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Scaling a business is an exciting and rewarding journey for entrepreneurs and small business owners. However, it can also be a time-consuming and demanding process, often requiring significant personal effort. Many business owners find themselves working long hours, sacrificing personal time, and neglecting their own paychecks in the pursuit of growth. But what if it were possible to scale your business without sacrificing more of your time and yourself? What if you could start consistently paying yourself while also growing your business? In this post, we'll explore strategies and habits that can help you scale your business while prioritising your own financial goals and living the lifestyle you envisioned for yourself and your family. We'll discuss 5 profit-driving habits and by the end of this post, you'll have a roadmap for scaling your business while staying true to your values and priorities. Habit 1: Healthy financial tracking and management As an entrepreneur or small business owner, it is crucial to develop a habit of regular financial tracking and management.  By setting aside a fixed time every other week or once a month, business owners can go through their finances, pay their invoices, and allocate their profits effectively. This not only saves time but also helps to identify and address potential cash flow problems early on. As part of the financial management routine, it's also important to review expenses regularly, identify and plug any leaks, and manage cash flow effectively by negotiating with vendors and suppliers, cutting unnecessary expenses, and maintaining a cash reserve. To simplify financial management, business owners can leverage user-friendly accounting software, expense trackers, and budgeting tools that provide a clear picture of their financial health. Even for businesses with irregular income, creating a budget is possible by estimating income and expenses based on historical data or industry benchmarks, prioritising expenses, and allocating funds based on business goals and priorities. Habit 2: Boost Your Business Success with Productivity and Time Management Habits To achieve business success, it's not just important to manage finances but also to develop habits for productivity and time management. Effective time management can help entrepreneurs and small business owners set priorities, increase revenue, and achieve their business goals without working unreasonable hours. To stay focused and avoid distractions, business owners can adopt strategies such as time-blocking, delegating tasks, and minimising interruptions. Prioritising the most important tasks and using the most productive time of the day to complete them can help ensure their completion.  Maximising energy levels and minimising time wasted on low-priority tasks can also boost productivity. Business owners can begin the week by identifying their top three most important activities, which can help them stay focused and avoid getting sidetracked by less important tasks. Other productivity tips include taking breaks, practising self-care, and utilising productivity tools such as task management apps, time trackers, and email management software. By developing regular habits for tracking their own and their team's productivity and time management, business owners can increase efficiency, achieve business success, and free up more time for personal pursuits. Habit 3: Maximising Profitability through Assessment of Marketing Efforts Developing strong habits for assessing marketing efforts is crucial to achieve sustainable growth in your business. By conducting regular check-ins with your ideal customer, you can gain a deeper understanding of their evolving needs and anticipate future opportunities, which not only ensures good business practices but also drives profitability.  This habit can help you identify areas where you can improve your marketing strategy, tailor your products or services to better meet the needs of your customers, and stay ahead of your competitors. Another profit-driving habit is to regularly assess the performance of all marketing activities to ensure they are generating a good return on investment. This assessment can also identify opportunities to streamline marketing efforts, increase their effectiveness, and ultimately drive revenue growth. Overall, developing strong habits for assessing and streamlining marketing efforts is an essential step to achieve increased profitability and long-term success in your business. Habit 4: Regularly rank your product from most profitable to least Regularly ranking your products from most profitable to least is a crucial habit that can help you identify opportunities to increase profitability and make informed business decisions on where to focus your efforts to best to scale your business. By analysing your product portfolio and understanding which products generate the most revenue and profit, you can focus your resources on the products that are driving your business and identify areas for improvement in your product offerings.  Additionally, by identifying which products are least profitable, you can make data-driven decisions to discontinue or reposition these products, freeing up resources to invest in higher-profit products or new opportunities. This habit can also help you identify cross-selling and upselling opportunities, allowing you to maximise revenue and profit potential across your product portfolio. Regularly ranking your products from most profitable to least can help you stay competitive in your industry and make strategic decisions to drive growth and profitability in your business. Habit 5: Continuously Growing Yourself as a business leader As an entrepreneur or small business owner, developing personal and professional growth habits is crucial to scaling your business without sacrificing more of your time and yourself. You need to recognise that what makes you an effective leader at one stage of your business may not be sufficient for the next. Therefore, creating a habit of asking for feedback on your leadership style from team members, suppliers, and customers can help you uncover potential blind spots and address them early. Understanding your natural work preferences can also help you build a team that complements your strengths and enables you to work in your zone of genius, enabling business growth and increased profits. Moreover, it's crucial to set boundaries for yourself, particularly during growth phases. While it's okay to work more for a limited period, establishing limits on how long it continues can help you build a successful business while still achieving the lifestyle you envision for yourself and your family. By implementing these habits, you can ensure you are not only growing your business but also growing as the leader your business needs and the person you want to be.  Habit 6: Regularly Tracking Performance for Sustainable Growth
