It is frustrating to do some work and not get paid.

So many business owners can’t manage their time well. They’re out on the road for most of the day doing tasks related to their business and customers. They come home at the end of the day with hours of invoicing to do. Many are exhausted or have personal commitments to attend to, thus the task of invoicing is put on the backburner. They sometimes delay this task for a day, a week or even longer. They want to complete the invoicing, but cannot find the time to do so.

Invoice Immediately.

With the emergence of mobile technology, invoicing on the spot is now possible. There are various apps or software designed for just this purpose. For example, the MYOB Pay Direct.

With a smartphone, you can invoice your customers and email the invoice promptly to them. You no longer have to wait to go back to the office or get home to use the computer.

You can also take payment on the spot. It’s easier to invoice customers immediately after you have completed the job, take the payment and sync the figures to their accounting software,

Cash flow is normally stretched for the majority of enterprise owners.

Having the ability to invoice on the spot allows you to begin collecting income faster.

If you delay sending an invoice, it sends the message to the recipient that it is not important to you. As a result, they will not prioritise paying you. This is human nature.

Including clear-cut payment policies on your invoices, and sending them on time sends a message to your customers and suppliers that it is a priority for you, and so they will send payment on time.

Establish good relations with your customers.

Regardless of what your business is, it is important to create great relationships with your customers. In an ideal world, there would be no need to doubt your invoices or experience uncomfortable debt collection talks. However, this rarely happens.

Here are steps to ensure your accounts are merely the result of these good relationships, rather than the means that destroy them.

1. Make sure your customers receive the invoices fast and you eliminate the possibility of them getting lost by emailing them.
2. Minimise any cause for misunderstanding or disagreement with your invoicing. Prevent questions by putting clear, full descriptions on your invoices. Questions or disputes will just hinder payment.
3. Make various payment options available to your customers.
4. Send invoice immediately and maybe provide incentives when customers pay early. For example, offer a discount if they send the payment within a shorter time period.
5. If a customer is unable to pay on time, talk to them about it. Find out if they are experiencing any problems. This would make them feel heard.

Watch your receivables report closely.

Monitor your receivables report, perhaps look at it once a week. If you see a customer hasn’t completed payment, act on it immediately. Finding out about a problem after a month or months have passed can hurt your cash flow – and your relationships.

Prioritise your invoicing and receivables and you’d be surprised to discover that your customers are doing the same.

Turn on your bank feeds for easier reconciliation.

Reconcile your transactions using bank feeds to narrow the cash flow gap. The debits and credits from your bank account are captured through bank feeds. You can then drop them into your online accounting software. You save valuable time by trimming down data entry and remove potential data entry mistakes.

Consult a good accountant to help you send out invoices and collect payments on time. PJS Accountants offer the help needed to handle accounting, compliance, and strategic planning challenges. We provide a range of services that assist in reducing the challenges businesses face – so you can have more time to do what you do best, and that’s running your business effectively. Contact PJS Accountants for enquiries.

It is not easy to grow a flourishing business. If it was, people would work beyond eight hours and be rich!

Growing a business takes time, discipline and hard work. You can’t take a shortcut because there isn’t any. Adopt a structured, disciplined approach that you have to make sure you follow daily. Sadly, being disciplined, consistent and focused are not innate in most businesses. They are prone to skipping from one emergency to another, and conversely from one plan to another – only to see growth in spits and spurts.

A sustainable, consistent growth can be achieved by following a sustainable, consistent system. Running a business is a science, not an art. It’s not simple, but you can be on your way to consistent growth in your business by following these six bold steps:

Step 1: Go after passion, not wealth.

If you are not passionate about what you’re doing, then sustainable and long-term growth is impossible to reach. If you don’t experience buzz or excitement when you wake up in the morning to dress up for work, growth will be elusive. The owners of the fastest growing businesses undeniably feel love and passion about the mission of their businesses and the value they provide to customers.

In Step 1, it’s time to take stock and ask yourself if you really enjoy running your business. If the answer is no or even a lukewarm yes, then it’s time for you to make a decision. Perhaps the right move for you is put the business for sale or close it. Certainly, it will not be an easy decision to make, but life is short. You have to get out if you don’t love your business and all the problems that go with it. Be passionate about what you do, and see your business flourish. Dislike the work you do, and see your business take a dive.

