What are your non-negotiables? What habits and activities do you do regularly, no matter what?
Everybody has their own set of “musts” depending on what’s most important in their life.
The same should go for business owners. The success of your business is very important to you. In order to succeed, there are tasks and activities that you must do regularly, if not every day.
Listed below are a few things you should have on your non-negotiable business task list in 2018.
Non-Negotiable #1: Make Sure Your Finances Stay Up-to-Date
Business finance is an area you absolutely don’t want to get behind in. Your accounting duties should get your attention at least weekly.
Your finances tell the story of your business. Good or bad, you need to know what’s going on so you can take immediate action, if necessary.
Waiting more than a week to know what’s going on could mean letting a problem get worse and worse until you may not be able to bounce back from it.
Non-Negotiable #2: Meet Tax Deadlines
For most people, mid-April is the deadline for turning in all of your tax information for the previous year. Small business owners, on the other hand, must stick to other deadlines throughout the current year for tax reporting.
For instance, tax payments are typically made quarterly, not annually. And if you have employees, there are a host of other deadlines to meet. The IRS has several tools to help you stay on top of it, and they’ll even send you helpful email reminders.
Non-Negotiable #3: Don’t Fall for the Pricing Competition Trap
Know your value, know the quality that you provide, and stick to your pricing guns.
Just because your competitor is offering it cheaper doesn’t mean that you should cheapen your product or brand.
Work on building relationships with customers who value the quality of your products and great customer service. They will be yours forever, regardless of cost.
There will always be those customers who just look for the cheapest option. They’re not loyal to anyone, so why cheapen your brand to get their attention?
Looking for more good ideas to add to your small business to-do list? Find them on our blog and Small Business Owner’s Manual.