If you recently opened your doors and are still wondering how to navigate the competitive waters of the modern economy, consider four tools that every new owner should have in their professional arsenal. Sure, every startup is different and has its own unique niche, but there are some needs that cut across every demographic. Here are the top tools preferred by today’s startup mavericks.
A Company Credit Card
At first, before your entity has any financial history, it will be hard to get a corporate credit card with anything but a small limit. But after six or more months of paying all your business’s bills on time, dealing with suppliers, customers, banks, and vendors, those low limits will go up. Avoid using personal plastic to pay for company expenses. Either use a debit card, cash, or whatever your corporate card allows. By cycling through the limit a few times, paying it off in full each month, and staying current on everything else, you’ll slowly but surely earn a much higher limit on this indispensable piece of plastic.
A Transcription Service
If you want the power to automate workflow, boost productivity, and export written copies of video or audio sources (like webinars, public appearances, radio interviews, etc.), a transcription is the way to get the job done. And it doesn’t matter what language the original content is in. For example. if you want French transcription, into text, from a television appearance you made at an international conference, you need a professional service that can perform the task quickly and flawlessly. And if your company is in one of the broadcast fields, that’s all the more reason to find a provider who can transcribe virtually anything instantaneously.
An Outsourced Accounting Provider
Unless your company is an accounting services provider, it makes good sense to hire out this increasingly technical component of corporate operations. No matter how small or large your enterprise is, there is much wisdom in outsourcing the three key pieces of the accounting puzzle, namely taxation, payroll, and budgeting. Of course, it’s possible to purchase software products that promise to help you do it all yourself, but avoid that temptation. Make the commitment to spend just a little more and have human beings with actual skills prepare your quarterly tax returns, deal with payroll, and create both short-term and long-term budgets that keep daily operations in line.
Inexpensive Space
For many newly minted entrepreneurs, the smartest way to save money on rent expense is to work from home. That’s not possible for everyone, but the good news is that there are low-cost solutions to this dilemma that doesn’t require turning the den or spare bedroom into an office. Most urban metro areas now feature share space, which is basically as clever way for commercial realtors to get the most out of their own inventory of small office units. In a typical share setup, you pay a lower than usual monthly rental amount for a single room in a corporate office park. The catch is that you share the place with someone else and have to agree to some creative scheduling. For plenty of people it can work well and should be on your list of ways to keep costs low during your first year or two of operation.