Unless you have an accounting/bookkeeping background or interest, one aspect of business that many small business people find hard to manage is their accounts. And June and July are obvious times for getting your accounts sorted – in Australia anyway!
A lot of the time it is simple – if you have systems set up and the time and energy to sit and concentrate on it. You simply record all the expenses you have (copying information from invoices and receipts) in one place and all your income in another place – whether the different places are separate sections of your system or just different columns.
Lots of elements go into business accounts – it’s nice when they all fit!
But what happens when those unusual situations arise? Personally, I ask my accountant how to record something – although now days my bookkeeper manages it and usually knows how to deal with details anyway. How do you deal with the trickier accounting tasks?
But I did come across Tilda Virtual’s advice on how to include barter arrangements in your accounts – and she made it easy to do.
Of course, some people would ask why would you bother – bartering is just between two people and doesn’t have to be entered into business accounts. However, if you have purchased materials, how do you account for their use in a bartering relationship? Many businesses find it is necessary to record barter transactions to keep everything in order.
More importantly, barter arrangements are still counted as part of your income as far as the Tax Office is concerned. So with Kylie’s accounting tip and this new knowledge, you can record any bartering you do in your accounts.
Over the weekend I attended the second weekend of a training course. One session was on communications as part of relationships, and the instructor said something that stuck in my mind.
He said “emails are for facts, never emotions”.
[Tweet “Emails are for facts, never emotions”]
So, you can write an email “We will meet at 5 pm” or “Please write me a promotional article on woggles.” And it is ok to write something like “I am upset – can we please talk about it?”
Using the phone is often better than email for emotional issues
I had never thought of it quite that way, but it is a good point. What you write can be misinterpreted, especially when emotions are involved, which can cause more problems than you already have. It is also harder to write clearly when you are feeling emotional so you are more likely to be negative than constructive.
If there is an issue to resolve, it is much better to deal with it face to face or via the phone than in an email. For one thing, tone of voice can impact on the understanding of the message and for another, it is more immediate – there can be delays in replying to each other via emails and that can also add to confusion, misunderstandings and problems.
And don’t think this is just referring to personal relationships. If there is an issue between you and a supplier or customer, grab the phone or arrange a meeting and get the issue resolved.
For a business situation, it isn’t just a matter of smoothing relationships either – it is your business’ reputation and having emotions in writing can be used out of context to your detriment.
So a simple rule to add to your business model – keep emails for facts, not emotions!
Use your words wisely.
*Image courtesy of Frugo at 123rf
There are many pairs of words that sound or look very similar, but they can mean very different things. There is no easy way around these words, you have to learn them as you can’t rely on spell checkers and the like to pick them up every time.
One such pair of words is advice/advise.
Advice: Opinion given or offered as to action, counsel; information given. (noun)
As a business coach, I sometimes give advice to my clients.
Advise: Offer advice; recommend. (verb)
I advise you to wear a hat when walking in the desert.
So I advise you to take care with words. And my advice is to learn the correct use of each word.
How can you remember which is which?
“I give you advice and I give you ice” will help you remember which word is the noun.
* Definitions from the Concise Oxford Dictionary
Next time you are complaining about the stirring of your mates or the complaints of your Boss, you can say you are copping some flak and feel like you are being shot at! But be careful you don’t write you are copping some flack as that may be wildly misinterpreted!
Flack: (noun) press agent or publicist
The movie star relied on her flack to manage the press conference.
Flack: (verb) to act as a PR or press agent
Flak: (noun) anti-aircraft artillery or bursting of shells fired from anti-aircraft artillery;over the top and/or aggressive criticism; opposition, disagreement. {Flak is derived from the German name of aircraft defence gun – Flieger Abwehr Kanone}
The politician was copping some flak over voting against his party on the carbon tax issue.
Simply remember that a PR agent always adds a little extra – like the letter c in flack!
One of the factors influencing your happiness and success is the environment you find yourself in – and you do have control over it.
I recently read a blog post by Donna-Marie which reminded me of the impact people have on your life. I honestly believe that if you surround yourself with positive people, you will have a more positive attitude and are likely to find solutions and opportunities. Which of course means that if you spend lots of time with negative, no-hope people, it is much harder to reach your potential and feel happy.
This can impact many of your choices, such as:
Who you associate with can even impact on your writing style – positive people use words like “can”, “will”, “value” and “ideas” which inspire you and make your writing positive, too.
Have you ever experienced an obvious change by changing who is around you?
