As a business owner, every minute of your waking and sleeping is dedicated to making sure you’re running a thriving business. We get it, it’s no easy task running your business on a daily basis but of course, that is no excuse to neglect the overall health of your business still.
This is why we’ve put together this small business checklist for your small business – check all the items on this list and your business is as healthy as it can be.
You must have a specified legal structure
Maybe you started off your business “just as is,” especially if it’s a small business. However, as you go on you’ll need to review that and adopt a more formal structure – is your business a sole proprietorship, a partnership, or even an LLC?
Adopting a formal structure helps to eliminate any inconsistencies or uncertainty. Also, a formal structure makes your business more attractive to creditors and investors in the case that you need for your business to grow.
You keep your competition closer
There’s no way you can survive in the Nigerian business space without having a good idea of what your competition is doing. What are they doing? How do they treat their staff? What is their competitive advantage over you?
Always be abreast of new developments in your industry or field so you can keep your business adaptive and you don’t get left behind as you go along.
You have a plan for different eventualities
Although there are situations that you cannot really foresee when you’re running a business, there are some eventualities that you can plan for.
For example, where your business will be in a year or two, what happens in case of a new economic policy (depending on your business environment and history) as well as your succession plan (depending on how long you want to run your business or if you want to sell it off after a few years.)
All these will increase your business adaptiveness and keep your business healthy in the long run.
We understand a lot of business owners don’t even have a plan for the next 1 month but the least you can do is a plan for a year as a small business owner, I know it’s hard to think about but trust me, this will make you focus and have better direction with deliberate actions
You have a financial council at hand
No matter how small or big your business is, you need financial advice to ensure that you make the right business decisions because even the smallest wrong decision can put your business at risk of extinction.
Good financial advice at every point in time will keep your finances in check, separating your business finance from your personal finance and ensuring your hard-earned money is allocated to the right needs and not being squandered.
When the time comes that you need good financial support for your business, trust that having this separation and clarity will come in handy as financiers like Thomas Gilts look at your books which are clear to determine how worthy your business is for a loan.
