FORWARD Stage

Your financial year end will likely correspond to the calendar year, but at some companies and organizations it may be other times. That said you'll need to be ready to 'close out' the year with all the financial and reporting tasks. Especially if it's your first time going through this process, you'll want to work with your CPA, Bookkeeper and possibly your attorney to wrap up any tasks. There may be final reporting to local, state and federal entities that must be dated closed before the year end. Many of these closeout tasks will create reports used for tax filing in April.

Typically in April you will need to file your corporate taxes. Your CPA may advise you on filing an extension so you can defer the work until later in the year. There is no penalty for deferring. Consult with your CPA early in the year to see what will be needed for filing. They appreciate an early start and February is a good time to have this conversation. Do not wait until April because they will be extremely busy.

You can save some money filing your own taxes or using a software, however, it may be worth the extra fee to have a professional take of this. They will make sure you are taking advantage of all tax benefits and deductions. Plus they will make sure you don't become the subject of an audit. In most cases you'll provide them with physical and digital copies of your paperwork. You bookkeeper can help with this process. Then the tax preparer will handle the rest. They will let you know what you will owe or if you are getting a return. Depending on how early you get started and how organized you are, you may get your return completed and filed within a few days to a few weeks.

After completing a full year with new data about revenue and costs and taxes, you'll be in an excellent position to update your forecasts and models. Keep in mind that past performance does not ALWAYS equal what the future will be, but it provides solid evidence of areas for growth and areas to improve. You may also discover your old model is no longer adequate because your business has become more sophisticated. It's OK to evolve your tool set, but just be cautious about big jumps and seek help if you are thinking about a substantive change.

A best practice for getting your mind and your team's mind around the past year and year ahead is to prepare some kind of 'State of the Union' document or presentation. You've come a very long way and that should be celebrated. You've learned a great deal and that needs to be acknowledged. There are new goals, missions and big plans for the year ahead. Those should be expressed and if you have other's on your team, they should be involved in the process of setting those shared goals. Creating some kind of share-out provides transparency, trust and also will help your advisors provide strategy

If you've taken grants, loans or certain benefits, they may require reporting. This can feel like overhead, but they need to know where their funding went and how it benefited the community. To minimize the burden have your other reporting completed because basic data like revenue, payroll, taxes etc will likely be asked for. Also have your bank statements and other filings to state/federal entities ready as they may be required to substantiate your position.

As you enter your second year of operations, you may find it valuable to check in with your attorney to see if there are any items that could use their attention. It could include Human Resource planning, contracts, licenses, intellectual property protections, updated regulations. Etc.

By now you've recognized numerous tasks that you've either just handled because they needed to be completed or you tossed them to the first available person. It can be worth the investment to think about creating formalized processes around certain duties or tasks. This can help others learn faster, save time and avoid costly mistakes. An example of something you may want to formalize is employee hiring and onboarding. Early on this might be rather ad hoc, but there are methods to make this smoother so all necessary details are taken care of. Look around at your operations and consider other areas that can be streamlined. Record the formal processes and include them together into an operational guide or plan.

As part of your year-end strategy and planning ahead you should look carefully at how you created sales. Learning to effectively and consistently sell can take a long time and be frustrating. You'll learn to be less wrong over time and with experience. This will be a combination of understanding why you win sales and business and why don't win sales. Look for patterns and look for insights between the patterns. Try to integrate these into your models and make small adjustments to your marketing as you test out new ideas.

After looking at your sales results and related success for the year, you'll get data for where you need to modify your marketing plan. Revisit the plan, factor in new insights from seasonality to other events. Consider changing cost structures and growth goals. These will help you determine how aggressive and targeted to be with marketing. You may get to the point where you'll even want to consult with a firm that specializes in marketing. These firms can be expensive but the ideas is that every dollar you spend with them should generate two or three or 5 times what you spend. This isn't always the case, so make small changes. See what happens and let the data guide you. Finally you may also revisit you customer, problem, solution personas. After a year or more in business this will have evolved and you'll have much great insight about what is known verus what is an assumption. All this effort can impact your marketing.

You might be a solo-entrepreneur or you may have some staff. Your staff could be employees, partners or contractors. Your team is one of your key resources for success but they also need development and nurturing. People are not machines. How you find and bring them into your company will matter and how you keep them fulfilled will matter as well. It isn't always about pay and benefits although there is no denying those items matter.If you have employees you'll want to consider a growth or retention plan. Again this goes beyond just more pay or benefits. It could include responsibilities, challenges, education, etc. If you are thinking about hiring, then timing of the new hires is critical and also getting them onboarded so they are effective in their role. Sometimes it can take weeks and months for someone to hit their stride so you need to factor that into your plan. Early on into a new hire it can feel like you made a mistake. They are more trouble than they are worth. Be ready to develop your staff and for them to develop you as a leader.

Keep getting out of the building or office to network. Your network will be a source of knowledge and wisdom, but you aren't a newbie anymore either! Get out there and SHARE your experience. You will learn from this and find that you'll gain even more. Giving back is one of the most rewarding parts of being an entrepreneur.

Keep the dialogs going with your advisory team. You find that you've outgrown some advisors and that is fine. You may find that some you tap more often than others. You may also need to create a more formal 'board of directors'' that helps you with strategic planning. This is a more formal step and often requires some kind of small payment or stipend to your directors. They may even hold some ownership in the organization.Lastly YOU might even consider becoming an advisor for someone else.

It's a huge thing to make it this far. There is still a lot unknown and risk ahead but celebrating your success, bravery, fortitude and growth is necessary! Don't be afraid to reward yourself and express gratitude and thanks for all those who helped you along the way. Keep growing and learning. Use data as your guide to truth and insight. Celebrate the joy of doing a thing so few people are able to do!

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