Prepping for End of Year

Spending a little time planning and wrapping up your year end functions, with or without some holiday help, will set you ahead for the new year.

By Kerry Faix Entrepreneur, Real Estate Investor, COO of Stone Bay Holdings @kerryfaix

The holidays should be a time that we all enjoy with our family and friends. However, it can often be seen as a stressful and busy month for most people, even more so for business owners. The task list often gets longer as the month goes on. Leaving many feeling so in the trenches with their own responsibilities, and worried about getting quality time with family, they miss out on the surge of quality help that is around during holiday breaks.

Try to spend a little time planning, even today, about your year end game plan. You’ll be glad you did later! There’s a checklist most companies should adhere to, but you’ll want to tailor to your specific business. These are things that need to be done at the end of the year for everyone, but with a little creativity, you could easily use a college aged family member home on break, or even someone you know looking for a little extra work over the break.

There are likely people in your sphere that can temporarily assist you during this time that you are not utilizing. Reach out to your friends or family members with college aged kids, or even high schoolers with a good work ethic, that you think may be a good fit and try them out, even just for a couple hours one day on something basic from your checklist.

Year-end Checklist

Prep 1099s

Most companies will have to get 1099s out by the end of January, whether it be a miscellaneous or interest form. If you are filing yourself, or outsourcing the task, having your holiday help prep for it will help ensure a smoother process.

Interns or help can be going through your vendor list and verifying paperwork on file. They can then take responsibility for contacting vendors for any missing items, or go on to update information in whatever software program you are using to file.

You will thank yourself the third week in January for getting this prep work out of the way over the holidays!

Fair Market Valuation Letters

IRA investments require an annual account evaluation form be returned by January 15th. This form needs to be completed for each investor that used IRA funds to invest in your real estate, apartment or private placement. An intern can be helpful by assisting with the mail merge and mailings to ensure you meet the deadline.

Year-end updates to clients or investors

You may want to send out an end of year newsletter to your clients. This is a great way to recap the year and communicate plans for the coming year. An intern can type up your notes and thoughts and help prepare this letter for you, so you can then edit it down the way you like. They can also assist with the design and set up of your newsletter through some type of email marketing website or software.

Record your goals

Everyone sets goals for the new year at some point over the month. You can have an intern assist with this by taking notes as you are thinking and planning and type them up for you to save time. It can also be helpful to talk out loud and have someone to bounce your thoughts off of while mapping out the year ahead.

Clean up filing, scanning and shredding

At the end of every year, we clear out all of our filing cabinets and box up all our paperwork to store in a back room at our office. We also cycle out old stored paperwork, and shred what no longer needs stored to make room for the new.

Some companies have a digital filing system, and particularly in the year-end rush, things like scanning and organizing can fall through the cracks. Be sure to get everything caught up and filed during the holiday break.

If you’ve been meaning to go digital but never had the time, utilizing extra holiday help to set this up would be wise.

General office clean up

Getting yourself ready and situated for the new year is crucial, and most of the general clean up can simply delegated to your holiday help or intern. Being able to start the year with a clean and organized office will alleviate a level of stress so that you can focus on starting your year strong. Clutter can distract you in ways that you don’t always realize.

Make sure that in addition to all the cleaning and organizing you are having them do with your files, that you are also having them do a general sweep of the entire office. They can help with stacks of papers that may accumulate throughout, a messy supply closet, or even your own desk that you may have begun to let slide over the months.

Listen to your interns

Your temporary help is there to assist you. Utilizing them creates a win-win for you and the intern who benefits from office experience and earning some money while on break. They bring a fresh perspective to your normal routine and will likely see improvements in workflow that you may have never thought of yourself. Be interested and willing to hear their ideas. I may not always be ready to implement immediately, but my interns have proposed several changes that have ended up saving me hours of time and hassle.

Show your interns that you appreciate them, the help they provided, as well as their input, should they give it. It instills a sense of value to their work and participation in your business.

A little planning now and a few hours in the office during the holiday break will assist with making for a smoother start in January and the New Year. We all have goals we’re striving for in the upcoming year, lets get started on the right foot!