Continuing our series on monthly tasks every entrepreneur needs to be doing (see January & February), here’s the take on things to complete this month:
March is the beginning of springtime and the middle of tax season. Hopefully you are enjoying the former and have completed the latter, but as a business owner there may be a few other tasks that your business needs to finish in order to be prepared well for the rest of the year. If you get your year started off on the right foot, you can avoid negative hassles at the end of the year. Take a look through this list and see if some of these tasks could benefit your company.
1) Staffing Reviews
If you have never completed a staffing review then you could be missing out on a valuable management tool and an important opportunity to discuss business relationships with your employees. Many think that a staffing review means widespread layoffs and disciplining employees. This could not be further from the truth. Having a review of your staff means assessing where each employee is in terms of productivity and comfort level with assigned responsibilities. You can see which employees need additional training, which need a reward for their hard work and which need a firm warning – or maybe you’ll need to hire more. Your employees are the representatives of your company when you cannot be and not being diligent in their reviews could cost your business and dampen other employees working methods. But let your employees know that the review is coming so that they can bring their best to your meeting.
2) Financial Organization
Since it is the middle of tax season, hopefully you’ve completed your taxes. If not, that should probably be the first financial organization task to complete. But if you have, you may have noticed certain systems for your business’s finances that can be improved. Have your employees suggested any kind of financial implements that could benefit them and the company? Could you be using a different kind of software of application to manage your finances better? Is your business bank right for your company? Take a closer look at your books and take an ear to other suggestions as it could make your life and your company’s future much more secure.
3) Updating Your Online Presence
Whether it is through social media, blogs, or just a website, March should be the month that you update those profiles and sites – particularly if you’ve been lax on updating so far in 2014. If you don’t regularly update websites or post to your social media channels, potential customers read that as inactivity or negligence. Either idea is bad for business. If you are not using social media, see if there is any way that a certain social network could benefit your company. Facebook is pretty standard for everyone at this point, but highly visual industries (like fashion or food) have been finding great success on Instagram and Pinterest. If you have someone on staff that has a background or is particularly good at these kinds of tasks, discuss adding this to their job responsibilities at their staffing review.
Your March Tasks as a Business Owner
1. Organize Staffing Reviews
2. Optimize Your Financials
3. Update Your Online Presence
March is a great time to try a few new ideas and to go through the company and find out what can be fixed or improved. Use the lull between Mardi Gras and Jazz Fest as a sort of testing grounds. Take this time to brainstorm some new ideas for business improvement and remember to track what works and what doesn’t.
This guest post was written by Morgan Bachemin in association with Hibernia Bank. The views expressed herein are those of the author and not necessarily those of any financial institution or bank. This article is intended to provide those reading it with information about matters of current interest. It should not be construed as legal or financial advice concerning a specific topic and should not be acted upon without contacting the appropriate professionals.