Getting together all of the paperwork and filing the taxes for Premium Web Development, LLC is my least favorite part of the year. I hate gathering together all of my income and expenses, adding them up, and then filling out and submitting all of the paperwork to the IRS. It’s time consuming, tedious, and downright annoying … which is why I usually end up requesting an extension. 🙂
But as much as I hate tax season, there is one thing to love about it: The Refund! I wanted to share some tips with you in case you are one of the lucky ones.
After all, who doesn’t love going on a shopping spree? When you have extra, un-budgeted cash to work with, the possibilities are endless – especially this year, when the average tax refund is over $3,000 according to the IRS. It can be tempting to go out and buy something fun, but what if you could use your tax refund to revitalize your business instead?
Every business owner has a shopping list of things they would really like for their business, but have had to push to a back burner until they can afford the investment. Your 2015 tax refund is the perfect cash injection you need to be able to spring those purchases! But where should you start?
Out of all of the bright and shiny objects on your to do list, which ones will give you the best R.O.I.?
Here is a list of 5 awesome ways that you can put your extra cash to work for your business, whether it’s from your tax refund, a credit card, or another resource like a Kabbage small business loan.
Upgrade Your POS
If you own a brick and mortar business location, an upgrade to your POS hardware or software is probably long overdue. Consider getting your register upgraded to accept mobile payments, or maybe buying some scanners and inventory software to make your physical inventory counting faster and easier.
Staff Development & Coaching
Sales training for your employees brings a greater ROI than you may think. Your employees are the heart of your company, and the better they are educated on how to serve your customers, the more successful your company will be.
Revitalize Your Website
I’m going to assume that you already have a website, but is it doing its job? Your website should be collecting visitor information and converting visitors to customers for you all on its own. Spend some of that extra cash hiring a web designer to help you ensure your site is generating leads.
Local Search/SEO Rankings
No matter how well your website is doing its job, it won’t make any difference if no one ever sees it. After you’ve hired a web designer to ensure your site will convert traffic once they are there, invest in having someone maximize your presence in the local search listings.
Social Media
If you are already active in Social Media, you may have realized that proper Social Media Management is a full time job. It’s also a very important part of your advertising plan if you want to maximize your success. Use that extra cash flow to hire a professional Social Media Manager to handle all of your social pages.
These tips will hopefully get you thinking about some smart ways you can invest your tax return to grow your business. Have fun, and consider trying some things that you may not have considered doing for your business before. And hey, there’s no reason to limit yourself to you tax refund. You can still beg your rich uncle, have a garage sale, or grab some working capital from Kabbage to extend that return a bit farther, and cross off a few more items on your business shopping list.
