Recurring tasks that every small business owner should be doing each month.
Below is a detailed list of tasks that I recommend creative small business owners do on a monthly basis to help keep you on track and minimize overwhelm for your future self!
Your Website
Your website is one of the most important assets for an online business. It must work perfectly on a large screen (like a desktop or laptop), on “medium” screens of a tablet, and on small screens of phones. What all should you be checking?
- Do all links work? None lead to incorrect pages or 404 errors.
- Check every page for errors. Reread your website, or ask someone else to take a look.
- Check insights for functionality and ideas. Both Google Analytics & Google Search Console take note of pages that are most frequently visited, keywords that get you the most traffic, etc. – use that information to plan what content you will be pinning on Pinterest, sharing on social media, etc.
Social Media
Keeping your social media profiles updated is also highly important for online businesses! If you don’t have a website, your social media presence should be your #1 focus.
You don’t necessarily have to rewrite your about/bio each month, but tweaking them, at least a little, shows your followers and profile visitors that you’re active.
- Check that all links on your profiles work. If you reference things that are “linked in bio,” make sure the link is actually there!
- Check social media insights. Consider reposting the best-performing posts with different visuals or in a different format (for example: repurpose a photo as a video or vice versa).
- If you keep track of your account performance (psst: you should be!), update your tracker.
- Finalize your plan for this month’s content.
You can check out my previous blog post, How to Optimize Your Instagram Profile, for more IG-specific tips.
Accounting
If you’re anything like me, you think about accounting as a problem for Future Me. Trust me, I’m way too familiar with putting off accounting and then stressing myself out beyond belief when tax time comes.
So… let’s all try to do a little better & keep our books updated each month from here on out!
- Double-check credit card and bank statements.
- Did all transactions go through? (money was taken from/deposited in your account).
- Log and categorize all transactions, receipts, payments, etc. in your bookkeeping software.
- Budget for upcoming expenses – subscriptions that are monthly, yearly, bi-annual, etc.
Looking for accounting software to simplify all of this? Get up to 50% off your first 3 months with my referral link for QuickBooks.
Inventory
After finances, inventory is everyone’s favorite business task. Did you just roll your eyes? That’s ok, I did, too… Unfortunately, both things are necessary evils for running your business.
If you don’t have a full inventory set up yet, take some time to get it started/work on it a bit. Start with what you have handy and receipts/invoices for the past month or so.
Already have inventory tracking setup and ready to go? Then double-check that you have…
- Added the past month’s purchases to your inventory.
- Updated your inventory to reflect any used supplies.
Orders
- Make sure all orders have been fulfilled. Schedule time to complete any remaining ones.
- Request reviews from last month’s customers.
- Collect and organize photos from the past month.
- Using an external hard drive and/or an online storage option, back up all of your files, photos, videos, etc.
- Make sure all upcoming orders, deadlines, and events are on your calendar.
- Follow up with any customers who ghosted you last month.
- Purchase any necessary supplies for upcoming orders, launches, etc.
Email Marketing
Email lists are the lifeline of online businesses. Social media platforms can, have, and will go offline but email lists are yours to keep.
Most likely, the people on your list are your most engaged audience members, so don’t ignore them!
If you haven’t sent an email in a while, consider re-introducing yourself! Include your name, business name, a quick about you/the business, and a way for them to get more info, inquire, or place an order.
- Make sure all of your sign-up forms are working.
- If you have a freebie set up to automatically send to anyone who signs up, make sure that it’s still sending & downloads correctly from the email.
- Write & schedule at least one email to go out this month.
- Plan to post on your social media to get more subscribers at least once this month.
Not sure which email marketing platform to go with? I recommend FloDesk – get 50% off your first year with my FloDesk referral code.
Online Profiles/Listings
Do you have any online profiles or business listings? For example, HoneyBook, The Knot, Thumbtack, Two Bright Lights, etc.
If yes, make sure they’re up to date!
- Like your website & social media, check that all links are working correctly.
- Add any new photos or videos.
- Connect with other artists and vendors you’ve recently worked with.
Download this list as a Printable Checklist!
Do you do any of the things on this list of monthly tasks?
Even if you don’t do them on a monthly basis, comment and let me know which one(s) you do for your business!