Critical Mistakes Entrepreneurs Can Avoid

Starting your business is exciting.

Having your website created, designing your user experience, setting up your invoice system, and cloud storage are just some of the things that need to be done. And if you’re a brick-and-mortar business, you’ll be in your store fixing up the decor, connecting the cashier systems, and stocking inventory on your shelves.

It feels good to finally open the doors to your very own business, and in the excitement, a few crucial things can easily get overlooked. Here are some critical mistakes that entrepreneurs can avoid.

How Do You Hire?

 

To grow your business successfully, you’ll need a team of dedicated and talented workers. Once you make the decision to hire a staff, keep these points in mind:

Your business needs to have an EIN, or The employer identification number in order to hire staff and correctly pay employee-related taxes. You’ll also held to employer standards, such as workers rights around safety, pay, paid leave, and possibly health insurance.

A great entrepreneur book I highly recommend. Click below:

Employers are required to verify if their workers are eligible to work in the US, and the EIN number is needed to file the proper forms to ensure no laws are being broken. There are also benefits that the employer must fund for workers, such as workers’ compensation insurance.

Work with an attorney to make sure that you comply with employer-related regulations.

What About Taxes?

Business owners must pay taxes as a business and not just as an individual, which is confusing for many people. To comply with federal laws, how do you make sure you’re properly following what the government has set out for a small business?

Get free sample chapters from my book: Not Another Personal Finance Book.

At a minimum, you need to find reliable and current tax software to comply with business tax requirements, so take a look at this 2018 Professional Tax Software Comparison Chart find useful software.

The chart reviews some of the best software out on the market. Each program is different, with varying degrees of usability, costs, and capabilities. A software package can help you keep track of your accounting records, help you to stay organized, and allow you to file your taxes on time.

What Is Effective Management?

When you’re trying to rush out of the gate, in the hopes of beating your rivals and having a fantastic year of bombastic growth, the needs of your staff can be overlooked. Entrepreneurs know they need and want all hands on deck. There’s no rest for the weary and if new clients and customers are going to be won over, then late nights and working weekends needs to become normal for a small enterprise looking to get off the ground.

Remember though, that your employees are only human, and they need rest and time off to remain productive.

Worker conditions are highly important for morale, so don’t overlook this key factor. Design a schedule so that staff may request time off and their absence is managed and accommodated. Determine a specific amount of time off that every employee is entitled to, and how many workers can be off at any one time.

Obviously you don’t want to have too many people off at the same time to keep the business running and optimally performing. However, you don’t want to deny time off to workers when they ask for it. Devising a schedule allows workers to see when they can ask for time off and who is going to be away from the office and for how long.

Stay Informed

Small business can be a hot topic, in terms of laws and legislation, so keep abreast of any news about government policies coming into effect. It’s always better to be one of the first to react to a new change, so you can have a head start on your competition.

Make the Effort

Every business owner is pressed for time, but make these issues a priority for your firm. If you make the effort to address these topics, you’ll avoid problems down the road.

This post is for educational purposes only.

Ken Boyd

Author: Cost Accounting for Dummies, Accounting All-In-One for Dummies, The CPA Exam for Dummies and 1,001 Accounting Questions for Dummies

Co-Founder: accountinged.com

(email) ken@stltest.net

(website and blog) https://www.accountingaccidentally.com/

(you tube channel) kenboydstl

 

Image: Bullseye, Jeff Turner CC by 2.0