My best friend’s husband works as an independent contractor. While he works for several of the same companies on a regular basis, he also takes on odd jobs here and there. Working in the construction field in Florida keeps him fairly busy, so he is always on one job site or the other.
The problem that he, and many people who own small businesses, is having is that while he does his job well (so well, in fact, that he built the house in which he and my best friend live practically by himself) is that he has difficulty doing some of the other tasks that are required as an independent contractor or a small business owner.
The largest problem he has is that with the finances. Since he contracts out, he often has to bill his clients in order to get paid. He works many long hours and at night spends time with his daughter before collapsing in bed. If you are an independent contractor or a small business owner, you know this routine. I, too, have a difficult time sitting down to pay bills and keep track of my expenses and income as I spend so much time working or with my family.
Because of this, he is often backed up with payments, and instead of having an even flow of cash coming in the home he has sporadic bursts. this doesn’t help when the bill collector calls and wants to know where the XYZ bill is. It also doesn’t help because he has no idea, oftentimes, what is coming in each month and what he is paying out. Without knowing this it is quite impossible to determine whether you are succeeding or failing in business.
When I spoke to my best friend the other day I suggested that she look into hiring a bookkeeper, or someone similar who could keep track of the monthly expenses and make sure that invoices were sent out when they were supposed to be sent out so that the family had a steady stream of income coming in.
As an independent contractor or a small business owner, you are busy doing what it is that you do best, whether you are designing web sites, freelance writing or building homes. This is a full time job. Believe me, I spend all of my waking hours working on something: my family, my home or my business. I drop into bed at midnight most nights and pop back up at 5 AM the next day. I barely have time to brush my teeth; taking care of financial statements is, unfortunately, at the back of my mind.
If you find that you are slacking in one area or the other because you are busy doing your job, it’s time to look outside of your company and find someone who can take care of some of the other jobs for you. One of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever received about owning a company was that you should always look for people that do the job better than you and have them do it for you whenever you can. If you are poor at financial planning, hire someone to do this. If you can’t stay organized, get a virtual assistant. If you work so much that you don’t have time to take care of the home, find someone to clean it for you. It may seem as though you are losing money because you are hiring outside help, but in the long run the time, effort and stress that you save will actually be worth the extra cash.