Resources – Pauline Bright Business Coach

Plan your way out of a Business slump

Before it was quoted in “Best Marigold Hotel” John Lennon said…

“Everything will be ok in the end. If it’s not ok, it’s not the end”

If you’re in a slump right now here are some proven strategies to help you climb out and get back on top…

Get pens and paper – you’ll need to plan it out and write this down by hand, not on your computer. Let your imagination run wild, no limits. Write, doodle and draw your way out of the slump.

Work out exactly what the slump is and what’s causing it
- Have you lost your Mojo? Are you bored with your business and need a new direction?
- Are you in financial stress – are you making more than you are spending or is there something else worrying you? Do you have enough customers?
- Is it a market trend or industry trend? Is it affecting all businesses or just yours / your industry?
Once you’ve identified the cause of the slump, you can start to find solutions. Never slip into the mindset of making “everything” to blame.
- If you’ve lost your Mojo – what would need to happen for you to get it back? A new project, new direction, new products /services? Do you have someone to talk to – a coach or mentor or clued-up friend?
- If money is the problem, sit down with your accountant or someone very money-savvy to get a true and accurate picture of what’s happening. Set a budget and set financial projections for income. Include the actual strategies you need to work through to fix the finances.
- If it’s a “trend” in your industry – decide if it’s a fatal trend or just a blip on the radar. Do you have the strength to work through it? Again, brainstorm solutions with a trusted adviser. You won’t have all the answers locked up in your own head.
The most important thing to do right now takes the emotion out of it. Things don’t stay the same… you haven’t reached the end yet. Stay in the present as much as you can… focus on what is in the “now” and what you can do in this moment to feel better and more positive about the slump.
And if you feel you can’t do anything right now in this moment, accept that you can’t. That doesn’t mean that you won’t tomorrow. Be nice to yourself and take a breather even if for a short time. Your brain will thank you for the rest and will work on finding solutions instead of you forcing your way through. If it feels like walking through treacle, stop! Back out!
After all your brainstorming, if you feel that this business is not right for you, you don’t have to stay it in you know. Tweak it and adjust it if you can, but if your heart’s not in it, it’s OK to move on. Find a way out and set a new direction.

On a personal note, I’ve had 11 businesses over 35 years – not all of them were spectacularly successful so I changed them, molded them into something more enjoyable or sold them or closed them. That’s how I learned to be a business coach, only I didn’t know it at the time!

There are no failures, only learning opportunities.

If you need a hand with this – Try my Perfectly Simple Business Plan

3 things that stop you from making more profit and what you can do about it

Profit is a lovely thing!

You can do so much with it; grow your business, hire some great people, buy some new equipment, get ahead of your debts… and lots more besides.

But if profit is a dirty word at your business you might like to think about what you’re thinking about.

Before we even get to the 3 things that stop you from making profit let’s get rid of any negative thinking about it…

The media and “battlers” beat up on banks and big corporate for making “obscene” profits. Do you think it is “obscene” for a business to make a profit? How much is too much? How much would you be comfortable with in your business? Hmmm… is it possible you have a double standard blocking you from making more profit?

Do you actually know how much profit your business makes or do you leave that up to your bookkeeper or accountant to work out for you? You really shouldn’t! If you kept a good eye on your finances, including reading your Profit and Loss statements each month you’d get a better handle on it.

After you’ve cleaned up any negative beliefs and habits around profit you might like to tackle these profit leaks:

1. Giving your customers discounts even when they don’t ask for it.

Discounting your prices to make a sale will severely erode your profit. If you offer discounts, understand why you have a discount policy and how it fits with the pricing structure of your business. Giving discounts based on your “mark-up” will be killing your profit but, if you must discount, the price should be worked out on your “margin”.

Download the Mark-up vs Margin Fact sheet here

2. Letting your team get away with murder; killing your business with unproductivity

If you’re the kind of business owner who “likes to be liked” you may not be holding your team to the high standards you would really prefer for the business. You don’t have to be a grumpy tyrant to get the best from your team, but you do need to set some expectations and have a way of measuring performance. You may need to set some KPI’s.

If you’ve employed people to work for you, hold them more tightly accountable to their role. Sales people should have strategies and targets and be able to proudly report their weekly and monthly progress to you. Admin people should be able to prove their effectiveness. Marketing people should be bringing you high quality leads.

The Production Team; people who deliver services like accountants, technicians and trades people are billed for their time. Make sure you track their billable hours, track “write-offs” and Work in Progress (WIP) to make sure you are getting good value from your employees.

Train, motivate and reward the good ones, increase productivity and consider moving the poor performers out.

3. Getting side-tracked or bored

Distraction and disillusionment will have an increasing negative impact on the bottom line.

