After a financial setback, returning to entrepreneurship can be difficult. But with the right measures, careful planning and a lot of hard work, it’s possible to bounce back even stronger. Here’s how you can realize your business ambitions the second time around, presented by the experts at DB Accounting & Tax Services.
Build a Business Plan
There is an art to writing business plans. A strong plan can become the foundation upon which you build, the reference you go to in hard times, and the fine line between survival and failure. Within this crucial document, you can mark your objectives and key results, determine your strategy of execution, and decide how to measure success via KPIs (key performance indicators). Creating a framework like this will keep you streamlined as you move forward and help your employees to work from the same page. If you made one during your last business venture, check your new one against it to see if you can avoid past mistakes.
Manage Cash Flow
Keeping on top of your cash flow is essential to surviving as a small business. This is sometimes an area of management that gets lost amongst all the planning and meetings but a regular income is as crucial to a business as blood is to the body. According to US Bank, poor cash flow is to blame for 82 percent of business closures. Staying on top of this means setting clear invoice times and limits, minimizing expenses, clearing inventories, and never letting your eye leave the balance sheet. With diligence and conservatism, you can stop things from getting out of hand and spot financial setbacks before they’ve arrived.
Keep Employees Happy
When you’re a small business owner, managing the stress of the daily hustle and keeping your employees happy is a delicate balancing act. To get this right, you’ll have to remember the two most important tenets: communication and transparency. Most employees, for example, prefer clear, on-demand pay. You might want to consider bringing in a payroll system to help you manage timesheets and team schedules. There are plenty of apps and software that grant better pay flexibility, integrate with other programs, track employees in real-time, and come with an app to grant you and your team clarity on the move. And if you have workers outside of your office, these apps are a good way to keep the data coming in from your remote team.
Advertise Efficiently
According to a proverb, “The spider looks for the merchant who doesn’t advertise so he can spin a web across his door and lead a life of undisturbed peace.” Marketing and advertising is essential to a healthy business but, if you’re not careful, it can be the drain through which the spider falls. You need to make sure you understand the basics of digital marketing, PPC, and SEO so that any efforts to bring in new business are not a waste of time and money. When done correctly and through modern methods, an efficient marketing campaign can transform the prospects of a small business.
Leverage Social Media
It’s difficult to see the advantages of social media when a business is just starting out but platforms such as Linkedin, Facebook, and Instagram are the tools through which you can access a larger business ecosystem. After all, over 4 billion people worldwide are connected via social channels. First, you need to identify which of these is most appropriate for your business (e.g. Instagram for culinary startups or Linkedin for b2b ventures) and then work to build attractive profiles. Your social media presence is often the first touchpoint for customers, clients, and fellow business owners but, remember, each business has a unique relationship with socials – what worked for your previous startup may not work for your current one.
Returning to business after a financial setback is no easy feat but your previous frustrations can often become your best advantages. By learning from mistakes of the past and utilizing technologies of the present, you might find your best work is in the near future.
DB Accounting & Tax Services wants to help you spend more time running your business and less time handling paperwork. To learn how we can help you and your business on the path to success, give us a call today at (719) 351-3094.
About The Author: Tierney Stigall
Tierney is the principal accountant at DB Accounting & Tax Services. She has over 20 years experience handling tax and accounting for businesses of all sizes.
More posts by Tierney Stigall