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Building a Better Foundation for Your Business

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Building your business on a strong foundation from the beginning saves so much time and energy as you grow. I help my clients start building a better foundation using several simple habits and principles. Here are a few of my favorites:

Cast your vision. As adults, we don’t spend enough time dreaming about our futures. Creating a vision for your business helps you develop the future you’re trying to create. Most business owners I work with are afraid to clearly state what they really want for their business down the line. Your vision statement should be so clear that it leaves no room for fear!

Set goals. Once you have a clear vision, you can make it tangible by breaking it down into bite-sized steps. These are your goals. Assign these to each quarter and then break those down even further for weekly action steps. Track what you’re doing to make sure you’re progressing toward your vision each week.

Schedule CFO days. As a business owner, you aren’t just the CEO of your business, you are also the Chief Financial Officer, or CFO. It’s important to set time aside regularly to stay on top of the finances of your business, even if you have someone helping you. You can use the financial data you collect during this time to make better decisions for your business.

Price your services for profit. Pricing is such a struggle for many business owners I talk to. Usually when a business owner feels they are not making enough money or they are having cash flow issues their issues actually stem from their pricing. You may be under-charging for your services if you don’t understand all the costs of actually delivering the service to your client, if you don’t understand the value your client places on the service, or if you are comparing yourself to others and undervaluing your own skills and experience.

These are just a few principles for a better business foundation. I love working with entrepreneurs to develop these and create a solid foundation that easily allows for growth. 

We talk about all of these things and more in my coaching programs, but right now I’m offering a mini-course on Pricing for Profit. For just $27, you can learn better pricing strategies, how to implement them, how to up-level your pricing without affecting your current clients, and more! Sign up now before the offer expires!

Refocusing for a Successful End of Year

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This month’s blog focuses on Refocusing for a Successful End of Year.  This is the perfect time to evaluate your services, offers, and what you may need to pivot.  It is also the time to revisit your 3rd and 4th quarter goals.

Can you remember the goals you set for 2020? Was 2020 going to be the year you made things happen in your business? We all started the year planning on having extraordinary results. Let’s face it – 2020 is not looking like we thought! We’ve all faced challenges we didn’t foresee, whether it was in your personal life or your business.

On this Facebook Live, I talked about my plan to achieve extraordinary results in 2020, and due to the global pandemic and all the challenges it’s brought, what your New Normal may look like. As business owners, we’ve had to face the fact that things have changed. And we have to look at how those changes can or will affect our business.

So what do you do when things change in your business? The first thing to do is accept the change and adapt to it. Ask yourself “what am I doing right now so I can continue to make income from my business?” Maybe you’ve had to pivot your business to be more online vs in-person. Maybe you’ve had to learn to use Zoom or Google Hangouts on a weekly or daily basis.

Secondly, you need to be flexible. What are you already doing that you can adapt to the new marketplace that may be available to you? Are there new services you can offer? Or do your current services need to be pared down? If you’ve been furloughed from a job, realize that you do have skills that are transferable to someone else.  You can actually create your own stream of income. You don’t have to wait for an employer to call you back; you have skills to offer. Now may be the time to get clear on what skills you have and how you can turn that passion into profit. 

Then you need to be tracking your money! How much money do you have in the bank? How much do you need to continue running your business? How much do you need until you navigate the new marketplace you may be in? Look at your expenses. Are you paying for things you aren’t using or no longer need? Subscriptions, software platforms, etc.? Tracking your money will help you determine whether to increase your income or reduce your expenses.

For most businesses, the 2nd half of the year (quarters 3 & 4) is the time most revenue is generated. As we come to the end of the summer, let’s focus on what we can do during the final quarters to make those extraordinary results a reality! Start by getting clear on what that extraordinary result looks like to you.

For some this year, simply remaining in business may be extraordinary.  For others it may be maybe maintaining a current client rooster. Or maybe it’s a monetary goal. Maybe your extraordinary result is to earn more income this year than you did in 2019. Whatever that looks like to you, be sure to be clear about what it is and what it looks like. Start looking at the activities you do.  Are they income-generating activities? Are they busy work that keeps you distracted from your goal? Are you letting your email inbox dictate your day or your schedule? Are you setting aside dedicated time each day/week for marketing your business? 

To help you with this, I’ve created a free download, 5 Reasons Why Your Money Isn’t Adding Up.  These 5 reasons will help you discover why your money isn’t adding up, what’s happening in your business, and things you can control and continue your business and end 2020 making a profit.

