office

Support in Business is Key

BNI is hardly a new organisation in Ireland and I had heard of them before but hadn't joined. After sitting in on a couple of meetings I quickly realised how beneficial it could be. Having been a member now for about 5 months I can definitely say it was a great decision. Benefits include:

Grow in confidence to highlight your business and why you should be hired
Referrals to potential clients, rather than cold-calling these are warm referrals where the person is already told about you and usually has a need for your services / products
Accountability, it's not all about what you take but also what you give and being held accountable is good for business
Business growth is, of course, a big plus

There's many chapters all over the country and you can find out more at www.bni.ie or give me a call.

Not long before lockdown in March there was a BizExpo on in Dublin and that's where I came across ActionCOACH. Due to a special offer I had some sessions with a Coach who asked all sorts of questions that really made me think more about my business and where I was going with it. A course of 12 sessions was coming up that looked at businesses from all sorts of angles - financial, systems, teamwork, marketing, and more - which I knew would be really beneficial. With the support of a grant from the Local Enterprise I was able to sign up to the course. It covered a lot of information and while I'm only a new business I still gleaned a little nugget from each session, and banked away many more that can be used as I grow. I can also bring what I've learned to my clients so they're businesses can grow and be more effective too.

If you'd like to get the benefits of a Coach you can contact them ActionCOACH or give me a call and I'll put you in touch directly.

Throughout the last six months the Local Enterprise office has been brilliant with support both financially and informationally. They run great courses and everyone should be signed up to the newsletters which bring out information pertinent to businesses, as well as upcoming events.

Skillnet also run great courses. One I completed was in Data Analysis & Business Intelligence which was based on using Excel to full advantage for businesses. These are skills I can now bring to my clients.

Administration

5 Apps for Better Business

1. Adobe Scan

This is one of absolute favourites. With it you can scan any piece of paper and save it directly into OneDrive, GoogleDrive, or just on your phone. You can send it immediately to whoever needs it by email, text or WhatsApp. I like many things about it such as the quality of the scan, even faded print on receipts comes out clear and those big long till receipts you get from some shops - it can snap it in one scan and still keep it clear! Did I mention it's completely free too 🙂

2. Microsoft To Do

I mentioned in last weeks blog about keeping a notepad by the bed at night time for all those late night ideas and to dos you remember. Well I also keep To Do on my phone and PC. They are linked so whatever I put in one place is synced in the other, it has reminders and you can set tasks to repeat periodically - such as Monthly Invoices. It's super simple to use and keeps all your tasks in one place.

3. Evernote

I used this app before when I was working for a Multinational CEO and it worked a treat. He would scan all his receipts, etc into it, save them into the relevant folders and then I could log in and pick them up. It's like having a digital filing cabinet and you can even lock some of the drawers if they're private stuff too.

4. OneNote

Ok this one I don't use but it was recommended by someone who does. This app works as a note taker, collaborator and recorder. So if you're working on a project with other people this is a great app for gathering great minds together and you can all your bits into it.

5. OfficeLens

Another recommendation from a friend. This app allows you to scan whiteboards and documents making them readable and savable to storage such as OneDrive, OneNote or Evernote. You can also save the files as PDF, Images, Word or PowerPoint (this is where Adobe Scan falls down - you can only save as PDF).

Good Business

5 Tips for Working from Home

When you are working in your usual office you take breaks, right? Because let's face it no one can sit in the same position for 8 hours straight. This is just as important as at home, and no getting up to answer the door does not constitute a break. I mean step away from work, put the kettle on, put some music on, walk around the garden a few times, whatever you need to do to switch off for a little while. Make sure at a minimum you still take your hour for lunch - if you live in town why not venture to your local cafe or pub that serves food and not only take a break but also support local businesses who are struggling at this time.

No I'm not repeating myself. What I mean here is - we are in ever changing times and we need to give ourselves a break. I don't know your exact situation but on March 13th I suddenly became a teacher on top of everything else and my perfect little plan of what I could get done while the kids were at school went completely out the window. It took some getting used to and realisation quickly set in that I wasn't going to be able to do everything, I definitely wasn't destined to be a teacher. Sometimes when we are thrust into these situations we expect perfection from ourselves and it's just unrealistic. So we need to give ourselves a break. Kids will wander in and ask something when we are just getting our head around that task we've been putting off. The phone will ring with someone just wanting to chat at the other end. And that's all ok, because tomorrow is another day.

How many times have you been in bed at night thinking I need to remember to do this, that and the other tomorrow? Or is that just me? Last task before you close the office door behind you should be to write down your To Do list for the next day. Do a little mind dump of what you have to do, what you want to achieve, who you have to call / email so that you won't be trying to remember everything. It's also a good idea to keep a piece of paper or notepad and pen by your bed, that way when you get that lightbulb moment just as your eyes are closing you can note it down and go to sleep.

Bookkeeping

Cash Flows & Budgets

Cash Flow is essentially a forecast based on past experience and current knowledge of income and expenses. For example, you know that your electricity bill arrives every 2 months so you can look at last year and work out the average. This is inputted every 2^nd month on the CF. You may need to adjust if your business is seasonal and uses a higher amount over winter for example. Or if you consider heating oil – this generally is an expense in approximately October and January but not in May or August.

Cash Flow always starts with your current bank balance (if you have multiple accounts you may wish to do a Cash Flow on each one or add them together – just remember which you do so that your Cash Flow is as accurate as possible 😊).

When you have inputted your income & expenses then your bank balance will update across each month. What you are looking for here is if at any point it goes red – this is where you need to act. That could mean applying for loans or grants, following up more strictly on outstanding bills or look at your expenses and cut down where possible. It looks month by month.

A Budget tends to be more project focused or annually. You will have similar information as in the Cash Flow, but the projects would have more detail. Depending on your reason for doing a Budget – family expenses, holiday planning, new business plan, new projects in existing business – you will ask varying questions. Though there are some commonalities such as what income have I and when is likely to arrive, known / expected costs, etc. But then the projects / reason for doing a Budget gets pieced in so you need to ask questions like what are you trying to do, when does it need to be done by, what costs are involved, what outside support will be needed & what will it cost, what will your contingency be.

This might seem like a lot of hard and time-consuming work but in the long-run it will set you up so that your home or business runs well and you can avoid any nasty surprises!!!

Administration

5 Tips for keeping up with paperwork

Know your deadlines and plan for completion 2 weeks prior to give time for delays, etc
- Income Tax 31 October
- VAT 19^th of the month after the VAT period
  - Bi-monthly
  - Bi-annually
  - Annually
- CRO Returns – Annually on date of registration
Utilise software – finding what’s best for you isn’t always the best, quickest or cheapest way to do it. These days software pretty much does it all for you, but you still have to input the items and know how to read the reports. They have many great facilities such as Cash Flows, Year on Year Comparison, Project Allocation, RCT reporting, VAT reporting, just to name a few. They do vary in cost from €15 per month upwards but most offer a free 30 day trial so you can look around and get a feel for them first.

3. Do little and often. Block off some time each week (minimum monthly) to take care of the books. That way it doesn’t build up. Make sure this is time during the day when you would be working anyway and not Saturday evening when you should be spending time with family.

4. If you run a business where your van is your office, or even if you have a physical office, get a box and get into the habit of putting all your receipts into it as you get them. Be aware that receipts kept in direct sunlight will fade quicker and if you can’t read them then neither can Revenue if they do a VAT audit.

5. Number everything. Even if they aren’t in date order, if you have them numbered it will be a lot easier to find the one you need in a hurry.

Support in Business is Key

BNI

ActionCOACH

Support Agencies