Happy New Year! And welcome to a new decade! Are you excited about what this new year will bring? Excited about where your business is going? I know I am! Our theme this month is vision. In order for 2020 to be an extraordinary year, you need to have a vision.
Your vision is where you want to go, where you want to be in the future. A path that helps you to see the steps you need to take to get to your desired destination. But vision is different than goals.
Goals are simply milestones of the action steps you need to take to make your vision a reality. Your daily activities help get you to your goals, but it’s your vision that guides your path.
Remember 2019? When you didn’t have enough clients? Or your engagements weren’t profitable? Or you charged by the hour and when the client saw the bill they freaked out? Don’t let this happen in 2020! Create the vision, then set the goal and create action towards it.
Are you ready to have the business of your dreams? 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 Lady Boss Moves you need in your business so that it’s a business you actually love!
Today I want to reflect a little on what I’ve been talking about for the last several months on my Facebook Live. If you didn’t catch them live, watch the replays here: https://www.facebook.com/MitchellConsulting/
Most entrepreneurs are seeking out strategies that will help build their business faster. And yes, having strategies in business does make an impact. But what brings extraordinary results are the soft skills you develop along the way. Once you dig in and figure these out, it’s a game-changer for your business. Below are a few of the soft skills that I have talked about recently.
I’ve talked a lot about creating extraordinary results and what it takes in order for you to get extraordinary results. Practical things you can do to grow your business.
The three top ways to get those extraordinary results:
Focus
Priorities
Streamline & Automate
FOCUS
“Extraordinary results are directly determined by how narrow you can make your focus” — Gary W. Keller
So how does focus help you get extraordinary results? What should you be focusing on?
The first thing is you need to focus on is your WHY. Finding your WHY and your true passion for being in business is key to being in business, and key to being successful in business!
“He who has a why can endure any how.” — Frederick Nietzsche
There are a lot of reasons people start a business or become entrepreneurs. Creative independence, personal satisfaction, financial autonomy, the list can go on. What is it that drives you? If you’re not 100% committed to your vision or making it a reality, you won’t be passionate enough to stick with it in your business to weather the growing pains.
Being in business is hard. Let’s not sugar-coat it. Maybe you’re having a challenging week, or working with a difficult client or your revenue just isn’t where you need (or want!) it to be. And maybe some days you just don’t even feel like showing up in your business.
When those challenging, hard, ugly days pop up (and trust me, if they haven’t yet…they will at some point), knowing your WHY can really fuel you to get through those difficult times.
Do you know your WHY? Is it clear and strong? If not, take some time and really reflect on why you’re in business. Your WHY is your driving force and your main focus.
PRIORITIES
Once you have your WHY in focus, the next step is determining what’s the priority of your business.
Right off the bat, most people might say income. They would say their priority is income-driven. But let me ask you this: why are you income-driven? Why do you need that income? What purpose is that income going to fuel?
If you can’t answer those questions, your priority for being in business isn’t income-driven.
For other people, it’s about impact. You want to help people. With your service or your product or your coaching.
When you focus on others that’s where the magic is.
The simple truth is the more you help someone else, the more you help yourself.
For example, if I’m helping you grow your business — I’m automatically growing mine.
If I’m helping you develop a relationship with your family – you’re making your family stronger and the world a better place.
If I’m helping you with your accounting and teaching you how to manage money – then we have one more person that’s financially responsible in this world.
Determining and being clear on what your priority is for being in business will help you attract the right client, develop the right rate or packages, and provide the extraordinary service you want to provide.
STREAMLINE & AUTOMATE
Definition: Streamline – to improve the efficiency of a process, business or organization by simplifying or eliminating unnecessary steps, using modernizing techniques, or taking other approaches.
Once you’re clear on your WHY and your priority for your business, what steps are you taking to accomplish your WHY and fuel your priority?
Creating a streamlined simple approach to the daily activities in your business is something that most people don’t think about nor can they see. But, when you know what the end result should look like, you can reverse engineer the process.
The final step to producing extraordinary results is to streamline & automate the daily activities and things that are grounded on your WHY & priorities.
Streamlining and automating your business for cost efficiencies is necessary to growing and scaling your business. The more efficiencies you build your business, the less time it takes you or a team member to do something, creates profit. You create profit for your business while creating and delivering results for your client in a short period of time.
