Have regular live video check-ins and meetings. Talking over the phone has its positive sides, but your employees will feel more connected to each other if they can actually see their co-workers faces. Tools like Google Hangouts and Skype make it easy for the staff to see each other and engage remotely. Make sure to plan a mandatory weekly virtual meeting at a set time, and add more as needs come up.

Find common interests staff can connect around virtually. Remote staff might not be able to go out to lunch together, but they can still connect online through a company culture and shared interests. Encourage staff to watch an online lecture or see a movie that's in theaters worldwide that reflects the company culture, and discuss it as a group at the next staff meeting.

Plan an annual in-person retreat. It's important for virtual workplaces to connect in person occasionally. Create a rejuvenating and fun annual retreat where your employees can connect and relax in person together for at least a few days. All of the money your business is saving from not renting office space will help you afford periodically bringing in your staff.

If your business needs any help with financial management and bookkeeping, contact us. We work with small businesses and entrepreneurs with a wide variety of unique cultures.

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For accuracy that leads to financial savings, one of the best decisions your company can make is to outsource the company's back office. An outside team not only helps your finances through reducing expenses and fees at tax time, it saves you all year round. For most small business and entrepreneurs, the day-to-day expenses of hiring an employee are far greater than contracting with another business.

These are four ways using an outsourced company will reduce your company's operating costs:

It's important to have a good business plan for your company, but not all business plans are created equal. The best business plans stay sharp, clear, focused, and manageable. Unfortunately, many business plans instead are vague and unrealistic. Business guru and manager Peter Drucker invented the principles behind SMART goals, goals intended to be more easily achievable for individuals and businesses. When you follow the SMART rubric when creating business goal plans, your business is more likely to succeed.

Here’s what to focus on as you create a SMART business plan:

Being a solo entrepreneur, or a small business with just a few employees, can feel a little lonely sometimes. Not having to answer to a boss, and the opportunity to work from anywhere is great, but having a small business culture gets a little difficult.

Fortunately, there's a solution to the loneliness. Did you know that you can work next to other solo entrepreneurs and small startups for a reasonable price? Co-working spaces allow small companies to work together, alongside each other, for less money and more opportunities for fun than traditional office space. At most spaces, you have the option to rent unreserved space, dedicated desks, or even private offices.

Here are three ways a co-working space can help you build an office culture:

It's closing time on the last day of a long string of seemingly endless busy days. The last customer walks out the door. As the lock clicks behind them, there is a collective sigh of relief. Another great holiday season is wrapped up (pun intended) and high-fives abound!

As wonderful as that is, the work for an owner/manager is far from done. Now is the time to begin planning how to make next season just as spectacular. With so many things yet to be done, there are certain priority items that need to be checked off the list before you start right in on the next go 'round. Listed below are 3 top items to invest in after the busy season.

It's easy to get bogged down with your business when you're an entrepreneur. Long days that lead into late nights, business trips across time zones and a diet that consists of eating whatever you can grab as you rush from one meeting to another can wreak havoc on your physical and emotional health. If you're an entrepreneur fighting stress, it's important to remember that you need a break.

Here are 5 easy ways entrepreneurs can take care of themselves:

Starting your own business was the easy part. Leaving it behind at the end of the day? Much, much harder. Entrepreneurs spend an AVERAGE of 55 hours a week making sure their business continues to thrive. They wear every kind of hat from accountant to janitor, and rarely ever take it off. But this is where the problem lies. Family life can suffer from the long hours, and forget about staying in shape! And then comes the burnout.

Below are three easy ways for entrepreneurs to take care of themselves:

When I talk to anyone considering change, I always ensure they are in the right mindset and understand the pain this transition might bring. I like to ensure everyone is fully prepared for the change they are about to undertake and ensure nothing has been underestimated. It really is a mindset change.

Mike Tyson once said, "everyone has a plan until you get punched in the face."

Going to the Gym
As a regular gym goer, I compare the move to Xero like going to the gym for the first time.
Take for example the Christmas and New Year period. You have spent the summer eating and drinking, relaxing and enjoying time to yourself. You’ve more than likely gained a few extra kilos and become complacent. Because why the hell not? Your friends and family are off work for the holidays, so you let your hair down. This is comparable to using your current method of accounting; it is familiar and comfortable, as you have used it for sometime.

