by Don Simkovich

Created on: January 31, 2011

Setting up a business system and running it profitably is the hardest part of owning your own business. If you have a vision, understand thoroughly why customers will pay for the service or product, and are willing to spend every day managing the overall operation then owning your own business is for you.

When you’re hired to work at a company, you have a specific task to achieve. It may be complex like managing a sales force or a technical team, but you still have a specific role to fill. But when you own a business, the success or failure is your responsibility and you must constantly make strategic decisions in relation to the Big Picture: whom should you hire; is expanding the employee base the right move; what outside forces may impact sales a year from now; how will tax laws or other policies affect profitability?

As a business owner, you must learn how to manage time and resources differently than an employee. Pulling together sets of teams can offset the burden that comes from being the one in charge. Having a mentor, or informal advisors, can give you an objective perspective that would otherwise get clouded with the demands of each day.

If you are a one-person operation, then find someone in your field who has been successful and ask for their input on a once-a-month or once-a-quarter basis.

If you grow the business to have more than ten employees, then you may hire a professional employer organization to get input on topics ranging from health laws, retirement accounts, and how to legally hire and fire independent contractors or employees.

You may know how to use a financial software program but you should still have both a trustworthy bookkeeper and a Certified Public Accountant (CPA). They provide different roles to assist in the operations. Hiring a bookkeeper is important to keep daily receipts, expenses, and income in order. This person should alert the owner and a management team of potential financial concerns and profitability. A bookkeeper may only need to work a few hours per week to keep the financial accounts in order. A CPA will audit the business to ensure compliance with tax laws and help with financial forecasting.

You may not know much about marketing or sales. But if you’re running the operation you must understand why customers are purchasing from the company or why sales are being lost. Hiring a consultant to develop a marketing message and translate it to print and to the Internet may prove necessary to attract new business.

Owning a business means you have to understand where your strengths lie. You need to focus on what you do best and then bring in those who have specific skills to handle other tasks. They should be able to take initiative and report promptly to you when faced with challenges.

Once you build a structure, you can then manage it by communicating with each of the specialists. Then pause to evaluate the operation on a regular basis. You can measure sales on a monthly basis. You can take a close look once every six months or once a year to make sure the corporate mission statement is being followed in the operations.

Having this structure in place does not mean owning a business will be easy. But it will make owning your own business more manageable and hopefully profitable.

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