Regularly tracking performance is crucial to ensuring that your business stays on track and continues to grow. One effective way to do this is to develop a tracking template that helps you measure your performance across different areas of your business, such as products, people, and processes. This template can help you quickly identify when things start to slide, and take corrective action before it's too late. To get started, identify key metrics for each area of your business that you want to track, such as sales numbers, employee performance, or process efficiency. Then, establish a regular schedule for tracking these metrics, and use the data you collect to identify areas where you can improve. By creating a habit of regularly tracking performance across your business, you can stay on top of your operations and continue to drive profitability and growth. Conclusion In conclusion, scaling a business is a challenging process that requires significant personal effort. However, it is possible to scale a business while prioritising personal financial goals and lifestyle. Developing habits like healthy financial tracking and management, boosting productivity and time management, maximising profitability through assessment of marketing efforts, regularly ranking products from most profitable to least, and continuously growing as a business leader can help entrepreneurs achieve their goals without sacrificing more of their time and themselves. By incorporating these habits into their daily routines, business owners can drive revenue growth, increase efficiency, and achieve sustainable success while staying true to their values and priorities. Our profit-driving coaching program, Profit Mastery, is designed to help entrepreneurs and small business owners master these essential habits that are required for success. We go beyond that by also helping them implement systems that ensure a consistently profitable business, allowing them to pay themselves the salary they need to support the lifestyle they envisioned for themselves and their families. If you're ready to take your business to the next level, learn more about Profit Mastery and how it can benefit you by clicking on this link, www.i-bimp.com.
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 As an entrepreneur, you’ve likely put in countless hours and invested a lot of your own money to get your business off the ground. But if you’re not seeing the profits you expected, you may be falling victim to some profit-stealing habits that are holding you back from paying yourself more. Habit 1: Not tracking your expenses One of the most common mistakes entrepreneurs make is not keeping accurate records of their expenses. Without a clear understanding of where your money is going, it’s impossible to make informed decisions about how to cut costs and increase profits.  Categorise them by type, such as marketing, CoGS, and salaries. This will give you a clear picture of where your money is being spent and help you identify areas where you can reduce costs. Additionally, it is essential to remove moneyleks. Take the time to track your expenses on a regular basis and ask yourself the following questions:
With all the items that are NOT highlighted, challenge yourself to remove it. Invest the time to cancel the subscriptions and contracts, even the small ones – it all adds up. If you’re looking to gain insight into how much of your revenue should be allocated towards expenses and other obligations, our free calculator is the perfect tool. With it, you can gain an understanding on what amount to pay yourself and ensure that taxes are set aside properly. Plus, if offers a cash reserve level recommendation so there’s always money put away for hard times! Get your free calculator now! Habit 2: Not pricing your products or services correctly Another profit-stealing habit is not charging enough for your products or services. Your pricing needs to start from the cost it takes to deliver and fulfil your offer. Make sure you don’t forget what it actually takes to market and sell it as well. If your prices are too low, you’ll struggle to make a profit, even if you have a lot of sales. On the other hand, if your prices are too high, you may struggle to attract customers. The key is to find the sweet spot that allows you to charge a fair price for your products or services while still making a profit. Profit-stealing can happen if you don’t charge enough for your products or services. Starting with the cost of delivery and fulfilment is important, but don’t forget to factor in marketing costs as well. The perfect pricing strategy involves finding a balance between fair prices that customers are willing to pay, and still making a profit at the same time. Too low will mean no money; too high means nobody is buying! It’s all about hitting that sweet spot on pricing! Habit 3: Not focusing on your most profitable products or services Many entrepreneurs make the mistake of spreading themselves too thin and trying to offer too many products or services. This can be a costly mistake as it dilutes your resources and spreads your efforts too thin. Instead, focus on your most profitable products or services and invest in them to increase their profitability even more. This will help you to pay yourself more in the long run.  To get this right, make sure you assess your products and services on a regular basis from most profitable to least, this will help you make the decisions that will lead to more profits and paying yourself more.
