Management Tips For Small Business – You’ve decided to take the plunge and become your own boss. Good for you! You know it won’t be easy, but you’ve wanted this for years and you’re ready for it.
Now that you are going to be a small business owner, you need to know about small business management. Chances are you’re already an energetic, highly motivated and well-organized person, so this will be right up your alley.
Management Tips For Small Business
Before we get into our 10 small business management tips for success, you’d better make sure that the name you want to register your business with isn’t already being used by someone else.
Time Management Tips For Small Business Owners
You and your business are separate entities, so for tax purposes you shouldn’t look like one.
In Canada, a sole proprietorship, general partnership, or business name does not actually offer any name protection; only registration as a corporation or trademark protects the name.
You’ve seen this one too. But, you wouldn’t build a house without a plan, why would you build a business without one? Your plan should include the following elements:
You don’t have to be rich to start a business in Canada, but the majority of small business owners have some form of financial support: 51.3%. According to a report from Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada’s small business branch, 97.9% of businesses in Canada qualify as small businesses (fewer than 100 paid employees).
Small Business Tips For Owners
The vast majority of small business financing is personal, but 44.9% receive credit from a credit financial institution. But now, OMERS Ventures can also help some start-ups.
There has never been a better time to start a small business in Canada. CBC News reports that 13% of Canadians are entrepreneurs and that Canada is second only to the United States in business activity, “outpacing most G7 countries and much of the developed world.”
Also familiarize yourself with government assistance such as the Scientific Research and Experimental Development (RS&ED) Program that provides tax incentives to eligible companies.
Only years of experience can teach you all there is to learn about running a small business, but these thoughts should tide you over until you have years under your belt.
Tech Tips For Small Business
If you’re not going it alone, hire great people. By “great” we mean highly motivated, energetic and trainable people. When someone wants to be successful from the start, that person will be willing to give it their all and will be easier to train than someone who is just looking to make money.
Once you have highly skilled employees, grab them by offering them perks like flexible hours, gym membership reimbursement, happy hours, and team-building activities that don’t infringe on their free time.
Also, give your employees the respect they deserve by training them well from the start, but don’t expect them to understand all the ins and outs of your business right away.
Encourage employees to figure things out for themselves, which gives them a sense of ownership of their work.
Seven Easy Time Management Tips For Small Business Owners
Value employee input, even when what they brought to your attention isn’t in their job description. If your day-to-day operations are transparent, you can tap into talents you didn’t know your people possessed.
Leading your team in a respectful and encouraging way will eventually empower employees to be good leaders too and look out for the well-being of you and your company.
For each position, immediately create a SOP (Standard Operating Procedure). Creating a SOP will help you produce a product or service that is consistent in quality; your customers will know what to expect.
Another advantage of an SOP is that you won’t have to reinvent the wheel every time you do a similar job to another; you will have a guideline to follow that will help you streamline operations.
Time Saving Email Management Tips For Small Business Managers
Also, if you have a solid SOP for each position, when someone is out sick, it will be possible for another employee, or you, to fill in for the absent person.
Manage your own time well. As tempting as it may be, resist the urge to reserve your capacity. Try to reserve your days until the 80th so that when something unexpected comes up, which it will, the day’s schedule isn’t thrown out.
It’s all too easy to waste hours in your inbox. Designate a particular time slot to read and respond to emails each day; clicking on your email every five minutes is a huge waste of time.
Part of managing your time involves being able to delegate work to those awesome employees you’ve hired and trained, especially tasks you don’t really enjoy doing or know you’re not very good at.
Practical Guide To Social Media For Small Business: Tips And Examples
Find out which social media sites your customers prefer. Are they avid Twitter users? Guess where you have to be. You have to be where they are! Even if you can’t afford a fancy ad campaign, you can afford to use social media to promote your business.
A great way to attract more customers is through Facebook Ads. They are relatively inexpensive (price varies widely, depending on your needs).
Twitter also offers analytics tools that track the traffic your tweets receive, in addition to serving paid ads.
If you don’t want to spend money on ads yet, attract new followers on Facebook by appealing to them on a personal level, just as you would make new friends in real life.
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Ask your followers questions and ask them for advice. As you develop your business, think about the questions people ask you about your services/products.
You know people are interested in those topics, so build on them. Propose a scenario based on frequently asked questions and ask customers to respond. If you are in the farming or bulb industry, you might want to post: What is the best way to grow tomatoes indoors? They will respond, then you can follow up with your own response.
The hope of engaging people on a personal level is that they feel compelled to share your answers with friends or invite friends in on the action if you’re surveying customers, offering prizes, etc.
What is your competence? Now it’s easier than ever to see what each other is doing. Follow him on social media.
Cash Flow Management Tips That Can Improve Small Businesses
The great thing about seeing what the competition is doing is not only that you can borrow an idea or two and see what potential customers like, but you also stay on top of industry trends.
You should never get so caught up in the day-to-day that you forget to pay attention to trends in your line of work. Part of that is continuing to network by attending events locally or attending industry conferences.
You can get a mentor – someone who is several years ahead of you, either as a small business owner or as a leader in your industry.
Create long-term, short-term, personal and professional goals. Encourage employees to do the same. Review the goals quarterly to see what has changed, what has been achieved, and what needs to be renewed.
Time Management For Small Business
As for short-term goals, you can call the items on a daily to-do list your short-term goals.
Spend the last few minutes of each day creating your to-do list for the next few days. If you stick to it as much as possible, you’ll never end up one day telling yourself you didn’t do enough… that is, if you did realistically. Don’t expect to solve every problem in an afternoon.
Cut costs where you can, as you probably do at home. You don’t really need the brand pen when the store brand works just as well. As cybercrime continues to increase, it is increasingly important to learn the proper methods of cyber security. Many companies use the Internet to store private information. Small businesses often suffer because they don’t have the know-how or resources to implement great cyber security. Check out these great cyber security tips for small businesses to help protect you and your employees. Looking for ways to keep your personal and business information safe? Contact the experts today to learn more.
“He was efficient and professional. My documents were safe and properly disposed of. I would not only continue to use them, I would recommend them to anyone.”
Money Management Tips To Meet Your Small Business Financial Goals At Year End
Small businesses are at greater risk of cybercrime, but why? Small businesses are an easier source of personal information, such as credit card numbers. They are easier to access due to often outdated computers and software. Small business owners and employees often lack cybersecurity training and can make risky mistakes.
Small businesses may use weak passwords or forget or fail to follow good Internet security practices, as proper training may be neglected. Small businesses also don’t have the same funds as large businesses. Cyber security is often put on hold until more funds arrive. Although small business owners want additional security, it is sometimes difficult or impossible to get the same level of security as a larger business due to a smaller budget. Click here to learn more about data theft and cyber security for small businesses.
Did you know that by the end of 2017, global ransomware damage costs are expected to exceed $5 billion? Many don’t realize the global impact of ransomware and other cybercrimes, but costs continue to rise and many businesses continue to lose money. In 2011, 40% of cyber attacks were small or medium level
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