Enjoying your food allowance as a self-employed individual: How to make the most of it

Did you know that if you eat out while working or stay overnight on a business trip, you can claim your expenses?

We’ve put together a short guide to walk you through everything you need to know about claiming your… allowances.

Why does staying organised help our business thrive?

Rachel, director at Blue Leaf Accounting, says:

“At Blue Leaf Accounting we’ve been working on a business plan for 2023/24. If we make a plan we have a lot more focus on where we’re headed as a business. A large part of that is knowing where our finances are at, and what we want to invest in, setting a budget and using that as a planning tool and aligning our business goals with our budget so it’s achievable. Being organised is about taking our heads out of the sand, not living day to day but looking more about where we want to get to. Without a plan six months has passed and we haven’t achieved the things we wanted to. So planning is very important, it helps us all stay on course. When we have a team it helps us all know what our next goal is”

How else can staying organised help?

Increases time and productivity. Keeping organised in our businesses means that we can work efficiently and with focus. This increases our productivity and therefore our time. If files and data within our business are organised well, less time is spent looking around for what we need and tasks can be completed more efficiently.

Improves communication. This may be between clients or our teams. Effective communication is an important part of any business so developing strong, organised habits to enable strong communication can be really beneficial.

Improves professionalism. Having well thought out, organised systems and procedures in place means that tasks can be completed faster and smoothly. This will impact the overall running of the business and improve the experience for staff and clients.

A few top tips from BLA for staying organised in your business:

1. Plan and prepare for deadlines as much as possible. If a deadline is approaching, try and plan for it as best you can. In turn, this will reduce stress and improve the chances of meeting deadlines on time. It might be that deadlines need to be put into a calendar, or time is blocked out to achieve the task. Find strategies that work for you.

2. Create systems and processes that improve efficiency. Having robust systems in place can really help a business run smoothly and effectively. If your business has a team, good systems that are communicated well enable teams to work more independently-everyone is working from the same page.

3. Prioritise workload. What needs to be done today and what can wait a little bit longer? This will help to bring focus to your workload.

Whilst getting organised can seem overwhelming, it doesn’t need to be. At Blue Leaf we are always happy to help and support as much as we can, so please do drop us a message if you need any help with organising your numbers.

And remember, if in doubt, grab a cuppa and write a list!