Small business Archives - The Free Financial Advisor

How To Enhance Your Small Business’ Accounting Process

March 18, 2020 by Susan Paige Leave a Comment

Small business owners are notorious for not having proper accounting practices (e.g. letting invoices pile up, not keeping track of monthly revenue and expenses, etc.). Not keeping proper records of your finances can be a major disaster when it comes time to balance your books (leading to massive cash flow problems and other finance-related issues).

Growing a small business isn’t easy, and once you add improper accounting practices into the equation, things become much more difficult. Although it might be possible to get away with early on, as soon as the invoices and expense reports start piling up, you’ll have a much more difficult time dealing with your finances once tax season starts.

Not following proper bookkeeping records can lead to a huge amount of wasted time (not to mention various tax fees). So, while it may require a bit more effort in the short-term, it’s definitely worth it in the long term. Whether you’re here to learn more about bookkeeping practices, or how to save on monthly accounting costs, we have you covered. Below are some of our top tips for improving your business’s accounting workflow.

Expenses Need to Be Tracked

One of the most important aspects of keeping proper financial records is tracking your expenses. Not just major ones either, but every single expense that your company has. This is incredibly important from a tax standpoint (i.e. being able to write off certain expenses), and will also allow you to develop a more comprehensive picture of your business’s cash flow.

Another tip related to tracking expenses is to have a dedicated credit card that’s only used for business expenses. This allows you to have a digital record of all your expenses, which in many cases can be integrated with your accounting software (which is a lot better than having a drawer full of receipts that you need to manually enter into your accounting software all at once). The main takeaway here is understanding that you need to be keeping digital records of all transactions, ideally as soon as they occur (that way nothing will be missed).

Accounting Has Gone Digital – Have You?

Back in the old days of operating a business, it was common practice to keep a giant ledger filled with all of your company’s expenses, invoices, revenue reports, etc. Think of it as a physical copy of QuickBooks that your company could refer to anytime they needed some financial data.

Luckily, we’ve progressed beyond keeping hardcopy physical accounting ledgers. Most businesses have moved to the cloud, or at the very least are using account software stored on their local machines. If you’re not already, you seriously need to move your accounting to the digital world. These kinds of software provide so many built-in account tools that they more than make up for their initial costs. Being able to automatically generate expense reports, tax information, and other financial reporting is something that any business should appreciate (especially those that don’t have their own accounting departments – i.e. most small/micro businesses).

Going digital doesn’t need to end with accounting, either. More and more businesses are moving many of their operational processes to web-based apps and services. For example, there are many reputed online business check stores where you can source checks for your company (rather than wasting time ordering from the bank).

Generating Financial Projections Is Important

This is something that most business owners should at least be generally aware of, but you’d be surprised at how many simply don’t take the time to do it, or don’t even know-how. Why are financial projections important? Because they allow you to have insight into where your company might be headed in the future (financially).

While developing in-depth (and accurate) projections can be something a bit more challenging than balancing a budget, it’s still something that most business owners can learn to do (especially with automated accounting software – which makes the entire process much easier than it was in the past).

There are many different variables that can affect your business’s financial reports/projections; inflation, change in clientele, etc. Variables in relation to revenue must also be factored into the equation. Luckily, most accounting apps have at least some type of projections tool (which simplifies the process down to the basics).

Streamline Your Accounting for Optimized Finance Management

The business world is long past the archaic bookkeeping models of the past. Accounting software and automated processes have become the dominant players in the world of small business finance management. Whether you’re looking to streamline your current process, or need to completely move to digital-based applications, the tips posted above should get you started on the right path.

Editors note: while not accounting related, one small business that we really like here at the Free Financial Advisor is Pico Electronics. They’re a neat little company that sells electronic components and has recently seen a lot of growth. Bet they have a great accounting system!

For more great Free Financial Advisor articles, read these:

How Long Should You Keep Financial Records After A Death?

