[Read the Entire Young Business Series - 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ]
DURING THE LEAP - IMPLEMENTING
Spend the money!
As a new startup there is a fine balance between being thrifty and getting the right tools for the job. In my opinion most new business err too far on the side of being a too frugal.
Getting the right tools for the job is essential to job satisfaction. You have undoubtedly worked for someone who provided you with sub-par tools of the trade. Why would you do that to yourself or your employees? Having the right equipment will not only help you enjoy what you are doing more, it can help you be faster and more efficient (that means more money). Even with a shoestring budget you should decide which are the most important tools for what you will be doing and spend your money on those.
You get what you pay for. It is much better to go ahead and spend a little more money up front than have to fix or replace things down the road.
Create a good system.
With any business it is critical to put in place a regular workflow. This system should involve the entire life-cycle of one of your projects - from sales and communication to actually getting the work done to invoicing and follow-up. Having a system that is organized and reusable can save you massive amounts of time and energy. It should be uncomplicated enough that you and/or your employees can move through it without having to consult a manual for every project. Of course, it should also be flexible enough to adapt to the distinct aspects of each job.
So find out what systems are in place for your sort of business. At Apt Design I use BaseCamp - which I can use to keep track of entire projects from start to finish. Of course depending on your industry the system that you use could look totally different than an online project management system.
From the beginning you should implement a system that will streamline and efficientize your business.
Hire a good accountant.
Unless you are a trained accountant I have no idea why you would even try to take on the complex and crazy world of business taxes by yourself. Hiring a good accountant is always worth the money and time saved.
I hired a great accountant off the bat, and dealing with my first year of federal taxes was ridiculously easy. Not only that, but when she was finished with her financial magic we owed almost nothing!
[Read the Entire Young Business Series - 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ]
