If you want others to view your business seriously, you need to take yourself more seriously since you represent your company. Let potential investors know you are in it for the long haul by having a business plan. Have an office space separate from your employees. Your business should have its bank account. Please keep your accounts separate. Plus, setting business goals can give your staff an idea of what you expect from them.
Having a Business Plan
You will get an investor’s attention much faster if you have a business plan per the Journal of Business and Economic Research. The business plan will lay out your goals for the business. You want investors to help you meet those goals, so your business plan should not be a mystery. Show them you have done the market research with detailed information about your strategies to make your company a success.
The business plan should include your target market, problems you might encounter and how you will handle them. The first part of the business plan is the Executive Summary. It summarizes the entire plan. In it, you want to list your management team, information about your product or services, and a market analysis of your industry. Plus, you will include projections of your profit or losses within a year and the next five years.
Separate Business Bank Accounts from Personal Accounts
If you have incorporated your business, your corporation is a separate entity, so all bank accounts have to be independent. Sole proprietors are different. The IRS ties your profits and losses to you as an individual, so keep your finances separate. If you get audited, you want to keep all business expenses in one pile and yours in another file.
When you have separate bank accounts, it is much easier to separate your expenses. Plus, when you have a business, you do not want to dispose of certain documents too fast. There are rules for how long to keep particular business expenses. For example, keep all your tax records for seven years. Documents not to throw away include pension plan, estate planning, and life insurance policies.
Make Room for an Office
As a boss, you want your employees to feel at ease, so you share the same workspace. You can have an office while keeping your staff at ease. When clients visit you, they will feel more comfortable in your enclosed private space. They do not want your entire team to hear about the deal they are making with you.
When you have an office, you can organize your files a certain way without worrying about anyone taking things out of order. You concentrate more without the distractions from a shared workspace from companies like Rules of Renovation Reviews. If you get a private telephone call, you may have to leave the room. After a while, it will become an inconvenience.
In a shared workspace, you have too many distractions. People will walk by your desk all the time, and you will hear the conversations in the area. Also, you want your staff to know you are not their friend but their boss.
Set Business Goals
When you set goals, you will know ahead of time what to expect and how to prepare your employees to help you reach those goals. For example, if you want to sell 50,000 units for the first quarter, you would get your sales team ready by having meetings. Each person would know his or her task to help to make that sale. One person would market research, and another person would get new clients.
Conclusion
Small business owners have to compete with other established companies. You can do several things so people will take you more seriously. You can have a business plan ready for prospective investors. Separate your bank accounts and have one for business and one for your personal needs. Have an office space separate from your staff and set business goals.