There’s no time like the present!
There’s no need to wait for a holiday break, for the order book to be filled for the next three months, for the next big client to be onboarded, or for the break to be made with that client from hell. The best time to take action to ensure your business future is NOW!
If you wait until you feel you have enough time to devote to this kind of overhaul, you’ll still be in the same place this time next year. You may even be in a far worse place. But a relatively small investment in time now will pay you back handsomely. Some results will come quickly, others more slowly. Starting with the quick wins will encourage you to continue with the process. But all the separate improvements will have a cumulative effect over time.
STEP ONE: FIVE QUESTIONS TO GET YOU STARTED
To know what actions to take, you need to know what goals you want to achieve. So take time now to ask yourself these five questions about how you see your future and that of your business:
- How many days a week do you want to work so that you feel that you have time freedom?
- What do you want to do during those working hours?
- How much money do you want to take home at the end of each month to have the financial freedom you want for yourself and your family?
- How long do you want to work before you sell your business?
- How much do you want to sell your business for, and what impact will that have on your retirement?
You may need to talk to your business associates, spouse or other interested partners: these are your goals, but it’s not a good idea to make plans in a vacuum as you may miss vital information.
STEP TWO: IDENTIFY WHERE YOU ARE NOW
If you don’t know where you’re starting from, it’s impossible to map a route to your destination. So this step is to identify your current position. Although we’re mainly talking about business finances, it’s a good idea to look at your finances as well.
- Calculate your expected personal income for the next week, month and year.
- Calculate your expected personal expenditure for the next week, month and year.
- Review your bills and accounts: are there any areas you can make savings? This could be changing your credit cards, cancelling unused subscriptions, changing utility suppliers etc.
- Calculate your expected business income for the next week, month and year.
- Calculate your expected business expenditure for the next week, month and year.
- Review your business financial processes and identify where improvements can be made. This may be in how you handle income (accounts receivable), how you deal with payments to suppliers (accounts payable), debt & capital structure, inventory and stock control, overheads, gross profit margins, sales and cashflow.
- Don’t forget to look at the team who handles this financial information, the software they use and the way they communicate and work together.
So, you know where you are now and where you want to get to. The next step is to start the journey and drive towards your future success.
STEP THREE: ONE FINAL QUESTION
In step two, you’ll have identified areas for improvement and where processes could be more efficient. You’ll also have checked in on the team you’re working with. So now you have a question to ask yourself:
- Do you have the internal resources to make the improvements, or do you need expert help and advice in any areas?
Once that decision is made, the only question is: What are you waiting for?
If you need a sounding board to discuss your goals, we’d love to help out. And if you’ve already got clear goals, there’s an expert in our team who can lend a hand with whatever actions you need to take to achieve them. Whatever help you need, why not give us a call?