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Today we’re taking a look at some high level business tips that every small business owner or entrepreneur needs to hear. Practical business tips to help you get your business organized and on the right track to move forward. Things that I have used and applied to my business over the past ten years and have found to be incredibly helpful. Take a listen and let me know what you think in the comments below.
Welcome to the No Mercy business coaching podcast with Emily Woodruff. The podcast that walks you through managing your own small business through the highs and the lows, will talk with small business owners from all over the US and share insights on how to help manage your business without the extra fluff, and connect with other women, just like you. Let’s dive in.
where it’s at, for sure. So the next tip that I have relates back to the taxes, hire an accountant or using an accounting program. I seriously cannot emphasize this one enough. Business Taxes are not the same as personal taxes. A professional accountant or professional accounting system will help you to manage your proper write offs, your tax rates, mileage used etc for your business. I have used my tax professional for the past six or seven years. And I honestly couldn’t run my business without her. One year. We used a big box company and I was overwhelmed by their processes and the method of their delivery. Find somebody who gets you and your business and partner with them. Stick with them. It gets easier every year as they learn you and your business with time and they know exactly what to expect and you will know exactly what to expect. Taxes are literally my least favorite business tour and I will absolutely hire it out to ensure that I don’t have to interact with it any more than necessary. So business tip number four, this is a big one. hire an accountant for using accounting program. Moving on to business tip Number five, take advantage of mobile apps in this day and age. Everything is mobile everything is on the internet. Everything is Go Go Go and I know that you know us. Instagram Facebook photo filters pay Pinterest, Canva time management to do lists etc. The list is just, it is endless on productivity apps that are incredibly useful for the average small business owner. I look forward to doing a review of my favorite apps that I use daily for my business in a later post. But today, seriously, just go to your app store and search for Apps for Business, and share your favorite ones with me, there are tons that are available for free. All of the ones that I mentioned at the beginning of this, this one, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, Canva, those are all free. Now, there’s definitely paid versions available for most of those. There’s definitely things that paying for, you know, if you give a little bit of money, you’ll get a deeper a deeper integration. But there are tons of ways to do this for free, because let’s remember, we’re trying to do things cost efficient, not cheap, cost efficient. Right? Right. And the final tip that I have, it feels like we just breezed through this. But that’s okay, you guys are busy. And so am I and that is totally fine. Speaking of which this tip fits right in schedule, your time to stay organized. And yes, I said it schedule the time to stay organized. If you don’t create time to manage your business, you won’t be able to schedule time to go through emails, schedule time to file your paperwork, schedule time to follow up on client contracts. We all have our own best peak work hours. And it’s really important for you to learn where you thrive and how you can be the most productive in your business. I have learned that I personally do very well at reading my emails first thing in the morning. And doing creative things later in the day. If I am working on a design project, I cannot do it when I first wake up from work from for work. If I have to write a you know if I have to write a report, or if I have to analyze something, I’m top tier in the morning for that, or I’m really great about responding to emails or scheduling things or just cleaning up some general clutter that I might have around or something along those lines. But I have really learned that I need to block my time to be able to be the most productive. So I try very hard to reserve my creative time for the end of the day. And honestly the end of the week. The way that my work week looks like Mondays are pure chaos for me in a great way, but they are pure chaos. And I simply do not have the time to breathe an ounce of creativity. Mondays are blocked for administrative tasks always. I don’t schedule extra meetings for Mondays, I don’t schedule anything, if I have the ability to because I have certain tasks that absolutely have to get done on Mondays every single week. And if I don’t do them, it will cause a huge rift within my company. In the middle of the week, I’m you know, I’m following up with things that I’ve done earlier in the week, I’m putting out fires, I am responding to immediate needs. And then it seems like by the end of the week, I’ve caught up I’ve had a little bit more time to digest what what has gone on, you know, through the week, and I can envision how much extra time I’ll have like on a Friday. Some days, I’m fortunate enough to be able to work on design things all days on Fridays, all the day all day. And I love it. It is so fun. I have to be able to for me personally, I have to feel like I can get into a creative project.
And just run and not feel like I’m limited on my time and not feel like I’m going to have other tasks pulling at me. I have to be able to get through all of my administrative stuff before I’m able to really fuel my creative juices, you know. So those are my six best top tips for managing your small business. I’ll run through it one more time. Number one is to set up separate personal and business accounts. Number two, set aside money for taxes annually. Number three is to set up a filing system for hire an accountant or use an accounting program. Five, take advantage of mobile apps, six schedule time to stay organized. And then number seven is to subscribe to this pot. cast and keep listening in. Just kidding about I mean, I’m not kidding. But that’s not one of the six tips I’m sharing with you today. Thanks so much for being here. Again, I love spending a little bit of time back and forth with you. I would love it. If you could follow me on Instagram, follow me on Facebook, respond to these messages. And let me know that you are loving them. If there’s something that you’re interested in hearing about, I want to hear from you. I love interacting with my clients and with my client base. And as always, if you are looking for some design work, or you’re, you’re in the process of branding your own business, stay tuned because some podcasts about branding your business are coming. I want to teach you. I want to teach you some things about how to do this for yourself and how to get yourself focused the right way before you dive too far into the branding process. It’s more than just choosing a logo and picking your favorite colors. There’s a lot that goes into developing a brand and I can’t wait to go through that with you. Thanks, guys for being here. I hope you have an awesome, awesome day. Stay well. We’ll talk to you soon. Thanks for listening to the No Mercy business coaching and consulting podcast with Emily Woodruff. We specialize in branding and design for women, by women
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Transcribed by Otter.ai
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