Business management tips for the self-employed
When people talk about small businesses and their importance to the economy – especially in areas like the south west of England – there tends to be an image of a business owner and a small team of staff running a shop or a café, or manufacturing niche products. Less frequently do the self-employed or sole traders get featured, and yet they are just as important as businesses that employ staff. If you work alone, as a tradesperson, freelancer, or sole trader, you’re running a business just the same as a company with employees, and like all businesses you need to be able to manage your company effectively to maximise your profits.
Business plans
You may not have to prepare a business plan if you’re self-employed, as you’re not seeking any investment or asking for bank loans. It will, however, be beneficial to have at least a basic plan in place. As a minimum you want to list out all your services, costs, the way you calculate your prices, the profits you expect to make, and the number of hours you’ll need to work.
Creating a business plan makes you think about factors such as when you plan to have a holiday, what you’ll do if you can’t work, and your ambitions for your business. Have you checked out the competition in your area? Have you defined who you’re hoping to target as customers? Have you researched the best places to advertise and how to establish a presence? These are all fundamental business requirements that apply just as well to the self-employed.
Budgets
As part of developing your business plan, you should also give some thought to how you manage your finances. It doesn’t take long to create a useful budget spreadsheet that allows you to see how you’ll be doing in a few months or years’ time if you continue as you are. Having a budget helps you allocate money for savings and contingency funds, and allows you to forecast trade, so you can take measures to allow for such changes.
Websites
You might feel that as a sole trader you don’t really need a website; maybe a FaceBook page and entries in local directories is enough. In most cases, having a website is an advantage, helping you rise to the top of search engine results lists will set you apart from your rivals. It allows you to sell products, encourage customers to make contact, and provides a platform for you to show what you can do. You don’t need to worry about being a whiz at designing websites as a website using a CMS like WordPress is very easy to set up. You can also get managed WordPress hosting UK that takes care of all the technical, back room tasks like security, back-ups, and technical issues. If you need extra help, they also have support services you can contact.
If you’re self-employed you are a small business of one, but a small business nevertheless; and if you make use of these business management tools you can increase your profits.