Advantages and Disadvantages of Keeping Money In The Bank

The Financial Planning Basics: The Financial Pyramid

Image source: 401(k) 2012.

Signs That Your E-commerce Business Is Successful

September 23, 2019 by Susan Paige Leave a Comment

Successful eCommerce guy getting ready to make money.

Milestones are a great way for us to track our progress in life, as well as in business. You’ll always remember the day you started your business, launched your website, as well as the first customer you ever sold to. These milestones keep us grounded and help us appreciate the journey.

Unfortunately, some milestones are harder to measure than others. For example, there are no milestones that point out the exact moment that your business becomes successful, apart from a few personal metrics, like making a certain amount of money or generating traffic. To help you keep in touch with how successful your business has become, here are three signs that can tell you that you have a successful business.

Your e-commerce website earns money even when you’re not paying attention.

When you first launch your business, you need to be hands-on if you want it to run. You’re constantly making sure you have products in stock and that the pages are as responsive as they should be, all the while also making sure you’re investing enough in marketing so you can generate the kind of traffic your business needs.

The process can be exhausting. But then, when you can take your hands off the wheel and still watch the business run, then you know you’ve got a winner on your hands. If you do realize this, it doesn’t mean you need to take your foot off the throttle. It only means you’ve hit a milestone and can move on to bigger things.

You show up on Google’s first page.

Being on the first page of Google and other search engines is the dream of every website, e-commerce and otherwise. It means that finally, your domain has enough authority to search engines’ attention. It also means you’re going to get a lot of traffic from this point forward. Hitting this particular milestone is something you should celebrate.

The first page of a search engine is a difficult position to gain, and it’s even harder to keep. Now that you’re there, you need to invest enough resources into making sure you retain your position and keep getting all the passive traffic that’s currently available to you.

You’re receiving and responding to customer reports.

This may seem like a bad milestone at first. But then, think about it. When was the last time you complained about a service you didn’t have any expectations of? If you get a terrible experience from a website you’ve never heard of before, you’re not likely to care. However, if it’s a website like Amazon (the one you’ve come to trust), you’ll feel the need to let them have it.

If your customers are complaining about your site’s responsiveness or your Powercash21 payment processing, it could be a good thing for your business. It means people actually expect an excellent experience from your website. It obviously also means you need to look into their complaints and make the necessary adjustments.

Here are more of our great articles:

Three Keys To Small Business Success

Four Things Business Owners Need To Know About Taxes

Five Factors To Consider When Turning Your Hobby Into A Business

The 4 Main Issues That Are Driving Your Online Customers Crazy

September 10, 2019 by Susan Paige Leave a Comment

One of the key reasons to start an online business is the ability to cast a wider net. The Internet allows you to reach more people and offer them a convenient shopping experience. While online businesses have their perks, the simplest technology glitch can throw a monkey wrench into the works. For instance, a poor payment processing experience can spell disaster for your entire operation.

Time-consuming

Most people are discouraged by the prospect of having to create an account to buy goods from a website. Accounts are a good option if customers are frequent visitors to the site, there are incentive programs, or they want to keep their credit card and shipping information on file for future purchases. However, when customers don’t shop on a site regularly, then there should be a guest option that allows them to input their credit card number and address on an as-needed basis. This pet peeve doesn’t imply that you should completely reject the possibility of customer accounts because it certainly does offer a degree of convenience for repeat customers. Just don’t mandate it on your site for everyone.

Go mobile.

More than ever, people are always on the go and rely on their smartphones to perform a variety of tasks. That includes online shopping. Consider developing a mobile app so customers can easily navigate your site. Otherwise, a website that doesn’t lend itself to easy viewing through a smartphone screen will result in lost business over the long term.

