Diaries Of A Business Owner

– Contributed content –

(Gerd Altmann, Pixabay)

10 Feb.2019. You’re about to tap into the secret world of a business owner. We think it’s so secret, because business owners only allow people to see what they want them to see. They want this illusion that everything is fine, they’ve got a lot of money, and they’re happy with the way things are going at the minute. They would never like to let on to anyone that their ship might be sinking, or there might just be a little trouble going on behind closed doors. But the thing we really love about business, is there’s always a way to solve things. There’s so many steps you can take to push it in the right direction, to ensure you’re getting the best result that you possibly can.

Of course, some are just destined to hit the rocks and sink, but for the most part, it’s the actions of the business owner that determines how long the business will run for. So, we want to take you into the life of a business owner to show you what they might have to deal with, what decisions that have to make, and where they most definitely do go wrong. It might give you a good insight into how you should run your own business, or how you would like to if you’re going to set one up.

Simple day-to-day tasks

We’ll start with the things that we know all business owners do, and these are the simple day to day tasks that allow the business to function. Some smaller companies might not even have one employee, so they have to take the whole load of the day and try to deal with it. Of course, as soon as this becomes a little too much and the profit only seems to be increasing, a business owner will make the risky decision to take on an employee, but that’s something else entirely. So for the most part, a business owner is doing all of the tasks that employees can’t do, or won’t do because they’re not even there yet! Interacting with customers is one of the most essential ones.

People like to know they’re talking to the top dog of the company. It makes them feel special, and as though they’re important for getting to interact with the boss themselves. It also helps to give an illusion that the company is super professional. At the end of the phone call, the owner could say they will pass this on to one of their employees, again reassuring the customer they were special for speaking to them, and that the company is more established and bigger than it actually is. The more established and big a company is, the more customers it’s going to attract.

Other simple day to day tasks include managing the finances, and tracking what’s going on. When a business starts out, it will often take on a nice big loan to get it running. This loan is never going to disappear on its own, and like our personal loans, they only get a ton of interest added on, but as if the interest was on steroids, because a business loan is usually huge. But, it’s up to the business owner to keep track of the progress of the companies finance, no matter which way it’s going.

There are plenty of software packages that you can look into that would help you do this, and then if there is a slight drop, a trip to speak to the financial advisor and the accountant that’s working for you would be on the card. But for the most part, if you’re checking financial tracking software daily, you should be able to see a clear picture of the slight changes that are happening, which should then make it easier to action.

Decision making essentials

Decision making is one of the biggest thing a company owner has to worry about. Literally every second of the day is full of decisions. From deciding what marketing campaign to try next, to deciding what reply to give to a customer. Every decision that’s made is going to have either a negative, or positive reaction, there’s no other way it can go. When you think of it like that, you soon realise that every decision is actually huge to a business. So that’s why we think there are some essentials that need to be taken into account when making business decisions, and that’s the opinions of other people. It might be that within your business there’s only you and a few advisors, not actually any employees.

But even so, you should try and run your decisions past people who you know you can trust, because it’s so important that the decisions you’re making are the right ones. We also think impulse decisions are a big no no. Some people dive right into decisions, especially when it comes to finances, and they nearly always make the wrong one. Take your time, think methodically, and don’t do what a lot of business owners tend to do.

Tips and tricks they’re missing out on

The day-to-day life of a business owner definitely is a bubble, and a bubble that’s used to doing set things only. When a business owner is just so used to doing things the way they’ve always done them, it’s so easy to miss out of tips and tricks that could really help them. The biggest is to save money, and to use money more efficiently, especially where employees are concerned. Some companies have to pay their employees mileage if they’re driving around for the job, or might have agreed to pay them mileage if they’re travelling far to come to work, but it’s hard to track what are business miles, and what are personal miles.

This is where we think companies such as TripLog really come in handy. It allows you to seperate what they’re doing, and always make sure you’re paying them right. Some employees will try to get more money than they need from you, and some employees will fall victim to you not paying them enough, and it will start a big dispute that will ultimately end with them having a grudge against you. No employee likes losing out on money.

The troubles they face

Now, if we were to talk about all of the troubles that a business owner faces, we’d be talking for days. Business is one of those things that you can never truly be happy with, because you always have to be looking over your shoulder to make sure your business isn’t dipping. But if we had to pinpoint it to one trouble, we think the trouble of growth is the biggest problem. There’s either too much of it to control, or there’s too little of it that a business nearly drops of the face of the earth. To keep this worry under control, the best thing that you can do is monitor is so closely that you pick up the smallest of changes, so that when big changes come along, you can manage them more efficiently.

What goes on outside of business

It’s not all about what goes on within the working day, it’s the work a business owner has to take home. It’s stressful, it’s time consuming, and it’s not all about making millions and then being able to go and use them. It’s a long road filled with no money, no time, and a social life that starts to dip until the business picks up.

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