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An online profile helps establish you as a business, reviews help demonstrate other people have used (and appreciated) your services, and keeping your profile up to date can help reinforce to homeowners that they’re dealing with a professional outfit.

To put it simply: would you be more inclined to visit a restaurant where the latest Trip Advisor review was two years old, or one where the most recent review was just two weeks old?

The average person sees 2,000 marketing messages every day*. Because of that, a single piece of advertising has to work hard to be heard. And when it does manage to cut through the noise, it’s not always trusted.

To establish trust, you need to focus on user reviews. Around 88% of consumers say that they trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. That’s compared to just 63% of people trusting TV ads and 60% trusting newspaper ads**.

Why? Because they’re the closest thing to the most trusted form of advertising – word of mouth.

Why improve your online visibility

Every business should have an online profile of some sort. Not only is it easier to showcase user reviews online, the way people search for tradespeople has changed over time.

Homeowners no longer rely solely on friends’ recommendations; instead, as mentioned above, many go online to find a tradesperson for their projects.

As with any business, you go where the customers are and for tradespeople, a lot of work can now be found online.

Reviews help build your online visibility

Unless a homeowner has heard of you before, they’re most likely going to go to a search engine like Google to find a tradesperson.

As just one search can yield thousands of results, you need to make sure you’re doing all you can to make Google aware of who you are.

Otherwise, you won’t appear anywhere near the top for the type of searches you want to be found for.

If you’re not being seen, a customer isn’t aware that you exist and has no way of knowing that you’re the best person to help them with their job.

The latest stats suggest that seven out of every 10 clicks in Google search results go to the top five results*. Do you appear in the top five results if someone was to search for your trade in your local area?

Google also says that ‘ads with star ratings get 17% more clicks than ads that don’t,’ and the same applies to the rest of Google’s results. People now recognise what those stars mean. It’s a way of earning that trust, and it’s a way of helping you win more work.

Check who’s talking about you

Check how visible you are:

1) Search your name/the name of your business on Google, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

2) Set up a Google alert for your company so you get a notification each time someone mentions you.

3) Search for your trade in your area; e.g. plumbers near me/plumbers in Rochester.

Do you appear? If you don’t, who does?

Tackle your reviews to build your reputation

Good reviews help you win work, so don’t be shy to ask for them whenever you’ve completed a job. Explaining why reviews are important to your business can help encourage a homeowner to give you feedback.

If you happen to get a review that doesn’t paint you in the best light, keep in mind that even the best companies can get negative reviews; it’s how you respond to them that counts.

Take the feedback into account – if a customer feels that you didn’t deliver what you said you would, how can you improve for next time?

We found that a number of studies*** believe that perfect online reviews are too good to be true. So, whether you feel a comment was fair or unjust, replying to it calmly and putting your side of the story across is a form of good customer service, which can work in your favour with potential customers.

Support your online presence offline

Once you’ve got a handful of online reviews, make the most of them by including them in your offline marketing. Put reviews on flyers or add them to your calling cards.

Though, remember that even if you add reviews to your offline material, many customers will still check your reputation online before they hire you.

Make sure you’re as focused on building your reputation online as you are offline.

Nowhere is this more clear than with inventory. Specifically, tracking and accounting inventory during the busiest online shopping time of the year.

We’ve put together this list to help give you a leg-up as your 4th quarter ramps up to hectic holiday levels…and make sure your sanity stays intact as you enter the new year.

1. Understand the Bare Minimum

If you want your business to be profitable, a tracking system is *not* optional. Ideally, I would suggest purchasing an inventory program that would help track count and value and sales along the way. (More about that in #2.) A good inventory program not only makes the process of calculating your ending inventory easier, but it also allows you to evaluate your profit per SKU (more about that in #3) which would help you manage your products and become more profitable quicker.

But even if you’re just using a Google spreadsheet, you need to start getting your SKUs listed and costs input so that on the 31st, you can count your inventory. Put those amounts on your inventory sheet, total it out, and remember to add the in-transit items that have been purchased but not yet received. The total of this spreadsheet will represent your inventory at 12/31. Boom—you’re done.

If your business is eCommerce, its health almost solely relies on your decisions with inventory (and the sale of those items). Consequently, knowing your numbers and cost breakdown on each SKU is absolutely vital.

