How to run your business?

Send an invoice

Some think that this is the best part of it. Others hate it. But no matter how you look at it, you won’t earn anything until you send an invoice. If you have a business registration number (CVR number), you’re entitled to send invoices to your customers. An invoice should include:

• Invoice number
• Date the invoice was issued
• Name, address and business registration number (CVR number) of your business
• Name and address of customer
• Type of product or service, amount (scope) and price
• VAT amount

It is also a good idea to include your telephone no., email, bank and/or giro account, but this is not a requirement. There are many invoice templates on the internet, but you can also design your own. However, the easiest may be to set up a user account in an online bookkeeping system such as Billy. It’s easy to send invoices from such systems.

Manage your accounts and VAT

Your accounts are a statement of your business’s income and expenditure for a specific period. You can draw up your accounts quarterly, half-yearly or annually. A set of accounts usually contains an income statement and balance sheet for your business. The income statement shows whether your business has made a profit or loss in the relevant period, while the balance sheet shows what your business owns and owes on a specific date.

Do I need an accountant?

This depends on your personality and how much time you have. Do you want to do the accounts yourself? Do you want to do your bookkeeping by hand or via an online bookkeeping program? Or do you want to hire an accountant or bookkeeper? However, limited companies (A/S, ApS) must have a statutory audit, so this is not only a question of what you feel like.
No matter what you decide, it’s important to note that you are ultimately responsible for your business accounts, and you are also responsible for storing supporting documentation and vouchers such as invoices, bills, payslips, etc. for five years.

Business plan

There are many opinions about whether a business plan is absolutely necessary. And there are just as many opinions about what it should look like. A business plan forces you, as a business owner, to be absolutely clear about what you want out of your business, when your goals are to be met, and how you want your business to develop in the short and the longer terms. Perhaps you already drew up business plan when you started your business, but important it’s important to return to your business plan regularly and adjust it so that reflects the current situation. A business plan should include detailed descriptions of:

• Yourself
• Your product
• Your target group
• Your market potential
• Your competitors
• Your budget
• Financing
• Activities
• Your development plan

Sales and marketing

When you started your business, perhaps you thought that customers would just come automatically. But this is rarely the case, and you may have realised this already. Therefore, it’s important to constantly look at sales and marketing for your services or products. However, sales and marketing can be many things. There are the classical sales methods such as buying advertisements on various platforms. But there are also other sales methods which entail networking and making people aware of you. This could be via a professional business network where you actually meet, or it could be on a platform such as LinkedIn. No matter where you decide to market your services or products, it is important that you are clear about what you can offer, and not least who your target group is. This should also be clearly stated in your business plan. Clarifying your target group and having a detailed description of what you can offer the relevant target group will also make it easier for you to set up a sales and marketing strategy.

Time management

When you’re self-employed and own your own business, there won’t be an employer telling you how many hours you should work, and when you should be working. Many self-employed people are extremely dedicated to their business, and you should be too if you are to forge a successful business. But you should also remember to manage your time, as otherwise you risk burning out far too early. And that’s no way to make a successful business! Therefore, it’s a good idea to think of yourself as an employee in your own business now and then. You could make a plan each week in which your office hours are divided into development, customer contact and accounting. This will help you avoid spending a disproportionate amount of time on one task and then having to work at the weekend or late in the evening on other tasks.