sjsmith.com.au - blog

Just Stop It

Simplify

There's a lot to do when you run a business but have you ever thought about whether you need to do all the things you do?  When we first started in business I used to spend countless hours doing budgets and forecasts.  Laying them out on huge spreadsheets and making sure I left room for the countless changes that would affect the results I was trying to predict.  I don't do that anymore.  None of it.  The only thing I do is set up a cashflow spreadsheet. I have a pretty good idea when each of our customers is going to pay as they're now all long term (over five years with us).  I also know what the monthly bills are going to be and what the outgoings will be for staff wages and other costs.  Add in yearly expenses like public liability and accounting fees and I keep a running total.  As it changes I adjust this one document.  This not only allows me to keep track of whether payments are coming in as expected (thankfully they usually are) or whether we need to make provision for a large payment to the tax department.  Maybe we've had an extra wage cycle or we've had a lot of requisites bought and sold.

I also only input petty cash once every three months instead of monthly like I used to.  Most of our transactions are now electronic so they're pretty easy to track.  With only a few cash purchases it doesn't take much time.

Don't be afraid to change or even eliminate systems that are no longer serving your business.  Are you preparing reports that you never use or refer to?  Why?  

Are you hoarding articles on your reading list or saving items in facebook. Put a date in your calendar to read and weed them or, if they've been there for over six months delete them.  Maybe you gather paper articles like I do? Same deal. Make a date or chuck them out.  Streamlining your operations is not just good housekeeping it's also therapeutic for giving you clear air to move forward.

Till next time,

Sarah-Jane X