2. Get a Good Software Program

Despite the multitude of software programs out there to help with inventory tracking and accounting, a lot of them are simply not robust enough to handle the volume and capacity needed. While there are a few really robust programs, these tend to be cost-prohibitive for most small businesses.

But never fear! Our tool connoisseur Jess has done the research for you, and she recommends InventoryLab as being a great choice for MOST small to mid-size eCommerce sellers.

Of course, the best software in the world won’t work if you’re not using it right. Where a lot of eCommerce sellers mess up is in accounting for “in transit” products. These are the products that you’ve *purchased,* but have not received and recorded into your inventory system.

Needless to say, you need to track these items. After all, you paid for them—you owe it to your business to know where your money went!

It’s easy to track these “in transit” items in your inventory management system. Just enter them in under an appropriate category/status tag. , clients feel a good old-fashioned spreadsheet will do. Just make sure that you set up a reminder for yourself that this category is part of the inventory number when making adjustments until you get used to the new routine.

3. Track Your Inventory Every Month

It’s enough to make us weep when we see some owners putting off their inventory tracking until the end of the year (or even way after the year’s end). Waiting until after the end of the year results in an inaccurate inventory value because owners are usually estimating or recreating what happened earlier.

You know that feeling where you’re in a time crunch and trying desperately to remember numbers from weeks ago? That’s the feeling you can prevent by keeping track of your inventory each and every month.

But wait, there’s more! By spending a little time each month on inventory tracking, you can match your expenses with your related sales and evaluate what your profitability is for each item. This attention to inventory details is your key to making operational decisions that will grow your business and allow you to improve the bottom line and overall profitability of your business.

4. Understand COGS

Tracking your inventory plays a big role in calculating your income tax. For tax purposes, inventory must be valued at “cost,” not “sales price.” The IRS wants to know the cost of the products you sell along with the cost of the labor that goes into them. This is known as cost of goods sold…or COGS, the cute acronym we accountants call it by.

For eCommerce retailers, cost of goods sold (COGS) includes the cost of the products purchased, the cost of shipping those products purchased to you, returns, and seller fees (for Amazon sellers). This is the formula we use when determining our clients’ gross profit (total revenue minus direct costs) as part of our Profit First financial planning system.

Now, it’s not uncommon for inventory systems to be maintained without loading the actual cost per unit. As a result, your program will calculate the value of the product based on the retail price of the item. But to get an accurate COGS, you need to track the true cost per unit at the time of purchase.

How do you do that? We’re glad you asked.

The cost of the products is calculated by taking the total purchased and adding (or subtracting) the change in your inventory value from the beginning of the period to the end of the period. Below is a simple example to illustrate the calculation for you:

Beginning inventory value $ 25,000

Products purchased $ 75,000

Ending inventory value $(18,000)

Cost of Goods Sold $ 82,000

See how tracking inventory is super important here?

5. Start Next Year Now

It only takes one gnarly year to realize the importance of tracking inventory throughout the year. But the key in getting it done is making a plan to get it done.

As we say so often, you need to “make a meeting with your money.” For a retailer, that means scheduling a firm date at month-end (at a minimum) to do your inventory counts. Whether for you this means running reports or counting warehouse items by hand, you know it’s going to take some time and effort. So brew some coffee, put on some motivating music…and get. it. done.

Depending on the amount of inventory you’re handling, it might make even more sense to pick a a regular day of the week to update those inventory records. Or you just might start enjoying this quality time with your money that you do it every day. Nothing wrong with that! The more time you spend tracking your inventory each day, the less time you have to spend at the end of the month (and year).

Bonus Tip:

I know this might sound crazy, but…

If you’re like most eCommerce sellers that I work with (and I work with a lot) I would suggest limiting the items you sell.

Don’t hit me. Here’s why:

The goal of every eCommerce seller is to increase profits, right? And we can all agree that it’s a whole lot easier to manage 10 products than 100. So evaluate your products that are most profitable and sell the best and start concentrating on those items.

I totally get “casting the net wide” when starting out. But as you continue in your business, the data should be driving you to move from good buying decisions, to better buying decisions, ultimately putting you in the position to know without doubt what the best buys to secure are.

