Eleven Work Weeks–Or Less–Left in 2009

I blogged about end of year issues last November in “6 Work Weeks or Less in 2008” and I thought I would issue the “Warning Dates in Calendar are Closer Than They Appear” a little earlier this year because a lot of new businesses need to take action in the next few weeks to get ready for 2010. Depending upon how you count it there are only about seven real work weeks left in the year.

1. Oct-19: normal work week, but what the heck, take a weekday off and join us Sat-Oct-24 for “Getting More Customers.” [Full Week]
2. Oct-26: it’s still possible to make sales calls that will lead to revenue this year. [Full Week]
3. Nov-2: accountants are not that busy–compared to say next March when business taxes are due–if you don’t have one, schedule some appointments. [Full Week]
4. Nov-9: If you have not incorporated, now is the time to get your paperwork in order. [Full Week]
5. Nov-16: the last full week before Thanksgiving, if you are trying to close business it can get much harder between Thanksgiving and New Years Day [Full Week]
6. Nov-23: a half week at best. We will have a Bootstrapper Breakfast Friday morning after Thanksgiving. [Half-Week]
7. Nov-30: normally a good week, if you are not chasing opportunities this can be a good week to look back at 2009 and extract some lessons learned. [Full Week]
8. Dec-7: normally a good week, if you have taken a look back at 2009 this can be a good week to look forward to 2010 and do some planning before the holiday spirit gathers full force. [Full Week]
9. Dec-14: unless you are chasing end of year budget this is can be a very slow. But there will be at least one Bootstrapper Breakfast this week (Tuesday in Sunnyvale, and perhaps Friday in SF). [Slow Week]
10. Dec-21: normally a good time to reconnect with friends and family; we will not hold a  Bootstrapper Breakfast on Christmas Morning. [Full Week only for hermits]
11. Dec-28: last chance to file paperwork with a 2000 deadline; and surprisingly we will not hold a Bootstrapper Breakfast on New Years Day. [Full Week only for hermits]

Some logistics issues you should take care of now instead of playing catch up in early 2010:

• If this is your first year in business get your accounting system (in most cases in the US this will be QuickBooks) in order now, schedule a meeting with your accountant (or interview candidates and select one) before December 11. If you are based in Silicon Valley we are huge fans of Ogden Lilly.
• Take some time to do both a recap of 2009 and a look forward for 2010, assessing what are appropriate goals in light of continued economic difficulties in most industries.
• If you’ve been working on a startup but haven’t incorporated yet, you may want to get all of your paperwork in order but postpone filing until the first week in January, in some states this will save you paying 2009 annual fees for a few weeks of operation in December and then 2010 annual fees. We like to see teams incorporate sooner rather than later if only because it gives you a vehicle to do business with that’s better than a collection of sole proprietorships.