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There’s no way to sugar coat this so I’ll just say it – anyone who runs their own business just has to get organised. I understand you might rather concentrate your energy on future planning’ or operations, but it really is worth the time and investment.
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So I thought I’d share tips on how to feel more in control and together when it comes to those administrative tasks you might rather delay. And, if you take these on board, it could also mean you free up important time and resources for things you really want to concentrate on.
Manage your desk space and storage
It might sound straightforward but before you get started, a great tip is to make your physical space neat, clear and functional. This means you can work in the most effective way possible and you, literally, don’t feel that things are getting on top of you.
A place for everything and everything in its place
To start with, make sure everything has its own place, even if that place is in a pile of papers on your desk. If you understand your own system that’s a great starting point – just try to keep at least part of your desk clear.
Plan your social media campaigns in advance
If you’re running a social media marketing campaign on a budget, you need to minimize the time you spend putting information online. Instead of publishing posts every few hours, which is really time-consuming, try to schedule things well ahead of time.
There are lots of tools out there to help you, including Hootsuite , and this simple organizational technique will make you much more productive.
Don’t drown under paperwork
If you feel like you’re drowning under reams of paperwork as an entrepreneur, you’re not alone at all – trust me. In a recent study, small business owners reported that they spend 1-3 hours every day working day on administrative tasks. And nearly half of the people who responded felt like they had to work out of hours to get everything done.
Paperwork may be an unavoidable part of running a business, but a well-organized system can save you a lot of hassle, especially if you need to find something fast.
Here are our top tips for organizing your paperwork, so you can lay hands on any document you want when you need to:
Identify what paperwork you need to keep
The key items you’ll need to keep to relate financial transactions as it’s really important to keep on top of your taxes. These include:
◊ Invoices
◊ Bank Statements
◊ Bills
◊ Expense receipts
◊ Tax documents
If you held all of those documents in paper format it would take up a lot of space, we understand, so definitely consider digitizing them, it’s much more efficient.
Scan your documents and store them securely
All you need to do is invest in an inexpensive scanner and then store your documents somewhere securely. It’s a good idea to keep at least one copy of everything in secure offsite storage, for example on a cloud storage service like Google Drive.
Keep your filing straightforward and simple
If you’re just starting out, you don’t want to make this too complicated – the key thing is that you understand your system and it works. Just start out by using the key items we’ve listed above for each year – then add appropriate subfolders: for example invoice numbers, months, etc.
Then try to keep on top of your filing at least once a week – it’ll pay off in spades and free up more of your time in the long run. And why not give all your invoices a unique reference number while you’re doing it – it’s tax filing requirement so why not do it anyway? Paperwork will then be easier to find and you’ll be getting ahead of the situation, which is always great.
Consider investing in accounting software
If you’ve thought about this before but never quite got round to it, now could be a great time to invest in accounting software .
Even if you’re not affected by any tax changes where you live right now, it’s worth looking into how it could help in future. After all, the main thing we all want to focus on is our business, isn’t it, not lots of complicated tax processes.
How can accounting software help?
Investing in reliable online business tools benefits your company in a whole range of ways, including:
◊ It makes data entry simpler and more efficient – you only need to add data once and it streamlines systems, making processes more efficient.
◊It can speed up other processes and help reduce delays, for example between sales and invoicing.
◊You’ll have the facility to generate reports and analysis easily as this is all automated – eg for profit and loss, debtors and creditors, customer accounts, inventory counts, sales, forecasting, etc
◊Important tasks like calculating pay, producing payslips and calculating VAT are also automated, saving you valuable time and resources.
◊Human error, eg around transposition of figures, incorrect or incomplete recording of transactions, etc is eliminated.
◊The software can be integrated with other systems, such as online banking and e-filing, making your business processes more streamlined and effective.
So, in essence, using this software can help save you time and money, which are two really important commodities when you’re running a business. It also offers valuable insight into your business and, if you choose correctly, it could be a great investment.
And lastly, a few final thoughts
I hope this post has helped clarify why it’s so important to be organized – and stop delaying all that dreaded paperwork. The great thing is, when you feel a bit more prepared, it means you’ve got more time and energy to focus on what you do best.
So why not get ahead of your administration as soon as possible, make sure your company’s ‘future proof’ and most importantly – keep doing business!
It was nice of you to stop by.
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Until then, happy hiring, and best wishes for your business.
◊This is a contributor post.◊
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