Off to a Great Start

It is DONE! What is done, you are wondering?  My financial record-keeping for NNEP for 2013!  Yup, my part of the process is done, and boy oh boy does that feel GOOD!  I am usually the one that is scrambling the week before the deadline to gather all the bits and snips of paper to organize my expenses for the business.

In 2013, I tried a new business strategy and let me tell you, it is definitely a BETTER way, at least for me! Every month, when my credit card statement arrived, I took the time THAT DAY to go through the paperwork, post the business expenses and get everything recorded for the business for the past 30 days. NO exceptions. If it was money spent for the company, it had to be recorded at that time, which meant finding the receipts or proper documentation, etc. On some days, it took me only 15-20 minutes to do all the financial record keeping for the entire month. Other days, it could take most of the morning - it just depended on what was happening during the previous 30 days.

And now here we are, at the end of the year, and all I find myself doing is the expenses for the last 30 days of 2013 - simply because I kept up with things each and every month last year. This has been a huge time-saver and stress-buster for me this year. I plan on keeping this system going in 2014.  If you struggle with the "admin" side of running your business, why not give this strategy a try?  Like me, you just might find out that it really is a better way to manage this particular part of owing your business.

I found that I used our financial information to help guide our decision-making much more in 2013 than I have in past years. This was possible because I had confidence that the information in that system was current and accurate as of the last month. We needed a new copy machine, as ours was practically an antique. How much was it costing us in maintenance and repairs, as compared to getting a newer model? That was easy to see, and then we were able to make an informed decision. Why did we pay more for the outdoor maintenance this year? Oh, that's right, we had to put new mulch all around the building - that makes sense now.

If you have a strategy that you use for running your business smoothly, let me know what it is and we will share it with other NNEP members.  The more "best practices" we can adopt, the more lean and efficiently we can become as business owners.  And efficiency definitely helps when it comes to increasing your profits throughout the entire year.

Here I come, 2014 - I am ready for you!