by Danielle Andrews Sunkel
Owning your own business is rewarding, challenging, exciting, scary, liberating and confusing. We often get caught up in what we need to do for our clients, our families and our business, but forget about things we need to do to protect ourselves or set up ourselves for the future. We tend to only think about the here and now and forget the ultimate goal is to build a successful buisness and career for the rest of our working lives.
Whether you have owned your business for 5 months or 5 years, here are 5 things you need to do for yourself right now:
1. Start an RRSP
You have to plan for your retirement. Without an RRSP you will have NO money saved for your retirement. I’m sorry to break it to you, you probably aren’t going to win the lottery and no one will buy your business for $5 million.
2. Get General Liability Insurance with an E & O Policy
You need to protect yourself and your business. Couples are getting way more litigious and if something happens at a wedding, it is not just the couple who sues, it is all of their guests too! Get insurance now. Now!
3. Start Deducting Taxes from your Income
You need to deduct at least 20-30% of all your income to remit in personal taxes at the end of the year. It’s fun having all the funds your successful business earns, it is awful to receive a $25,000 tax bill! Deduct the proper taxes from every single payment you receive from clients and thank me later.
4. Create a Business Plan
“If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” What are your goals, what are you planning to achieve, how do you define success? Without a business plan, you will not have a road map for your business. If you don’t set goals, and have a plan to achieve those goals you are kind of like a chicken with it’s head cut off, you have no direction.
5. Take care of You
Book that physical you have been putting off. Start that fitness regimen. Start eating healthier. You are your business and your business is you, so you need to be healthy and strong to run your business properly.
What would you add to this list?
Photo by Avenue-Photo.com
Danielle Andrews Sunkel is the Co-Founder of WPIC Inc. and the owner of The Wedding Planners since 2000. She has also been the Co-Producer of The Wedding Professionals Workshops since 2005. She has coordinated weddings, events and conferences in Canada, USA, Mexico, Jamaica, St. Lucia, Barbados, The Bahamas, Turks & Caicos, Ireland and Rome.
She is a regular guest expert on television, radio, wedding magazines and in newspapers. Danielle also speaks at several Wedding and Event Industry Conferences each year.
Great advice all around. Preparing a business plan is so essential in actually legitimizing a business – otherwise it is easy to end up having no real direction for even the distant future.