Habit 4: Not leveraging technology and automation Technology and automation can help entrepreneurs to save time and money, and increase efficiency. By leveraging technology, entrepreneurs can automate repetitive tasks, access a wider range of customers, and make more informed decisions. This can help to reduce costs, increase productivity and improve customer service. Not taking advantage of the latest technology and automation can put entrepreneurs at a disadvantage and negatively affect their profits. Habit 5: Optimising the performance of your team Ensuring that everyone in your business is working towards the same values and vision will be key to unlocking profitability. Too often entrepreneurs don’t realise the return on investment of their people, if they do ask questions like ‘Can all employees explain how their work contributes to company results?’, or ‘Do team members understand what critical priorities need attending to right now?’ then businesses can reap more rewards from having engaged and aligned staff – meaning larger profits for themselves! Conclusion If you find that you can relate to any of the profit-stealing habits mentioned in this blog post, don’t worry. These habits can be broken with a little bit of effort and intentionality. Implement these solutions and start seeing your business profits soar, so you can finally pay yourself what you deserve. To help get you started on the right track, we’ve created a free calculator that will show you exactly how much more you could be paying yourself each month. Click here to access it now and see just how much potential profit is being held back by these common habits.  Starting a business takes drive, passion and commitment – but in order for businesses to succeed, entrepreneurs and small business owners need certain skills. It’s not enough to simply be motivated; knowing what tools and resources you have at your disposal can make or break the success of your venture. This blog will outline five essential skills necessary for any entrepreneur or small business owner who wants to ensure their long-term success: awareness, clear and effective communication, problem solving, decision making and the ability to build and nurture strong relationships. Whether you’re just starting out on your entrepreneurial journey or are looking to level up an existing business, these key talents will give you the edge over the competition, now let’s look into each of the skills in a little more detail. 1. Awareness Awareness is instrumental to unlocking success in you, your team and business and there are a few parts to this. Skills awareness. As a leader in your business, it’s essential to recognise and be aware of your strengths and weaknesses while also recognising what skills you need to develop and look for in others as you grow your team. In addition – take time to gain insight into what motivates each of your team members; their strengths as well as any additional talents they may offer as this can be invaluable when it comes to accelerating growth or handling obstacles that arise. Pro Tip. Take 10 min at the start of every meeting for some fun-personal-trust-building questions – you will learn alot and the trust in the team will soar (which is the foundation for building a high performing team). Next up, awareness of your systems. Being aware of how well your current systems can support the growth you are looking for will make a huge difference to how smoothly you are able to scale. By generating this awareness early you can make necessary changes without too much impact to operations and business results. Then we have awareness of your product performance. It is important to be aware of the profitability, scaleability, and effort required to fulfil each of your products or services. With this knowledge you can grow your business ensuring good profit margins and without too much strain on you and your team. Finally, you should be aware of your marketing and sales efforts. Does the effort pay off? By gaining this awareness, and tracking the return on investment you will be able to focus your efforts where they are needed for achieving profitable growth and future success. All in all! Increasing your awareness helps lay out clear pathways for future growth! 2. Clear and effective communication As an entrepreneur or business owner, clear communication and active listening will always be required. Whether you’re delivering instructions to your team, pitching ideas to investors and customers, or discussing plans with partners, being able to articulate what you need clearly is paramount for success. Beyond expressing your own ideas, active listening and engaging in productive dialogue are key for obtaining feedback from others – helping you refine your vision for yourself and for your team. Ultimately, learning how to effectively communicate your points while intently listening to others can help determine the success of any business project. Pro Tip. Do not assume your communication is clear, ask people to share their understanding of what has been discussed. It will highlight any discrepancies and save you all time and avoid potential frustration. 3. Problem-solving
Problem-solving is undoubtedly a must-have skill for entrepreneurs and business owners. A successful business is often created from the continuous solving of problems and finding innovative solutions, which are key pieces in the process. Problem-solving is about anticipation and seizing opportunities for growth; it’s not only about facing troubles but developing strategies to ensure efficiency and ultimately, success. People need to think critically, be creative and know how to assess available resources in order to come up with the most appropriate solution. Without an effective approach to problem-solving, businesses can quickly become overwhelmed during times of difficulty or unexpected growth. Consequently, entrepreneurs and business owners should take this ability seriously if they want their venture to thrive! 