5 Tips to Prevent Your Business from Going Under

Small business owners and entrepreneurs are at more of a risk of failing than a larger corporation.  

Up to 50% of small businesses fail after five years, which is a daunting fact for aspiring and established business owners.

However, many precautionary measures can be taken to prevent any company from failing in their beginning stages as well as in the future.

Save

Saving may seem like an obvious tip to some, but most saving may not be at the forefront of your business module after it has been up and running for a while. The idea of saving is a very straight-forward concept and will allow your business to be more equipped for emergencies such as slow sales, store damages and so much more.

For example, if you aren’t gaining that much traffic to your store and conversions are low for that month, you may need to dip into a pool of untouched money to ensure your employees get paid for their time.

Cutting unnecessary expenses is also essential to saving money while in business.

Expensive marketing tactics, out of town conferences and unnecessary banking fees are all expenses that can be reduced or cut out.

Simple changes, like taking advantage of the digital world or opening up a second chance checking account, can help reduce costs instantly.

An online presence can help you save on marketing tactics,  gain more visibility, and increase your sales, which overall helps to eliminate those pricey, traditional ways of marketing.

Alternative online banking can help you avoid those hidden fees that quickly add up over time costing you thousands of dollars each year.

Swapping out the old way of doing things and staying up to date with the new ways of conducting business will significantly benefit your company and save you money.

Get a Credit Card

Credit cards are great for new and established business owners to obtain. They offer instant, available cash that will allow you to buy company supplies and any other immediate items your business may need.

However, it is critical to gain an interest-free credit card to avoid accruing more debt than necessary.  It is also important to not depend on your credit card for your business.

Pro Tip: Setting a lower charge limit will help you keep a steady hold on spending and keep you living within your means.

Restructure

Frequent analyses should be run on your business to see where you are currently performing well and to see where there are more opportunities to improve or thrive in.

Running a frequent analysis on your company when it is doing well as opposed to being at risk will allow you to stay ahead of the curve and in front of any changes in your field.

Review your current strategy and business module and conduct an honest assessment from there.

Take more time to identify what is happening in your business, whether that be issues with customer retention or hitting sales goals. Use your financial statements as a tool to accurately assess these issues and make a strategy surrounding that.

Utilize your employees’ strengths and match them to tasks that you need to be completed to meet a specific goal. This may cause some restructuring to particular roles and can help develop your employees quickly and place them in positions with more responsibility. Your employees may need to adapt soon, which can be a con, but it will allow you to identify the need to hire on more qualified candidates quickly.  

Continue to always think like your customer to find new ways to stay on trend so that you can continuously gain their support and service.

Seek Advice

Mentors, business partners, and other trusted experts are great sources to seek advice from. Having professional support as you start and progress through your business journey will allow you to turn around projects more rapidly and make management decisions more concisely.

Seeking advice also allows you to explore more options that you may not have thought of that can benefit your business in the long run.

Communicate Frequently

Remain open and honest with your business partners, stakeholders, and employees about any changes in the business or the market you are in. Lack of communication can lead to distrust between a business and its clientele, goals not being met properly, and even damage being done to your company’s reputation in the long run.

For this reason, it’s especially important that you remain open and responsive. Effectively communicating will benefit all parties in the long run.