Automate Your Way to Productivity
Hello All,
A few years ago I read a book called the The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It. (which I highly recommend). The gist of the book is that too much time spent working in the business and not enough time spent working on the business is a big reason why 50% of new ventures fail within the first 5 years. In other words, many of us (I am certainly guilty of this) spend too much of our time on the technical or management of the business rather than growing it. The book focuses on the franchise model, which allowed McDonald’s (and everyone since) to expand (and create empires) relatively seamlessly by systematizing, documenting and automating processes.
While many small business owner/solopreneurs have no interest in a creating a franchise or necessarily even hiring employees, the solution to becoming more productive remains the same - understand your processes, document them and add a level of automation where possible. By doing this, not only do you free up time, you develop a greater, high level, understanding of your business. Additionally, if you do decide to hire employees or subcontractors, the transition is much simpler. (One of the central messages of the e-myth is that no business should rely on a single individual.)
With the advent of AI, in it’s numerous forms, automation has become much easier. There are numerous tasks that can be automated:
Create templates for emails that you send out regularly,
Schedule social media posts
Manage your leads and automate emails to customers
Clean up your emails
Use online scheduling software
Set up rules for transactions in your accounting software
Much of the software that we already use has automation built in. For example, Word has an autocomplete function which can be quite useful when writing an email or a blog post. QuickBooks allows you to set up rules where by transactions are automatically allocated. Excel can import stock prices automatically based on parameters that you set. There are also an overwhelming number of apps out there (including ChatGPT and it’s many variants) which can help you with almost everything else.
All of this requires an initial investment of time and perhaps more challengingly, to step back from your business and look at the big picture. There are also only so many things that can be automated without the cost becoming prohibitive or compromising the essential identity of the business that you are trying to build. The goal, for me at least, is to automate as many of the tasks that are tedious or uninspiring and lend themselves to some level of automation, so that I can free up my time to do the work that I enjoy.
Blog Post
My blog post discuss when and how to create a paperless office which can be a very useful step towards organizing and automating your business.
Should You Transition to a Paperless Office (and What CRA Has to Say about It)
Imagine having an office without clutter, free from sad looking boxes and filing cabinets filled to the brim, where you don’t have to rifle through unlabeled containers to find a receipt for a compute
Finance Stuff:
Are your Canadian deposits protected? I was recently asked about what was and wasn’t protected by the Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation (CDIC) and I realized that I only had a vague sense of the answer. In searching for the answer I found this FAQ that I thought might be of interest to my readers. There is also a handy brochure which breaks it down more visually.
How to Become A More Resilient Entrepreneur: I believe that resilience is a necessary component of small business (and probably life) success. This article provides a bit of insight on how to hone your resilience.
Tax Stuff:
Management fees vs salary: A reader of this newsletter asked me about the implications of paying themselves a management fee. I do intend to write a post about this, but in the meantime, this article provides a good breakdown.
Federal vs Provincial Incorporation: A question that anyone who wants to incorporate should ask. Among other advantages, a federal corporation provides more flexibility especially in the event that you might want to change provinces.
QuickBooks Tip: Creating Rules in Banking
QBO allows you to create rules to apply to banking/credit card transactions that are downloaded. Once you define the rule based on the criteria that you choose eg. description, amount etc. you can either choose to automatically enter the transaction or review it first and then click on “add” I prefer the latter (review first and then add it) as it allows me to ensure that no errors have crept into the rule and gives me a bit more control. This article from QBO gives you details on how to set up rules.
Books and Resources:
Coming Soon! Small Business and Your Payroll: If there are any questions that you have about payroll that you want included in the book, please send me an email at ronika@montrealfinancial.ca.
Small Business Tax Facts(Sole Proprietorships/Registered Businesses/Self Employed Workers)
This book helps you take control of your finances by giving you a better understanding of tax (brackets, tax rates, deductions etc), how it applies to your unincorporated small businesses and how to do your own tax return (or at least understand what your accountant does). It also includes a comprehensive breakdown of deductible expenses, by category with special sections on more complex deductions such as home office, vehicle and capital cost allowance.
FastStart Your Corporation(Corporations)
A step by step guide to starting your small business corporation, including what you need to know about incorporation, setting up your accounting and tax considerations.
QuickStart your QuickBooks(Sole Proprietorships and Corporations)
A comprehensive guide that takes you through the many features of QBO and gives you step by step instructions on how to setup and work with QBO day to day. It is ideal for beginners who have never used QBO before and also for those who are currently using it, but have questions or need guidance.
FastStart Your Business (Sole Proprietorships)
A step by step guide for anyone who is planning to start a Canadian business or become self employed (and does not want to incorporate) and wants to know what they need to do or simply has questions.
Small Business and Your Dividends (Corporations)
For incorporated small business owners who want to know more about small business dividends, the differences between salary vs dividends and which is better and step by step instructions on how to file your own dividend declarations (T5s).
Use discount code “special” to save 20% on any (or all) book(s) when you purchase from the website.
Please note that all books on my website are in PDF format.
If you prefer a print version, all books are also available at Amazon . Note that print versions purchased on Amazon include a complimentary PDF - you just need to email me and include proof of purchase.
Free Resources
Business 2023 Tax Deadline Calendar
Starting A Corporation Checklist
Start Your Business Checklist
Dividend Declarations Checklist
Small Business Tax Return Checklist
QBO Set Up Checklist.
Small Business Calculators
Previous newsletters
Consultations
I also provide consultation services where I can answer your specific questions relating to your small business and/or finances, provide clarity and give you guidance. Additional details can be found here and here. Note that I no longer provide ongoing accounting or tax preparation services.
Reviews/Feedback
I would love to hear your comments on my current blog posts, topic ideas for new blogs, book feedback or anything else that you want to talk to me about. You can use my feedback form or email me directly at ronika@montrealfinancial.ca.
For anyone who has purchased my books through Amazon or directly and found them useful, I would be very grateful for a review on Amazon (to leave a review you only need to have an account with Amazon even if you did not purchase the book from there).
Finally, if you think anyone would benefit from this newsletter, you can send them to my subscribe link.
Wishing everyone a fun-filled weekend!
Ronika