Andrea is a problem solver for hire. What does this mean?
- Making sure you’re running your business by the numbers.
- Streamlining daily procedures – KISS.
- Helping with HR.
- Helping with marketing.
- Streamlining other operations.
Andrea explains:
Running by the numbers:
I start by making sure you are running your business by the numbers. What does this mean? You need to have a good accounting system and use it.
When you have a good accounting system:
- You can make good business decisions based knowing what everything costs and how much income you’re making.
- You already have a good portion of the financial part of a business plan done.
- Your accountant’s bills should be lower come tax time.
- You can quickly print out a balance sheet and P&L for your lender if you need a loan.
- You should be able to easily tell if an employee is skimming money (which is really easy in a cash business like retail).
Streamlining daily procedures – KISS:
While I’m making sure the numbers are correct, I’m also looking at the daily procedures for capturing those numbers and doing your work. Sometimes the simplest way is not entirely obvious. I always try to use the KISS principal (Keep It Simple, Stupid).
For example, if you use a POS system (point of sale) for your business, often your POS doesn’t talk to your accounting system. Translating the numbers from the POS to a form that the accounting system needs is not always obvious. What I often do for my clients is make a simple spreadsheet where you type in the daily numbers up top and the journal entry you need for your accounting system is automatically calculated for you. Then, I create a memorized transaction to make entering the journal entry easy. By doing this, you can hire a less expensive person to do the daily entry for you – you don’t need someone who understands accounting to get these numbers into your system correctly.
Helping with HR:
Having the wrong people in your business can create many problems. Most business owners don’t know how to get what they want from their employees or they wait too long to remove someone that isn’t working out. I am good at mentoring employees to help them improve. I can quickly spot when you have someone you should just let go. When employees aren’t doing their best, the business can suffer financially.
If your business is big enough to offer health insurance, I can help you analyze which plan(s) work best for your business.
Helping with marketing:
Having worked with many small businesses, I often know good ways to market. Sometimes social media is the way to go, sometimes it isn’t. A good website is usually necessary, but not always. Different networking groups work better for different businesses.
Streamlining other operations:
I have common sense, which isn’t so common. I can just watch things work and often find ways to do it better or more efficiently.