Are you nervous about 2021?
You’re not alone. The last year has been a rollercoaster ride for small businesses across Canada, and many aren’t sure where to go from here. There could be a vaccine on the way that will help get everything back on track, or we could be facing new lockdowns. Who knows? Your small business needs to be prepared, no matter what 2021 has in store!
Here are some of the areas we’ve been focusing on with our clients to help prepare them for the upcoming year:
Revamp Your At-Home Workspace
Did you start working at home after the pandemic hit? If so, you’ve probably settled into a comfortable groove by now.
Working from home brings entirely new challenges to the fore. Sure, you have all of the technology you need to get your work done, but there are also new distractions. Kids, spouses, housework, and inadequate office space can get in the way of doing your daily tasks. The best way to combat this is to revamp your workspace!
This revamp doesn’t necessarily mean you have to change the physical area of your at-home office, though in some cases that might be required. Instead, you can do a little digital restructuring. For example, create a separate user account on your computer you solely use for work. You can even put some restrictions on this account to prevent easy-access to distractions like YouTube. Simply having a second work-based account can help to get you into the right headspace for productive at-home work.
Use Virtual Employees
The pandemic has rapidly advanced the rise of remote work tools. These tools, such as Zoom, have become mainstream and are poised to continue changing the work landscape over the next year.
To keep current, why not consider hiring some additional virtual help? At a fraction of the cost of in-person employees, virtual workers can complete many of the same tasks from provinces away.
Connecting virtually with our clients is something that we’ve been doing for years at The Number Works. By connecting with our clients remotely, we can do all of their books from our own workspace while still effectively communicating through Zoom and other productivity tools. As a virtual bookkeeping, accounting, and financial coaching firm, we know how important it is for our clients to have instant access to us. If you’ve been working virtually with us for years, why not explore similar relationships with virtual employees?
Keep Customers Front of Mind
Customers are the lifeblood of any small business.
Unfortunately, 2020 has not been kind to customer confidence. Many people are saving every cent, worried about what might come in 2021. The only way small businesses can combat this is by making sure they’re at the front and centre in their customers’ minds.
We highly recommend contacting your current customers or clients to see how the year has been treating them. Be sure to offer your help in any way that you can. If their needs have changed, can you alter your services to meet those needs? It might require you to offer them a temporary deal on your services, but that could be worth it to keep them on as customers!
Try New Methods of Marketing
Even if you’ve held onto your customer base, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be on the lookout for brand-new clients. To do this, you might need to stretch your marketing muscles.
Spending your marketing dollars online is a great way to get the best bang for your buck. Facebook ads, Twitter posts, Instagram Stories, and other social media tools are fantastic for connecting you with new customers or clients while also giving you a great return-on-investment. You could also consider creating a blog that will allow you to reach out to new customers with valuable content. There are so many potential customers online nowadays—don’t let your competitors get to them first!
Carefully Monitor Your Cash Flow
Truth be told, monitoring your cash flow is something you should be doing all the time, but it’s going to be especially vital in 2021.
We’ve been working closely with our clients in 2020 to lower their expenses and increase their profits. This can require you to dig deep into your books to find inefficiencies that could result in hundreds—or even thousands—of dollars of savings a year. Alternatively, you could let us do this for you since we know precisely what we’re looking for!
Don’t Forget About Your Taxes!
While tax deadlines were extended in 2020, don’t expect the same thing to happen in 2021.
That means you need your taxes to be finished ASAP. Don’t let the feeling of having just done your taxes a couple of months ago affect you. Instead, either crack open the books yourself or hire us to do it for you. We can help you find the deductions that will keep your business humming along during one of the most challenging times of the last thirty years.
If you’re looking for a professional accountant to help keep you on track in 2020, contact us today. At The Number Works, we’ll do whatever we can to keep your finances healthy and your books balanced going into the new year and beyond!
