[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text margin_bottom=”20″]It’s that time of year again! Making a Christmas list keeps lots of young folk busy these days, but if you’re a small business owner or the leader of a charity or NFP, who says you shouldn’t consider putting a few items on your list?
Here are our suggestions:
Were you naughty and nice?
Give yourself the gift of time. The downtime during the holiday season is a great opportunity to set aside some time to really think about the year and evaluate your successful and –just as importantly– your not-so-successful moments.
Look forward into the New Year and ensure that you have defined an overall strategy to guide your operations. What are your goals for the New Year, and what is your plan to accomplish those goals? This will guide your operational plan for the year.
You’re a mean one Mr. Grinch
You don’t have to be a Grinch about spending, but it’s important to capture your planned spending in a budget to help frame your spending decisions, both now and through the year.
Forecast when you will make sales and when your expenses will occur. This allows you to measure your actual results against this plan and provide an objective measure of progress.
A teenager’s dream gift: Cash!
When asked what was keeping small business leaders awake at night, cash flow was in the top 4 sources of sleep deprivation. While you can’t grow cash on your Christmas tree this season, there are ways to ease the stress.
Ensure that you understand the timing of your cash coming in and going out before you break for the holidays.
It’s always cheaper to tackle any anticipated issues ahead of time and your choice of options is considerably wider if you identify the issue early. For more info on finding the root cause of cash flow problems, read our blog here.
A holly jolly Christmas
Give yourself some peace of mind this year and consider hiring an outside experienced resource. They can help you understand your revenue growth, manage your cash flow, and help you to focus on key business drivers.
Knowing that you have an expert focused on managing your cash and helping you understand your business growth opportunities is one of the best gifts that any business leader can receive – even just for a short term project to test out the fit and whether it makes sense for you.
It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Make the most of it and rest easy knowing your finances are in good hands.
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The Business Sherpa Group provides embedded business services in Human Resources, Finance & Administration, Strategy & Governance and Marketing & Communications. For more information on our Virtual CFO offering, click here.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/4″][mk_circle_image src=”https://www.businesssherpagroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Jan-ODonnell.jpg” image_diameter=”300″ link=”/team/jan-odonnell”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”3/4″][vc_column_text]
About the Author
[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1515687563131{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}”]Jan O’Donnell is the Managing Director for the Finance & Administration practice and CFO for the Business Sherpa Group. Jan is a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA) and has been providing Contract CFO support to high technology, small businesses and not for profit clients since 2004.
Jan is passionate about combining her business and financial management expertise to provide a hands-on approach to building and enhancing the finance role within small and medium sized organizations. Read Jan’s Bio[/vc_column_text][mk_contact_info email=”jan@businesssherpagroup.com”][/vc_column][/vc_row]
