Tax season is misplaced.

Taxation should be a winter sport.

Not Spring ~

• when flowers bloom,
• birds chirp,
• and warm weather coaxes us outside

Yet taxes hold the distinction as one of only two certainties in life – death and taxes.

There are lessons to be learned from tax season.

In the interest of making lemonade out of lemons, the following are tax season lessons for better business communication.

Lesson #1 – Preparation avoids penalties.

You can try sticking your head in the sand.

• Live in the moment
• Ignore your customers’ needs
• Assume your business will survive on its own

You can have the best-looking business plan – on paper – but if you ignore your marketing and business communication, who is going to know how stellar your business is?

1. Create your business communication plan
2. Schedule time for review
3. Build your network relationships

Avoid the penalty of lost sales, customers, and misunderstandings with better business communication.

#2 – Budgeting makes it real.

Does the following sound familiar?

• Your set a tax budget that is not realistic
• You pay estimated taxes that are too low
• You plan on dealing with it all in April

Or worse – you have no budget.

Even those of us with limited funds must budget our business communication for success.

You may think you are not spending money on business communication, but time is money.

Original, isn’t it? Feel free to quote me.

1. Set a realistic business communication budget
2. Factor in your time (what’s your hourly compensation?)
3. Discover tools for greater productivity

If you are a writer, John Soares’ blog, Productive Writers, delivers great tips.

Forbes offered productivity tips in its article, 10 Social Media Time Management Tips for Small Businesses.

Put your business communication budget in writing and follow your plan.

It makes it real.

#3 – Learn when it’s time for a professional.

Preparing tax returns is painful (in more ways than one) and complicated.

Did you hire a tax professional?

• You weighed the risks
• Assessed the costs
• Discovered it was time to hire a professional

The same could be true for your business communications.

Weigh the risks

Communication is the face of your business.

• Do you have the resources to do it right?
• Weigh the pros and cons of outsourcing specific projects

Assess the costs

Look at your budget.

Carve out a portion for hiring a professional and determine what is the best bang for your buck.

Hire a professional

With the risk of numbing you to cliches – you get what you pay for.

Treat the hiring of a freelance business writer like you would an employee. The SlideShare presentation 7 Tips for Finding the Right Business Writer may help.

Many Happy Returns

With enough preparation, a realistic budget, and knowing when to hire a professional, you, too, will experience many happy returns with better business communication.

What tax-free tips do you have?

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Helping you Keep it simple, clear & uniquely yours – contact me for help with your business writing needs.

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