One of the most common complaints of small business owners is that they find the financial part of running a business complicated. Running the day to day operations of your small business is normally very easy because this is the industry you come from. If you run a barber shop, you have been, most likely, a barber and you still are. 90% of what you do is cutting hair, and the remaining 10% is managing your employees and making sure salaries are paid and the business if functioning properly.
Then again, as a business owner, it’s not all roses and bird chirps. Those 10% of managing overhead management sometimes take up as much as 20% of your schedule. The more you grow, the more income you generate, the more employees you hire, that becomes a more prominent part of your role.
That turning point, in which you realize most of what you do isn’t professional work anymore but rather administrative and managerial, isn’t easy for the majority of small business owners. It’s hard to adjust. After you do adjust and understand that this is how businesses grow and you need to evolve, you come to a sad realization that there are areas in which you need help in.
Managing the financial of a bigger business can be very challenging. Here is what I did to adjust:
1) I bothered learning everything in every situation I could. I did not just sign off documents as a rubber stamp to get them out of my way, I bothered reading all the financial report, ask questions and stay alert. When you do this long enough, you start understanding better.
2) I was humble enough for (often) ask for advice from more experienced business owners and professionals that I knew. I of course didn’t divulge my business’ information to anyone whom I did not trust.
3) I searched for everything I did online. I go both information and competitive offers for any service offered to me by my bank. I could find cheaper and more accessible financing when I need even found a money transfer site to find alternative providers.
4) Be super organized when it comes to finances or you will be chasing documents for years to come. I wasn’t organized. Don’t be me.
5) Find a really good accountant who knows the ins and outs of relevant laws and is able to save you some money now on tax money and most importantly build a good foundation to minimize your tax costs in the years to come.
6) Don’t branch out your business too wide too far just because one thing is going well for you. It is a huge risk and more so every additional thing you’ll be doing outside of your core business is going to cost you a lot in overhead. If you don’t want to be spending even more time on your administrative/financial/managerial roles then don’t try to chase crazy ventures.
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