If you own or manage a small business, it is inevitable that you will face stressful situations on a regular basis. From managing taxes, finances, carrying out tedious tasks and ensuring employee happiness are all aspects of a business that has the potential to cause stress.
In this post, we look at some of the most effective tips for a stress-free business.
Keep Your Taxes In Order
It is important that you keep your corporate taxes in order. A good practice is to have your tax return ready in time before you file it. Leaving it to the last minute can cause lots of stress and you may end up making mistakes, which could end up in a fine for your company.
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If you have a small company, you should consider hiring an accountancy firm to manage your tax affairs for you. This can help reduce your stress levels as it takes the responsibly of managing this aspect of your business away from you. It will also help to free up your time so that you can concentrate on the tasks that you love doing.
Manage Your Debt To Income Ratio
Some businesses need to borrow regularly to invest in stock and R&D. For businesses that require high levels of investment, it is essential that they are able to manage their debt to income ratio.
It can be argued that managing the finances of a company is one of the most stressful elements to owning a business. Below are some solutions to better manage company debt.
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Companies that use this type of business model, their management personnel would generally encounter high levels of stress as there is a lot of pressure to make sales or sell services to cover the debt.
Companies who encounter difficulties as a lack of sales and have debts that are due have to seek financial help or else face the reality of going bust. Rather than choosing to go down the route of bankruptcy, a company could look at debt consolidation. Debt consolidation is a solution for consolidating a number of business loans into one. There are companies throughout the US who offer this service and they also negotiate with creditors to agree debt settlements.
Debt consolidation is an option for businesses who are looking for a solution that provides relief from ultimately failing.
Use Automation Tools
There are going to be parts of your business that you are not going to like doing and some may stress you out. Luckily there are lots of automation tools available for you to better handle tasks.
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Some automation tools include email marketing software that can be used to bulk send personalised emails or have auto-reply emails when people message you though a contact form.
Messenger bots are another automation tool that has become popular with online eCommerce shops and for companies in the hospitality sector. A messenger bot can help customers who have common queries or direct them to different parts of your website based on the keywords used in their questions.
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There are also customer services apps that can automate and better organise customer services queries.
Various other parts of your business can be automated including:
- CRM
- Customer service
- Marketing
- Social media management
- PPC advertising
- Billing
Create A Happy Workforce
If you have a happy workforce, productivity increases and your employees will be willing to manage the important aspects of your business. When your employees are unhappy, stress levels increase in all levels of management as day to day activities wont run as smoothly as they should. Time is spent managing problems rather than working on production.
There are several solutions that can help promote a happy workforce in your company including showing interest in your employees, provide performance-based rewards, give employees autonomy over how they manage their tasks are all just simple ways that you can promote a happy workforce.
For companies with a large workforce, employing an employee wellness program is a great way to promote health and well-being among your staff. Employee wellness programs are also a great way to help performance and productivity.
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Those were some of the more common factors where your business may cause you stress. If you are suffering from stress as a result of managing your business, you need to pinpoint exactly what is causing your problems and deal with them accordingly.