4. Decision-making Making the right decisions can be one of the most important roles entrepreneurs play in order to ensure their business grows and continues to bring them positive results. It is essential that skilled decision makers assess all possible outcomes of a given situation before choosing a course of action, so as not to jeopardise the well-being of their businesses. By combining their critical thinking with knowledge acquired from past experiences and data, an entrepreneur can make well-informed decisions that will most likely generate successful results for their venture. Pro Tip. Whenever you have a difficult decision to make, generate three possible options and compare them to the outcome you want, then make your decision. This way you can ensure the best decision is taken. 5. Building relationships One of the most essential skills required for successful entrepreneurs and business owners is the ability to foster positive relationships. Building strong connections with team members, customers, partners, and suppliers strengthens the trust bond between stakeholders and will lead to better collective outcomes. Knowing how to nurture these partnerships with tactful dialogue, negotiation tactics, adaptability, and quick solutions to problems will allow entrepreneurs and business owners to focus on achieving their business goals without unnecessary wastage of time or resources. Conclusion Being an entrepreneur requires you to wear many hats and have a vast array of skills. The most successful entrepreneurs are those who are aware of their own abilities and limitations, have great communication skills, can make quick decisions, are excellent problem solvers, and build strong relationships. If you work on honing these essential skills, you will be well on your way to becoming a successful entrepreneur.  Whether you're a budding entrepreneur or an experienced business owner, it can be challenging to make sure that your venture is consistently profitable. However, with the right approach and attitude in place; generating profit while achieving maximum impact could become more obtainable than ever before! In this blog post we'll equip you with a key approach to get started on creating success for yourself and your business. Why is profitability important Business profit is important for a number of reasons. First, it is a measure of the health of your business. If your business is profitable, it means that you are generating more revenue than you are spending. This is a good indicator that your business is doing well and has potential for future growth. Second, profitability shows your potential for growth. If your business is profitable, you can reinvest those profits back into the business to help it grow. This can include hiring new employees, expanding your product line, or opening new locations. Finally, profitability provides you and other shareholders with a good return on investment. If your business is profitable, it means that you are making money for your shareholders. This is a good way to attract new investors and keep existing investors happy. Business profit grows businesses and keeps them healthy in the long term. It should be a key metric that all businesses strive to achieve. How to achieve profitability in your business One of the best ways to ensure that your business remains profitable is to use what is known as a "profit first" approach. This means that, instead of waiting until the end of the quarter or year to see how much profit your business has generated, you set aside a specific percentage of each sale as profit. The profit first system also allocates money for your income, taxes and then manages your costs around that. With this approach, not only will you as the owner reap the rewards of financial security and stability but also create a prosperous enterprise that has far-reaching positive impacts. Getting started with profit first Let’s start with profit. If you are at an early stage with your business, 5% profit is a good target. For more established businesses this should be somewhere between 10-15%. If you are not there yet, not to worry, just start by allocating one percent and then increase every quarter until you reach your target. Additionally, if the profit is going towards paying yourself directly as an owner/creator, aim for 45-55%, and make allocations from each sale accordingly. Having an idea in mind about how much money you want to make monthly allows you to build steps towards achieving that income goal with a Profit First system. Money for your taxes In addition to setting aside money for profit and owners income, it is also important to set aside funds for taxes. This can be difficult to do, but it is essential if you want to keep your business running smoothly. The profit systems recommend saving 15% of your business income for taxes. One way to make this easier is to think of taxes as money that was never yours in the first place. This will help you to set the funds aside without feeling like you are sacrificing too much of your hard-earned income. Managing your costs around your profits Now when you have the money you need for your pay, profit and taxes it’s time to see what’s left – this is what you have to cover your costs with. The profit first system recommends your total costs to be no more than 30-40%, if your revenue is below 500k annually. If you haven’t paid much attention to this there may be an uneven equation but not to worry. Start by removing your money leaks. These are expenses that are not essential for business operations or generating a positive return, things like subscriptions and other small outgoings and can quite start adding up if left unchecked! After you cleaned up your costs there may still be a gap. This may feel a bit concerning but trust me, this is a good level of awareness that far too many business owners miss, so you’re already ahead of the game. If that’s the case, book a call with a trusted business partner, coach or someone else who can help you come up with the right ideas to close the gap, it may be as simple as adjusting your prices, or looking at your marketing ROI. Good profitable housekeeping Now when we talk about setting aside profits, owners pay, taxes and expenses from each sale, doesn’t mean we practically do it. But a good house keeping rule is to go through your numbers twice per month. That is when you do your allocation, check over your costs and accounts. Creating separate accounts is another tip, this will allow you to keep the money out of sight and ensure you always have what you need for taxes and as well as for your pay and profits.
