6 Critical things entrepreneurs should be doing daily

Posted on April 30, 2019 by Lindsay Davis, One of Thousands of Entrepreneurship Coaches on Noomii.

Each of us has, I’m sure read dozens, if not hundreds of books about starting and running successful businesses. In my opinion, there are 6 (at the minimum) critical things that we should be doing each day to help our businesses grow. I split these into two categories, I call MBA and PA.

MBA stands for My Business Admin. This contains the first three critical checks.

Keep your house in order – What I mean by this is create a solid administration foundation for your business. Create and keep great records for each client. Put solid contracts in place and make sure that they are kept up to date and stored securely. You may want to consider getting your lawyer to take a look at your contracts to make sure that you are covered. Stay on top of the every day administration. I know that this is boring, but it’s worth it in the long run and will make for a smoother workflow.

Follow up – I have written a few pieces that speak the need to know how you are doing. The way you chose to stay in touch is as important, if not more important than your initial contact with your customers, staff and suppliers. Meet with your team regularly for purposeful meetings. (I’ll get to that in another article). Touch base with your customers to see how they are, how their business is going and see what else they may need from you that you are currently not doing, but easily could be. Say thank you to them for their on going support. As the years progress, we are more and more spoilt for choice and moving to new suppliers is easy for clients to do. Speaking of suppliers, we need to make that we stay in touch there too. Let them know how they are doing and what we need from them.

Stay on the good side of the tax man – Death and taxes are inevitable. That’s true for all of us. As a business owner, the last thing you want to do is get behind on your taxes. Some things to remember when it comes to taxes, firstly, as mentioned above, keep great records. Use an accounting system, even if it’s a simple one. Business tax is not as simple as personal tax, so I suggest professional help here. One last piece of tax advice, get it done as early as possible. Don’t wait until the last possible minute, it creates unnecessary stress, pressure and can result in extra charges which is just a waste of hard earned money.

Now to move onto the PA section. PA in my books, stands for Personal Administration. Unlike the traditional term for personal assistant, personal admin is all about the work that you as the owner of your business should be doing.

Do something for the business, EVERYDAY – As business owners, we find it hard to switch off. While we need to make sure that we have a balance between full speed ahead and downtime to recoup, it is important that we nurture our business on a daily basis. Even on the weekends. Find a way to contribute to the business and keep your finger on the pulse. Be deliberate in your action. Reading the paper over coffee in the morning may not help your business succeed, but targeted, industry related articles may.

Daily self work – Just like your business needs nurturing and love, so do you. Take a moment, 30 minutes, an hour to work on yourself as a leader, business owner, manager and person. Get a coach to help you set and achieve personal milestones, join a gym, read something other than an industry related piece.

Be true to your vision and values – I have written a few articles that relate back to vision and values. I cannot express how important it is to be clear on these and be able to easily share them. If you have these aligned and articulated, young your team will be driving together towards a common goal, your customers will understand you better and be easier to keep and you will rest easier, knowing that those around you get why you’re doing it.