Practical tips for small business owners

I started my career working with small businesses in 1997, and started my first business in 2005.  Since then I have learned a lot, but I am still learning tips that make me stop and think I wish I’d known that earlier!

The following are a collection of some of the more practical common tips I wish I’d known earlier:

1. Always have 2 bank accounts with the same bank
2. Always take a deposit
3. Always carry business cards – always
4. Re-prioritise your to-do list daily
5. Regularly ‘brain dump’ – everything you need to do
6. Those annoying things that sit at the bottom of your to-do list – move three of them to the top weekly
7. Be aware of what your competitors are doing
8. Always ask for any design work in vector base (.eps and .ai)
9. Always move your VAT on sales into another bank account as soon as it clears
10. Ask for all intellectual property (IP) rights on all web/design
11. Keep all your passwords secure and together – including ones you think others should be keeping safe for you
12. Always back-up your systems
13. Check you have the right insurance policies that will actually cover you!

There are also some philosophical ones I think are worth reading:

1. Never make assumptions about day to day client interactions – what they think compared to what your think
2. The way to only get a wrong answer is not to ask the question
3. If you don’t value your product/service/time no one else will
4. There’s a big difference between knowing something and being told something
5. If you don’t market you don’t make it
6. Fail to plan, plan to fail
7. Always have a back-up plan

I would love to update these lists regularly – so please send me your top tips and best advice and they will get added to my next update!