Outages

Creating the perfect website is a challenge, and you are apt to identify improvements along the way continually. Inevitably, there will be outages that affect your service. Be sure to monitor and address system issues as quickly as possible. Frequent errors during the checkout process are problematic in more ways than one. Customers are likely to give up and search for products from your competitors. Also, repeatedly inputting sensitive account information could look suspicious, and your customers might worry about fraud or duplicate charges.

Inconsistent company names

Be as transparent as possible throughout the purchasing process. Alert the customers upfront if the charges will appear on their statement under another vendor name, so there’s no confusion or unfounded fears about a potential scam. If your site directs them to another page, give advanced warning and explanation.

Whatever online business you’re looking to establish, handling and protecting customer data should always be a priority. Work with reputable payment processing companies that safeguard data and keep transactions secure. Sometimes, you may run into a roadblock with mainstream banks if your business is less traditional like selling vaping products, but you can still set up an e-cigarette merchant account with specialized companies that offer the same protection.

Essentially, if you just put yourself in your customers’ shoes, you’ll understand not only how to build the ideal checkout process, but the total customer experience. The Internet doesn’t have to completely take away the personal touches we take for granted when shopping in brick-and-mortar stores. Try to create a welcoming and inclusive website that not only addresses the customers’ issues, but also anticipates their needs.

Image source: Pexels.

How to Grow Your Business Credit Score To New Heights

August 30, 2019 by Susan Paige Leave a Comment

Much like individuals, businesses also have their own credit score. This score is entirely separate from the personal credit score of whoever owns the business, and is used whenever the business would like to obtain a loan, line of credit, or other types of agreement in which a service is provided before payment is rendered. A business with a high credit score is seen as financially stable and trustworthy, while a business with a low score is often seen as unscrupulous and more likely to engage in shady practices.

To make sure you’re on the good side of the banking system, here’s how to grow a business credit score from non-existent to stellar:

Pay all your bills on time.

This is the most obvious and should be one of the easiest things to accomplish when it comes to raising your credit score. The credit history of your business is part of calculating your overall score. If you always pay your dues in full before they’re overdue and continue to do so for long periods of time, that’s a track record guaranteed to boost your score.

Decrease your credit utilization ratio.

For businesses that have a line of credit they can draw from at any time, the actual utilization of that credit must be low. If your business is always using 80% of its available credit, that isn’t a positive signal for your business. Banks much prefer credit utilization rates between 10%-20%, with minor upticks in usage acceptable as long as they aren’t held for long periods of time. If you have high credit utilization, but a lot of spare funds are lying around, consider using it to bring down your overall credit usage.

Take out a loan.

As counterintuitive as it might seem, taking out a loan that isn’t wholly necessary, but is entirely manageable can be a very effective and speedy boost to your credit score. If you never borrow money, how can a creditor assess how fit you are to pay the money back? If you look for a source for small business loans, you’ll notice these loans tend to be fairly agreeable in terms and conditions and aren’t too much of a financial burden to bear. Of course, this strategy only works if you make your payments on time and eventually repay the entirety of the loan. Consider it practice for when you start asking the bank for more serious sums of money.

Conclusion

At certain stages of the life cycle of a business, massive injections of cash from creditors are sometimes necessary. Whether it be to acquire a smaller competitor or upgrade your business to the next level, it’s good to build your credit score sky-high. Also, higher credit means a quicker approval time and lower interest rates, saving you both time and money. That’s something every good entrepreneur knows they could always use more of. This is why you must ensure your business operates in a way that creditors think they have a minimal risk by lending you money. Then, you’ll reap the fantastic rewards of good credit.

6 Best Marketing Strategies To Help Increase Sales

March 28, 2019 by Susan Paige Leave a Comment

Image source: Pixabay.com

A good online store will definitely want to improve their conversions and traffic. Before considering improving, it is important to put different strategies in place. There are various tactics needed to Increase sales. The problem lies in the best admissible one to choose.

Due to this constant issue, we have come together to select good marketing strategies as well as tools for e-commerce combined with profitable ideas on how to implement it. All are centred on getting the customers attention and encouraging them to make more purchases.