Studies show that January is almost always the leanest month for most companies as they cope with poor cash flow and increased outstanding debtors — not the most auspicious start to the new year.

So here’s how to minimise that stress and maximise cash flow even at the height of the silly season.

Organise your elves

Who actually issues and chases your invoices year-round? Establish who’s in charge ahead of schedule and make sure they know the unique challenges of getting paid over the Christmas period.

If that job is handled by someone other than you, work with them to identify priority cases, set up an early payment incentive scheme (more on that below) and go over the important dates that need to be taken into consideration (including the days they’re working!).

Christmas can come early

Christmas time (along with Hanukkah and Kwanzaa) are not the time you want to be waiting till the end of the month to issue your invoices.

If you haven’t sent last month’s invoices yet, send them now. For small businesses, Christmas ‘tis the season to be fastidious, so be extra explicit about payment dates and offer a discount if they pay before close of play December.

There’s no shame in saying you’re chasing invoices early because it’s Christmas, so actually say that when you’re making contact. If your customers haven’t already realised that the holidays are a difficult cash flow period you may just be giving them a much needed wake up call.

Make a list (of your most important clients) and check it twice

Just because you’re not closing your doors until the 23rd doesn’t mean others aren’t shutting shop earlier. Face the fact that there are likely to be cash flow disruptions over the holiday period and prioritise collecting on your most important invoices. Get in touch with significant clients early and once you’ve sent that invoice, follow up a day or two later to make sure they’ve got it. Ask them when they intend to pay and offer an attractive incentive to do so.

Save your letters for Santa

There’s little point in issuing paper receipts or enveloped reminders in 2016. Accounting software like Xero, MYOB and Intuit QuickBooks all give you the opportunity to send electronic invoices in lieu of paper ones quickly and efficiently. After that, invoice chasing software like Debtor Daddy lets you send electronic reminders with the click of a button (and automatically after that), so there’s no excuse to be fussing with confusing paper trails.

Electronic communication puts you directly in touch with the person paying the bill (which reduces admin and streamlines processing) and increases efficiency for your credit controller. Similarly, encouraging your clients to use electronic payments (preferably with multiple payment options) rather than mailed cheques will help keep the ghost of outstanding invoices from haunting you in the new year.

Giving and receiving…

And it all goes the other way too. Give your creditors an early gift by paying them before the Christmas shutdown. They’ll thank you for it and that good will may just spill over into next year’s business.

Debtor Daddy politely and persistently reminds your customers to pay. Set-up takes just three minutes, then with just a few clicks, Debtor Daddy is on the job. When an invoice is due, relax. Debtor Daddy follows up with perfectly crafted email reminders that get results, meaning you can get back to what you love.

With landmark strategies in use by over 16,000 clients in 30 countries and two bestselling books to his name, “Accounting Practices Don’t Add Up – why they don’t and what to do about it” and “Remaining Relevant – the future of the Accounting profession,” Nixon is the lead speaker at Firm of NOW, an international touring conference that delivers the latest research and thoughts on practical steps and necessary tools needed to create a leading accounting firm.

Why did you want to run your own business?

I am very goal-driven. I have 174 life goals to complete. Collectively, they all involve having lots of time and having lots of money. If you’re in a job (which I heard stands for ‘just over broke’) it’s hard to have the time and the money. Life is for living not existing, and for me and my family that means having amazing experiences. Starting a business should come from passion of a cause, making a difference or just wanting to create wealth. A business should fuel your life not be your life. For me it was the only option. PANALITIX is my seventh startup. It’s also the best one!

What was the hardest thing about getting started?

Capital. I have started most of my companies on my credit cards – very expensive capital. However, it’s capital that is there and can be used. As the credit increase letters would arrive from the banks I would always accept the new increase. I figured I could use it now, make some sales and pay it off later. These days with crowdfunding, angel funding and maybe venture capital funding it’s easier than ever (provided you’ve got a great idea that helps a lot of people solve a lot of problems) to get started on other peoples money.

What has been the most rewarding moment?

When my existing client base started investing in my business. At the time of this interview we have 110 clients who are investors. They believe in what we’re doing, love what we’re doing and want to be part of it. It’s very humbling to have your clients / customers be your investors.

