Erik’s Blog: Board Shorts and Business Suits

You may all be thinking about what your new year’s resolution is going to be. Blogging more, getting links, building a better business system. But what about the things you still need to accomplish before the clock strikes midnight on December 31st, 2006.

As I try and form my companies and build business systems, I’m beginning to see a lot of things that would just make sense to get done before the new year starts. This way I won’t have to go back with books and see where my finances deviate, where I should have bought a domain name under a DBA account, or where I should have set up that checking account before I decided to buy the computer.

I happened upon a list of 15 things and Entrepreneur should do before Years End over at Entrepreneur.com and thought I should come up with my own list. There list is great and some may apply to you, some may not. Like overhauling your website. Wouldn’t a new look for the new year be a great kickoff to jump start your traffic. Or how about their number 1 thing to do which is review your business systems.  Building a business that is self-sufficient is only as good as it’s worst system. How do your systems stack up?

These were all great and definitely extended my to-do list, but I have a little list of my own if you’re a budding entrepreneur that spent 2006 building assets (or liabilities) and wants to set yourself up right for 2007.

1. Form and LLC, S-Corp, or at least a DBA - One of the biggest organizational tasks that you can undertake while starting your own business is allowing the business to be a separate entity. This way you can look on as an outsider and see where your bucket is leaking because you’re spending too much money, or where you could increase revenues.

Having a separate bank account, entity name, and all that goes with it can help you be forced to organize better and keep your spending separate. You’ll never build a good business system if you look at your books and say, well I have enough to pay for that because I got payed today. Having a different account for each business will force you to at least recognize when your leaking money into a business that should be fixed.

Also setting up and LLC or S-Corp right at the beginning of the new year will allow all your tax filings to line up and you won’t have to think back about what you used to buy what. If you have a company account, that’s the only account you should use to do company business. Especially if you’re an LLC, or S-corp and not a sole proprietorship.

2. Get a P.O. Box - This stems from the first one that you want to keep your business separate from yourself. Setting up a P.O. Box at your local post office will help you distance yourself from your company. There only about $5-$10 a month depending on where you live, it’s cheap and it might be what your business needs to make it look official.

3. Update your books - It’s almost tax season and why would you want to start your new year off having to organize last years books! If you spend the end of the year organizing your accounting you’ll have momentum going into the new year and hopefully start it out on the right foot. You’ll be organized and ready to go.

I’m working on this right now and it’s helping me to decide where I want to split my “assets” up into different companies. I’m thinking of forming 1-3 companies for the coming year and knowing where my money went this previous year will be a big help.

4. Appreciate what you did - If you can’t appreciate what you did this past year, maybe you’re in the wrong business. I’m so psyched about all the sites that I’ve setup and the things I’ve learned in the process that I can’t wait to see what the new year brings.

If you’re stuck wondering what you did, reorganize and try and decide where you should focus your efforts. Not appreciating your accomplishments, big or small, will only make the task of creating a business that much harder.

Hope you like the list, and I hope I can get them done in time, only 19 more days! Feel free to add to the list in the comments.