#spraymart

Small business accounting is one of those back-office tasks that never cross your mind when you decide to run your own business, and yet it sucks up your day and makes running a successful business that much harder. Here are 5 tips to help owners try and tackle their accounting practices.

Keep it separate. That new backpack for your kids isn’t a business expense, but your business credit card was handy so you used it. Sure, you can pay back your business for a personal expenditure, or the other way around, but if you’re going to do it right you actually have to record an accounting transaction. Things get complicated fast, and you don’t need that headache. By keeping separate bank and credit card accounts for business and personal, you’ll save yourself hours of work and make it easy to keep track of deductible expenses in one place. Some applications can automatically handle the behind-the-scenes accounting for crossover expenses, but even so, we recommend handling business and personal finances as independently as possible.

Call in a pro. Since the days of the abacus, accountants have been trusted and respected allies to small business owners everywhere. Their intimate knowledge of the profession as well as tax laws in their jurisdiction will save you money almost every time. I know how tempting it can be to save a buck and do it yourself, but it’s almost never more cost-efficient in the end. An accountant will almost always find more deductions and keep you penalty-free. On that note, the cleaner your records, the fewer billable hours you’ll have to pay, so make sure you’re organized year-round. But when things get technical or taxes are due, save yourself the money, time and headaches and call in a trusted professional.

Pencil it in. Actually, use a pen. A permanent marker even. Set aside about 15 minutes every week — that’s the equivalent of just one Facebook visit every seven days — to organize your finances, and don’t let other things take priority during this time.  You’ll have more insights into your business, be able to make more informed financial decisions and have everything organized when tax time approaches. Something always feels more pressing than your finances. But when you find the time every week, you’ll feel your stress levels — now and at year-end — fall fast.

Consider your people. When you’re looking for insights into your businesses spending, don’t forget to properly track what is likely one of your biggest expenses: labor. Whether you’re paying a full staff or you’re the only one on the payroll, make sure you’re tracking the costs of wages, benefits, overtime and any other costs associated with labor. By tracking your spending on labor, perks and benefits, you may find you have more money to incentivize your employees — or that you’re outspending your budget. Either way, doing the math now can help you make better decisions later.

Finally, don’t forget to get paid. This one seems pretty obvious, but you would be shocked at how many small business owners don’t properly track invoices and customer payments. If you’re not keeping proper records that you can make sense of at a glance, it could be months before you realize you have outstanding invoices. You could be collecting payments late, or missing some altogether. Make sure you’re properly tracking all payments due and recording when each invoice is paid, how long customers generally take to pay, and which customers you’ve had difficulties collecting payments from in the past.

With ever-soaring fuel costs and the resulting rise in shipping rates, many businesses may find their profit margins shrinking even as production increases. With the recent rise in shipping rates, business owners are looking for ways to reduce shipping costs.  Small businesses must continually adjust their practices to survive and grow in today's economic climate. Adapting to rising shipping costs is something your company can't afford not to do.

Shipping Strategies - Here are a few in house strategies your business can perform to help keep shipping costs at a minimum:

Postage meters are an inexpensive way to save time and money for companies that either ship very small light weight products or for which shipping is a smaller portion of their overall product delivery.  A Postage meter will weigh packages accurately, assess precise postage charges and print the shipping label. By taking the guessing out of shipping estimates, both your company and your customer will be satisfied, and shipping overages will be eliminated.

Compare services and pricing for each carrier on common shipping requirements. Factor in delivery time as well as shipping costs; customers satisfaction is higher when delivery times are shorter.  Eventually you'll gain a picture of what shipping criteria is best serviced by which service. For example FedEx Express has overnight and 2-day delivery options for small packages, but if your shipment is heavier (more than 10 pounds) and isn't under strict time constraints, it might be more cost-effective to use FedEx Ground service.

At Spraymart, we all agree that customer service is one of the most important parts of our company's overall business practices.  Without our customers we wouldn't have a business.  With this being the case, we have taken certain steps to ensure the customer service you receive at Spraymart is the best in the business.  Our team of experts work daily to go above and beyond for our customers providing them with an ease of doing business that is second to none.

At Spraymart, one thing we do to ensure high quality is make sure all of our hoses meet the most rigourous cover standards which is Class A ORS or Oil Resistance Standard. This makes our hoses much more durable, they will withstand harsh environments like oil and gas fields, food production facilities, agricultural facilities like hog houses.  Overall with these rigourous standards, you are guaranteed a hose that is tougher and will last longer.

Rubber hose is used to convey petroleum products both in the crude and refined stages. The aromatic content of refined gasoline is often adjusted to control the octane rating. The presence of aromatic hydrocarbons in this fuel generally has a greater effect on rubber components than do aliphatic hydrocarbons.

Aromatic materials in contact with rubber tend to soften it and reduce its physical properties. For long lasting service, the buyer of gasoline hose should inform the hose manufacturer of the aromatic content of the fuel to be handled so that the proper tube compound can be recommended for the specific application.

The effects of oil on rubber depend on a number of factors that include the type of rubber compound, the composition of the oil, the temperature and time of exposure. Rubber compounds can be classified as to their degree of oil resistance based on their physical properties after exposure to a standard test fluid.

In this RMA classification, the rubber samples are immersed in IRM 903 oil at 100°C for 70 hours.  As a guide to the user of hose in contact with oil, the oil resistance classes and a corresponding description are listed.

