ORGANISING MYSELF OPERATIONALLY
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?
The majority of entrepreneurs generally fly by the seat of their pants for the first few years of operation, making up their procedures on the go as and when they need to. The problem with this approach is that everything takes on a rather haphazard feel, which generally causes discomfort for the people working with the entrepreneur.
The pace at which entrepreneurs operate often causes them to utter the following words “in the time it takes me to teach somebody, I could have done it myself!” This line of thinking often leads to the downfall of the entrepreneur as properly trained staff will always make your life easier.
One of the best pieces of advice we ever received was “spend at least one day a week working on your business as opposed to in your business”.
The one day a week spent on your business must be used to firstly document how your business operates. Documenting the various procedures that make up your business is an incredibly important process, as it will become the future “operations and training” manual for current and new staff. While there is no correct way to do this, we suggest that you begin with the processes that happen most often as these are easier to recall and quicker to implement.
Documenting your procedures will allow you to empower your staff thereby freeing you up to do the things that you really love.
Once you have documented the basic procedures of your business, we recommend spending time with your accountant. No, not to listen to him droning on about how grey is a fantastic colour, but to make sure that you understand the finances of your business. Knowing the financial position of your business will allow you to make important decisions based on fact and not just fancy guesswork.
Once the accounting is taken care of, you will know how much money you have available to spend on other areas of your business, like Advertising, IT Systems, Marketing, Research and Development, Staff Training, etc.
Take a day each week to outline a strategy for each of these elements of your business, then document what needs to be done to implement and measure them.
Our Services:
At SME.TAX we do more than just assist clients with their provisional taxes.
We are your “one stop SME shop”, assisting with everything from Accounting, Business Management, BEE, Consulting, Company Registration to Payroll and Mentoring.
For more information, please visit our website www.sme.tax or give us a call on 072 207 4789