If possible make use of these ideas at least once every day and use it for weeks to come. When making use of these ideas, it is advised that you pick one that best suits you.

The first question to consider centers on the meaning of e-commerce marketing. This simply means making use of useful and promotional tactics to get more traffic. To increase the success of your strategies use a heat mapping tool to visually see consumer trends in your location data. You should be able to convert the traffic you get into leads. For example, using items like promotional stainless steel bottles are a fun method to build awareness in communities or events, and they can result in increased sales and leads for you.

Here are some tips to help you increase your online sales:

Use Instagram Efficiently

Image source: Pixabay.com

On a grander scale, Instagram has more than 500 million users. Most of these users are active on the platform. Presently, it is regarded as one of the most visited social network applications in the world. It helps connect users, brands, and influencers. Taking good photos and dropping hashtags is the best way to develop your product through this social media platform. Most of the times if you are to gain the attention of your target audience, you may have to organize contests and competitions.

Minimize Abandoned Cart

The basic truth surrounds the fact that when you have a lower cart you will be at a financial loss. Visitors that surf a site, will add some purchase to it but what happens when they abandon their cart? It is nice to always have an email recovery campaign as it will help you retain your visitors. By creating this email, you can remind your visitors why they selected a particular product in the cart.

Start-up a Facebook store

This is another viable platform for e-commerce marketing and social media. It is advisable to start making sales from your Facebook store. Just so you know, your Facebook store can be joined with your Shopify store so as to avoid having to keep an inventory.

Increase your Email campaign

Getting enough email address is not enough, It is important to share and receive images through your Email. This will ensure that your channel is effective. There are a number of things your customers can enjoy from an email reminder when they make purchases on your online store. They include but are definitely not limited to these;

Send out a welcome email after your client has made a purchase.
Give out promo codes and gifts.
Send newsletters to show subscribers of a new product as well as company news.
Appreciate your best customers by sending them good notes and thanking them for their patronage.

Forward wish list e-mails as reminders

This is another type of email which is important to add to your marketing ideas. It can help you remind customers of products on their cart and also encourage them to add more products or items to their cart.

Customers should get what they want with ease

Image source: Pixabay.com
A poorly designed store will definitely not attract new customers. It may even chase your current customers. The question now would be; what makes a online store poorly designed?

First, they will be less trustworthy and at the same being difficult to navigate and also having difficult fonts.

To enable you to improve your sales, you have to find out how to sell on etsy with Printify.
You shouldn’t be surprised as their customer reviews are overwhelmingly positive.

This is just a few tactics that should be applied when planning on generating good online sales and traffic. Profitindustry.com shows you some of the best ecommerce platforms for a large catalog. Various online platforms have techniques which they use to Increase sales but yours can be different.

2 Guys & Your Money Episode #15: Top 5 Ways to Increase Your Investment Returns

October 22, 2012 by Average Joe 3 Comments

Have shows come automatically to your iPod! Use the 2 Guys iTunes page here.

Listen to shows on your smartphone! Try the Stitcher app here.

My favorite number: 15…that is, until we reach episode #16. Someone asked me which podcast episode I like best so far….it will ALWAYS be the one that I did last. They’re all my babies…but this one is the best yet.

On this exciting installment of our podcast, OG is back from the House of Mouse and helps us show you some thrilling ways to tweak those investment returns.

I know, I can’t believe it either. Why are you still reading this? Start listening!

Show Notes

<> Open – Side Hustle. Great idea or waste of energy?

<> PK: Consistency in your investment portfolio.

<> Let’s Give Something Away: This month we’re GIVING AWAY a copy of classic business book The E-Myth (maybe the best business book of all time). Interested in getting better results at work? Read this book!

What do you have to do to win? Tweet about the giveaway, like us on Facebook or guess the voice on the show. Three easy ways to enter. Already liked us on Facebook?