Accounting Insights, Super Tips, and Business Updates

Whether or not you like honey, you probably know that honey bees live in large well-organised groups. As social (versus solitary) insects, they engage in complex tasks like delegating their workload, communicating clearly, building a nest, keeping a (compound) eye on environmental changes, collecting food, rearing the brood and defending against invading forces. That’s a lot of work… so honey bees develop a hierarchy comprising workers, drones, and a queen – an organisational chart. Each member has a definite task to perform – a job description. Still, surviving and reproducing take the combined efforts of the entire colony.

The dominant lion may lounge around the place… but when his territory and pride are threatened, he’ll stop at nothing to protect them. And a typical gorilla father will go to battle with other males, who are known to kill baby gorillas as they try to take over the group. Meanwhile, Emperor Penguin dads are super protective over their mates, their young and the nest, possibly because they play an important role in keeping the eggs warm – balancing it between their bellies and the top of their toes! These animals are all involved in some kind of asset protection … and it’s often a matter of life and death.

The concept of lifestyle design has certainly gained a lot of traction in the global community of entrepreneurs in recent years. Notable industry influencers including Tim Ferris, author of the 4-Hour Work Week, have pointedly made the assertion that owning a business needs to mean more than just balance sheets and bank accounts. Certainly, there are financial rewards for the effort, risk and ambition necessary to operate a thriving business. But, monetary success can be achieved with more reliability and definitely less stress in corporate employment. The real allure of entrepreneurship is the opportunity to design the business lifestyle based on your terms. This means making your own rules, setting your own goals, building your own path and pursuing what you value. For most of us, it’s this promise of living life on our own terms that drove us to leave the safe but unfulfilling work we had.

Sales opportunities are the lifeblood of many businesses, yet too often they are either missed or salespeople drop the ball during the sales process. This can be because they neglect important systems that contribute to sales success. In this article, we focus on key business processes that should be undertaken to help you manage your sales activity.

There was a time when cars didn’t have a fuel gauge. That meant you had to understand the size of your fuel tank, remember when you last bought fuel (and how much) and estimate the distance you’ve travelled since filling up. None of that is particularly hard, but, depending on your risk appetite, you may be worrying and constantly filling up to ensure you have enough fuel. Of course, you may also get it wrong … and run out of fuel. Whatever the case, you may feel stress and spend time doing calculations. That takes you away from something else you could do, like focusing on driving, car maintenance or talking with your passengers. I’m grateful we have fuel gauges in cars now!

It’s a new financial year, and that means it’s a great time for small business owners to re-evaluate, set new goals and plans and work on their business strategy for the next financial year. Many businesses (and certainly many of our clients) find themselves busy with the day-to-day selling, paying bills, marketing, hiring and firing, talking to the bank, managing the office and so on. They know they should plan for the future but who ever gets time for that? They get caught up in the endless cycle of tactical business management.

Selling your business might be far from your mind right now. Perhaps you just started and/or it’s going fabulously well. Don’t fix something that’s not broken, right? But the changing business landscape requires that we think ahead not just six months or one year, but three, five or even ten years. Circumstances can change quite quickly and priorities shift. Here are some things to think about:

We come across business owners and managers who diligently study their financial reports soon after they are available. They sometimes challenge the data and presentation of the reports to make them more relevant. Some managers share (parts of) the reports internally for further analysis and action. We also come across business owners who never view financial reports. Never. They may sign tax returns and take care of other compliance issues but they see little or no merit in studying what relates to their past business performance. Some managers explain they are not skilled at reading financial reports so should focus on other tasks such as selling, hiring and general management. And then there are owners / managers in between these extremes.

Anyone for blackjack? How about a few spins on the roulette wheel? Or a bet on your favourite sports team for this weekend’s game? Gambling, in moderation of course, can be a fun pastime which gets the juices flowing and enables banter with friends and colleagues.