Your unique Profit Plan By following these simple tips, you can ensure that your business is always profitable and that you are getting the income you need and want. If you would like a template to get started you can download our Free Profit Plan Template here. Do not hesitate to contact us if you need help getting started or if you have any questions. We would be happy to assist you!  As small business owners, entrepreneurs and coaches, we have a lot to look forward to in the coming year. With the pandemic continuing to shape trends and consumer behaviour, it’s important to stay ahead of the curve. Here are five small business trends to watch out for in 2023.
An encouraging trend for the planet and its people is emerging in small and medium-sized businesses - over half of them are now investing in sustainability initiatives, with plans to expand further this coming year. A major drive behind this shift has been consumer demand; more people than ever before demanding products and services that promote long-term sustainability. Small businesses have an advantage as they can look at their supply chain and more easily change to locally sourced goods or vendors that pay attention to their carbon footprint - all while making sure ethical considerations don't get left behind. Sustainability is so much more than just environmental factors, and looking ahead, entrepreneurs should pay attention to the deeper trends in sustainability such as affordability, durability as well as considering employee engagement and community support, which will help them uncover fresh opportunities to connect with their customers. By making small changes now, you can ensure that your business is ready for the increased demand for sustainable practices in 2023.
Digital transformation has been gathering steam in recent years, but it will become even more important in 2023 for small businesses, offering possibilities such as enhanced customer interactions and improved operational efficiency. Businesses should take the opportunity to streamlining processes and creating innovative customer experiences if they want to stay competitive. From investing in new technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) to effectively using automations and creating an omnichannel presence on social media platforms, there are a variety of ways that businesses can take advantage of digital transformation in order to remain successful in the coming year.
With the ongoing rise in popularity of subscription services, you could be missing out on potential profits if your small business doesn't have one yet. Setting up a subscription model for your product or service is an easy way to draw new customers while encouraging repeat buyers and steady income! With subscriptions having skyrocketed over the past few years, there's never been a better time than now to hop aboard this lucrative bandwagon.
As technology continues to develop at breakneck speeds, customers are wanting personalised experiences tailored specifically for them! With more sales taking place online, providing an immersive customer experience is becoming increasingly important for small businesses looking to differentiate themselves from larger competitors. A unique experience can be created through virtual reality (VR) or augmented reality (AR), interactive videos and photos, gamification techniques, and user-generated content promotions on social media platforms. Delivering an immersive customer experience allows your business to stand out from its competitors while building lasting relationships with customers and creating an emotional connection with your brand.
Video content is one of the most powerful ways for small businesses to engage their customers - and it’s not going away any time soon! Videos are easier than ever before for businesses to produce using mobile devices or specialised software programs; and the content can be used for everything from product demonstrations or tutorials to behind-the-scenes looks at what goes into making your products or services great! Not only does video content engage viewers better than plain text alone but it also helps build trust between brands and customers—a cornerstone of any successful business relationship. Conclusion: The key takeaway here is that there are plenty of exciting trends small business owners should keep an eye on in 2023—from affordable sustainability options all the way through video content creation! By taking advantage of these opportunities now, you'll be able set yourself up for success both now and into the future as more consumers continue shift their buying habits online. Staying ahead of these trends can help ensure your small business stays competitive while simultaneously growing its customer base! |
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