Prepare ahead of time so you don’t have to Repair later
I was at church on Sunday and heard a little bit of wisdom in a Sunday school meeting that had great applicability to business so I wanted to share with you. Norris, my friend, said you need to “Prepare so you don’t have to Repair.” That is so good and so true!
While he wasn’t discussing business when he said it, if we follow that wisdom in a business setting we will be in better shape, and better equipped to handle the challenges that life and business throw at us.
Picture a computer desk that you purchased that comes in a box and needs to be assembled. It looks straightforward so you start putting pieces together and then get near the end and it looks like a mostly complete desk but then you realize that you missed a piece, and to install it you need to actually take apart a couple of steps that you’ve already assembled. You would have gotten to your destination(a completed desk) quicker if you would have read the instructions(prepared) before you started.
Here’s a list of common ways that businesses fail to prepare so they have to repair:
- Recruiting/hiring strategy: It’s better to have a recruiting strategy in place so that you have qualified applicants before you need them, instead of having to hire a warm body because you are desperate.
- CRM/Accounting software: In a previous business I outgrew my scheduling software. It was disruptive to change over to one that fit my new needs. I wish I bought the right one the first time.
- Subcontractors/Suppliers: Maybe that supplier or sub that worked well for you for years isn’t big enough to support your business as it grows. If you see this becoming a problem in the future, start planning now.
- Marketing: Always be marketing, even when you are busy. If you wait until you are slow its too late!
- Skills: Are you constantly taking classes and learning new things? Are you sending your employees to classes as well? If you don’t, your business will suffer. If your business is to grow the people within your business need to grow.
- Tax Planning: By the time taxes are due, its too late for a lot of deductions that could have been taken advantage of. The tax conversation needs to had much earlier and then implemented throughout the year.
- And dozens of more areas where you have a choice to Prepare or Repair….
Which area of business have you had to repair because you failed to prepare? We love to interact with with small businesses and help them grow. That’s what accountants do. Sure, you can get by with a clean up in March before taxes are due in April and stay tax compliant, but that’s not being prepared. That’s not using your past financial data to make decisions about your financial future.
We encourage you to take action on what you just read. Contemplate where you are currently repairing and determine, once you got your mess cleaned up, to prepare, so that the circumstance doesn’t happen again in the future. If there’s any way that you think that we might be able to help you do that, please don’t hesitate to reach out. We would love to help!
