Owning a business means doing a lot of things on your own, and the smaller your business is, the more responsibilities you have. How you operate is critical to the business, and you are, in fact, its biggest asset. Here are four reasons why.
1. You are in charge of planning and strategy.
Being the sole owner of a business means you are the principal business planner and strategist. As such, it is your duty to develop a plan and strategise the steps needed for your business to grow and be profitable.
In business planning, the first thing you need to do is ask yourself the right questions. These questions will depend on what kind of business you have, but they can be something like this:
Your business plan and strategy will revolve around answering whatever questions you’ve asked. In order to do so, you need to conduct a significant amount of market research.
This will involve doing things like analysing your competitors in terms of how they do business and what their good and bad practices are, finding the best and most cost-effective source for any raw materials you require, learning what kind of products or services customers are looking for, and so on.
Your knowledge of the industry will come in handy in this situation, but be prepared to adjust your strategies whenever necessary. The world of business is an ever-changing landscape, after all.
2. You take care of your own finances.
As a business owner, you like finding ways of saving on costs whenever and wherever you can, including finance and accounting. If you are like most business owners, you don’t have a team of accountants and bookkeepers managing your finances because you do it yourself.
It is a demanding job, especially if you don’t have a background in tax and accounting. You have to take the time to study tax and accounting laws so that you don’t end up violating them, and you also have to learn the basics of being an accountant.
Overseeing your own finances requires a lot of patience and diligence, but the good thing is that you save a significant amount of money every year because you don’t hire others to do it for you. You are also able keep a close eye on your books, thereby ensuring that you are in control of your finances at all times.
If the work becomes too much for you to handle, you can always hire an accountant or bookkeeper to help you out on a part-time basis.
3. You are your business’s human resources department.
Even though you personally run most aspects of your business, it is impossible for you to do everything by yourself. This is why you need to hire people to fulfill certain duties. If you own a gym for example, you would need a receptionist as well as one or two trainers, among others.
Since you most likely don’t employ a human resources specialist, the task of finding the right people to fill the right positions falls upon your shoulders. You have to write up job postings, determine job descriptions, screen and interview candidates, train them if you decide to hire them, and of course, pay them.
You must also handle employee complaints during cases of conflict between the people who work for you. On top of that, you must be willing to let go of anyone whom you deem is detrimental to your business.
4. You deal with customers.
Unless you have the resources to spend on a dedicated customer support team, you are responsible for all customer service functions, which may include any of the following:
Good customer service is important to your business, because happy customers will not only come back, but also spread good word about you and your business.
Looking for ways to streamline your business processes? Get in touch with the experts at Easdowns right away. We provide a wide range of business and financial advisory services that will surely help you make the most out of your business opportunities, so that you can achieve your goals.
For more useful business tips, don’t forget to read our blog.
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