Be That Business Newsletter #1: Three Business Hacks; Password Manager, Dedicated Credit Card, & Business Accounts (Amazon & Paypal)

I looked back on my Journal for January 2021, and this is what I found...

I’m not one for New Year’s Resolutions. Some people find them helpful, others rebel against the idea of an arbitrary day. But I do enjoy the fresh start I feel a New Year provides for me! I have a bit of confession; In January 2020 I felt that I needed to focus on balance; balancing family time, client time, and time on my personal goals, that is, launching my new brand. To help remember my goal, I wrote a motivational message on my message board, “2020, the year of Naomi”! Boy… what a year to pick for that personal message, eh? Sorry everyone, I think I jinxed 2020…
2020 was harder than expected, but we made it. Not everyone did, and my heart goes out to those grieving because of these trying times.
I’m optimistic for 2021. It’s going to get harder before it gets better, BUT! It’s going to get BETTER! Thanks to all the front line workers and all the scientists working hard, we have a vaccine out and being distributed as I type!
And this is also great news for the economy and for small businesses! We’re in the valley, but the sun is rising, and it’s going to be shining down brightly on us before the year is done! Let’s begin the climb to meet it as it crests! We’ve got this!

What a flashback to that time!  It's also when I started my Be That Business Newsletter.  Here's that first newsletter I put out in Jan 2021...

When small businesses begin, they can easily grow into disorganization. Entrepreneurs have so many competing priorities and are accountable only to themselves, and as a result it’s easy to let things slip. As the New Year is a great time for a fresh start and a re-focus, my 3 Favorite Business Hacks for the first month of the year are all about getting organized so that our brain bandwidth, energy, and time can be focused on running our businesses as this year begins to take off...

3 Business Organization Hacks for January:

1. Get a Password Manager – Whether you are starting your business this year, or have been going for a while already, business logins and passwords and registrations pile up, and pile up quickly! Set up a password manager right now to collect and keep them all in one place! Check out PC Mag's top picks for Password Managers.
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2. Have a Credit Card Dedicated to Business Expenses – My biggest piece of advice when any new business starts is to get a credit card that you religiously only use for business. Any business expense possible goes on this card, and in this way you have a succinct list that is magically created of all your business expenses. Keeping your personal and business transactions separated by process will save huge amounts of time of sorting and finding, and helps catch every transaction so none are missed. Getting a credit card for just business expenses is a great idea even if you haven’t fully decided to launch your business yet, as you can use it for those purchases that you make for ‘that business idea’ so that if you do choose to launch, you don’t have to try to remember what you purchased for the business prior to it actually launching.
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3. Create Business Accounts When Possible - A credit card isn’t the only account that you can create that is business specific to help keep thing separated and easy; If you are an Amazon.ca user, set up an Amazon Business Account to keep your online purchases sorted. Also, many online tools require PayPal to pay, so set up a PayPal Business Account specifically for just business transactions.

Small intentional decisions to set up systems to track your transactions automatically FOR YOU will pay dividends as your business grows!

Be Intentional Today!
Get out there, and Be That Business That Thrives!