Then reality hits and it’s time to set New Year’s resolutions. You have all these fantastic intentions and set some huge goals. More than likely one of them is to get back into shape. You sign up for the 21-day trial at your local gym and pump yourself up for the new you. In the accounting world, this is you realizing you can do things better, faster and more efficiently. Perhaps you have heard great things about Xero from friends or other businesses using it. Or maybe you are just fed up with your current method of accounting and know there must a better way.

So, when you finally stop procrastinating and haul yourself to the gym, it is a very uncomfortable experience. You feel super awkward (and a bit fat) in these foreign surroundings. Everyone appears to know what they are doing, looking good and acting all confident. Meanwhile you can’t even find the changing rooms! This is how it feels when you first log in to Xero. It is all very foreign and looks so different to what you’re used to. Perhaps you feel like you’re wasting time and could do this in half the time in your old system.

Back at the gym, you’ve had your induction and you are ready to give it a go. You get stuck in using machines that look familiar, like the treadmill and the bike. You wait until it is a little quieter before you move on to weights, as you don’t want to look like a fool floundering around clearly not knowing what you are doing. Similarly in Xero, you need to do some training and get up to speed on how this new system works. So you jump onto Xero TV and Xero U, and start watching training videos. So far so good. You’re feeling a little more comfortable and you have completed the bank reconciliation no problem. In fact, it was kind of fun.

Just like the gym, using our cloud accounting software gets easier with time. Soon you will shake your head at the idea of using a pen and paper to keep your books! Ready to get started? Contact us today! 

*Content edited from Xero

Many people dream of becoming business owners. Often, this dream a romanticized image of lots of free time for leisure, access to limitless amounts of financial gain and so much more. However, the average entrepreneur works very long days, especially in the first 3 to 5 years to get the business up and running. These crucial years are spent partially in the red, then breaking even, and if all goes well, then profitability.

Let's talk about the time factor. On a given day, a business owner must make countless decisions.

Here are 10 helpful tips for making solid decisions: 

As a small business owner you are familiar with the idea of a stressed life. The pressure to balance work and life and manage a company can feel crushing. While there is a never ending list of recommendations to help you reduce your stress, you may be looking past one key element. Your diet.

Your brain requires 25% of the body’s energy to function properly. That’s a lot of calories. And with your brain running on overdrive, you need to be sure to feed it properly. Stress and anxiety are caused by the feeling of being unable to solve problems. ​

Here are our 7 tips for launching your business with little to no working capital:

Know your numbers: Gain a firm grasp on what it costs to produce your project and where you need your margins to be in order to pay rent. This simple knowledge will help to guide your decisions and set your prices. ​

Your business is starting to grow. There are exciting opportunities for your company to soar into the stratosphere. At the same time, there are new problems that you didn't need to address when you were in the infancy stage of your business. How do you deal with these new problems and keep your business moving up and to the right.

Here are 4 tips to keep your startup running smoothly during times of growth:​

While you understand how to put ideas into action, this doesn't always mean being proficient at the bookkeeping and payroll needs. For the wise small business owner, delegating the bookkeeping and payroll should be the norm. This way, you can enjoy the small business culture without the headaches of crunching numbers.

The Joys of Business Ownership
You know why you started your business, maybe it was to gain freedom from the chains of corporate America, or maybe it was simply to wake up every morning and do what you love! There are so many benefits to being a business owner. Regardless of your reasons you have grabbed your life by the reigns and are building a life you want to live. ​

Business plans help put an idea or product into motion. Even if you are a small business, you can benefit from a detailed business plan for achieving goals. A business plan states the exact mission of your business, and the steps that need to be taken to be successful.

The Importance of having a Business Plan
This plan will help a business state clearly its future goals, and which way to go to achieve them. Without this business plan it is very easy to get lost. The plan keeps the company on track to being successful. Small business and entrepreneurs will better understand their market when using a business plan.

Money never sleeps and neither do most entrepreneurs and start-up founders - especially if you love what you do! Since we know how stressful it is running a business and we specialize in finding ways to simplify your life by handling your payroll, we wanted to share some helpful tips that will encourage you to relax and unwind.