Getting Healthy

Recently, my staff and I decided we wanted to get healthier. We each set our own personal goal for getting healthy and we shared our goals with each other - everything from walking a certain number of steps every day to losing weight. We even set up a tracking board (in the breakroom, of course) to track our successes and challenges. You notice I said challenges, not failures! Just the fact that we have identified our goal and stated our intention is a positive step. We are confident that by the end of December, we will be well on the way to accomplishing our goals.

We have started to share healthy recipes and we are bringing in healthy snacks. We are even working on finding a fun walk/run we can all particpate in.

So what have I learned so far?

It's not going to happen overnight.
I will backslide occassionally and that's OK.
It's hard to eat healthy when you travel a lot.
Any positive change I make is going to make me healthier.
I really do like fruits and veggies!
It's hard for a night owl to change habits and get more rest!
It's more fun to walk with someone.
If Drew Carey can do it, so can I!

Any suggestions are welcomed!

Step One: Get Organized!

If there is one thing I've learned while running a small business, it's that nothing gets accomplished without organization. While there must be room for "creative feedom" in most industries, simply being organized makes a huge difference in the every day and long term operation of the business.
When starting a business, in many cases, one begins with a great idea. A person sees a market need or comes up with what they believe to be an amazing service or product and they are ready to hit the ground running! While this drive, passion, and ambition is admirable it's imperative that this innovative businessman or woman step back and make a step by step strategic plan for the future. They have to get organized!
Whether beginning a new company or maintaining a current one, disorganization can be a huge issue.
Financial disorganization can cause the biggest problems. Here are a few simple bookkeeping tips on how to get and stay organizing and avoid finding yourself or your business in a finacial mess.

1. When it comes to bank account statements:

• Request a statement with month-end cut off date. This will save time when reconciling records with the bank statement each month.
• Do not file statements and canceled checks without reviewing them.
• Review statements immediately for unauthorized checks.

2. Cash or accrual?

• The cash accounting system is typically much easier to maintain
• The IRS allows you to use the accrual system if you have $5 million or more in sales or if you carry large inventory.

3. Keep audit trail.

• This is just a record of all your invoices and checks in numeric order.
• Be sure to never skip numbers.
• Record voids in numeric order as well, just mark them as "void". This assures that there are no gaps in your numeric system.

4. Deposit cash right away. This ensures that all income will be properly recorded.

5. Keep records stored on a computer system. It's important to frequently back-up this information and may even be a good idea to keep paper records as well.

Some of the most important things to remember, but easiest to forget, are simple, basic principles like be consistent and don't overcategorize. The best strategy is to have a structured system of staying organized from the beginning, work it into employee training, and do what you can to maintain the organization of your business.

(Some information in this blog was found at http://www.onlineorganizing.com/. See the site for more information and tips on organization!)