FLORIDA SMALL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT CENTER AT IRSC
10 RESOLUTIONS FOR SUCCESS IN 2020
TCBusiness.com 33
It’s been a good year for most small businesses.
The economy remains strong, and
you all are a relatively optimistic bunch.
Still, every business should take the time
to look at what went right — and not so
well — in the past year and then create a
road map for the New Year. It’s about setting
your business up for success in 2020.
Treasure Coast Business Magazine has
consulted the experts and compiled some
tips for making your business stronger in
2020, some big moves and some small.
This is a holiday buffet so consider the tips
most appropriate for your business — or
write your own. You can call them New
Year’s Resolutions if you wish, as long as
you stick with them better than you will
stick to your diet or your vow to hit the
gym every day.
1. Take the time to look back before
looking ahead.
What were your goals in 2019? Did you
meet, exceed or fall short? What do you
most wish you had accomplished but
didn’t? What was your greatest success
and what can you take away from that?
What was your biggest failure and what
did you learn?
These are not easy to answer, so take
your time. Look back at your sales and
customer data — and involve your team in
the discussion.
The Florida Small Business Development
Center at Indian River State College has
several outstanding financial management
programs for the Small and Midsized
Enterprises (SME).
The first is our Business Accelerator
Program (BAP) that is a 10-week program
given in both Stuart and Port Saint Lucie. It
includes classes in:
• Understanding Your Financial Statements
• Time Management
• Customer Relations
• Social Media Marketing
• Human Resources
• And many others
The second is Profit Mastery. This is an
advanced program designed to give the
entrepreneur a more in-depth view of
your financial statement analysis. It will
take you through a step by step analysis
and show what to look for in your financial
statements and how to compare them to
your industry standards.
Both these programs can be found on
our website at www.IRSCBIZ.com.
2. Make sure your company is cyber
safe.
Just recently Wawa was the victim of a
massive cyberattack. The City of New Orleans
was, too. But it is not just big companies
and governments that get attacked;
in fact, small businesses were the victims
of about half of the recent cyberattacks.
They just aren’t making the headlines.
Here are some tips:
• Regularly back up your company’s data.
• Create a firewall that prevents outsiders
from accessing your private network.
• Invest in the latest security software, web
browser and operating systems on your
company’s computers.
• Set antivirus software to scan regularly.
And keep your operating system updated.
• All the technology in the world may not
save you if employees aren’t trained to
not click on suspect emails and to monitor
and alert you about warning signs such as
slowdowns, mysterious emails or pop-ups
and missing information.
• Develop a plan for how you will respond
if you are attacked, including alerting customers
of the breach as required by law, if
that is the case, and managing the PR risk.
The Florida SBDC at Indian River State
College and other SBDC offices around the
state have launched a Cybersecurity Basics
for Small Businesses program.
3. Review your vendor contracts and
look for other ways to trim costs.
Start off the new year by auditing your
spending.
Get new quotes on business expenses.
For example, have an agent review your
insurance policies to make sure you’re not
over insured or have duplicate coverage.
Review your vendor pricing. Shop
around to see if you can find goods and
services at better prices — assuming that
the quality and delivery are comparable.
Also, ask your vendor for a discount off
the product you are buying. For example,
you negotiate a discount of 2 percent for
paying an invoice within 10 days, substantially
reducing your Cost of Goods
Sold (COGS) over a year. Invoices equaling
$300,000 over the year could result in a
$6,000 net income increase.
Use technology to create efficiencies
and cut costs. Are you still mailing out bills
to your customers? Offer some type of
discount or credit to customers who opt
for email invoicing. Going paperless will
reduce postage and staff costs. Automate
as much as you can in your office.
Finally, look at all your software and
subscriptions. Do you use them?
4. Now’s the time to reduce high-cost
debt.
The Federal Reserve instituted three rate
cuts in 2019, and rates are about as low
as they can go. If you have high interest
BY NANCY DAHLBERG
Michael Bernard’s consulting experience comes
from his work with several international accounting
firms in their management consulting
departments working with Fortune 500 companies
throughout the United States. He has also worked
for several local and regional accounting firms as
both a manager and principal in charge of their
consulting operations in the South Florida area
before opening his own management consulting
company in Miami.
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