Documentation. 

Paperwork. 

Policies.

Procedures. 

Do those words make you cringe? 

That’s the effect they have on lots of home business owners.  You got into business to do what you’re good at, right?  And that’s usually delivering a product or service.

But don’t take any shortcuts when it comes to doing the paperwork or you could be creating a future problem you don’t really want to have to face. 

There are several problems with not doing the paperwork, many of which you probably already know.  Here’s one you many not have thought of:

What happens if you’re sick for a while and your spouse or someone else needs to run your business?

Without having written instructions, how will they know what to do?  Who do they need to contact? Are there things that need to get done on a specific day? How do they process your credit cards?

It may not be a fun part of your business, but it’s an important part. 

This doesn’t have to be anything fancy.  Just create some written instructions of the things that need to happen to keep your home business running if you happen to incapacitated.  And be sure you update any instructions when something changes.

Written by Philip Cohen