Aside from offering a quality product and service and possessing and maintaining the proper capacity to service your customers, the two most essential components needed by any business to survive in economic times such as these are accounting and marketing.If you have been in business more than two years, you need an accountant; preferably one that specializes in small business. Why? After awhile – especially if you are a one person shop – burnout is bound to set in.
As one starts his or her business, it is easy to get lulled (or fooled) into thinking you can do everything yourself. However, the reality is that you cannot; particularly if there are plans to grow and expand the business. This is why, prior to starting your business, you should be duly mindful of what your business model preference is: do you want to serve as an independent contractor/consultant - just serving a finite number of clients at any one time or do you envision duplicating your product/service and processes to grow into a high net worth organization? As they say, "more money, more problems." It is up to you to do the hard work and examine whether or not you possess the emotional maturity and threshold for risk (pain) to withstand the ebbs and flows of operating a business and managing people on a daily basis.
So, while you are in the throws of generating sales and servicing your customers, who do you trust to manage your finances, set budgets, alert you with your debt to income ratio is upside down, provide you with realistic cash flow projections based on your business and/or marketing plan and is able to do a full-fledged interpretation of numbers that are most important to any bank, creditor or - God-forbid - IRS agent? You owe it to yourself to have a trusted financial advisor with a consistent and demonstrated track record in the arena of small business –especially if you possess plans of not being a small business forever.
Like accounting, marketing is a crucial part of any business right from the start. Once you have determined the product and/or service you are to provide; coupled with the processes for delivery of said products and/or services, you have to find a way to let people know that you exist. Solely advertising or just putting up a web site is not the way. You need a mix of marketing strategies that work together simultaneously that help build your brand while providing you with the optimal number of impressions – exposure in front of people multiple times in your most likely market.
Armed with a marketing budget – based on a designated market niche - the business owner needs to employ strategies that encompass, SEO (Search Engine Optimization), in-person as well as social networking, strategic sponsorships and partnerships and low-cost advertising that provides a high rate of exposure – especially to your prime target market – all designed to give you a substantial return on your investment (ROI). Ideally, you want to identify a reputable marketing and business development expert or firm that has a proven track record of marketing success for itself as well as other businesses similar in size and scope to yours. Like your accountant, if they are having success for themselves and their existing clients, chances are they’ll be able to provide the same type of service for you.
For more information on how to optimize the combination of accounting and marketing in ways that will work for your small business, contact Optimum Tax and Accounting.