Physical Properties After Exposure to Oil Volume 

Class A (High oil resistance) +25% 80%

Class B (Medium/High oil resistance) +65% 50%

The following comes from an excerpt from the article "Building a Phenomenally Successful Business" in the December 2010 Edition of Cleaning Specialist

During the recent economic meltdown, many businesses that seemed to be strong faltered.  As you face each day as a business owner and react to everyday demands, do you stop to think about how strong your business is?

There are four major parts of every business that must be strong for it to be as successful as possible.  Of course, there are many sub-parts, but these major areas are the first step to looking at your business as a whole.  These four parts are:

                                           1. Marketing

                                           2. Sales

                                           3. Operations

                                           4. Administration

Once you understand the parts and their function, just like when constructing a building, you can begin to strengthen the ones that are weak, increasing value and function of that building.  Most small businesses can use a lot of help in all of these areas but most small-business owners are strong in one particular area and not so much in others.  So to build a better, stronger business, start by assessing these four factors to determine how you are doing in each area.  Start to make notes using the following guide:

1.  Marketing

Marketing is everything you do to attract prospects to your business.  This includes advertising, referral programs, mailers, internet marketing, networking, direct selling, and anything else you might do to attract prospective clients. First, ask yourself whether you have enough work.  If not, that may mean you don't have enough calls coming in.  Are you getting as many of your perfect clients as you want?  Are you generating enough referrals?  Are you spending too much on advertising?  Unless you are truly in complete demand and booked up as much as you want, there is work to do in this area.

2.  Sales

Sales is everything you do to turn a prospect into a paying customer.  This includes answering the phone, your phone scripts, presentations and so on.  Once they are on the schedule, the are a customer.  Many times you may not need more prospects, but you need to take better care of the leads you get.  Is your phone answered live?  Is you phone answered in the most professional way possible?  Do prospects and clients have a great experience when they call your company?  Are your closing ratios what they need to be?  Do you consistently make the add-on sale?  Do you have the proven scripts for your people to follow so that you aren't the only one that can close the big deals? Increasing your closing ratios and your job averages can have a big impact on your business.

3.  Operations

Once the customer is scheduled, you must provide them with an outstanding service experience so that they will return again and again, and refer you as well.  So operations is everything you do to serve the client.  This includes getting the equipment prepped, driving to the jobsite, your cleaning procedures and everything you actually do to serve the client.  Your employees are your greatest asset or your biggest nightmare, and that depends mostly on your leadership skills.  And if you do not have solid operating systems in place, you don't have a real business, you have a job.  Which means you won't be able to get much if you want to sell it.  And it means your job will be much harder than it needs to be.

4.  Administration

The final pillar is the tracking piece.  This is your P&L, your job average, your production rates, your closing rates and everything else that needs to be tracked to confirm that you are profitable and efficient.  Do you know what your cost of doing business is?  Do you have a written business plan?  Do you have a budget for the next 12 months?  Do you have the right insurance and legal protection?  Most people are not real savvy when it comes to bookkeeping, tracking software, and things that can make administration really strong.  Learn the numbers.  Learn technology.  It will do you good.

Pressure Washer vs Hydraulic Hose

If you do not buy your pressure washer hose from Spraymart, you need to make sure you check the lay line of your hose.  You need to make sure it specifically states that it is pressure washer Hose.  There are companies out there who have and still do sell hydraulic hose in the pressure washer industry.  If it is hydraulic hose it will not say that it is pressure washer hose on the lay line of the hose. 

The reason you do not want hydraulic hose for your pressure washer application is that it is not designed to withstand the rigors of a pressure washer.  It cannot take the water, chemicals, or high temperature. It will break the inner tube down on the inside of it crack, split, and even possible burst.  This catastrophic failure could cause 200 to 250 degree water to be sprayed on the person operating the pressure washer.  Aside from hurting somebody, this also exposes the owner of the pressure washer to tremendous liability.

A common part of the body affected by Cumulative Trauma Disorders (CTDs) is the wrist. According to a Ohio State University study, injuries to the wrist accounted for 48% of the worker compensation claims filed for CTDs. One of the primary risk factors for CTDs is repetition.  Pressure washing fits the profile of a highly repetitive task.  Sometimes a job site requires an individual to spray water for several hours throughout the day.  Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that pressure washing may place a worker at risk of CTDs.  One potential means of minimizing this risk would be to provide workers with an ergonomically designed spray gun.  Characteristics of the the gun such as the weight og the gun and required trigger force to activate can all contribute to the level of exposure of CTDs to workers.

There are several factors that may contribute to the risk of CTDs during pressure washing.  These include: wrist deviation, finger flexor activity when gripping a tool, and muscle fatigue.  The Ohio State University study found high levels of wrist deviation were common in the pressure washing industry.

With 42% less trigger force required than conventional trigger guns, the Legacy Best gun is the easiest opening and holding trigger its class. The relaxation and comfort grip reduces trigger force up to 20% and holding force up to 60%. All this makes for less fatigue helping the operator keep the trigger open allowing for longer work periods. 

Specifications:

· 5000 PSI

· Gallons Per Minute (GPM) - 12

· 3/8” FPT inlet x 1/4” FPT outlet

· Temperature - 300°F