In this blog, we invite you to celebrate the small successes and take a look at the outlook for 2018. We also explore how you can make a difference in 2018 to improve your profitability and build more value into your business. How? By thinking big and planning for success through small but smart changes.

What is your business worth? Will it be enough to fund your retirement?

You might dream of spending your retirement on luxury cruises or perfecting your golf swing, but without a plan to exit your business, your “dream” may be just that.

Knowing what you want to do with your business in the future can seem challenging, but it’s a challenge you shouldn’t put off if you want to see your dreams come to fruition.

Too many business owners fail to develop a plan for exiting or leaving their business, and they often end up with a lifestyle that doesn’t match their goals.

Getting your business ready for the future - whether that involves selling up and paying for your retirement or confidently handing it over to the next generation - means knowing what your business is worth today and creating an exit or succession plan.

Conquering Business Challenges. Part 1.

It’s not easy being a business owner. There are plenty of challenges that can keep you up at night, but none of them will make you toss and turn more than dealing with financial issues. And one of the most pressing is cash flow management.

Add to that collecting money, employing the right people and marketing and sales, and you have a few more reasons to stay awake staring at the ceiling. But did you know these challenges can also have an impact on your cash flow?

Too many business owners focus on cash flow but don’t necessarily understand the connection to these common hurdles. If your collections, employees and sales and marketing aren’t working like a fine-tuned machine, you could be staring down the barrel of cash flow issues.

In part one of a two-part blog, we take a look at the first two key business challenges and what you can do about them.

Issue 1: Cash flow

 When money is going out but not necessarily coming in at the same rate, you might worry there won’t be enough in the bank to pay wages, suppliers, loans, tax or even super. You might also feel frustrated that there isn’t any money left over to reward you for all your hard work.

Conquering Business Challenges. Part 2.

In our first blog about some of the biggest challenges facing business owners, we explored managing and improving your cash flow. We also offered tips when it comes to collections (getting paid) and how those challenges affect your business’ cash flow.

In this second edition, we’ll delve into how attracting and retaining good employees as well as sales and marketing can also affect your cash flow – one of the most critical components of a business’ success.

Issue 3:  Employees

Your employees are inextricably linked to your cash flow. One of the biggest employee problems many businesses face is finding good ones in the first place, and then motivating and retaining them.

There’s a real need to understand what employees want to ensure they are happy, productive and eager to stay, all of which helps your bottom line. 

"Budget Briefing 2017"

Now that the dust has settled on another Budget we’ve sifted through the detail and picked out some of the planned key changes we think you should be aware of. These measures are subject to parliamentary approval.

Be Fearless this Financial Year End

With the end of the financial year just around the corner now’s the time to get your records up to date, and plan your year-end spending to get the best result when you do your tax return.

Get Strategic in the New Financial Year

If the end of the financial year fills you with dread it could be a sign it’s time to tackle a few of those business issues you’ve always parked in the ‘too hard’ basket.

When you’re tackling the daily challenges of running a small business it’s easy to think a spare pair of hands or a lottery win might be the answer to your problems. But for lasting solutions and not just a quick fix, you need more brainpower not more manpower.

Regularly meeting your accountant or financial advisor to review the performance of your business, and really understand what’s behind the issues you face as well as how to tackle them, will keep your business afloat long after the lottery win has been spent.

The benefits of a periodic business review with your accountant

Running a small business means being hands-on, but it’s easy to get so caught up in the day-to-day that you never see the big picture.

Business review meetings with your accountant are a great opportunity for a regular look at the big picture. They’re a chance to nut out issues with someone who knows your business goals and has the expertise to help you reach them.

People are creatures of habit, in how we think and what we do; it can be hard to change the way we tackle issues and problems. A trusted adviser can help you look at things differently and come up with new solutions.

Just having someone to talk to who will offer advice and guidance with no other agenda than the success of your business can really help.  

If your goal is business growth then regular reviews can help you manage that growth so it moves at your pace, and help you quickly spot and deal with any obstacles.

Regular business reviews lead to more sales, bigger profits, more cash in your pocket, satisfied customers, less waste, a happier team, better work life balance, and job satisfaction.