What’s the one piece of advice you would give someone else about to start their own business?

I am going to give two pieces of advice:

1) It sounds cliche’, but if you have a passion, you’re committed and believe you can do it then just do it and play full out. I meet so many people who keep a job whilst they start a business. They’ll succeed very slowly – if at all. I have started five of my seven businesses on credit cards when I couldn’t afford to. I’ve left jobs to start businesses and left businesses (that I was an equity holder in) to start businesses.

2) You’ve only got one ass, you can only ride one horse at a time. I know the likes of Sir Richard Branson or Elon Musk have multiple businesses – but they are not the norm. I’ve met Sir Richard a number of times and he started with 1. Now he has 400+ with a a full formula and management team to run them. The regular Entrepreneur is not wired up this way. It’s about FOCUS – Focus On one Course Until Successful.

UK’s lagging productivity tackled

At Xerocon London 2016, we raised the issue of UK’s productivity problem and the importance of SMB productivity to the health of the overall economy – Hammond’s statement that the UK currently lags behind the US and Germany by some 30% demonstrates the reality that it takes a German worker four days to produce what we make in five. In turn, this means that too many British workers work longer hours for lower pay than their counterparts.

The announcement of a £23bn Productivity Fund fund is overdue, but a move in the right direction. Funding transport, digital comms, R&D and housing, it’s vital that the government recognises the issues behind the UK lagging badly behind the US, Germany, France and Italy in efficiency. Combined with the implementation of Sir Charlie Mayfield’s review of business productivity by providing £13m to help businesses improve management skills, this could be the start of an improved and more efficient UK.

The £400m VC fund injection will help companies to remain British owned

The growth of UK new tech companies is vital for the long term – particularly since the result of the referendum was announced. Too many great British technologies are acquired before they fully develop – DeepMind, the AI company founded in Cambridge in 2010 and acquired by Google in 2014 is a great example of this, as is the recently sold Skyscanner.

Now more than ever, we need more companies like DeepMind to emerge and remain British owned. Fund injections for VCs to invest in formation and growth is exactly what is needed to help make this happen, however, it’s something that must be spearheaded by Government too.

5G development – the right investment?

In the age of the cloud, online speeds are now paramount to productivity and economic growth. A trial of 5G mobile communications is a welcome investment for many, but current internet speeds for many areas across the country are still shockingly slow.

For rural small business owners 3G connection leaves a lot to be desired, which is why the £1bn investment to roll-out more full-fibre broadband by 2021 is a welcome proposal. An investment to improve current infrastructure will have a more immediate benefit for all small business owners across the country rather than simply those in built up areas, leading ultimately to the benefit of the UK’s economy.

For this reason, Xero recently surveyed more than 1,200 former and current small business owners in the U.S. to gain a better understanding of what sets millennials apart from their older counterparts when it comes to starting and running a small business.

The results are indicative of a generation raised during recession and rapid technological advancement, and show what you need to know about their expectations in order to attract and retain millennial clients.

They’re cautiously optimistic about the future

Understanding what motivates millennials to start their own businesses is perhaps the most important piece of the puzzle when it comes to developing your firm’s approach to servicing this generation. Watching dedicated workers losing their jobs during the financial crisis seems to have changed the way millennials view the corporate world.

Our survey found that, for 52 percent of millennials, being their own boss is one of the greatest motivators for starting their business. Further proving how shaped they were by the recession, 22 percent of millennial entrepreneurs cite fear of unemployment as the driving force behind their entrepreneurial bids – that’s double that of respondents aged 30 to 50.

Forty-nine percent of millennials remain cautiously optimistic about the growth of their small businesses. This reflects their need for guidance and support from their accountants and bookkeepers. By using cloud accounting software, which automates manual processes like data entry and makes reporting as simple as the click of a button, you have more time to provide those advisory services across all of your clients – including millennials.

Millennials are cloud leaders – and you should be too

Growing up exposed to a proliferation of technology, millennials are building their businesses using applications and software that were unavailable to baby boomers when they were the same age. Cloud technology, giving small business owners the ability to run their business from anywhere at anytime, has proven a boon for millennial entrepreneurs in more ways than one – the use of which has come to be an expectation for this group rather than a desire.

