8 Do’s and Don’ts for All Businesses to Follow

Businesses vary by industries and may be required to follow specific rules and practices. However, regardless of industry, there are some basic rules that all businesses must follow to succeed and common mistakes many businesses make that should be avoided.

This is what your business must do:

1. Purchase adequate product and service liability insurance

2. Operate the business with a realistic cash flow budget

3. Comply with both state and federal rules and be aware of all relevant due dates for compliance

4. Price product and servicers to ensure recovery of all business operation costs plus profit

5. Ensure the safety and security of your office(s) and anywhere else that business is conducted

6. Enhance communication with both staff and customers

7. Organize all relevant paper work, vendor invoices, sales receipts, human resource records, and contracts by fiscal year in a manner that can be easily located

8. Reevaluate recurring expenses such as phone services, internet and insurance at least every three years and receive new quotes for those expenses

This is what your business should not do:

1. Borrow capital in excess that strains business operations

2. Conduct business without contracts or letter of services

3. Provide unrealistic product delivery or service completion timelines

4. File state and federal reporting requirements past due dates

5. Fail to have W-9’s completed by vendors that will require a 1099-MISC or 1099-NEC to be issued

6. Ignore tax filings, especially when taxes are owed

7. Ignore correspondence from state and federal tax authorities

8. Duplicate work from multiple staff members