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Keeping your business books

What does “keeping your books” mean? In simplest sense, it means recording all financial activities that pertain to your business, including any expenses you incur, all the income you receive, as well as your equipment and tax deductions. The financial side of running a business also entails creating reports, such as profit-and-loss statements, that bank require if you apply for a loan. Such reports not only help meet financial institutions’ needs, but also provide you with essential information about how your business is really doing at any given time.

You can record all this information the old-fashioned way, by writing it down in ledgers and journals, or you can use accounting software. Because you’re making a commitment to using computers on a regular basis by starting an online business, it’s only natural for you to use computers to keep your books, too. Accounting software can help you keep track of expenses and provide information that may save you some headaches at tax time. And after you’ve saved your financial data on your hard drive, make backups so that you don’t lose information you need to do business. See Chapter 7 for ways to back up and protect your files.

Find and Hiring Technical experts

Conducting online business does involve relatively new technologies, but they aren’t impossible to figure out. In fact, the technology at this year is becoming more accessible all the time. Many people who start online businesses learn how to create Web pages and promote their companies by reading books, attending classes, or networking with friends and colleagues. Of course, just because you can do it all doesn’t mean that you have to. Often, you’re better off hiring help, either to advise you in areas where you aren’t as strong or simply to help you tackle the growing workload — and help your business grow at the same time.

Spending much money up front to hire a professional who can point you in the right direction can help you maintain an effective Web presence for years to come. Many businesspeople who usually work alone (myself included) hire knowledgeable individuals to do design or programming work that they would find impossible to tackle otherwise.

Do not be reluctant hire a professional help in order to get your business online. The Web is full of development firms that perform several related functions: providing customers with Web access, helping to create Web sites, and hosting sites on their servers. The expense for such services may be considerable at first. Choose a designer carefully, and check out sites they’ve done before. Tell them your plan of business, and spell out clearly everything what you want each page to do. Another area where you may want to find help is in networking and computer maintenance. You need to know how to do troubleshooting and find out how to keep your computers running. Find out if you have a computer expert in your neighborhood who is available on short notice.

If you do find a business partner, make sure that the person’s abilities balance your own. If you’re great at public relations and sales, for example, find a writer or Web page designer to partner with.