Millennials are turning to cloud technology to run key business operations at a much larger rate than baby boomers – as evidenced by our survey results. More than one-third of millennial entrepreneurs run the majority of their business in the cloud, while only one-fifth of baby boomers do the same.

The mobile nature of small business ownership today is seeing more young entrepreneurs do their bank reconciliation, send invoices and check their cashflow on-the-go – while they’re waiting in line at the grocery store, riding in the back of an Uber and even traveling abroad – all from their mobiles. The flexibility given to millennials by cloud technology has even shaped how they measure their businesses’ success – 79 percent view a healthy work-life balance as a key indicator of how well their business is doing.

Having a schedule conducive to travel is the second most important success benchmark for 67 percent of millennial small business owners. Both of these results indicate that utilizing and emphasizing the use of cloud accounting software is important if you want your services to resonate with this generation. Millennials expect to be able to collaborate with their trusted advisors from wherever they are on any device.

Meet them where they are on social media

Early exposure to social media means that millennials are more inherently versed in the ins and outs of these networks. For this reason, 62 percent of millennial small businesses choose social media as their channel of choice for one-to-one customer communication.

So when it comes to attracting and retaining millennial clients, it’s important to not only follow their lead but meet them where they are. This is shown in our survey results, which found that social media is their preferred method of communication with their accountants and bookkeepers.

Keeping in touch with your millennial clients via social media, coupled with collaboration using cloud accounting software, is key. By doing so you can be part of the conversation with your customers as well as the added advantage of being able to check in with them when necessary and provide immediate responses to their urgent questions.

Millennial small business owners are unlike any of their generational predecessors. By understanding what motivates them, collaborating with them on cloud accounting software and communicating with them via social media you’ll be able to meet the accounting needs of this often-misunderstood generation.

You can read the full report here.

Large companies like Motorola, Hewlett-Packard and others use the same basic concept but refer to their programs by different names. Nevertheless, small manufacturers and other small businesses can reap the benefits of the just-in-time approach to control inventory costs and maximize the value of the inventory they have on the floor.

In a nutshell, a manufacturer contracts with a supplier to maintain inventory levels of raw materials and other supplies needed for the manufacturing process so the manufacturer doesn’t need to. This helps lower production costs by reducing the cost of the inventory they carry, and helps increase efficiency throughout the manufacturing process, allowing the manufacturer to potentially lower costs to their customers. The same basic concept can also be applied to anyone who needs to stock inventory or otherwise has a supply chain.

Because this model is primarily a manufacturing model, we’ll use the manufacturing process as an example. Finding success with a just-in-time approach depends upon three important components:

1. A disciplined manufacturing process.

In order to successfully incorporate a just-in-time methodology, you’ll need to ensure you have complete control of all your production processes. The entire assembly line needs to be in sync and you can’t afford errors in production. Tight inventory control is crucial because if the part isn’t there, the assembly line stops—making downtime expensive both in terms of production and manpower.

This means repeatable processes must be in place to ensure that your employees keep track of what’s being used and what’s needed, so that there’s enough inventory to meet your manufacturing goals.

2. A good supplier relationship.

Lowering your warehouse costs by reducing inventory requires an excellent relationship with your suppliers. These suppliers will assume the costs of maintaining inventory while ensuring that the supply chain of inventory is readily available and deliverable to you when you need it.

Creating an excellent relationship with your supplier requires some forethought. As such, there are some things you should consider when negotiating with suppliers. For example, instead of thinking of how to achieve the lowest price on purchasing inventory today, the just-in-time methodology requires you to think longer-term. By creating contracts with suppliers to guarantee inventory delivery over the long term (think in terms of yearly—or longer—contracts) a small manufacturer can ensure they have readily available inventory when they need it at the lowest price possible. This is not only good for your business, but a potential win for your suppliers who enjoy the benefit of guaranteed business over the course of a 12-month or longer period.

The just-in-time approach also has the potential to reduce waste by eliminating parts or raw materials that become obsolete or otherwise unneeded within your manufacturing process.

3. The right technology.

Implementing a just-in-time methodology today is much more accessible than it might have been 50 years ago when it was introduced by Toyota. Technology makes it much easier to monitor inventory levels in real time and instantly communicate with suppliers to properly manage inventory levels within the manufacturing process.

