Happy National Small Business Week!

What, you didn’t know?

Alright, I suppose that’s probably largely because this isn’t exactly the biggest of celebrations. Some of it, though, is may also be because small business owners often have their heads down.

I don’t mean this as a bad thing, because those heads are only down so often because being a business owner is hard. There is a lot that goes into it, and just about every business owner will tell you that there is much more involved in it than they realized at the start. Not only is there a lot of work, but it is also a position where it is difficult to feel comfortable. Profit does not tend to come immediately, and success takes time. That makes all that work feel even more overwhelming.

It is not an endless journey of frustration, though, for the payoffs can be huge. First, these businesses are usually started out of passion. Even when things feel overwhelming, there can be great comfort in working on something that you love. Second, there is a great feeling of power and fulfillment in doing it yourself. Even during the tough times, it can be wonderful to know you are the one who can do something about it and not worry about how higher-ups are handling critical decisions.

And these are also the reasons why it can be so rewarding in my line of work to help these small businesses. It is great to engage with people who love what they do, and it is great to help give them the power to make good decisions for their business.

This can also be one of these tasks that business owners did not expect when they started their venture. You may have been pretty good at balancing your checkbook, but tracking income and expenses in a business inherently involves a little more work (to do it correctly, anyway), and ideally will only become a larger and more involved process as the business grows.

The better these aspects of the business are done, though, the better for the business. As a simple example, the better recordkeeping you have, the more you can take advantage of potential tax benefits. And just being on top of things can let you make better estimates about what your tax burden will be, too, and prevent any surprises.

So it is great when we can give business owners the peace of mind that comes with keeping on top of their bookkeeping. Things get even better when you push into higher levels, though.

After all, how can you really tell how well your business is doing if you aren’t breaking down numbers and running frequent reports? Do you really just want to know if there’s enough money in the bank to pay your bills? How can you decide on future moves if you don’t understand your present?

What types of answers one needs in these higher levels depends on your individual business, and what you want to do with that business. Every business, though has something they can do better. Those that feel like they don’t probably are not going to thrive.

So no matter where you are on this spectrum, contact us and let’s figure out what we can do to help your business thrive and grow. We are committed to our clients’ success, for when they succeed, we succeed.