Being in business for yourself can be very fun. After all, you set your own schedule, can buy the coolest tech toys (and deduct them!), travel meet amazing people and learn a lot about yourself.
But is your business is business, or is it a very expensive hobby? Here's the test… are you making money. As a trained accountant, I have to add – at the end of the day (after you pay for the team, the travel, the gadgets) are you bringing in more money than you are spending? No? Are you past your first year in business? Yes.
OK… here is my prediction for you… Unless you change your ways, eventually you will have to get a job or drastically change your business (in ways you may not like) to pay the bills. If you happen not to be the primary breadwinner in your house, you might be able to hold on a bit longer… but eventually the rubber always meets the road. For a business to survive – it has to be profitable. There is no other way.
Although I don't have a magic spell to help you avoid my dire prediction, I do have three steps you can take to build a business legacy (as opposed to a money-pit) hobby?
1. Decide You need to get off that fence and make a decision that you will do what it takes to make your business succeed. You need to treat it like you would a job (plus more). Would you change your personal plans to attend a mandatory work conference? Of course you would. Would you spend money on networking or a new interview suit? Career coaching? Anything to get ahead. You should twice as committed to your own business. (If you are a reader of this newsletter, you should consider Take Action Get Profits mandatory training. I expect to see you there. No excuses).
2. Act OK, I am known for being blunt, so here goes. The real reason most businesses don't succeed is people aren't willing to do the work. When was the last time you picked the phone (for business) and asked someone for something (or even had a conversation of how you can help each other)? Yeah I thought so. And, those are the easy conversations. The only way I know to for sure break 6 figures is to have a double digit number of sales conversations on the phone. No amount of social media can make up for pure hustle. Introverts – you are not excused… I am an introvert and I get it done. You can too. At my event, I will show you exactly how to have conversations that make you money.
3. Profit To be a real business, you need to make money. To make money, you need to have a goal and to know how many sales it will take to meet the goal and pay your expenses. Revenue does not equal profit. You need a plan – I will be showing you how to create the plan at my event.
Want a successful business next year? Here's a shortcut to having the skeleton in place by the end of the month – come to Take Action Get Profits – learn and then implement. Your business will never be the same.