The Internet makes it possible for what was once very expensive technology to be accessed by small businesses at relatively lower costs. Barcoding parts to track inventory usage makes it easy for you and your suppliers to keep track of inventory levels. The Internet makes it possible for your suppliers to see, in real time, whether you need more component parts or raw materials, enabling them to act quickly to get you what you need.

The just-in-time model requires a close, even intimate, relationship with your suppliers. As such, communication with your supplier is critical. Utilizing the right technology is critical in maintaining an open line of communication with your supplier. This will likely mean your suppliers will need access to your production schedules and instant notifications of any changes that would either increase or decrease your production.

Taking a just-in-time approach could be a great way to increase the efficiency of your manufacturing process. To determine if it’s the right approach for you, you’ll need to ask yourself a few questions:

1. Do you produce a predictable amount of products every day, week or month? Can you predict how much inventory in parts or raw materials you’ll need during your production schedule? If not, a just-in-time approach will be difficult to adopt.

2. Are your suppliers willing to stock the inventory you need and make smaller, yet more frequent, deliveries? Are they willing to negotiate favorable terms for the guarantee of long-term commitments from you? Can you rely on them to give you quick access to the supplies you need?

3. Are your employees willing to adopt new systems and technology that initially may add a step or two to what they are currently doing within your manufacturing process?

4. Are you willing to invest in the technology and tools to monitor your inventory and communicate with your suppliers so they have visibility into your production schedule and can seamlessly manage your inventory?

Although a just-in-time methodology is a popular way to help businesses manage costs and increase profits, you need to evaluate whether or not it’s right for your small business and determine if you’re willing to make the investments required to implement it. Fortunately, the technology you need is more accessible than ever before.

A few months ago we set up an innocuous little survey on the WorkflowMax blog to help us understand our customers’ pain points better. We wanted to create more targeted and relevant content that would address their issues directly (and maybe even bring a smile to their face as they scrolled past the occasional GIF and bad pun).

One of the issues which keeps cropping up in the survey responses is that of time management. More specifically…not finding the time to do everything!

Harvard Business Review calls to-do lists “a million dollar opportunity”. This post discusses how re-thinking the humble to-do list can give you back your time. So whether you’re a compulsive list-maker, a serial productivity app downloader, or simply want to know what NOT to do when it comes to to-do lists and productivity, read on my friend, because this blog post is for you!

Mistake 1: You’re collecting apps

“Finding the right tool to track your to-dos is highly personal, and one person’s best is another’s junk” – via Lifehacker

Whenever a new productivity app hits the store or gets a glowing review in Netted, you just know it’s going to solve all of your problems. It’s beautiful, well designed, and has already racked up a few decent reviews. Of course you download it immediately, have a quick play and then, because you have tons of stuff to do, figure you’ll get back to it later.

Only you never do (you’re too busy!)…and thus into the graveyard of productivity apps your new toy goes, quickly outliving its moment of glory. Trust me, I know the feeling – only instead of “to-do” apps my vice is fitness tracking apps. So let’s break the habit together!

Here are some tips to help:

• Clear out the apps you’re not using; Pretty basic right, but just like your room needs the occasional once over, so does your phone. Why use up precious space with unused apps that only create clutter and confusion?
• Get familiar with the app’s features; These days most apps come with tutorial videos, support documentation (depending on how complex it is), testimonials and contact details for help.

Mistake 2: Out of sight out of mind

This is easy to do if you’re guilty of Mistake 1 as well. Downloading a bunch of productivity apps, grouping them into a meaningless category called “productivity” and then promptly forgetting about them is counter-productive.

So what should you do?

• Minimise the number of apps you have (refer back to tips in 1)
• Make sure your app(s) are easy to find on your preferred device (e.g. not hidden on the 5th window of your iPhone’s hoem screen!)
• When sorting apps into folders or groups, make sure to choose a logical naming convention!

Mistake 3: You’re trying to do everything

“The longer your list, the less you accomplish” – Wired

I know making lists can be addictive; the more to-dos you add, the more productive you feel. But are you compulsively adding everything to the list, regardless of whether or not it’s appropriate? And then padding it out with excessive detail?