As a business owner it is your responsibility to lead your business. You’ll need clarity of direction and strategies to get there. When was the last time you dusted off your business plan? When was the last time you shared it with the team so they know where the business is headed and how their role fits with that? Have you got a Business Plan or is it time for an update?

Identify your best profit making activities in your plan then work your plan daily. If your plan doesn’t drive you and keep you interested and excited then it’s probably the wrong plan for you. Or you might have taken on the role of general dogsbody and trouble-shooter. You’re wearing too many hats! Work out what you’re good at, what the most profitable use of your time is and do that.

A really good plan will help you lean towards the outcomes you want and attract the things that are going to be of most benefit to your business. If you feel yourself getting distracted, go back to the plan, put daily activities in your diary that are consistent with the plan and be disciplined in your approach to getting tasks done.

5 Money Making Strategies Even If You Think You’re No Good At Numbers

Before you do anything to do with money you may need to change your mindset and language about money. Start talking about money in the positive and drop the negative thoughts and feelings and words you use about money.

Stop telling yourself you’re no good at money and numbers and start telling yourself you’re on the way to learning more about money and numbers.

Then employ these 5 money making strategies to help you make more money.

1. Multiple transactions

If you say “Thank you and goodbye” to your customers after a transaction you may be losing one of the best opportunities to help your customers get more of what they really want – and put money in your bank.

Say “thank you and hello“ – invite your customers to join your community of happy clients so you can keep in touch with them.

2. Sell what makes money

If you have a range of products or services at different price points, think about this: top sales people will tell you that it often takes about the same amount of time and effort to sell one BIG thing than one small thing, provided you are speaking to the right customer. And if they want the small things why not bundle them together to make a big sale – think “upsell”. You won’t know unless you offer.

You might be spending too much time attracting small clients instead of going after the bigger clients. “Any sale is a sale” while technically correct, could be eating into your profits by not selling high profit items or discounting to get the sale.

Think bigger – around 20% of your customers would buy a higher priced item from you if you

a) had one

b) offered it to them.

Make sure you cultivate the top 20% of customers who love you and will buy your big ticket items.

3. Invest in assets

If you’re going to reinvest money back into your business DON’T “pimp your ride” buying pretty things or high tech things UNLESS they have the ability to make you more money.

Invest in people who can bring in more sales, technology to make it easier to collect money, systems that create more flow so things run faster and smoother and programs that identify the money you are leaving on the table so you can scoop it up.

4. Sell your ideas

If you sell tangible products or time for money services you could be missing out on leveraged money or even “money while you sleep”.

You probably know lots of things other people don’t know. It’s likely they would be happy for you to teach it to them either 1 to 1, in a group or an online automated program. Have you considered information products? E-books, e-classes, video programs, membership programs are easier than ever before to set up and run at minimal cost.

Use blogs, social media, email marketing and strategic partners to market and sell your ideas

5. Set money goals

Decide on the ACTUAL amount of money you want then get to work with a piece of paper or a spreadsheet to work out how you will achieve it. OR use the Income Generator Calculator tool.

For example your money goal might be an extra $100,000 in the next 90 Days.

Break the goal down into manageable chunks – if you sell a service, how many days will you be working in the next 90 days to sell and deliver that service. Let’s call it 44 working days to allow other days for running your business and days off.

Do the numbers
100000/44 = $2272.73 per day is your target.

The next question is HOW? How can you make that much money each day for 44 days?

Get creative – work out how many sales you’d need to generate to achieve the target then get to work structuring, marketing and selling to reach your goal.

5 common myths about small business that you should ignore

Everyone has an opinion. Everyone’s an expert – even taxi drivers can tell you how to run the country or give you hot stock tips.

Some of the most prolific business “advice” comes from family and friends – who don’t even have a business! And some of it is spewed out on the internet by self-styled would-be gurus. Maybe they know what they’re talking about, maybe not.

“You know what your problem is?” and “You know what you should do,” they tell you.

Some of it, a tiny trickle of it, turns out to be quite good, but the majority of it is urban myths and things people make up to justify their own actions or beliefs.

A word of caution

Don’t believe everything you read, see or hear – especially on the internet where anyone can be an expert.

With this in mind, you can also take what I say with a pinch of salt. This has been my personal experience of being a business owner in multiple businesses for 35 years, and experience from working with business owners for 12 years.

Question what you read and test out these “myths” to see if they are true for you. You may need to shift your thinking a degree or two.

Myth #1

You can’t make a profit in your first year or two of business

If this were true then it’s possible that the business owner has put too much “infrastructure” in the business before they work out if they’ve

Got a saleable product or service with high demand
Got a good deep market for the product or service

One of the first things you should do in business is work out where the money is. Make sure there is enough profit to feed the machine and grow from there. Don’t waste money on toys and looking good.

People get despondent and give up when they realise they are not making any money. There has to be a payoff.

