need to do \u00a0in order to separate your business and personal finances.<\/p>\n

For more in-depth information, with much more tips, check out our blog Why You Should Separate Your Business and Personal Finances<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Understand seasonal cash flow<\/h2>\n

All businesses have seasonality\u2014times when it\u2019s really up, times when it\u2019s medium, and times when it\u2019s low. This could be a year-by-year sales cycle, but mostly it\u2019s seasonal.<\/p>\n

Christmas lights man has a huge sales spike from Halloween until the New Year, but then it tapers off. He sells party lights the rest of the year, but the sales are not as strong.\u00a0 You may not sell Christmas lights, but your sales are definitely going to have seasonality.<\/p>\n

Now that affects your cash flow as well. It\u2019s best to keep a buffer in your reserves from your high sales so you can survive the low sales.\u00a0 Your business needs cash flow to stay afloat, and accepting that seasonality is tough. But if you want your business to survive, first see what your cash flow seasonality is and learn to prepare for it.<\/p>\n

Ask for discounts<\/h2>\n

Surprisingly, getting free or lesser-priced stuff is easier than you could imagine. Many small business owners I know, especially SaaS ones, tell me that they\u2019d happily give away stuff for free or a reduced price. If someone asks.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re having some tight financial times, don\u2019t be afraid to send out an email to companies asking for support. Sure, you won\u2019t get a 100% positive response\u2014if you even get a response\u2014but you\u2019ll be surprised how many other businesses are willing to help you out.<\/p>\n

You know why? Because they\u2019ve been through it, and although it can be a dog-eat-dog world sometimes, people are still willing to help you if you ask them.<\/p>\n

Cut variable costs<\/h2>\n

As the saying goes, \u201cSometimes you have to spend money to make money.\u201d The operative word there is \u2018sometimes.\u2019<\/p>\n

But let\u2019s look at your two costs\u2014fixed and variable. You have no real say in your fixed costs, whether you\u2019re in an upswing or localized recession. But with your variable costs, there\u2019s a lot of wiggle room. Instead of traveling across the country, use free online calling. Instead of buying the Microsoft Office Suite, get Open Office or use Google Docs.<\/p>\n

Before you purchase something, ask yourself whether this product or service is needed, whether there is a free or cheaper but similar offering, and whether the intended value justifies the price. It can be tough in the beginning for each<\/em> purchase, but it will save your big in the end.<\/p>\n

Invest in cloud-based invoicing software<\/h2>\n

You can go ahead and download free templates, such as InvoiceBerry\u2019s free business plan<\/a> and accounting templates<\/a>, or our free Photoshop<\/a>, Word and Open Office\u00a0invoice templates<\/a>. They are wonderful and extremely helpful. But the best thing to do is to use cloud-based software, and that\u2019s where InvoiceBerry comes in.<\/p>\n

Online invoicing software such as InvoiceBerry<\/a> will allow you to store, update, track and access your business and customer information wherever and whenever you want. It takes a lot of the responsibility off your hands, and you can travel, work at home or office and know that you can work with your data anywhere and at anytime.<\/p>\n

Why is everyone so obsessed with cloud software? You’ll find all the info\u00a0here:\u00a0The Complete Guide to the Cloud<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/em>.<\/div>\n

Monitor & \u00a0measure financial performance<\/h2>\n

For strategic business goals, you need to have a thorough business plan in place. For your more specific goals, use the SMART goal-setting<\/a> system. This is especially crucial for your financial goals and one of the most important finance tips.<\/p>\n

\"Set<\/p>\n

You\u2019ll need this in order to measure and keep tabs on the movement of your money. Consistently monitor and measure your financial performance, compare it to the past similar time period, and then try to set better and better goals for future revenue, cash flow and expenses.<\/p>\n

Get some help<\/h2>\n

When in doubt, get some help. The number one mistake most entrepreneurs and small business owners make from the get-go is putting everything on their shoulders. They do it all, the small business Superman. They\u00a0do the accounting, marketing, customer service, fix the lights, make the coffee, install the antivirus\u2014and then burn out in less than 3 months.<\/p>\n

You get much more than you lose by hiring expert help. What you lost\u2014some money for the costs\u2014is more than offset by the expert advice and guidance that saves you lots of wasted time and energy.<\/p>\n

It will allow you also to focus on the other parts of your business, because multitasking in many ways is a myth<\/a>. Focus is necessary for success, and you\u2019ll need help to take care of the other parts of your business so you can succeed and eventually expand.<\/p>\n

To sum up\u2026<\/h2>\n

Owning your own business is amazing, exciting, depressing and exhilarating at the same time. But in order to continue on the good path, you\u2019ll need to take care of you the money with these finance tips.<\/p>\n

There is a difference between \u2018tough times,\u2019 which everyone goes through, and \u2018bad money management,\u2019 which hopefully you won\u2019t go through. Take charge of your finances and watch your business succeed.<\/p>\n

Do you have any other great financial tips you\u2019ve learned in your business? Let us know in the comments below!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Starting your own business can be difficult even with great finance tips. From learning how not to burnout in the early stages, to using social media correctly for your online presence, there\u2019s a lot of stuff you need to cover. But the most important, for your success as a profitable business, is the financial aspect. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":5587,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[103,230,309,58,280],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.invoiceberry.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/9-easy-finance-tips-small-business-succeed.png?fit=690%2C290&ssl=1","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5m6q6-1s3","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.invoiceberry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5583"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.invoiceberry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.invoiceberry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.invoiceberry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.invoiceberry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5583"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.invoiceberry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5583\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20217,"href":"https:\/\/www.invoiceberry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5583\/revisions\/20217"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.invoiceberry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5587"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.invoiceberry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.invoiceberry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.invoiceberry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}