A to-do list shouldn’t be endless (think about how daunting that would be!) and definitely should be specific. Consider the difference between “Finish Project” as an item on your list and “Finish Webpage Layout Draft 1”…!

Here are some tips to help:

• Try delegating your tasks. A great manager or project lead knows how to let go of control and empower others in the team. Assigning tasks to staff members is one great way of doing this or using the collaboration feature your tool offers.
• Be brutal. Is everything on the list really necessary? If you don’t want to delete it outright, at least archive old lists so they’re hidden away from sight but still there if you need them.
• Ask if there’s a better way. For example, could you leave a quick post-it note on a colleague’s desk, rather than input a specific “action item” in your list? Or could something be resolved by a direct conversation?

Mistake 4. You’re not organising your list

If you’re not prioritising the items in your list how will you know where to start? Trying to do everything all at once is a surefire way to set yourself up to fail.

Some apps give you the ability to “pin” tasks to the top of a list, add colour categories or even offer the option of tagging with hashtags for easy searching and filtering.

My favourite way of keeping my lists nice and tidy is to have a master group and sub-tasks or categories within it.

Our supremely organised product team uses Trello to provide a big picture overview of upcoming releases; they group projects by due date, such as “immediate”, “within two weeks” etc. Anyone assigned to the card gets notified when a change occurs, and you can open up the card to dig deeper for more detail.

Mistake 5: You’re not setting reminders

When you’re trying to keep on top of multiple jobs, deadlines and milestones, setting basic reminders is incredibly useful. Most planning/scheduling apps have this functionality – so make sure you’re taking full advantage of it! In WorkflowMax notifications can be created to alert you when:

• The state of a job changes
• New tasks, notes or documents have been added to the job
• The actual time on a job or task is approaching or has exceeded the estimated time
• he due date of a job or task is approaching or has exceeded the estimated due date

Tip: When creating notifications try not to have too many or include the wrong people in a notification. The more relevant a notification is, the greater the chance it will be read and actioned!

Mistake 6: You’re using someone else’s system

“There’s task management methods that’ll fit you perfectly—and others that’ll never work for you no matter how hard you try” – via Zapier

All right, can we just pause for one second and recognise that we’re all different, beautiful unique human beings. Hallelujah.

Sure, streamlining the way your team communicates is important, but for personal workflow management, there often is no “blanket solution”. Are you more of a visual person? Do you need to have a physical system offline? Does an endless 10 page Excel spreadsheet do your head in?

Understanding your way of working is the first step to finding a solution that’s right for you!

Zapier put together a comprehensive guide on the best apps for personal task management – head over there and compare the reviews to your heart’s content. But my top 5 favourites are:

• TeuxDeux; Great if you like a visual overview of your entire week in a calendar format, this “simple, designy to-do app”, lets you add to-dos as you go and check items off as you complete them. If you didn’t quite manage to get to everything, unfinished items will automatically be moved to the next day.
• To Round; Are you a visual thinker? Want a to-do list that’s more entertaining? Try this neat little app, which lets you create tasks as bubbles and prioritise by bubble size.
• Todoist; With the motto that “Keeping life in order shouldn’t be this hard”, Todoist is a simple and flexible productivity app that helps you “spend as little time as possible organizing and more time doing”.
• Google Keep; Require a great deal of flexibility? This app lets you capture your thoughts in any format. I love how simple, visual and effortless it is – you can collect and organise anything and everything, easily drag and drop notes to reorder them, capture, edit, share, and collaborate on your notes on any device, anywhere. The design is minimal and uncomplicated, designed to help you work at your best.
• And well…good old fashioned pen and paper. Vogue said it perfectly when it stated “there’s still something about a crisp new planner that is just irresistible”. So if you’re more the daily planner/diary type, there are plenty of inspirational options to get your hands on. Check out Kikki.K’s gorgeous collection of notebooks and planners, Mi Goals “get shit done” books, Good F*cking Design Advice, or of course Moleskine’s extensive range of notebooks.

At the end of the day, a to-do list is there to serve you, and your workflow process, to help you remember, organise and prioritise your tasks. By re-vamping your to-do list and steering clear of the 6 mistakes we mention, get your time back so you can keep doing what you love!

