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Hellooo!

Today we are getting all into keeping your business organised and running smoothly every month. This is the second post all about owning a small business, check out my first post all about the “do’s” and “don’ts” here.

Once you start a business, it is so easy to ignore all of the “boring” tasks, especially at the beginning. You can’t afford to, because you will need to get them done eventually so you might as well not let everything pile up. By following this business monthly reset, you will certainly keep on top of everything that you need to get done. If there is anything I may have missed, I would love to hear all about them in the comments!

This should take you only a couple hours! I’m not going to ramble anymore, it’s time to get your business in check!

MONTHLY BUSINESS PLANNING ROUTINE:

1. CALCULATE YOUR MONTHLY EXPENSES

The first step of your business reset is to go through your bank statements and create a list of all of your businesses outgoings. If you haven’t got a separate bank account for your business, this will take a lot longer to separate your personal and business outgoings.

Create a monthly expenses spreadsheet and note how much you spent and where. Once you are done, total all of your expenses and proceed with the next part of your reset.

QUICK TIP: IF YOU ARE JUST STARTING OUT, OPEN A SECOND BANK ACCOUNT (NOT A BUSINESS ACCOUNT) TO SEPARATE YOUR EXPENSES

2. CREATE A MONEY IN + OUT SPREADSHEET

After you have calculated your monthly expenses, place the sum in the “out” section of your spreadsheet. It’s up to you how you want to layout your spreadsheet. You may choose to have a space for your monthly charge by your site host (eBay/ Etsy/ Shopify), so it is clear how much they are charging each month.

Your template doesn’t need to be fancy at all, as long as you can clearly see how much money is going in and out that’s all that matters. Here is a template that I made for my business:

Having all of your businesses in and out handy is always great when it comes to taxes and all the boring stuff.

3. CHECK AND UPDATE YOUR SITE INVENTORY

At the end of each month, it is always smart to go through your site to see how much of each item you have left. Check to see if your site inventory matches how much physical stock you have, if not, update your site inventory.

Once you have updated your inventory you will have an idea of how much of each item you have left. If necessary, place an order to replace any stock you have run out of. You may have to do this step multiple times a month if your products are moving fast.

4. CHECK THE BACK END OF YOUR SITE

At the end of every month it is always a good idea to check the back end to make sure everything is working well.

WHAT YOU CAN START WITH:

• Make sure all your items are clickable
• Check shipping settings
• Payment options

5. NOTE + PLAN UPCOMING RELEASES

It’s important to keep on top of any upcoming releases you have coming up. Note everything down in your Google Calendar so you can plan out your content for all of your social media platforms.

6. CHECK SHIPPING SUPPLIES

Keeping track of how much stock you have left is imperative, especially if you want to ship your orders out on time. If you can, always try and have more shipping supplies than you need to be on the safe side.

QUICK TIP: KEEP AN INVENTORY OF YOUR SHIPPING SUPPLIES ON AN EXCEL FILE TO HELP YOU KEEP ON TRACK

7. ORGANISE YOUR INBOX

Being able to keep your inbox clear and organised throughout the month will save you so much time when you are doing admin. Create different folders for important emails so you can easily track them down when necessary.

If you would like more tips to have a successful digital detox, check out this post here!

8. FILE AWAY IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS + RECEIPTS

In business, you are constantly bombarded with paper, especially receipts. So you need to make sure you keep on top of all of your paperwork. Make sure to keep all of your important documents in a folder, well organised because you may be asked at any time for them.

QUICK TIP: TRY TO GO AS PAPERLESS AS POSSIBLE TO MAKE YOUR LIFE A LITTLE EASIER

You don’t want to let all of your receipts build up, so try your best to keep up with filing them away.

9. CREATE + UPDATE CONTENT CALENDAR

If you own a business, big or small, you know how important social media plays in getting your business out there. So, in order to make sure you are able to keep on top of all of your social media platforms, a content calendar will be your lifesaver!

Here is a example of part of my content calendar for my small stationery business, Do.dle.

Notion is a great resource to help you get your content for all of your social media channels organised, I will write a post all about Notion very soon.

And that’s it!

OTHER POSTS YOU MAY BE INTERESTED IN:

• BEGINNERS GUIDE TO GOOGLE CALENDAR + HPW IT CHANGED MY LIFE
• SMALL BUSINESS: DO’S & DON’TS
• 8 WAYS TO STAY ORGANISED AS A NEW BLOGGER| JUGGLING UNI + BLOGGING| FREE CONTENT CALENDAR
• HOW TO HAVE A DIGITAL DETOX BEFORE THE NEW YEAR