“Action expresses priorities” – Mahatma Gandhi
Streamline and automate your business and watch your profit margins go up!
What types of things should you be streamlining? Great question!
Here are a few suggestions:
Checking your email.
Being in your email box all day is not going to help you build your business. unless you’re closing sales or engaging with potential clients. It’s just busywork.
Set up dedicated time (maybe first thing in the morning and at the close of business) to check your email.
Set up folders and labels to automate your inbox so you can focus on what’s most important first.
Client onboarding / invoicing
Instead of manually sending an email with your contract, terms or invoices, use a platform or software (17Hats, Dubsado, etc.) for your client management system.
Start today to streamline and automate as many of the daily tasks you do in your business. The more you can streamline and automate, the more time you have for showing up IN your business. Your non-client time should be spent talking to people, creating relationships, engaging with your prospective clients or current clients.
So what is your Why? And why is it driving you?
What’s your business priority?
And what are you doing in your business daily that you are making a priority that could (no…SHOULD!) be streamlined or automated?
If you would like help finding your WHY, discovering your priority, or help to automate your business or if you’re ready to get EXTRAORDINARY results in your business, I’d love to chat with you. I’m passionate about helping female entrepreneurs turn their passions to profit.
P.S. Have you watched the FREE Five Lady Boss Moves webinar? Discover the Five Lady Boss Moves my clients are using to grow their business – to 4-5 figures consistently – without wasting time trying to figure it all out on their own! Click HERE to register! You won’t want to miss this!
Being in business for myself has given me a lot of choices over the years. And you will have a lot of choices in your business as well.
First, just know that just because you make a choice at one period in your life, it doesn’t mean you have to continue with that choice if it’s no longer working for you.
If you were still working in corporate America and you want to jump out on your own but you haven’t decided that you can take that leap yet, you CAN make a choice. You can decide that “Yeah, this is something I really want to do”.
I’ve talked about this before – people should do what they love and they should work with people who love what they do. Just to have that choice as an entrepreneur has been so amazing and so empowering to me that I believe that everyone that wants to tackle that endeavor should do it for themselves as well.
You will never know unless you try.
So just because you signed up for corporate America or you started a business that all of a sudden now you know doesn’t fit your lifestyle, it doesn’t mean you have to stay there. Don’t think you have to be stuck where you are because you don’t!
You always have a choice.
You always have a choice to choose something different. Something that’s going to make you happy, make you joyful, and that you’re going to love.
Even if you have become an entrepreneur and you feel like you’re stuck because you’re not making enough money or you don’t have enough clients, that doesn’t mean you have to stay in that place either.
>> You candiscover how to get more clients.
>> You can discover how to target your ideal customer.
>> You can discover how you want to show up and deliver the services that you provide to your customers so you don’t have to be stuck in any place because you always have a choice.
And it’s always up to you to make that decision. You don’t have to wait for anybody else to give you permission.
You don’t need permission. You can just do it. You can just do it just because you want to and forget about what other people say because, ultimately, this is your life, and you’re going to live your life.
Nobody else has to live it for you. Nobody else has to go to that job every day. Nobody else has to talk to that client every day. Nobody else has to do it.
It’s often difficult for people to make a change. But if you take ownership of what you do and who you are, making a change will become easy because you’re doing what you want.
So if you’re stuck in a situation where you know things are not working for you – decide to be different, decide to make a change. Decide that you’re going to live your life at its highest level and not for anyone else.
I believe that you should just do what you love and you’re never stuck in any situation that you’re in. You always have options. So look at your options. What are they? Analyze them and do the pros and cons. Make a list. Why do I want to make a change? You just need to sit down and think about what those options are.
And a lot of times, you may need to get help in thinking about, or thinking through, what options you have available. Because a lot of times you’re so close to the situation that you don’t see what the other possibilities could be.
So I encourage you today to seek out the advice of counsel, which may be a friend, a family member, a business buddy. It may be someone already in your life, but if you don’t have that person in your life find one! Find someone to help you discover what your passions are, what you love to do because it is worth it to have clarity in what you want and what you want to do so that you can live a happy, joyful life instead of one of dread and regret.