Step 2: Utilise micro-plans.

After you have made the realisation that you love your business, Step 2 involves harnessing that feeling into an organised plan – not a full-blown business plan. It is common with most businesses to begin with good intentions when making a business plan, but they tend to abandon it after a while. This is because business plans are lengthy and look very far into the future.

When creating an immediate growth plan, include only what needs to be done today, or even this week or next month, instead of in the next 12 months. It would be more doable to have a daily and weekly focus that is integrated into a loose plan.

Here are the key questions to have to answer:

• Which customers need to be called today?
• Which potential customers should I visit this week?
• What new products should I begin to sell now?
• What day this week will I raise my prices?

These immediate, micro-plans are very focused on the present and are intended to bring about fast and instant results.

Step 3: Always innovate.

Your business will stagnate if you don’t innovate. Businesses that don’t change things, sell the same services and products, is in danger of being left behind when the market moves ahead. If you don’t find ways to innovate and improve your business, your competitors will undoubtedly be innovating the ways they do things in their business.

Take a look at the entirety of your business and think of ways to make what you are doing better. See where else in your business you can create efficiencies; if you have product lines that are getting old and obsolete; where the future lies in your industry with regards to customer requirements and tastes; and where you need to direct your business in the next 3-5 years to take advantage of impending growth and impending growth prospects. This is important information to find out for the stability and growth of your business.

If your business has been the same for the past three years, you run the risk of being left behind. You can’t grow by being stationary and not taking calculated risks. Growth requires constant innovation in your business and products or services.

Step 4: Turn to adjust your direction.

So you are sure that you love your business and what you do. You’re doing daily and weekly tasks per your micro-plans. You’ve analysed your entire business and have spotted certain parts where you can implement improvements and innovation. But you’re not getting the desired results. You still can’t achieve growth.

Frustration is beginning to set in. Majority of business owners don’t do anything. They continue the way they are, hoping change will come.

Business growth is not achieved using a magic formula. A million magic formulas are available – what you need to do is continue experimenting, fine-tuning, reinventing, and turning until you hit the right formula for your business.

Majority of employers believe they just need to be persistent and all their problems will be solved, and that eventually they will find the right ‘growth’ code given sufficient time, money and effort. This doesn’t work. You need persistence, but adopt this pivoting until you find the right direction. Perhaps you have to turn so much that your business may need wholesale adjustments or turn fully into a completely diverse industry. Remember that these are 6 bold steps to business growth, and you have to be courageous to find or to do whatever is needed to achieve growth.

Step 5: Repeat.

Growth can come and go. So, it’s important for business owners to continue repeating these steps. Yes, you love your business but don’t expect to feel the same way in five years’ time. You don’t have the assurance that the great innovations you have implemented today will be enough to sustain growth in the future.
Repeat the process. Pursuing business growth is never ending, so you shouldn’t stop.

Step 6: Keep the exit door in your sights.

Your business and every other business have a shelf life, or it will stay on the same level for years. This is reality, and so business owners should have an exit plan. Many business owners are getting themselves trapped, just going through the motions of running their business. If this is the case, it’s impossible to turn around a business slump, regardless of how many times you repeat the process. Instead of moving forward, the business is backsliding further, and due to desperation, business owners are forced to sell in a fire sale.

Have an exit plan for your business. There is no better time to sell and get the maximum price for your business than when it is growing. Be careful when timing your exit strategy, do it when it is growing, not when it is already on a decline.

To summarise, business owners need to adopt a structured, disciplined and scientific approach when chasing business growth. Don’t rely on chance and hope. Follow these 6 bold steps if you want your business to grow, and be prepared to take it to the next level.

Starting your own business and making sure it is growing steadily can be challenging. Get support from a business partner who can guide you every step of the way. PJS Accountants are the partners you need to expand your business and help it overcome any challenge or trial. We offer a full range of services including accounting, taxation, business improvement, superannuation, business valuations, asset protection, succession planning, estate planning and bookkeeping. Contact PJS Accountants for enquiries.

A business is like a human being – it will grow when you nurture it or it will die when you neglect it. Owning a business means you have to take care of it like a newborn baby. You have to look after it and provide the basics. If not, your business will fail.

Similar to raising a family, opening a business involves making a considerable financial commitment. If you’re in the same situation as the majority of new business owners, funds are tight and your resources are limited.

