Pro Tip for Startups: Document Your Processes

"Document your processes" is a B-school chestnut that's been pounded into upper-management training for decades. But here's the thing: That same nugget applies to your 1-month-old, one-person startup, as well. You may think that's crazy as you bounce between different roles and duties every five minutes, and your company's product, target market and business plan are still being worked out, but it's not. Simply put, if you know where you want to go as a business, the step-by-step processes you implement will tell you how to get there.

To explain what that means, Joe Worth, a CFO for both public and private companies and Entrepreneur's "Ask the Money Guy" columnist, recounts a story about a small high-tech machine tool manufacturer he worked for, where every single process in the company was written out and housed in a row of three-ring binders. "They even spelled out how to clean and stock the company kitchen," Worth says. "I asked the owner why she'd gone to this level of detail, and she told me, 'I want to act like the company I want to become.' On an operational level, it was fantastic. I was able to grab the accounting process book put together by the outgoing controller, and within five minutes I was in business."