If you need help setting your goals and working towards them, join our Facebook group, The Empowered Lady Boss. We help support you in building a better business in the areas of growth mindset, business strategy and money management, so that you can have consistent income and a profitable business. We help female entrepreneurs who are service providers, coaches, consultants who feel overwhelmed with all the things that need to be done in order to grow their business.

When you’re ready to take your business from sporadic and inconsistent to consistent and profitable … then Begin With Profit is for you!

Commitment – Are you in it for the long haul?

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Commitment is the ongoing theme for this month.  And being committed to something may look different to different people.  But with everything that has happened (and continues to happen) this year, being committed to your business, to being in business, is something that you need to be clear about. Commitment is your word being congruent with your action.  It becomes that driving force that propels you forward. Without commitment, your intentions are simply “wishful thinking”. 

In my Facebook live back on August 28, 2019, I talked about how business owners could hedge against an economic downturn (I know…who knew in Aug 2019 what March 2020 would bring?!)  For business owners, solopreneurs, consultants, service providers, etc. you have to commit to being a business owner. Truly commit. No willy-nilly I’m a business owner but I’m not taking it too seriously; I haven’t committed 100% yet.

Lady Boss…that’s just NOT going to cut it! And if you haven’t made that commitment, you may just be feeling the effects of that right now. But it’s not too late (it’s never too late) to make that commitment. To commit to your business. To commit to being in business. To commit to becoming an Empowered Lady Boss!  

In this FB Live, I talk about being in it for the long haul. When you make that commitment to your business (and really to yourself), now you’re in it for the long haul.  And that’s where you want to be: committed and in it for the long haul.  Check out both FB Lives for plenty of tips and resources to help you make that commitment, set yourself up for success, and be in it for the long haul!

If you dream of becoming an Empowered Lady Boss who is confident, smart, and an action-taker and you are ready to step into your power and take action on your dream, this ebook is for you! Download this FREE ebook to learn the 5 Reasons Why Your Money Is Not Adding Up and what you need in your business so that it’s a business you actually love and creates the revenue you want!

Your Money Story

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What is your money story? In simple terms, it means how do you relate to money?

Your money story tells a lot about your current financial relationship with money.  You are either in one of two categories. You either have a scarcity or abundance mindset.

You either follow your childhood exposure in how you relate to money or you have done or are doing the complete opposite.

To help you recognize your money story, ask yourself these questions:

      • What is your earliest childhood memory about money?
      • How has that affected your family?
      • How do you relate to money in your relationships?
      • What type of mindset do you have:  abundance or scarcity?

A scarcity mindset believes there is never enough. You might believe you cannot change your current money situation.  It is completely out of your control and it will always be this way.

On the other hand, an abundance mindset believes I know that my current situation is only temporary because I believe that I can change my current money situation.  I will do something to move me closer to abundance.

The only way you can go from scarcity to abundance is to have a shift in your mindset.  You have to believe that there is more for you.

No matter what your surroundings are saying now, you must begin to change your thought process.  You need to start reading books about abundance, educating yourself on personal finance, find an accountability partner or coach to help you make these changes.  You need to start speaking abundance over your life and finances.

Your motivating factor has to be so large that you have no other choice, but to change and trust God for the transformation. Sometimes your motivating factor is termed you “Why”.  Think about what is really motivating you, and keep digging deeper.

For example, let’s say your motivation is for more free time. Great! But let’s go deeper. What does free time look like to you? What are you doing with that free time?  Are you spending that quality time with your family and friends? Or does that free time allow you the flexibility to be able to volunteer for something at your kids school? Does that free time allow you to travel more often?  Keeping asking until that BIG WHY comes!

Once you know your WHY and what motivates you to change, now decide what you want. Develop a clear goal for yourself financially – make is specific with numbers and dates.

You have to be clear on what you want so that you know where you are going before you start.  If we continue to be lazy and complacent and let life’s situations toss us to and fro, we really won’t accomplish anything. If your goal is vague, you don’t have a clear target to work towards.

Take a moment now to determine your goal.

  • Where do you want your finances to be in 6 months?
  • One year?  5 years? 10 years? 20 years?

Once you have a target, you can begin to develop the execution plan.

What’s your money story? And what do you need to do to change it to the money story you want?

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