Myth #2

Grow your business so you can have a nice flash office

Why do people insist on making themselves look good at the expense of making the business work?

By all means have a nice flash office if it helps get you more business and it helps you deliver your product or service but do the numbers first. Don’t pimp your ride!

You have to make a lot of money to pay the rent – and other things – before you even think about paying yourself.

Think differently about how to run your business effectively without incurring too many expenses.

Myth #3

Home based businesses are not “real” businesses

If you think a home based business is just “playing” at business, here are the top 5 businesses that started from home:

Amazon
Apple
Disney
Google
Harley Davidson

That doesn’t mean that you need to grow your business to global proportions if you don’t want to, but it can be a great starting point.

These businesses didn’t rush out and get flashy offices and all the gadgets they needed to start up. They kept it simple, started in the garage, had vision and kept at it.

Your home-based business could earn you millions without you ever having to move out. It depends on how you structure it and what your vision is. Keeping it simple and running it lean has huge benefits.

Myth #4

You have to get a business degree

Fortunately you DON’T have to get a degree to run a business. It can be helpful, or not, depending on how you apply it.

Learning to run a business is like learning to ride a bike. You can’t learn it from a book. It’s not hypothetical – you need to get on and hold on, learn to pedal and steer, fall off, get up, work out how to go fast and when to slow down.

Learn as you go. Read some books, do some courses, find a coach or mentor, but APPLY what you learn and as Mario Andretti said “If everything seems under control, you’re not going fast enough.”

Enjoy the ride!

Myth #5

It’s good to go hard! Sleep is overrated

Oh no it’s NOT!

If you think you can sleep when you’re dead you might just die sooner than later.

You need the full cooperation of your brain and body to do your best at anything. An exhausted brain can’t think straight.

All the best business leaders have found a way to take time out, to relax, get the creative juices flowing and so can you.

Be realistic about what you can get done in a day or a week, stretch it a little if you need to and then be disciple enough to shut down and turn off to rest. Make it a regular habit if you don’t want to be constantly running on empty.

Discover your path to wealth by working in flow with your Natural Genius talents

Wealth Dynamics in a nutshell

Many people think that there are hundreds of routes to wealth. With Wealth Dynamics, you’ll see that there are actually only eight paths to wealth and that one of those paths is the correct one for you.

These paths are highlighted by the successful people who have achieved wealth through following their natural path. This is to say, they found the wealth dynamic match that suited their talents.

Could you imagine Richard Branson as a footballer, or Bill Gates as a fish monger?

No, they discovered the talents they were born with and capitalized on them. They followed a path that they loved, their path of least resistance and they excelled at it. Wouldn’t you like to find your path, benefit from your natural strengths and excel?

Let’s take a brief look at each of these eight wealth profiles…

The Creator

The Creators can’t help creating! They are good at creating profitable ideas and businesses, but not so good with the day to day running of a business. Successful creators will delegate everything, except the creative process. Example: Walt Disney

The Mechanic

Mechanics are perfectionists who like to finish things, rather than create them. They want to make everything better – fine tune them. Example: Henry Ford.

The Star

It is easy to spot a star. Obviously, you have film, music and sports stars, but high profile CEOs can also be thought of stars. They rely on the strength of their personality and are aware of the pressure of always having to deliver. Example: Oprah Winfrey

The Supporter

Supporters are great networkers with loads of energy and enthusiasm. Their greatest wealth can be achieved when they join forces with a Star, Creator, Deal Maker, or Mechanic. Example: Steve Ballmer

The Deal Maker

A deal maker relies on relationships, connections and being able to react intuitively when the best opportunities present themselves. Example: Donald Trump

The Trader

A trader is someone who naturally hunts out bargains, naturally loves haggling and gets immense satisfaction from a great deal. They are equally as good at finding high price buyers. Example: George Soros

The Accumulator

Incremental growth is the key to this wealth dynamics profile. They are patient, disciplined and will stick fast to a successful system. Example: Warren Buffet

The Lord

The Lord likes to control everything. You can find a lord where there are fixed assets generating cash. They don’t want attention like the stars and like to create wealth quietly. Example: Ingvar Kamprad

These carefully thought out profiles are the result of years of studying the approaches of hundreds of successful wealth creators combined with Chinese philosophy.

Knowing which of these wealth profiles is yours, is like having the keys to the vault of the Bank Of England.

More than 250,000 entrepreneurs have already found their true profile and are discovering, with amazing clarity the direction towards true wealth for them.

Would you like to join them? CLICK HERE to take the test.

Pauline Bright is an accredited Wealth Dynamics Profile consultant. To book a Debrief and Discovery session once you’ve done your profile, please email support@brightbusiness.net.au or call 0413 739 196. You’ll find out how to use your profile in your current business or situation and what is the right path for you to follow.

Evolutionary Business Design

Category: Resources