Do you ever feel like you are reinventing the wheel with your home business or at least that you forget what worked so great for you last month and have to relearn it? I find that, especially with tasks and activities that do no occur daily (maybe things you only have to do once a year–like taxes), it is easy to figure out a great system and then forget it in the interim until you have to do it again. Even though your business is likely small–if you have something that is working well, it might make sense to standardize it and make sure that you do not have to figure it out again and again.
What do I mean by standardize? It really means creating a system and an accepted and expected way of doing something. Let’s take taxes for example–if you come up with smooth way of doing them: record all revenue and expenses in bookkeeping software, create a file folder system for saving receipts and invoices, mark on the calendar when you should receive all your tax forms and papers, make an appointment with the tax professional, etc. If you set a date a year in advance for when you would like to have your taxes prepared and sent off, and then create a simple timeline to get you there, you have standardized the process. Then, you don’t have to panic every year a week before the tax deadline. Additionally, if you pay any estimated taxes, making a plan for how to make those payments and keep track of them and doing it the same every year will make your record-keeping much easier.
Whatever it is that you have come up with a good system for, consider getting it down on paper and standardizing it. There is a difference between a routine and a standardized procedure. I know that many of us love our home businesses for all the reasons that they are not like a regulated and policy-drenched traditional company, but a few standardized processes and systems might make our businesses run incredibly smoothly.
Also: How Long Should You Keep Your Business Records?
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