Survival in today’s competitive world is becoming harder and harder for businesses. Gone are the days when you just had to open up a brick and mortar store and market your product a little bit to start getting customers. Now are the days when you have to incorporate anything and everything into your marketing campaign to attract customers. If you don’t, your competitors will and you will end up losing a lot of business.
As hard as it is to do business in today’s world, it is harder and much more difficult for small businesses, especially those that are related to tech. There are a whole lot of additional responsibilities that they have on their shoulders as compared to other industries. They have to make sure that they are always one step ahead of the tech game. They need to be up and up on all the latest and state of the art technology that is coming into the world. And right now, that means every other day.
What can a Small Tech Business Do?
Fret not! It doesn’t mean that you can’t have your own small tech business. On the contrary, you can do very well if you just take care of a few things related to it. One of the things that you absolutely must do is to keep an eye on your financial situation. There aren’t many things that can take you down the path of bankruptcy and closing your business, but finance is one of those things that can. All businesses depend on their cash flow for their business. If you are aware of your financial situation and you know what you need to do then you can easily manage all the other things to ensure that your business runs smoothly.
Stay On Top of Money Management
Here are some of the things that you need to do to make sure that you are always in the know and nothing can get past you. You will have to do a little research, for example, if you are residing in Philadelphia then you must know how to get the best small business loans in Philadelphia among other things.
So, let’s dive in.
Manage your accounts
If you are good at accounting then you can easily do it yourself, otherwise, you need to hire someone who can keep track of your money; where it is coming from, where it is going, and other things. Currently, there are a lot of DIY accounting software that can help you if you know a little basic accounting.
Review your costs
As a small company, you need to make sure that the money you are spending is worth it. You cannot have a lot of expenses, especially if they could have been avoided. Little things come together to make giant problems and that is what happens with a lot of businesses.
Make financial projections
Having a clear view of the future is imperative in any kind of business. So make sure that you work out a plan that has strategies for future hurdles that might come your way.
Stay on top of invoicing
How soon after sending your order do you generate an invoice? If the answer is anything other than immediately, then you need to change that practice. You have to send out your invoices immediately after delivering the products or providing the services to your customers. Make sure that they know the amount of time that they have for payment as well as any payment terms that they need to be aware of.
Don’t think that once you have sent the invoice, your work is done. You now have to send follow-ups to your customers otherwise they and more importantly you could forget about it. You can easily use software to either create email templates or SMS templates.
Separate business, pleasure and private accounts
A lot of us might think that we can manage all the aspects of our lives from one bank account and it won’t be too much trouble, but that would be wrong. Make sure that you have separate bank accounts for your business. You don’t want to get your business income mixed with your personal finances and then not being able to identify or explain the losses. As if that’s not enough, you will have a hell of a time when tax time comes. Having a separate bank account for your business can help you in keeping track of the income and expenses as well as your profitability.
Keep track of personal loans to your business
A lot of the time, you will find it necessary to transfer money from your personal bank account to your business account. Always keep track of that money and pay yourself back as soon as you can. Otherwise, if you get used to it, you might end up with nothing in your personal account.
Pay yourself
What does that mean? You are the owner of the business. Everything belongs to you, right? But paying yourself a salary just like everyone else can have a lot of benefits. You don’t have to take everything that your company is making, just take enough so that it can help you out whenever you need. Consider it as your safety net in times of need when you get unexpected expenses.
Conclusion
Follow these tried and tested financial tips and you can secure a good future for your small tech business and keep away from obstacles as much as you can. There will be problems, but you will be able to keep them in check.
