So you started a business or you have been running a business for years. If this is an anniversary, congrats! If you’re starting one up now, good luck! Of course it takes more than a couple of phrases to get up to speed as a startup or to continue running as an established business. One thing you should think to yourself as a business owner is who is running the backend of my business? I.e. all the accounting and bookkeeping and maybe even marketing if you have a larger business.
Now that you have asked yourself that question, the next one to answer is do I have time for this? Most often a lot of small business owners do their own accounting and bookkeeping but this takes away precious time that could be used toward the business! Once you have accumulated enough capital, you’ll realize that we all can have enough of money but we can’t have enough time. Time is of the essence and the minutes or even hours that you spend on backend tasks like bookkeeping could be keeping you from selling your products and services to potential customers. Remember that your time is precious and wasted time means lost revenue. Now that you have a solid understanding of these issues, let’s look at potential solutions below. There are two types of business owners:
Do Everything Business Owner
These business owners do everything from the selling, to bookkeeping, and even cleaning up the store if this is a physical business. While it’s great initially that you have control on how things are done, you have to remember that time is money and as a business owner your time would go further if you spent more of it selling instead of bookkeeping.
Outsource Everything Business Owner
This type of business owner typically hires employees to handle tasks such as bookkeeping and keeping the store clean. If you’re this type of business owner, you should consider if these employees are doing a good job. With employees, you have to consider not only their wages but also potentially their benefits and any liabilities that arise from retaining employees. This is why some businesses outsource some tasks to third party firms; that way the owner and his/her business doesn’t have any liability because a third party firm is doing the task for them. Additionally, outsourcing cost center roles such as bookkeeping can save your business thousands of dollars every year without taking the liability of the bookkeeper potentially defrauding your business or having a workplace injury which would put you and your business on the hook if you don’t have insurance!
So you may be thinking, great what’s the solution to these issues? If you haven’t caught on, the common resolution to all these problems is outsourcing. Why hire someone and deal with payroll and benefits if you can just hire a contractor? Additionally, you may not have time to come up with a budget or to look at numbers to determine if your business is doing well or is hanging onto the edge! Outsourcing functions like this will help you run your business better and ensure that your business survives even if you decide to move on. That’s where Alluvium Solutions comes in, which is small business consulting firm that is run by the same guys who run this site! Whether you need simple periodic bookkeeping services or if you are contemplating selling your business and wonder how much you can get, we got you covered. Why hire employees when you can higher a liability-free contractor? Your time is important and we’re here to make your life easier.
Author Bio
Geoff Ong is currently Partner at Alluvium Solutions, a boutique consulting firm dedicated to small business. He specializes in all accounting and financial related topics and previously has worked with large F500 companies ranging in diverse industries such as manufacturing and financial services.