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If you’re a business owner, you’ll have to wear a lot of hats to ensure your company is running smoothly. In some cases, you’ll be acting as the operations manager, the marketing executive, and the human resources manager. You’re faced with lots of important decisions, and some of these decisions have a profound impact on the success of your company.
There are five main crucial decisions your business will likely have to make in some form or another in the coming year. Here are some of the situations you may face, as well as some possible solutions to help move your business forward.
Financial Decisions
As a company owner, you’ll face financial decisions every day. You’ll need enough money to sustain a startup, create a marketing budget, and have a payroll in place to pay your employees. Once your business is established, you’ll also need to decide how to handle daily cash flow and acquire assets to bring more value to your company. Depending on the state of your company’s finances, you may also be wondering “should I file bankruptcy?” Making the decision to file could help you repay your business debts in a way that is manageable for your company. If you don’t opt for bankruptcy, you can meet with an accountant to establish a repayment plan that is within your budget. It’s also important to keep up with financial trends in your industry so you’ll get insight into how to spend and save your company funds.
Structure Decisions
Once you decide that you want to open a business, you’ll need to decide how to structure your company. You can choose from a sole proprietorship, general partnership, and limited liability business model. It will depend on how many people you have working for you and the types of products or services you’re offering. Each of these structures has advantages and drawbacks and specific rules concerning income taxation, profit, and liability. You may also want to change your business structure at some point. You may need to work with a consultant to ensure that the changes will be beneficial for your company.
Strategy Decisions
These decisions are long-term and will help generate profits for your company for years to come. Your strategic decisions can include how to develop new services and products. Or whether you should collaborate with other businesses for joint ventures that will benefit all involved parties. These decisions often involve considerable risk and you may have to spend some money to put these strategies in place. Structural choices can also help to change the way customers see your business. The feedback from consumers could give you the pointers necessary to make the right changes to your marketing and sales strategies.
Manpower Decisions
The people you hire are one of your company’s greatest assets. It’s important to choose colleagues who are qualified, skilled, and committed to customer service. You should also make sure that the people you choose to be on your team know how to get along well with others. They should also be willing to undergo continuous training. Even though you may have the final say on business matters, you need a team of people who will help you meet your company’s goals as efficiently as possible.
Operational Decisions
Company owners have to make choices on how the business will run every day. You need to make sure that administrative duties are handled in a way that meets company objectives, without taking up too much time. Operational decisions also include finding the right suppliers and choosing distribution channels for your products. The way your business operates has a direct effect on your profits and operational costs which should be sustainable for your company.
These business decisions have a huge impact on the future of your company. The way you handle your finances, the staff members you have to bring your company’s vision to life, and the innovative and creative marketing tactics you implement are all vital to your business’ success. Implementing these decisions is easier said than done, and you may find that you need to revise some of your choices after you put them into action. It’s important to consider every decision you make for your business carefully so you can set your company up for success for years to come.
