One of the ways you can greatly increase both your efficiency and your profits with a home business is to cultivate office manager skills. Use the suggestions below to perform the tasks of office manager for your home business.
Establish a home office space with necessary tools for office management ranging from relevant software such as spreadsheets to relevant office furniture such as filing cabinets. By creating your office space, you’ll also legitimize your home office for tax purposes which are best served when a home office is only an office as opposed to a corner of your kitchen.
One of the key responsibilities you’ll have as office manager is managing your own workflow. From scheduling meetings to setting aside times to respond to emails, paying attention to how you manage your time is essential for maximizing your home business profits. You’ll also gather and scan or file receipts associated with travel expenses incurred when you travel from your office to a meeting to see a client.
As your own office manager, you’ll need to create a clerical system for managing the documentation associated with your business. Documentation that you’ll likely need to manage includes both hard copy documents and online documentation. Frequently your home office filing system will be best served by making the decision as to which online documentation needs to be printed and kept in physical filing cabinets.
Develop online filing that works whether it’s based on client name, date, or job type or a combination of all those criteria and more. Part of effectively filing your documentation includes making sure you receive and see all relevant documentation. Managing email filters and staying up-to-date on going through your email can greatly reduce lost income from neglecting to respond to legitimate customer inquiries.
As your own office manager you’ll put into place a system of protecting your files and making sure that you can retrieve them when necessary as well as dispose of documents in a safe manner. As part of your document disposal system, you’ll want to be sure you don’t accidentally compromise meaningful financial or personal data about yourself or your customers.
Even if you use an accountant’s services, as office manager you will retain and prepare financial records in terms of revenue and expenses as well as accounts receivable or payable that have not yet been received or paid but will be at some future date.
As office manager, prepare a monthly statement of income and expenses so that you can keep track of your home business’ money.
Office managers frequently have a hand in staff management, and in your home business, this task falls to you. While you may be a one-man show, it may make sense to hire individuals for specific tasks during particularly busy times or to do tasks you don’t especially enjoy.
Developing office management skills can help you increase your home business profitability. Use the tips above to create a list of tasks that you, as office manager for your home business, must perform.