If you don’t know where you are going, what do you focus on?
Do you take enough time to focus on your destination, the things that are going to positively drive your behaviour, decisions and outputs in a way that helps your business to beat inflation and rising operation costs?
It’s clear right now we are operating in an unsettled and uncertain time. Businesses are still navigating Brexit. The war in Ukraine continues to influence food costs and fuel costs, and living prices are hitting consumers hard.
You could put your head in the hands and state ‘We’re doomed’, or you could push back against all the uncertainties and get focused on the certainties (and there will be some) in your business that will maximise your growth in sales and profit.
Where to start?
You could start by slashing every single expense in your business but how much would that realistically add to your bottom line? Probably not enough and certainly not long term – eventually those cuts will begin to limit your ability to scale and grow.
But what if you instead focused on activities to attract customers and build your revenue base?
How much more could you make if become an expert in sales and marketing, learn how to double the response rate from your ads, proactively seek out referrals instead of waiting for them to come to you, and leverage your strategic alliances to target the right people for your business?
What effect would that have on your income?
Or what if you put things in place that would free up your time to work ON your business? Things like:
- A reliable team that is empowered to operate the business
- Good systems that can be easily copied so your team is clear about how the business works
- A strong sales plan backed by a robust marketing plan
- Effective test and measure protocols for continuous improvement
What matters here is how you use your time to boost your business. The more you put into your business, the more you’ll get out of it in terms of profits and sales. Creating a business that can run without you is key. This way, you can focus on the important stuff or the key numbers that help you make smart choices to grow and make your business better.
Keep in mind, that the main goal is to build a moneymaking business that can work well on its own. Once you’ve got that going, you’ll be all set to reach your personal goals, whatever they might be.
Sharpen your focus with goals
I talk a lot about goals, business and personal, for a reason – If you don’t know where you’re going, what do you focus on?
So, as an exercise, grab a piece of paper in front of you. What I want you to do is draw a line down the middle of the paper.
Write ‘now’ as a heading in the left column and I’d like you to answer these questions and write down the answer.
- What revenue is your business generating?
- Where do you live?
- What do you drive?
- What investments have you made?
- What are your up-and-coming travel plans?
- What is your family enjoying?
- And how much time are you working in the business?
Now if you’re not sure about exact numbers, just put an approximate number in there. A rough idea is good enough for this exercise.
Then, in the right column, I want you to write ‘in five years’, and then I want you to answer these questions.
- What revenue is your business generating?
- Where do you live?
- What do you drive?
- What investments have you made?
- Where have you travelled?
- What is your family enjoying?
- How much time are you working in the business?
The same questions but thinking about how they will look in five years.
The important question here is, is there a big difference?
It may seem like a simple exercise, but it helps to clarify what your goals are (right column) and where you might be falling short of those goals (left column). If there is a big difference between the two, then you have a good idea of where to start focusing your energies; those activities that make your business more resilient to economic challenges while moving you closer to your personal goals.
