Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. Having a good idea or answering an economic need is not the only key to succeeding in business. Those running the business must also anticipate breaks in income and other potential financial hits to the business. The following contributed post is entitled, Making Sure Your Business is Prepared for Any Situation.
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We’re living through a rather surreal time where businesses are being hugely impacted by a worldwide pandemic. As people are being encouraged to only stay at home and only buy essentials, many of us are struggling and finding it difficult to generate a profit, keep staff on board and, essentially, keep our heads above water when it comes to business operations. So, it’s not all too surprising that many of us are beginning to open our eyes to the fact that everything isn’t always stable and guaranteed and that in order to keep our businesses, our profits and our incomes as safe as possible, we’re going to have to put some preparatory work in. Here are a few areas you can focus on for now.
Having Savings
Savings are essential in our personal lives. We’re all advised to have six months’ worth of living costs put aside for emergency or unfortunate situations. We should try as best possible to apply this thinking to our businesses too. Sure, now might not be the best time for saving. But in the future, when your sales are pouring in and your business is flourishing, put some thought into being safe and securing your business. Keep a certain percentage of your profits aside for times like those we’re going through now. Businesses should save too! You can open up a special business savings account for this purpose.
Consider Alternative Ways of Working
It’s easy to fall into the mindset that set staff complete set roles in set ways. But flexibility is key to being able to overcome hard times. Always be ready to be flexible and figure out new ways that tasks can be completed should people suddenly be unable to work from the office or their usual location. Invest in software that will increase communication while people are working from home. Train staff across different roles, so if someone is suddenly unable to work, someone else will be able to temporarily cover their important roles and complete their essential tasks on their behalf.
Have Emergency Equipment
You never know when problems may arise, so try to have as much emergency or back up equipment as possible. One example could be having spare tyres, spark plugs and a portable fuel transfer pump (like those found at http://gpi.net/gpi-g8p-portable-fuel-transfer-pump/) in your company car. Then, if someone is driving it and breaks down, they’ll be able to get back up and running as quickly as possible.
Have a Backup Plan
Make sure your business doesn’t rely on one sole product. Instead, have a range that people can pick from. If you find that your sole product goes out of trend or falls out of favour, you could quickly find yourself struggling to get by.
Sure, we always like to keep positive. But it’s important to always be prepared for situations that you haven’t planned. Hopefully, the above advice should help you to achieve this!
