More Profits, More Time, More Fun
Let’s face it – you started this business with the dream of freedom. You wanted choices. You wanted to have the ability to be your own boss, call the shots, create your own destiny. Then somewhere along the way all the “business” of business started weighing you down. Your found yourself struggling to make a profit. Wondered if there was a way to not work so hard. Wished you could have more time away from your business and know that it would still run without you. Maybe even, dare I say, have more fun. You’re not alone – these are the kinds of challenges business owners just like you are facing and asking themselves all the time. Here’s the good news – it can be different. You don’t need to work more hours, or juggle more things to get all that.
The truth is, making a few simple changes in your business can make all the difference in helping you be more profitable, have more time, and even have more fun. In my interview on The Sustainable Business podcast I talk about these simple steps. Here is the link to the podcast – it’s worth a listen. Even if you just do one of these simple things, I promise you’ll get closer to living that dream.
Make it an extraordinary day.
Warmest,
Vicki
Author of forthcoming book “The Simple Truths of Business” Your key to amazing success!
3 Ways To Make Sure Your Employees Hate You (or not)
Every once in a while I meet a kindred spirit in the consulting world, Someone who inspires me, and who speaks to the things I’m passionate about. Josh Patrick is one of those people. As a business coach and consultant he has a strait forward style that is intriguing and engaging. Josh is a great writer, who has a wonderful ability to make direct point, while making you laugh at the same time. I asked him if he’d be willing to write a post for my blog and he graciously accepted.
Managing others is one of the biggest challenges I see leaders face. In Josh’s article, he shares some great advice on how to shift how you interact with staff and ultimately, alter your experience. Hope you enjoy.
Warmest, Vicki
There have been thousands of pages written about how to motivate your people. They range from doing contests to just saying thank-you. Although these are great things to read about my true belief is that you don’t really ever motivate anyone. Motivation comes from inside: we motivate ourselves. read more…
Keeping Your Finger on the Pulse
What information are you looking at regularly that helps you keep your finger on the pulse of your company? It’s a powerful question. If you want to grow your company, and become more profitable, you want to set goals and get feedback so your clear about where you’re headed, and where you are on the path.
Have a revenue, gross profit margin (your rate of return on work) and net profit goal. Most people have a revenue goal, but rarely have a margin or net profit goal. If you want to increase your bottom line, get clear on your targeted revenue, gross profit margin and net profit goals. Each month review your profit and loss statement and see how your doing. Look at the month, quarter and year to date to see trends.
Set a goal for dollar amount bid, and targeted close rate. It’s easy to just respond to the bids that come in the door and think that’s all there is. But it’s not. When you get intentional and set bidding and close rate goals, you’ll increase the odds of meeting your revenue goals. Try this simple formula – take your revenue goal, divide by your targeted close rate %, the result is how much you need to bid in dollars. Too high? Increase your close rate. Every other week track your results and see if you’re on track or if you need to make a course correction in either the amount your bidding, or your close rate.
Setting goals and tracking even just these few key performance indicators in your business will give you greater clarity and confidence to know what actions to take to help you grow your bottom line.
Make it an extraordinary day!
Warmest,
Vicki
And now, begin.
Last week when I was faced with either putting time into writing, or analyzing some data I’d compiled to help me plan for 2017, my brain instantly wanted to do the analysis. I laughed at myself in the moment – I it was like a kid going after the bright shiny object. You see, analyzing is easy for me. I thrive on figuring out complex number problems. Writing, on the other hand, takes effort and concentration. I second guess myself: will what I’m writing make sense to the reader? Is it too detailed? Have I gotten lost in the weeds? Not so with analysis. That I know how to do. read more…
Responsibility
So often we do things that we think we “have to” do. Truth is, we are in control of our own destiny. We have the ability to change how things are. The first step is to accept the fact that we are responsible for what we have created. Responsibility, by definition, means “ability to respond.”
Is there something you want to change?
Make it an extraordinary day!
Vicki
Author of forthcoming book “The Simple Truths of Business” Your key to amazing business success!
The Neuroscience of Happiness
What if I told you there were four simple things you could do in the course of a day, easily and effortlessly, to create more happiness? Does it sound too good to be true? It’s not. Neuroscience has been studying the human brain for years, and of late, there is amazing data coming out on how our brains (the least understood part of our bodies) actually work.
In an article published by UCLA neuroscience researcher Alex Korb, he shares some insights that can create an upward spiral of happiness in your life. You can see the full article here, but here are the four simple things you can do starting today to create a happier life!
1) Express gratitude
2) Label negative feelings
3) Make that decision
4) Touch people
So why not start right now? Send an email to someone you care about and express your gratitude for them.
Make it an extraordinary day!
Vicki
Author of the upcoming book: “The Simple Truths of Business” Your key to amazing business success!
Who do you trust?
It was a Wednesday morning, and like many mornings I was starting my day by checking emails. One from a long-time client caught my eye – the subject line was “memo regarding personal credit card charges.” As I read, I held my breath as the words spilled out on the page. It said “our controller made personal purchases with a company credit card. When asked about it she told the bookkeeper that she had mistakenly used the wrong card, and already paid the charges. However, upon further research into the payments, it shows she paid these charges with a transfer directly from the business account.” Oh no, how could this be? “Maybe it’s a mistake,” I thought. read more…
Just Say No!
In the late 1980’s while the controller of an international training company, I had the nickname “Just say NO Vicki Suiter.” I hated being called that. It always felt like I was the bad guy. I was in a tough spot because my job was to control expense and make sure we met our bottom line goal numbers. If revenues were down, my job was to cut costs, and hold the line on spending. As you can imagine, that didn’t make me very popular. I felt torn between wanting to do a good job and wanting to be liked. read more…
What your customer really thinks!
Have you ever worked really hard to win a project and then lost the bid? Have you ever wished you knew a way to get people to refer you more easily? You may think you deliver a great product and great service, but do you know what your customers actually thinks? Below is a post from my associate Marcia Yudkin, where she talks about the results of a survey done with homeowners as it relates to contractors’ credibility in the minds of customers. Having worked with many successful contractors over the past 25+ years, I can tell you that the responses were spot on! read more…
Just Get it Done vs. Managing Results
One of the biggest factors that keep a small business from growing is the inability to train, delegate and let people make mistakes. I know this not only because I’ve watched it happen to my clients for the past 25 years, but because I’ve also done it myself.
You’re really good at what you do – right? You’ve been doing it for years, and have a lot of experience and expertise – right? AND, when you want to make sure things are “done right”, it is often easier to just do it yourself. After all, you’re faster and better at it than the people who work for you. You might even contend that they don’t care about your business as much as you do, so it’s risky to give them the important things to handle. It’s easier to hold onto the important stuff – right? Not really. read more…