Entrepreneurs and small business owners tend to think differently. Small business owners often start their companies after having been employees in that industry. They frequently maintain that employee mindset. Entrepreneurs dream big, start several businesses from scratch, plan for the future sale of business and are always looking for the next opportunity.

Entrepreneurs see challenges like a recession as just another opportunity. Small business owners are often married to their business and get mired down in details. When the economy goes south, they hunker down into survival mode. Entrepreneurs are less likely to do this.

To be more entrepreneurial, small business owners need to create a real vision of what they want their business and personal life to look like. That vision needs to be very rich with detail and how their business will support their personal goals. Do you want more time to pursue scuba diving trips? Do you want money to send your children to Ivy League colleges? Do you want to be a keynote speaker? Start writing down your BIG DREAM.

Most business owners have a strong gut idea of what they really want, but practical thoughts bring them down. When detailing your life’s vision in writing, skip being practical. The “how’s” can what. Take time to focus on the “what” for now. Don’t pressure yourself with timelines. Just getting a detailed vision down on paper can be enough to help you bring it to reality.

Professional athletes understanding mentally creating what they want to happen before they step onto the course or the field. Tiger Woods and others work with coaches on visualizing their end results and it works. Why shouldn’t you do this as well? Really experiencing what living your dream FEELS like every day helps you encourage your brain to be more entrepreneurial. Remember, you are a business OWNER, not an employee.

Get out of survival thinking and start acknowledging your biggest visions of success. Entrepreneurs dream really big and take chances. Start changing your mindset now and begin thinking like an entrepreneur.

With 30 years of consulting experience, Steven Schlagel offers training and coaching for startups, entrepreneurs and small business owners. Check his site for more articles to increase your success!

As a small business owner, you need to be able to operate at your desk swiftly and easily. Though setting up a filing system sounds difficult, it is a relatively easy task that can be made easier by a few filing tips and tricks.

Sit at your desk for a few minutes and figure out where you will instinctively look for things. Take a few minutes to sit down at your primary workspace and reach for equipment, supplies and files. That will help you establish the idea spot for filing those items for you personally.

Now that you know where you will naturally look for information, you must determine whether an alphabetical, numerical or subject filing system will work best for you. Do you search for things according to the client’s name? The category (i.e. expenses, financial, marketing)? By reference number? This is a critical step, as it will determine how you will lay out your filing system. Do this before you buy anything for your filing system.

Next, roughly determine your storage needs. Do you have a large number of files that you access on a daily basis? Do you only access your files weekly? The answers will determine if you need a desktop file holder, a two drawer filing cabinet close to your desk or a four drawer lateral filing cabinet across the room. So many options exist today, that you should choose carefully. Allow for growth when looking at filing cabinets – buy something to accommodate twice the files you think you will have now. This will limit the number of times you will have to resort and reorganize your filing system.

Invest in a good labeling system for clarity and easy access. Being able to read the file labels sounds obvious, but clarity in labeling will save you more filing time than you can imagine. Most companies who make labels provide templates that integrate with the most popular word processing software. You may want to consider one of the small label making systems that can now also print out individual mailing labels. Items that perform double duty are usually a wise investment.

Now you are ready to purchase file folders. The best investment is to purchase colored hanging folders (make sure the plastic label tabs are included) and plain manila file folders for filing system.

This ways applies to setting up a filing system that is easy to use and easy to grow with. Broad subject categories will allow you to easily add new files as you grow, and will eliminate the need to upgrade or reorganize your filing system on a regular basis.

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Almost nobody likes doing taxes. The process can be very stressful. Therefore, sometimes it just makes sense to get some help with them. For tax return, you can get help from various resources, such as tax preparation professionals, tax software and the IRS.

Tax preparers are individuals who were trained for the job or have picked up the skills over time. They are not difficult to find. You can find tax preparers in places such as H&R Block. The advantage of using a tax preparer is that the costs are relatively inexpensive.

Enrolled agents are a step up from tax preparers. An enrolled agent has license and can represent you at an audit. However, keep in mind that the professional knowledge and quality of work varies from agent to agent. Some can be excellent. Others are less impressive.

CPA stands for Certified Public Accountant. It’s not easy to obtain a CPA license. It requires significant study and the licensing test is very difficult. If you have a unique or complex financial situation, for example, being a small business owner, you might want to use a CPA. Usually CPAs can also make suggestions to significantly lower your tax bill. CPA services cost more. However, the savings can outweigh their fees.

The technology of computers has minimized the risk of making mistakes. Tax software is now available for people who want their taxes to be done accurately and conveniently. There are different types of tax software you can use for different purposes. While you can buy tax software from local stores, the best place to find tax software is actually the Internet. Buying tax software from the Interest is very easy. For some software, you can usually download it onto your company and start using it right away. There is also other tax software that does not require any installation at all. You can finish the whole process on-line on their websites.

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Bookkeeping is an important part of any small business – whilst it is historical, in recording past transactions of money coming into and going out of your business, book-keeping can also help with managing the cash flow of your business

Whilst world leaders have a money-tree policy to create cash, the average small business owner has limited opportunities when cash flow gets very tight, as in the present economy.

Here are some tips to help you manage your cash flow:

There’s nothing wrong in specifying the date on which you expect payment – after all, don’t the utility companies do just that on the invoices they send you?

Why not issue the invoice the day that you provide the goods / services, rather than waiting until the end of the week, fortnight, or month? Some business owners choose to issue their invoices monthly, knowing their creditors only issue payments monthly

There’s been a recent trend, again with utility companies, to offer an incentive to pay early, such as giving a discount. Notice that in reality they are adding a penalty for late payment rather than a discount

Ask your customer for a deposit in advance, particularly if they are requesting a high ticket item that you have to purchase from your supplier before receiving payment from your customer

If you find that you have customers that are regularly late in payment, offer them a discount if they pay by credit card

Control the stock in hand. Carpet retailers making outrageous claims that they’ve ordered too much stock and just have to sell it quickly. It may be an effective marketing ploy for them, but if they really ran their business by constantly over-stocking, how long would they really survive?

Small business owners can find it beneficial to make part payments regularly on larger invoices, rather than waiting to pay a huge account in one large lump sum. By managing your invoices can you keep a tighter control on your cash flow?

Ensure that you bank your cheques/cash regularly rather than doing the banking once a fortnight/monthly – By ensuring you have regularly payments coming in to your business, you’ll be better able to pay bills as they come in

When cash flow gets tight in the business, have a look at how much money you really need to be drawing out as wages for yourself

Have a review of your expenses in running your business and see where you can make savings straight away. We’re seeing this with department stores that have seen in a drop in sales, yet they’ve managed to maintain their profits. How are they doing that? Cutting staff levels and making the remaining staff work more efficiently

When you see a change in behavior and/ or management of the department’s stores and utility companies, just pause to think for a moment how you apply those same changes in the operation of your business

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