You're halfway through the year

So, June has come to an end so is half the year. What happened to it!

Your business is running, sometimes smoothly, sometimes not… but it's going! It’s the halfway point of the year, time to take stock of where you are and plan to make the second half even better.

Here are a few things to look at from your financials:

1.How are you doing revenue wise? Compare these numbers against your budget and what you did last year. Was it a better half year? If so, why and what did you do to make that happen. You want to keep doing that! Was it a worse half year? Again, if so why? Understanding why your revenues are what they are is the key to making necessary changes or continuing to do what is working.

2.What about Cost of Goods Sold. Is it where it should be? This is normally one of the two biggest expenses for a small business. It is imperative that this be controlled. This is one of those numbers however, that you don’t necessarily want to compare the actual number for. You want to look at this number as the percentage to revenue. Let’s say for example if your Cost of Good Sold is $100,000 which is exactly what your budget number is. That is great if you made your revenue budget, but what if your revenue is down by $50,000. If that’s the case, the $100,000 is a bad number and needs to be investigated.

3.How about expenses? Same thing here, compare these to your budget and what you did last year. While you look at your expenses almost on a daily basis as a small business owner, it’s important to take a “big picture” look periodically. It’s easy to spend and extra $100 every now and then, but it takes a big picture view to see if you’ve been doing that to excess.

4.The only thing left now is profit. How did it compare to what you expected it to be? The factors above will explain why it is or isn’t, but it’s up to you to make the changes so that going forward it will be what you expect.

Here’s a quick checklist of other things to look at, at least annually and this is a good time to do it:

1.Website audit – Is your website up to date, does it need some work?

2.If you don’t have regular contact with your customers, now is a great time to touch base with them.

3.Insurances – it’s important to take a look at all of your policies at least once a year. Don’t wait until renewal time. There’s not a lot of time to really compare options if you want until then.

4.Legal – Do you have a lawyer? Every small business needs a plan on how to deal with legal issues that may come up.

Once you’ve done that, it’s vacation time! Take some time to relax and decompress! Everyone needs it. Comment below and let us now what your plans are!