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You may wish to consult a legal professional to help you with all the legal requirements that you must comply with, such as licences and registrations, contracts and leases.

If you need legal advice on a business issue, then the online Small business legal help guide  may help. It covers problems you may encounter such as contracts, employment, fair trading, leases, insurance, credit and debt recovery, finance and tax.

We’ve outlined six legal issues below to help you when starting your business and ensure you remain compliant.

Business registrations

All business owners in Australia have to register before commencing any business activities. As well as registering a business name, there are a variety of taxes that can impact on your business that you may be required to register for. These may include:

• an Australian Business Number (ABN)
• the Goods and Services Tax (GST)
• a Tax File Number (TFN)
• Pay as you go (PAYG) withholding.

Read our Registration and Licences topic for more information on what and how to register for to meet your tax and business obligations. There are other registrations such as registering for a domain name or registering a trade mark that may be applicable to your business. If you’re operating as a company, a different registration process applies than if you were a sole trader, partnership, or trust. Read our Register your company page.

Licences

If you operate a business, it’s likely you’ll need certain licences to make sure you’re complying with your legal obligations.

The Australian Business Licence and Information Service (ABLIS)  can help take the guess work out the licences, permits and registrations needed to run your business. You can search the ABLIS to find government licences, permits, approvals, registrations, codes of practice, standards and guidelines you need to know about to meet your compliance responsibilities.

The licence or permit you require may depend on the product or service you’re selling. You’ll need to find out whether there’s a licensing requirement for your particular business, or you may face fines or other difficulties.

Businesses selling products for consumption as food, for example, could need a Food Business Licence. However, there may be other licenses that aren’t so obvious, so it’s best to do some research into this area. Licenses and permits can vary from state to territory, so it’s best to find out this information from your local, state/territory, or federal government, to ensure you’re doing the right thing. Search for your state and business type in ABLIS today.

Privacy Act

A new set of privacy principles was introduced in March 2014. The principles cover how a business handles personal information, including the:

• handling and processing of personal information
• use of personal information for direct marketing purposes
• disclosing of personal information to people overseas.

Privacy Act 1988 obligations from the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner  (OIAC) website. You’ll need to be aware of your obligations under the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs). Check out theOAIC  website to see if your business needs to comply. Try the 9 Step Privacy Checklist for Small Business  to find out if it applies to your small business.

Anti-bullying laws

People who believe they’re being bullied in the workplace can apply to the Fair Work Commission  for help in resolving the issue.

Bullying occurs when a person or group of people, repeatedly behave unreasonably towards a worker. The behaviour also has to be deemed a risk to the worker’s health or safety. Read our Employing people topic for more information.

Download the Anti-workplace bullying guide  (PDF, 130KB) to find out more about bullying in the workplace.

Independent contractors

Independent contractors are self-employed and provide a service to a business.

They often negotiate their own payments and working arrangements, and have the opportunity to work for a range of clients at any given time.

Before entering into a contract, you’ll need to determine whether someone is classified as an independent contractor. Their status will affect their rights and obligations. It’s possible for someone to be an employee for some work and an independent contractor for other work.

You also need to remember that it’s illegal to fire, or threaten to fire, an employee if they don’t agree to become a contractor.

It’s important to know whether you’re hiring an independent contractor or an employee, so you can be sure you’re complying with your legal obligations.

Try our Contractor decision tool to find out if someone is more likely to be an independent contractor or an employee.

Unfair dismissal

Small businesses have different laws compared with larger businesses when it comes to unfair dismissal. Most small businesses (those with fewer than 15 employees) will fall under the Small Business Fair Dismissal Code .

If you are planning to terminate an employee, it’s important you follow the rules outlined in the Code.

What to do…

• Read the Small business legal help guide .

• Search the Australian Business Licence and Information Service .

• Read the Guide to privacy for small business  publication.

• Refer to the Working with contracts  guide for assistance with writing up business contracts.

• Consult an experienced business advisor, accountant or solicitor.

• If your business deals with chemicals or plastics, you can get an overview of regulatory requirements by reading the Department of Industry’s Chemicals Business Checklist 

• Read the trade measurement page if the price of your goods is based on measurement of quantity or quality.