Before the summer heat and a much-needed vacation, it’s time to spring into action and come up with goals and strategies to make 2019 your best year yet in business.

As small business owners, we often have so much on our plate that we tend to neglect shifting our time, energy and focus to actually growing our businesses. At Sound Business Services (SBS), we want to do the heavy lifting for you, getting you the solutions you need to empower you so that you can do what you do best – run your business and be there for your staff and customers.

That’s why we’ve come up with a handful of spring cleaning tips we feel will set you on a path for growth in 2019. And, of course, SBS is here to help you through all of these strategies.

1. Invest in technology. Small business owners know we must make certain investments in resources to grow and succeed. At the same time, we are naturally hesitant to spend time and money, as both are extremely valuable to running a business. But, when it comes to QuickBooks Online (QBO) and the hundreds of amazing apps that integrate with QBO, the investment is a no-brainer.

QBO changes how you work, providing the flexibility to work anywhere at anytime, seamlessly scaling to any of your business needs. This allows you to manage your team from anywhere, and helps you employ a virtual staff, if that’s something that works for you. Besides this 180-degree transformation for you and your team, you’ll also enjoy top-notch security in the cloud, with access to real-time data. Perhaps best of all, many of the apps that integrate with QBO provide many benefits and solutions to your back office needs and business growth.

At SBS, we will not only recommend which apps work best for your specific business, but we’ll also help set them up and get you the most of QuickBooks Online, too. Feel free to reach out today to learn more!

2. Implement paperless tracking. The days of sorting through those pesky receipts piling up on your desk are gone with paperless time tracking, using TSheets by QuickBooks. With this feature, you can complete tasks and meet deadlines much more efficiently, and enjoy other features such as cost savings, identity theft protection and making the environment a better place.

If you have employees who travel for work, or drive around town for work, our go-to app for paperless mileage tracking is Mile IQ. Tracking your miles on that notepad in your glove compartment is tedious, time consuming and sometimes hard to remember. With Mile IQ, it’s all done for you. All you have to do is set up the app, and your miles will be tracked whenever you’re on the go. Having this reporting at our fingertips – and yours – makes both of our lives easier come tax time.

3. Take control of your financial picture. Knowing where your business stands financially is important; that means bringing your books up-to-date on a continuous basis. You may think that doing so monthly will suffice, but that’s where things tend to go wrong.

Looking back is good for evaluating past performance, but provides little benefit in understanding your current cash position. By bringing your books up-to-date on a more frequent basis, you can know what your true bank balance is, and if all outstanding deposits and checks are entered into your books. You’ll also know your current credit card balances and month-to-date profitability.

At SBS, we can meet with you on a quarterly or even monthly basis, finding a time that works best for you. That way, you have complete control of your financial picture, and we can work consistently to meet your goals and address your concerns. We even offer a service where we send our clients a cash position report via email so that they can have their key numbers in front of them on a regular basis.

4. Create an annual budget. Many of us think it’s a chore to create a budget – or even stick to a budget. Perhaps, we think they’re too rigid or static, or maybe we hear our parents’ voices telling us to budget so that we don’t spend too much on ice cream or movies and popcorn. Whatever the case, when it comes to proactively planning for our business’ future and tracking our actual performance against our goals, a budget is a real positive.

It’s not hard to create a budget using historic data and making adjustments to meet your future goals. On top of that, making budgets leads to projections, giving you another powerful tool as you strive to grow your business.

5. Know your KPIs to capitalize on your goals and unforeseen spending. KPIs, or key performance indicators, mean a lot to us; hopefully, you’ve noticed in our recent newsletters! With KPIs, we are not just able to see how your business is running, but also find the specific data we need to bring you powerful business solutions for growth and prosperity. KPIs provide us the lens into what needs fixing or changing, as well as what key drivers decide your company’s future success.

The process for determining your KPIs and getting you set up on a strategic path for growth is simple. We’ll first meet with you to understand your pain points, review your financial picture and suggest a list of KPIs for you to track. We’ll go over your KPIs, discuss trends, celebrate wins and learn from mistakes.

Ready to Grow in 2019?

This list doesn’t represent all of our spring cleaning ideas for a memorable 2019 for your business, but we feel it’s a good start. So, if you’re ready to get started, or have any questions, contact us today. You’ll be on your way to reaching your untapped potential and skyrocketing to business success.