Solutions to 5 Critical Issues Faced by Every Small Business

As  small business owners, we face our daily share of stresses, challenges and difficult decisions that could have a significant impact on the future of our companies. Our personality traits generally are that of being problem solvers – we wouldn’t be where we are if we weren’t – but even the most sharp and analytical minds like ours,   can hit roadblocks from time to time and we find ourselves facing an issue that we sometimes are tempted to deem “unsolvable”.
Over at the Intuit Small Business Blog, Brandi-Ann Uyemura put together a quick but quality list on this subject entitled 5 Solutions to Common Small-Business Problems, utilizing tips from best-selling author Melinda Emerson to help entrepreneurs like us work our way through the day-to-day issues we face when they start to seem like an unbeatable challenge.
Here’s a small sample from the article:
4. Avoid financial trouble by staying abreast of your finances. Being naive or in denial about your financial situation can break your business. Savvy bookkeeping is the only way to keep your company afloat.
“The best way to manage your business finances is to have your accounting reconciled monthly,” Emerson says. “By the 15th of the month, you should have a statement of cash flow, balance sheet, and a profit and loss statement, so you can make any adjustments and chase down your outstanding receivables.”
As a financial firm specializing in bookkeeping and part-time controllership services, we see this much too often.  Organization is key when it comes to keeping up with your finances; it’s a simple matter of staying on top of them and reacting as soon as any red flags pop up. Putting this task off or pretending there isn’t a problem when you think there might be is only going to cause major troubles down the line. A lot of business owners will find themselves in a tough financial situation but won’t act on it, either because they don’t realize that there’s a problem, they don’t want to admit that there’s a problem or they don’t understand the scope and magnitude of whatever the problem is. It is so very typical to avoid calls or ignore notices from CRA (Canada Agency Revenue).  That is probably the worst thing that can happen.  Even a simple response to CRA shows that you are willing to work with them to resolve the problem, and helps prevent them from taking measures against your business.  I know that we are biased when we say that keeping on top of your accounting and bookkeeping consistently should help things run much more smoothly than they would if you ignored them for months at a time.  We have always been strong believers of “You cannot manage what you don’t measure.”
The rest of the article covers a variety of different issues that small business owners may face, with Brandi-Ann offering her thoughts, as well as those of Miss Emerson, who is quoted for each tip. It’s worth a look if you’ve been trying to find some fresh advice for facing the common problems of a small business owner, so take a look if you’ve got some time.
What did you think? Did you find these tips helpful? Do you have your own successful strategies for dealing with these types of issues? Your thoughts are always welcome, so let us know!