As a small business owner, we’re willing to bet you wear a lot of hats. Owner, operator, accountant, administrator, sales person, IT, janitorial staff—the list goes on and on! Small business owners are always busy. So, when it comes to coming up with new and creative ideas, sometimes there just isn’t time!

If you’re a small business owner looking for fresh ideas to improve your small business, we’re here to help! Read on for a list of 25 ways to improve your small business.

Find New Customers

1. Be sure to have a presence at seminars and conferences that potential customers may attend.

2. Offer first-time customers discounts if your service is designed for repeat customers. Customer retention studies show that returning customers spend 20% more than first-time customers, so it’s important to get people in the door!

3. Partner with professional organizations in your industry. They may offer directories and other free types of advertising to potential customers.

4. Donate time and/or money to local charitable events in exchange for advertising on their website or at their event. People in your community will love to work with a company that doesn’t just help them, but helps their community, too.

5. Create a referral program for your existing customer base that offers a discount, a free service or promotional items such as mugs, pens or stickers from StickerYou for each customer that is referred. Your existing customers are sure to know a wealth of other people who could use your services, too!

Streamline Your Financials

1. Use an online accounting software that seamlessly integrates all of your invoices, payments, proposals, and more into a single program.

2. Consider outsourcing to a professional bookkeeper; though it will cost more upfront, it will free up your time to focus on your business.

3. Hire a tax professional. Not only will this free up your time, but the upfront cost will pay for itself in tax breaks, credits, and deductions you may not know that you qualify for.

4. Educate your staff on your financial software and various processes for bookkeeping and more. The more that you can minimize errors in paperwork or invoicing, the more profit for your business (and less headache for you!)

5. Keep every receipt and log it according to category. Come tax season, you’ll likely find that you qualify for much more than the standard deduction. That means dollars back in your pocket! Plus, in the event of an audit, you’ll be well prepared.

Build Your Online Presence

1. If you don’t already have an SEO strategy, it’s time to build one. Proper search engine optimization will help you appear in front of customers who are searching for you.

2. Boost your social media presence using hashtags and location tagging to find potential customers who are searching for your product or services but haven’t yet heard of you. You can use automation tools to help generate new business. A LinkedIn automation tool called Dux Soup is great for this.

3. Build a lead magnet to collect email addresses of prospective customers. By offering a high-quality, valuable downloadable e-book or worksheet, you can pre-qualify potential customers who are seeking your services.

4. Explore pay-per-click advertising on sites like Google, as well as advertising across social media sites like Facebook and Instagram. Sometimes, a little bit of advertising budget can drive enormous results.

5. Produce valuable blog and website content. By positioning yourself as an expert in your own field, users are more likely to think of your business when they need it.

Perfect Your Team

1. Always perform a background check for employment before sending an offer to a new employee.

2. Stay up-to-date on salaries in your industry to ensure your employees are receiving a fair wage.

3. Similarly, stay up-to-date on the benefits packages offered by your competitors. This can help reduce the likelihood of poaching.

4. Create a direct line of communication between yourself and your employees.

5. Remember that transparency is key. An employee who feels “in the loop” is always a happier employee.

Analyze, Analyze, Analyze

1. Ask new customers how they found your business to guide your marketing. You’ll likely find commonalities in referral sources; focus your marketing efforts there.

2. Perform regular forecasting and always compare what you’ve predicted to what you’ve actually done. If there or any holes or miscalculations in your forecasting, this exercise will reveal them.

3. Conduct a SWOT analysis. What are your strengths? What are your weaknesses? What are your opportunities? What are your threats?

4. Perform regular competitive research to see how you stack up to the competition.

5. Identify a baseline or industry standard to measure your business’s performance against.