Small Business Planning

Often in the small business there are only a few other employees besides the owner/manager. Because of this the owner and employees have to be able to multitask to take care of all the business needs. This is often referred to as wearing many hats. One day the hat might be accounting and the next it will be customer service. The best way to deal with employees who have to wear many different hats is to have a firm plan.

A small business is usually thought of as someone's baby. It is often difficult for the owner to give up any kind of control over different aspects of the business. However, if it successful they won't have the time to do everything. This is when the owner must hire competent employees in which to delegate some of the work load. The owner should start with a good plan of action. Who should do what task and what level of responsibility they have. When there is a limited amount of time and a lot of work to do it is best to make sure everyone knows what their particular tasks are. You do not want your employees doing the same thing twice or stepping on each other while trying to complete their work.

Time is the key to a small business. It can be the difference in making a big sale or none at all if you are not prepared for it. With the delegation of tasks comes the delegation of time. The time spent doing things should be closely monitored or an employee could be spending hours playing with a task that should only take minutes. There are different ways to keep track of time for employees. There are sign in/out sheets and there are computer programs that can keep track of what they are doing and how long they are doing it. Because time is money and you can't have employees wasting time, it would be like leaving the water in the sink running and then wondering why the water bill is so high.

Computers have become invaluable to the small business by eliminating the need for extra employees to do tasks the computer can do quickly. A fully functioning computer system can track inventory, sales, and payroll. This can give the small business owner a good look at how the business is doing at any time. The best part of a computerized system is reports. There is software you can buy that can compile information from other areas of the computer and create a report that is easy to understand. This information can help make future decisions easier and save time.