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Being an entrepreneur is a hard enough job on its own. Because you are your own boss, you are also solely responsible for keeping your business running. Facing hard decisions, managing finances, and taking risks can make owning a company challenging. Now that tax season has been extended, it makes your schedule even more hectic, as you will need to find the time to sit down and prepare for your tax return and think of smart ways to invest tax refund.
Hopefully, after all the stress of filing your taxes, you will have a large refund coming your way. Now all you need to do is figure out how to spend your money. Will you use your tax refund on yourself or your business? Here are some smart ways to invest in your company for a more prosperous future.
Pay Yourself
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As a self-employed business owner, you can either earn money by paying yourself an income or collecting the profits left over after all expenses have been paid. If you have been neglecting your personal finances lately, now is the perfect time to set aside a part of your refund for yourself. Catch up on some of your favorite hobbies or splurge on a weekend getaway. Either way, you work hard enough to spend some money on self-care.
If you haven’t already created a separate bank account for yourself, set up a savings account that removes additional fees to deposit your tax refund into. Moving forward, you can then transfer your paycheck without worrying about maintenance or transaction costs. If you find that you forget to pay yourself, set a weekly or biweekly reminder to transfer money to your personal savings account. You can even create a monthly business budget to track how much you are earning and should be using for your own expenses.
Update Your Website
Just like your phone or laptop, your company’s website can quickly become out-of-date and antiquated. That’s why it’s essential to keep your site updated with the latest information on your business’s products and services.The same goes for other branding and informational tools like your business cards. Think of your website as your virtual storefront that potential customers are going to visit to learn more about your company. From there, they will decide if they want to come to your physical store to shop. To help your online visitors convert to real-life customers, you should spend some time and money making your website a resource of product and industry information.
Before you start changing the content on your website, you may want to do an audit of all the information currently on it. Investing in a premium service like SEMRush can allow you to take a deeper look at your content and learn insights on the traffic that comes to your site. You can pinpoint which areas need to be refreshed and if there is any content that should stay the same. Knowing this beforehand will help you save time when making the necessary adjustments. Once you have compiled a list of needed changes, you can start creating new content and uploading it to your site.
While you are conducting your audit, it’s also crucial to check any images and videos you have on your site. Look for pictures that are out of date or feature products that are no longer available. If your website doesn’t currently have any videos, consider adding some to your most popular pages. According to SEO experts, 88% of online visitors will stay longer on a website that features videos, and 64% of those visitors will be more likely to purchase something from your company. Platforms like Fiverr are great for finding talented freelancers who can expertly create videos for your website. Then all you need to do is upload your high-quality images and videos for a painless way to help increase your online sales.
With more online customers buying your products, you should also work on simplifying the checkout process for your site. Online visitors can easily be discouraged if they are having a hard time paying for their items or if there is a malfunction in the process. These sorts of problems could cause an increase in the number of abandoned shopping carts. To prevent this, create a streamlined payment process. Offer secure non-member checkouts, several payment options, and a sales support line, so that visitors can easily find and purchase the products they are looking for without getting distracted or frustrated. It might also help if you try doing a cart abondonment e-mail strategy.
Purchase New Equipment
Depending on your business and the size of your tax refund, you might want to invest in some new equipment. It could be a vinyl cutter, production machinery, or a 3D printer. Whatever you decide to purchase, you should create a budget for your investment. Calculate how much your item is worth and the return on the investment you would expect to see. Will this purchase make your company more efficient or speed up a specific process? You need to make sure this investment will help your business so that it is not just an impulse purchase.
If you don’t want to splurge on a large purchase or are spending part of your tax refund on something else, you can always invest in software for your company. Maybe you need a bookkeeping program or even a design platform to help develop your products. Even though these sorts of purchases are small in comparison to large machinery, they can still have a significant impact on your business. Just be sure to do some research and to decide on a purchase that will make your company more profitable and productive.
Implement a Digital Marketing Campaign
As a new entrepreneur just starting your business, you probably haven’t gotten the opportunity to create advertising for your company. With some additional cash, you can design and launch a great digital marketing campaign quickly. Compared to traditional advertising mediums like radio or television, marketing online is easy to start, monitor, and adjust.
If you are looking to build brand awareness or to increase your sales, you can effortlessly do so with a digital marketing campaign. You don’t have to purchase expensive packages like advertising on a local TV channel. Instead, once you decide on a lower-cost platform to use, such as social media or affiliate marketing, you can immediately design and launch your ads. Since you are the one creating the advertisements, you will have full control over what they say, when they will appear, and how often people will see them. To make any changes to your advertising, simply login to the respective account and make the necessary edits.
Tracking the performance of your advertising campaign is also quick and easy, as most platforms create instant reports. You can quickly see the reach, frequency, and the number of impressions for your ads with a click of a button. If you choose to integrate your website into your campaign, you can even start to track the amount of traffic that is coming to your website from your digital ads. This level of reporting allows you to see the real value of your advertising campaign.
Hire Employees
You’re a hard-working business owner, but you don’t always have the time to do every little task required to keep your company running smoothly. To help ease your workload, you could invest your tax refund in hiring a recruiting service, which will help you find great employees for your company. Adding staff to your business can give you the chance to focus on improving and growing your company for the better.
An employee can also add needed expertise to your business you might not have yourself. Since you can’t be an expert in every field, make your company better by hiring the right person that adds knowledge and experience to your business. If you can’t afford to hire a full-time worker right away, look for a freelancer or someone who is willing to work part-time. Then as your company grows and makes a more substantial profit, you can hire your part-time employees to work full-time. Having employees not only helps you and your company, but you are also providing valuable jobs to your local community.
Invest in a Coach
When you discover a problem while running your business, it can be hard to know where to turn to for advice. By hiring a business coach, you can get a professional opinion on how best to grow and improve your company. It’s a worthwhile investment if you are looking to grow your business quickly.
If you are new to the business world and lack significant experience, running a business by yourself can feel next to impossible. About 20% of small businesses fail within the first year of opening their doors. Having a business coach to rely on can make entrepreneurship more manageable. Taking advice from an experienced coach can give your business a better chance of success in the long run.
With some work and determination, your business could start to grow quickly. However, it’s hard to know which direction to take your company. With the assistance of your coach, you can create a strategic plan for your business, bounce ideas off of them, and hear unbiased feedback. Instead of jumping into a new project and spending large sums of money on something that might hurt your business, talk to your coach, and hear what they have to say. This approach can make you a better entrepreneur and business owner.
Start Investing Your Tax Refund Smartly Now
No matter how you decide to spend your tax refund, you should make sure it’s a beneficial investment in yourself or your business. The success of your business depends on the way you decide to grow it. Set aside some time to research your options, and don’t be afraid to seek advice from experienced consultants. You have only just started your journey as a successful entrepreneur.
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