For some it's a dreaded time of year. The time when you wade into the morass of figures, invoices, receipts and god-knows-what and hope to come out of it with at least some of the clothes still left on your back. It's stressful...especially for small business...and I love it!
Sure, reaching into that drawer marked "Danger: Do Not Enter" and coming up with handfuls of semi-faded paperwork that constitutes a massive percentage of how you spent your life this year and then having to sort through it is no fun task. Meticulously pouring over every business win and loss and re-living the financial ups and downs of twelve months can be disheartening...but it can also be an excellent motivator.
This tax season I have continued a tradition I started my first year of business, I took stock. Distilling all of the figures down into just one: Profit...and it's what I focus on above all else, and let's face it it's the figure that every small business owner is obsessed with. Profit is an ethereal thing, you think you're on the back of a great year and then BAM! third quarter, business goes quiet and you get hit with a tonne of expenses. Profit is gone. Alternatively, you may have had a slow start but you hit a streak and business booms the last half of the year. You're well in the red.
Now is the time when you can finally get a grip on your total profit, sit back, look at the hard facts and decide without speculation how great, or how crappy, a year you've had. Now is the time you get to make realistic targets for the year to come.
This is why I love tax season. The beginning of every financial year is a rebirth, a re-invigoration of the business and a new chance for it to excel. Putting aside whatever calamities may have occurred last year, getting out there and: Making It Work.
