The holiday season is once again here, and with it comes time to relax, focus on family and friends and take stock in what is really important in life. Unless you’re a small business owner. Every small business owner knows that being away from the office can be just as stressful as being in it.
Topics: small business, holiday
Every businessperson knows that not all customers are created equal. Some customers are loyal, while others will stray if they're offered a slightly lower price elsewhere. Some clients are demanding, while others only call when they wish to place an order.
Topics: customer
“How much should I spend on marketing?” Most small business people ask me this question at some stage. Many small business people find working out how much to spend on marketing a tricky exercise to calculate.
Generally there are five ways to work out a marketing budget for the year. Remember that these are marketing budgets, not advertising budgets. Marketing covers everything you do in your business that creates awareness, including such activities as advertising, brochures, competitions, free tastings, demonstrations, trade shows, travel, personal selling, direct mail, sponsorships, etc.
Topics: Firm News
Many small business people wonder whether it’s better for them to buy or lease capital equipment for their businesses. Your options regarding leasing or buying depend upon the nature of your particular business, but there are nevertheless a few guidelines you can follow to help you decide what you should do.
Topics: Firm News
Monitoring financials and keeping track of rent payments coming in are aspects of rental property ownership which landlords often struggle with. With all the changes to rental property taxation like depreciation and the LAQC changes and new LTC's it will be more important than ever to keep on top of the financials and budgets to make sure you have sufficient cash flow and plan for taxes before the end of the financial year. The reason landlords and property investors often struggle with this area is that they do not have an adequate system in place. Xero is an ideal solution for property investors whether they are small scale investors with only one or two properties or have large investment portfolios.
Topics: financial report, Firm News, investment property, invoices, online accounting, rental property, xero, accounting, automated bank feed, Blog, deppreciation, income, IRD, landlord, LTC, rent, wise advice, accountant
Businesses become a success because it is something you love and therefore work hard at it. It does no necessarily mean you love balancing the financials. However, accounting is crucially important to your success when first starting up.
Topics: small business accounting, startup
If your small business operates on a tight budget you might be tempted to eliminate costs that you think aren’t necessary. Often small business owners choose to go without business insurance as a way of saving money, but doing so can be incredibly costly in the long run.
Topics: expenses, small business, insurance
Without knowing your break-even point, you can’t make informed business decisions.
To cover the costs of your business you need to sell enough goods or services to reach your break-even point. Knowing where that point is, and how long it will take you to reach it, can be fundamental to your success. This especially true if you’re thinking about starting or buying a business.
Topics: buying a business, financial, break even
Value investing is the stock selection strategy famously used by business magnate and third wealthiest person in the world, Warren Buffett, whose total net worth exceeds $82.2 billion.
Topics: income, investment, value
If you feel overwhelmed by the sheer volume of technological gadgets out there, never mind apps and other digital “solutions”, you’re not alone. Technology sprawl and the rabbit hole of more and more information, available all the time, is making productivity—and healthy downtime—a real challenge for many of us.
Although we may be quicker at completing redundant tasks, more time is wasted managing all our different apps and technologies—and more of us live in a near constant state of distraction.
Topics: Technology, management, efficiency