It’s 2020, the year of lockdowns, furloughs and the side hustle. Whether it’s selling your art work, to dog walking or setting up that catering business you’ve always dreamed of, it’s important to keep your hard earned hustle cash sorted and safe.
I am a bit guilty of over complicating my side-hustle and trying to keep up an Admin schedule that would put the HMRC to shame.
I could do with some of these tips myself, to simplify running my business!
Working for yourself is great. It is hard work, but it does provide you with a chance to set your own schedule. So, if you want to take a day off to do something special, you can often do so.
But there are some downsides to working for yourself. One of which is the fact that if you want to keep your overheads down you end up having to take care of everything. That means doing your own accounts, marketing, and outsourcing. Fortunately, there are tools and resources that you can use to make all of these things a lot easier.
Accounting software
If you wanted to you could use a spreadsheet to keep track of your outgoings and income. But there is a much easier approach, which is to use accounting software. It is great value and you often get access to an app that you can use on the go. That means that you can use an invoice template from Freshbooks to bill a client while waiting for the train. You can also photograph your receipts for the things that you buy for your business which adds the details to your accounts. This is especially handy because it is all too easy to forget things like that and not include them in your expenses. When that happens, you end up inadvertently paying more tax than you need to. Using accounting software also makes sure that you keep up with your VAT returns and are ready to file your taxes properly.
Online marketplaces for outsourcing
Even if you work alone, sometimes you will need to hire someone to do something that you do not have the skills for. Occasionally, you will also want to do so because you are short of time. In that situation, online marketplaces like Fiverr are invaluable. Use this guide to learn how to quickly find someone that will do a good job for you without having to pay too much for their services.
Marketing tools any business owner can benefit from using
Regardless of the type of business you run, you will occasionally need to advertise and market yourself. This is relatively easy to do using social media. Learning how to market yourself on these platforms is not difficult. But it can be time-consuming. Fortunately, there are tools like Hootsuite and others like the ones mentioned here that you can use to keep you organised and speed things up for yourself.
Finding other tools that you can use
If you find that there are tasks that are taking up a lot of your time, don’t just press on. Instead, go online and find a tool that can help you. Freelancer forums are a good place to identify viable solutions.