Powering Up Profitability-Plan for Growth
Over the next few weeks we are going to focus on the 5 tips that you can take to power up your profitability. Making the money is the first step AND learning to keep it and have it go to work for you is truly how the game is won.
Week 1: Plan for growth or fail to plan
We have all heard the saying people don’t plan to fail they fail to plan. This is a lesson I know I have learned again and again in many different areas of my life. When you have a clear picture of where you want to go then you are in the best position to get there no matter what comes your way in life.
When it comes to planning for financial growth one of the most important questions for a business owner to ask is: “For the sake of what are we doing this now?”.
The answer lies in between where you are today and where you want to get to by when. Planning, also known as forecasting is the process of creating a map from where you are now to where you want to go. This process is valuable for every business and when done at least annually can be very powerful for creating success.
Planning takes into account time and cash requirements. We look at income and expense accounts, strategies and tactics for growth such as marketing and sales efforts as well as determining bandwidth, or the time and energy truly required to achieve the results. Having these answers before you take action will save you money and more importantly time.
Planning helps us to stay focused. Staying in our zone of genius, in other words, only doing the things that will keep us on track for the results we desire is what will give us our returns. Focus is the key to success and a forecast lets us know when to do what and why.
When you are presented with the latest shiny object in the marketplace AND you are asking yourself “Is this the right thing for me now?”. You can answer this question in the light of your forecast instead of just jumping in. There is significant peace of mind that comes from knowing you have a solid way to handle these kinds of questions as they come up.
New actions are what lead us to new results. As we unpack these 5 tips I will share with you a very specific action step that you can take right away to begin to achieve new results.
ACTION STEP: Answer the question:
Are you building a cash machine or are you building an asset?
A cash machine is typically a business which is dependent on you to generate cash. An Asset is typically a business built with structures, systems and people so eventually it runs without the owner in the day to day. Both are legitimate ways to successfully build a business
Let us know what you decided and why we would love to share in your success.
If you are eager to learn about all of these 5 tips right away, along with 5 more, download our 10 Tips to Increased Profitability HERE
