Being a small business owner is no small feat. There is so much to think about on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. Between worrying about how to best serve your customers and ensuring your shop is adequately stocked sometimes there isn’t time to think about your finances. Perhaps one month doesn’t go as planned and the problem compounds itself. One day you find yourself sitting on the floor sorting through receipts trying to figure out what went wrong…
Taking care of the financial health of your company is incredibly important and is more than just making sure you’re being paid on time. Your business could have all the potential in the world but if it isn’t financially managed well it’s doomed to fail. While I’m sure many of you reading this aren’t accountants and could care less about the numbers side of things, it’s important that you as business owners know where your company is sitting financially and what you need to operate effectively.
Here are three tips you can use to better manage the financial health of your business:
1) Know your bottom line. Crunch the numbers, knowledge is power. Know exactly how much it costs you to create whatever it is your selling. Take into account materials, labor and overhead costs associated with that product. Once you’ve been able to calculate your break even you will know the minimum amount you need to charge to be profitable. Assess your business, are you charging the right amount?
2) Track everything. Each month it is so important to know where your money is going. By tracking how much you’re bringing in and what you’re spending you will know the position your company is in financially. In addition, when it comes time to do your taxes you will be in a great position to minimize the tax you’ll have to pay. Having all your income and expenses recorded in one place makes tax time a whole lot easier!
3) Set your growth plan. Knowing where you sit financially will help you set out a plan to grow your company. If you’re already stretched thin then the answer may not be to produce more output…perhaps it’s to create a product you can have better margins on (price minus costs). Alternatively, you may want to charge more for your product, or even find materials that will decrease the overall cost of what you are creating.
There are so many ways that your finances can help you properly run your business. As an entrepreneur, you get to make the decisions for your company. To be able to make the best decisions it is important to have all the knowledge and the only way you can do this is to crunch the numbers!
Janine is a tax specialist and personal finance writer and speaker from Calgary. She is passionate about personal finance and helping millennials turn their financial dreams into reality. Through saving, and investing Janine has been able to build her wealth and unlock the secrets of the stock market. She created mypenniesmythoughts.com to document her own journey to financial freedom, and curate the resources to help millennials do the same.