However, being resourceful with your limited funds and being smart with your start-up capital will help you open and expand a successful business. Here are three tips to help you save money when opening a new business, and turn it into a lean operation that has a high potential of turning into a success.

1. Use free marketing.

Get on social media.

Promote your business using all the free social media platforms available. Create Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn pages where you can post content about your company, your products and services, and what sets you apart from other businesses similar to yours. Go through all your contacts, from your email address book to family and friends, and add them to your contact lists on social media. Then send them an invitation to connect so you can rapidly develop an online presence for your company.

Talk about your business.

When meeting new people, mention your business and what benefits it provides to people. Don’t be pushy and do a hard sell, but always subtly integrate your business story when talking to people. Take your business cards with you all the time so you can give them to people you’ve talked to, and make an effort to get one from them also.

Make a cost-effective website.

You don’t have to pay thousands of dollars to create a working website with all the bells and whistles. You just need a basic but effective website that contains all there is to know about your business, your products and services, and the reasons why you are better than your competitors. Many website development packages and tools are available to you online for free. Use any of them to make a smart looking, professional website that can be uploaded in mere hours, not weeks. But remember this: make a cheap looking website and you are sending a message to the online community that you are also running a cheap business.

Buy low print run but high quality business cards.

Purchase low run but high quality business cards. You would only look back if you hand out cheap looking business cards that look like you printed them at home. There are online business card provides that offer quality for a reasonable price.

2. Maintain a minimum number of employees.

Pay for staff only when you need them.

Hire part-time employees or contractors that you can pay by hour. This way, you only need to pay for help when you require it. If it is the off season for your business and you are busy meeting prospective clients, you don’t need to pay huge salaries when your employees are doing little or nothing.

Another benefit of having casual employees is that it allows you to roster them on and off to efficiently use them and pay them only when you need their help. You are not required by law to pay casual employees holiday leave or sick pay.

Ask for help.

Ask help with your business from family and friends. Use this network to spread word about your business. Relatives, particularly the retirees, will usually be eager to take on a challenge of helping a family member set up and grow a profitable business.

Use offshore contractors.

Get offshore contractors to manage your infrastructure and provide support. Virtually all kinds of offshore contractors are available today, from manufacturers to virtual assistants. The things you can offshore today are limitless, from building professional websites to full-scale manufacturing. Doing this would give you significant time and money savings. The realm of business is international and business back-office support has also expanded into a worldwide phenomenon.
Adopt it and reap the benefits.

3. Save money on equipment and business space.

Set up office in your home.

Think about operating your business from home if you want to save money. This is a strategy that you need to seriously take into account if you wish to run a lean operation, particularly in the early days. Today, business technology is more affordable and the Internet can connect you with anyone in almost every corner of the world, allowing you to virtually operate a national or even an international company from the comforts of your own home.

Lease or share.

If you don’t want a home office, then think about sharing an office or sign a short-term lease for a serviced office. You get a professional ‘shop front’ appearance and ambience with a shared office or serviced office. This is crucial if clients favour going to you. You can get full secretarial services, such as taking messages and sending mail, and answering phone calls on your behalf, from most of these shared office facilities. You can save money by not signing a long-term lease for a costly office space. As an alternative, consider a shared office arrangement or a serviced office facility.

Save cash by renting equipment or outsourcing.

Opt for the temporary use of business equipment or lease it, rather than purchasing it. An important tip, particularly to those engaged in manufacturing, is to make your product without investing so much cash on many pieces of plant and equipment. Nearly any kind of equipment, even those used to produce small quantities, can be outsourced. Instead of making a capital equipment investment, rent or lease the equipment, or even hire a contractor to perform your entire manufacturing operations. This strategy allows you to keep your production costs at a minimum.

Avoid building up your business costs and squander your money when opening a new business. Majority of newly created businesses close within a year due to the owners ignoring these important tips to run a lean business and keep costs at a minimum. When starting a business, the key is saving money where you can.

If you are starting a new business, it would benefit you a lot to hire an accountant or a finance specialist to increase your chances of making a success of your business. PJS Accountants offers a range of business planning services including Tax planning and compliance, Accounting and other bookkeeping services. Visit one of our specialist advisors or contact PJS Accountants.