Being proactive as a small business owner can help boost your business in many different ways. For example, proactively marketing your business can attract new clients and keep you top of mind with potential future clients, whereas taking the initiative when it comes to ensuring you get paid on time and chasing late payments will help you maintain a positive cash flow.
Here are 5 ways to be proactive as a small business owner.
1. Regularly review finances
Freelance finances shouldn’t be something you review once or twice a year when the accountant calls, or you are due to pay a tax bill, but something you regularly need to keep an eye on to retain a positive cash flow.
For example, you may want to run an aged receivables report every month to see what money is owed to you – and how long it has been unpaid – so you can proactively chase any late payers, or you might want to run a customer sales report to ascertain the income received in a prescribed period. Proactively keeping a tab on your incoming and outgoing cash flow will mean you can remain buoyant, pay your bills, and get paid on time.
With Invoice Ninja, a leading free invoicing software, you can easily generate all sorts of useful reports manually, but you can also configure the system to email you reports on a regular schedule. Perfect for keeping on top of your money goals.
Watch our short video to take you through the setup.
Try Invoice Ninja for free here.
2. Review your freelance rates
If you find yourself working flat out but still struggling to make ends meet, you may need to increase your rates. This is especially the case if you’ve been working at the same rate for the same client for some time without an increase. Clients expect you to increase rates periodically, and some freelancers do this more regularly, such as raising their rates for each new client. While you want to remain competitive, you also want to be well remunerated so you can continue producing high-quality work and achieving results for your clientele without burning out.
Being proactive with your pricing and adapting to new ways of how and what to charge will help keep your bank account and cash flow positive and contribute to your growth.
You can also make it easy for clients to pay you by accepting online invoice payments and integrating your account with a payment gateway. Integrating your Invoice Ninja account with a payment gateway allows clients to pay their invoices with just 1-click!
Our popular payment gateways include Stripe, PayPal, GoCardless, and many more. Plus, you can get paid in Bitcoin thanks to our integration with BTCPay Server.
See all our payment gateway integrations here.
3. Market your business
Schedule time to work on your business as well as in it.
It can be tempting to let marketing take a back seat when you are fully booked, but this can be an easy way to fall into the freelancer feast or famine cycle, where you have plenty of work one minute, and gigs are infrequent the next, which can be a worrying time for freelancers unless you are adequately prepared. This is why you need to always be marketing in some shape or form.
Of course, during slow work periods, there is plenty you can do; we’ve written about some of them in our blog post here. Marketing can take many forms, whether online, such as content marketing and email lists, or through traditional channels, such as print, broadcast, and direct mail. You can also use various methods to market your business locally.
Schedule time to proactively reach out to potential clients, whether via cold email, online ads, or phone. Whatever avenue you follow, which will be specific to your business and freelance goals, be consistent and show up.
4. Network
Be proactive about networking with fellow freelancers as well as professionals in your industry. Networking can open up many opportunities and professional collaborations that you might not have considered on your own. It’s also a great way to get your name and brand out there.
At networking events, you can engage in conversations and connect with others interested in long-term growth and relationship building. Whether this is attending conferences and similar events or networking online, there’s a reason why they say your network is your net worth.
Don’t hold back on hosting your own event either. From exclusive lunch clubs to breakfast brainstorming events to masterclasses. With EventSchedule, you can plan, promote and share event calendars all from one powerful platform. Try EventSchedule for free here.
5. Follow up
If you haven’t heard back from a potential client, be sure to follow up, especially when it comes to freelance proposals where you’ve already had direct communication with them by way of a discovery call or preliminary discussions. A polite reminder may be just the nudge they need.
Likewise, any outbound marketing leads, such as cold pitch emails and direct messages via social media, should also be followed up on. Sometimes, a delayed response isn’t a ‘no’ but a ‘not yet’. By not following up, you could be leaving money on the table.
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Finally, an important area to prioritize is your self-care. At the end of the day, the most important asset in your business is you. Don’t let your self-care take a back seat. Take time out for vacations and schedule quality time off to ensure you aren’t burning the midnight oil. Prioritize proper sleep and schedule exercise into your day to ensure you are performing at tip-top condition.
