How to invest profits in your business back

Having kept your shoulder to the wheel, finally, you have made profits – a sign of business success, but you cannot rest on your laurels to keep going. Profits should be invested back in your business to gear it up for advanced challenges looming over the horizon. Unfortunately, many entrepreneurs get carried away, pay no heed to their needs and then end up scraping the barrel, and from that point, your business starts going downhill. 

Competition levels are rapidly growing fierce, so you must prepare yourself to sniff threats to steer clear of them. Needless to say, you will need a constant supply of money. While a chunk of profits is to be used for another business activity, you can use extra funds for a variety of other activities to allocate your funds to save your money in the long run. 

Profits are not just the sum of money your business earns from the sale of your products and services. It also includes the sum that you save by slashing regular overheads. Closely track your revenues and then see how much fits into the “extra” category. Here are some of the best ideas to allocate extra profits for the growth of your small business:

• Save for a rainy day

An inefficient supply of money is a common problem that leads to the winding down of small businesses, so the best application of this money cannot be other than setting aside for unforeseen events. Opportunities can come your way at any moment, and you cannot grab them without enough money. Savings give you at least hope that you will not miss out on an opportunity. 

Look at what it costs to run your business every month. You should have enough money to cover working capital for several months. If you see you have enough funds set aside and the size of revenues is inflating, you can think of using this money for something else. However, consider stowing away if your revenues are consistently facing ups and downs. 

• Use profits to grow your business

 Experts suggest that you should run all the numbers before using profits for the expansion of your business. It may seem a stepping stone, but ensure that your business is in a position to undertake added operational costs. Reinvesting profits for the expansion of your small business makes sense when:

• You want to spend more money on marketing to grow your customer base.
• Your business is already thriving and now you think is the best time to introduce a new product line. 
• You need a bigger space and more people to keep the ball rolling.
• You want to move out to a new location to establish your business.  

While finalising this decision, make sure that your business has the potential to cover the cost of location, equipment and related things. 

• Use profits to pay down your debts

Businesses often hinge on debts to get off to a good start, but poor profit projections make them tied to them for a longer period. The more time you take to get out of them, the more delay you will face in business growth. Business loans are exorbitant, so most of your money will go toward the interest payments. Quickly freeing yourself from debt will release your money to be used for your business. 

Review your debts and your revenues, and then come up with a strategy for payments. Decide whether you should pay high-interest debts first or you should start with a smaller debt amount. Consider refinancing your debts, as it has a scope for lower interest rates. However, this option is feasible when your business generates lots of revenue. 

 If you are baffled, you should consult a financial advisor. They will introduce you to a payment method, bearing in mind your business does not lose its capacity to cover other expenses. Debt settlement will take you nowhere if you end up taking out unsecured loans with bad credit to resolve working capital issues.  

• Use profits to pay yourself and your employees

You must have been withdrawing a fixed remuneration every month. You can use extra profits to increase your monthly pay. You cannot add a random figure to your salary straightaway. You should rather see if there is a need to contribute to your business. If so, hold on. You can use this money to increase the salaries of your employees as well. 

If you have recently raised their pay, you can offer them an incentive as a gesture to motivate them to work even harder to get the business. Before you use funds this way, you should always ensure that it will not impact your business operations down the track, even if revenues get blown. 

• You can allocate money to all of the aforementioned purposes

You do not have to use an all-or-nothing approach. You can use this money to increase your wages, pay out dividends, repay your debts, expand your business and so on. It is absolutely up to you whether you want to allocate all the profits for one purpose or if you partly want to use them for all. 

However, it is always suggested that you should consult a tax expert to understand tax implications. The tax to be paid will vary by the business entity. Work out a plan that minimises your taxes so you can utilise the most of your profits. 

To sum up

You can utilise your business profits in various ways. You can offer incentives to your employees, increase your and your employees’ pay, pay off the business debt, and save for a rainy day. 

Whatever the way you use your business, profits boil down to your business’s ability to meet operation overheads. There is no point in allocating these funds except stashing them away if you suspect your business will be in the red due to cash flow problems. 

Though you can borrow if you need money now in the UK for your business, it makes sense to use business profits effectively.