{"id":3209,"date":"2018-08-23T11:27:09","date_gmt":"2018-08-23T15:27:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sinalite.com\/printersuccess\/?p=3209"},"modified":"2025-05-28T11:50:39","modified_gmt":"2025-05-28T15:50:39","slug":"7-financial-best-practices-of-successful-small-business-owners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sinalite.com\/printersuccess\/7-financial-best-practices-of-successful-small-business-owners\/","title":{"rendered":"Seven Financial Best Practices of Successful Small Business Owners"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Running your business without comparing it to others is like going to a hockey game and looking at your team\u2019s score but not the opponent\u2019s score. How do you know how well you are performing unless you compare to others? That is the essence of benchmarking. In this article, we will be discussing financial best practices from a 2017 study entitled <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Self-Employed Professionals and Small Business Owners in America<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. The study of 1700 small business owners found that only one in four owners used all seven best practices.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Internal benchmarking <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fariaderm.com\/suplementos-para-la-salud-sexual-masculina\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">focuses on performance that<\/a> is typically operational or financial. Best practices are one type of benchmarking that looks at leading companies and tries to identify common denominators. Below is a graphic that summarizes the results and what follows is an explanation that groups the tips into best practices categories.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_3210\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3210\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"small business financial\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3210\" height=\"353\" src=\"\/printersuccess\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Small-Business-Financial.png\" width=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sinalite.com\/printersuccess\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Small-Business-Financial.png 600w, https:\/\/sinalite.com\/printersuccess\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Small-Business-Financial-300x177.png 300w, https:\/\/sinalite.com\/printersuccess\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Small-Business-Financial-370x218.png 370w, https:\/\/sinalite.com\/printersuccess\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Small-Business-Financial-270x159.png 270w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-3210\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source: Self-Employed Professionals and Small Business Owners in America 2017<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2>2 Best Practices were related to finance and budget<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">69% regularly review finances<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">47% maintaining budget<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Business 101 recommends that companies create a budget every year based on the goals of the business (how much you want to make), where the company is today (income, balance, debt, assets, liability, etc.) and how much it costs to achieve the goal. Business 201 recommends that companies monitor how well they are meeting that budget and Business 301 says make adjustments to ensure you meet as much as possible. Leading companies create budgets, monitor budgets and make adjusts to help maintain budgets.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>3 Best Practices were related to taxes<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">64% establish optimal business structure for liability and taxes<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">65% maximize tax write-offs and deductions<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">52% save appropriate amount for taxes<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When money is tight, it is not unusual to have checks earmarked for specific purposes. However, the best strategy is to immediately take a portion of each payment and put it away to tax payments. Between 30%-40% is a good rule of thumb for small businesses. This can be put into a business savings account. If you want to stay up-to-date on the latest tax write-offs and deductions you should consider setting up a Google Alert for \u201csmall business tax write-offs.\u201d<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In terms of the best business structure for liability and taxes, that is usually done when you start the business. At that point you need to research multiple websites. For Canadians, those include the <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cbo-eco.ca\/en\/index.cfm\/starting\/getting-started\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">getting started page<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cbo-eco.ca\/en\/index.cfm\/starting\/business-structures\/business-structure-which-one-is-right-for-you\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">business structure page<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and maybe the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.canada.ca\/en\/revenue-agency\/services\/forms-publications\/publications\/t4012\/t2-corporation-income-tax-guide-chapter-1-page-1-t2-return.html\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">income tax guide<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. <\/span><\/p>\n<h2>1 Best Practice on reducing debt<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">50% proactively reduce debt<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">An article entitled \u201cFive Ways to Reduce Small Business Debt\u201d on the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/quickbooks.intuit.com\/r\/managing-debt\/5-ways-to-reduce-small-business-debt\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Quickbooks site<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> says that poor credit management, lack of money and personal use of business funds are the top reasons <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/quickbooks.intuit.com\/r\/psychology-of-success\/small-business-failure-rates-an-optimists-view\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">why small companies fail<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. The five tips they suggest are:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rework you budget if possible and adjust for changes in cash flow<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Reduce expenses by suspending or eliminating non-critical fees<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Increase sales by offering discounts or incentives<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Delay and prioritize debt payments<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Work with debt structuring firm to create a hardship letter<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>1 Best Practice involved owners paying themselves a salary<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">49% pay themselves salary from business earnings<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Not all owners pay themselves but there are good arguments for paying yourself. Of course, there are tax implications that depend on your business structure too so check with your accountant. <\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Here are the some of the advantages of paying yourself.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Psychologically it is what we are all used to, and it provides an incentive when you earn money as opposed to a motivation to quit when you are taking money out of savings. <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The money in the business is needed to grow the business and pay expenses, salaries and wages, taxes, equipment, rent, utilities etc.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You will likely fly under the radar of the taxman. Drawing a regular salary is considered normal. Drawing nothing for a period of time and then withdrawing an unusually large amounts draws attention. <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Investors, banks and finance companies tend to look favorably on business owners who show consistent earnings and wages as opposed to occasional earnings and wages. <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Why Adopt Best Practices?<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There are no guarantees of success in business, but there are strategies that significantly increase your chances of success. Measuring performance, benchmarking, and adopting best practices are ways of increasing your chances of not only surviving but thriving.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you\u2019re a small business printer who wants to lower costs:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Check out our article \u201c<\/span><a href=\"\/printersuccess\/five-tips-for-lowering-costs\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Five Tips For Lowering Costs<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Visit <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/sinalite.com\/en_ca\/tools\/index\/redirect?page=home?utm_source%3Dblog%26utm_medium%3Dps%26utm_campaign%3Dprinters%26utm_article%3D048%26utm_content%3DSinaLite\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">SinaLite<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. We offer outsource printing services at competitive, wholesale prices so that you can reduce production costs and grow your profits.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Only one in four small business owners use all seven best practices.<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3216,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[168,11],"tags":[148],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>7 Financial Best Practices of Successful Small Business Owners<\/title>\n<meta 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