I once knew some people who couldn’t help themselves from lying and adjusting perceptions to maintain their view of reality. Their behaviour made me uncomfortable and I didn’t like being unable to trust them, so I made a conscious decision to not associate with them. There was actually a great sense of relief when they were no longer part of my life, and I have taken care since to choose who I spend time with whenever possible.
The definition of tolerant is to be accepting of things and perhaps able to endure unpleasant things. However, to be not tolerant can be expressed two ways depending on the specific lack of tolerance being discussed.
Intolerant: Not accepting, allowing or enduring something/someone to exist without interfering, complaining or hindering.
A racist person is intolerant of other races living in their country.
Intolerable: A situation that can’t be endured or continued.
After time a worker may find it intolerable to work 100 hour weeks and be criticised by their boss.
Think of the two words like this: He is not able to tolerate a situation but the ant chooses to be intolerant.
Back in April, I wrote about cuboree – a camp for Victorian cubs and leaders. I wrote that I expected to be able to use cuboree as examples in business behaviour and strength.
As I mentioned, cuboree was affected by strong winds that have since been called a cyclone. The entire campsite of about 4,500 people (mostly 8 – 10 year olds) was locked down for an entire afternoon.
It was certainly an experience to remember and thankfully there were no major injuries, but it wasn’t something anyone had expected or hoped for!
There were various things put in place over the storm period that kept us all safe. For instance, leaders were told a storm was coming the previous night so we could prepare our campsites and warn the cubs in the morning that there would be strong winds. Programs were adjusted to suit the conditions and regular updates were provided to pack leaders. The fact that there were high wind rated marquees available, as well as permanent buildings, shows how the organisers had planned for problems. The cuboree website was already in place so it was simple for the camp to keep parents and others ‘at home’ informed about the cubs, rather than having 3,000 parents ringing or visiting the campsite.
In business, being prepared for possible problems is called contingency planning and is very important. Planning doesn’t mean you think the problem will arise, but makes it easier to deal with the problem if it did arise. It’s like having some paracetamol in the cupboard – you may never get a headache but if you do, you want the medicine quickly.
Contingency planing depends on the size and potential impact of the problem. For instance, running out of ink for the printer is probably covered by having a spare cartridge in the cupboard and ordering a new spare once it is used. However, the plan for how to cope if your business premises are burnt in a fire will be a lot more complex and detailed.
Some contingency planning is simple and practical – having spare ink for printers, spare light bulbs and a first aid kit – while others are much better if written out and added to the procedures.
How much contingency have you planned for in your business? Have you done this formally or just built up a supply of spare materials for instance?
I would love to hear some examples of how contingency planning has saved your business in some way, too.
Have you ever noticed how changing one word can totally change a document or someone’s understanding?
I don’t mean where the wrong word is used accidentally (for example, a typing error changing boy to buoy) but where an appropriate word doesn’t work as well as intended.
Sometimes the word doesn’t work because of the audience. For example, I have seen Australian children (and adults actually!) struggle over American books when they write about pacifiers (dummies) and diapers (nappies) – that’s life if the author was aiming at American children, but bad judgement if the author was aiming at Australians.
Often, however, a word is used that has hidden meanings that can detract from what you were actually aiming at.
I recently had a discussion about the word therapist versus counsellor. While both words can describe a person you talk to about issues and (hopefully) get some insights and direction from the sessions. However, people perceive the two words in different ways – do you? Personally, a therapist implies someone who will help fix a problem (compare to a speech therapist or physiotherapist) but a counsellor is more about working through ideas or situations. So which word is best will depend on what message you are trying to give.
Another example is calling goals or targets ‘milestones’ instead of goals. Michelle of Shel Design was struggling with the concept of setting goals – to her, the word goal implied a final step whereas setting milestones was easier as they were just part of her business process and development. In this case, the word goals was appropriate but had certain hidden meanings for people like Michelle – when writing, those hidden meanings are important to consider, too.
When reviewing your writing, consider your use of words – are some of those words going to mislead some of your readers? Are there hidden meanings you haven’t considered?
Use your words wisely!
Did you know that compliment is not the same as complement? They actually have quite different meanings so using the wrong word can make a reasonable sentence into nonsense!
compliment – expression of praise, greeting, positive comments
She complimented the floral arrangement on the table.
complement – to complete or make a whole
The new couch complements the room nicely.
Can you see how complete complementary things are as a reminder for which spelling to use?
It is now June and the end of financial year is rapidly approaching – are you ready for it?
Here are some of the things I am considering at the moment to maximise my position at 30 June. Is there anything else you do at this time of year?
By preparing now, you may decrease your tax liability and be ready to start the new financial year with a clean slate.
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