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Small businesses, it’s time to step into spring. Friday officially marks the start of the season, and with it, a great opportunity to dust off your business. Where to start? Some ideas:
1. Deep clean your books
Your head is probably in taxes right now. If the whole process is proving to be a huge nightmare, you need to get your accounting more organized. Connecting your Square account to solutions like Xero or TaxJar will help you streamline many aspects of your bookkeeping. The more automatic your processes, the more likely things will stay in order.
2. Spiff up your website
A great website is not only your digital calling card, it can also help you grow your brand. Make sure your website is SEO optimized — meaning you’ve done everything you can to help it show up in search engines. A blog is a great place to jumpstart this effort. Need ideas? Check out our roundup of Square sellers who have killer posts.
3. Set up new ways to sell
Dragging your feet on setting up an online store? It’s now easier than ever if you’re a Square seller. We’ve just integrated with e-commerce platforms Bigcommerce and Weebly so stores in the U.S. and Canada can start selling online with Square in just a few minutes.
4. Pour over your data
Your Square Dashboard is a treasure trove of powerful information, right at your fingertips. Familiarizing yourself with your data will help you run your business as efficiently as possible. Here are five ways Square Analytics can inform smart business decisions.
5. Closely examine staffing
Scheduling employees can feel like a game of Tetris — if you’re not fast and efficient, it becomes a mess. Square data can help you on this front, too. Take a look at your historical sales information by day, week, and month. This will help you figure out when to staff up for busy times and staff down for lulls — which will save you time and money.
6. Plan ahead for the holidays
Mother’s Day and graduation are on the horizon. Do you have the things people will want for these occasions? Gift cards are a no-brainer here. Order customizable ones from Square and start to display them prominently. Then people will know you have them when they need them.
7. Get rid of all that paper
Paperless is the way to go. And a good place to start limiting your usage is with Square Invoices. Not only does Square’s digital invoicing help you get paid faster, it does a solid for the environment. For a nudge, here are some scary stats on the environmental impact of paper receipts.
8. Optimize your shipping
Is your shipping area maximized for efficiency? Read this checklist to find out. And to help you optimize the fulfillment process through batch label creation and connections to top shipping carriers, hook up your Square account to ShipStation.
9. Empty your inbox
We know this one is painful. But clean inbox, clean mind. Sit down for a couple of hours and go through all your email, making sure you don’t have any outstanding ones from customers. (And while you’re at it, brush up on best practices for emailing customers.)
10. Do some actual cleaning
It wouldn’t be spring cleaning without an actual scrub-down of your space. Consider making this an event for your staff — probably with drinks.
We hope these tips set you up for continued success this year. When things run efficiently, it means more time for you to focus on growing your business.
For more tips and advice on how to run and grow your business, sign up for Town Square News, our monthly newsletter.