If you need someone outside of the people who know you, maybe it’s time to discover if having a coach will help. Coaches are objective and can see the holes that you may not be able to see because you are too close to the situation. I would love to chat with you. Schedule your free session today @ passiontoprofitsession.com
Where are you in your business as it relates to the goals you set at the beginning of the year?
If you don’t know where you are right now and you don’t have a vision for where you’re going, how are you supposed to meet your target? Setting a target for your business is SO important. And the financial target is extremely important.
Let’s face it – at the beginning of each year you probably always think about your goals and what you want for the year. And maybe you have a system in place to track your business information. You start off strong! Your tracking your information, you’re working on hitting those targets you set each week for your financial goal.
And time marches on. Months are flying by. And you’re working your business. And life happens.
And you get sidetracked. Tracking your numbers just isn’t your thing. It’s mundane; it’s tedious, and it becomes overwhelming.
But ask yourself this: “Am I improving my business? Do I have enough cash flow coming in to meet my business obligations AND to pay myself?”
One of the things small business owners struggle with a lot is they’re not generating enough income in order to pay themselves. A lot of times, they feel like their working ALL THE TIME, but not reaping the monetary benefits.
And it comes down to this: GOALS.
What are your goals?
What do you want for your business?
How much money do you actually want to make?
When you figure that into the equation of how much you are charging for your services, is it enough to accomplish the goals you have set for your personal life as well as your business life?
One of the things I love to do is help my clients create a plan of action on how to develop a strategic goal for their business. One that helps maintain your personal goal as well.
Knowing what you want is the first step!
The second is the monetary benefit you’re receiving from your business. Let’s be honest, if you’re just giving services away in your business, are you REALLY IN business? Or are you being a non-profit? Ask yourself if you are putting forth the effort to help other people solve whatever pain point they have, or selling your product, or whatever your business is…you should be personally gaining from that.
You need to be gaining monetarily from your business and your efforts.
So…what is the strategic goal of your business? What goal did you want at the beginning of the year?
If your goal isn’t coming to fruition, often it can be due to lack of tracking and looking at your numbers.
Personally, I like to train my clients to have CFO (chief financial officer) days. YOU are the CFO of your business. Whether you have someone working with you doing your actual bookkeeping and accounting or you’re doing it yourself, YOU are still the CFO of your business and YOU get to direct the finances of your business.
Set aside time this week for your CFO day. Review your financials, review your numbers, and review your process and workflows to ensure things are moving through your business to capture everything you need. Are you tracking how many leads you’re getting a month? How many sales conversations are happening from those leads? And how many clients are you actually getting from those leads and conversations?
Review the numbers driving your business as well. For example, if you are running a marketing campaign, what is the ROI (return on investment) for that campaign?
Let’s talk for a moment about tracking your income and expenses, because that’s the driving force of your business. That’s how you pay your vendors. That’s how you pay yourself. And that’s where to start to gain profit in your business. As long as you don’t have expenses that exceed your income, then you have profit.
What systems do you have in place to track those things? How are you tracking your money? Are you using a software package? Are you using paper and pencil? Are you using an Excel spreadsheet? What are you doing to track the expenses in your business? Now, I am a big fan of QuickBooks online.
Whether you start with the self-employed version or you have one of the more robust programs, you need to start somewhere because it will help you analyze your business more easily.
If you’re tracking all of your expenses tracked in an Excel or Google spreadsheet, you will have a more difficult time searching, sorting and capturing the information that you’re looking for. Whereas if you’re using a program, you can put in filters and create customized reports that can keep you on target for what your financial goals are. Also within your system of financial tracking in your business, you’ll want to track how you’re spending your money and capturing the receipts and recurring expenses in whichever your financial system is.
These are the systems in your business that help you stay on track with your goals. Reviewing that information helps you stay on top of your business and be the BOSS of your business.
So schedule your CFO day now!
If you’re unsure where to start, I’d be happy to help you! You can always reach me for a FREE consultation atwww.passiontoprofitsession.com
Happy New Year! And welcome to a new decade! Are you excited about what this new year will bring? Excited about where your business is going? I know I am! Our theme this month is vision. In order for 2020 to be an extraordinary year, you need to have a vision. 
Being in business for myself has given me a lot of choices over the years. And you will have a lot of choices in your business as well. 
