You have heard the term, “If you’re not growing, your dying.”
The statement should say “If you’re not measuring your growth, your dying.”
In order to move ahead successfully,
we must learn from the past.
Growth in a business is great, but measure growth is more important so you can know:
* WHERE TO FOCUS YOUR GROWTH (energy)
* WHERE TO CUT LOSSES
LESSON #1: STREAMLINING IS MORE
IMPORTANT THAN GROWTH.
How many times have you seen a “wildly”
successful business go bust. This is because
the owners fall in love with the “size” of the
business.
This means gross dollars. The key is net dollars
and that is what you get to keep. When you grow
a company fast (and this I do encourage), you will
absorb unnecessary costs due to sheer expansion.
The key is to keep growing while taking
an “inventory” of your business.
Steps for Lesson 1:
1) Look at costs. What/who is in your business
that is costing you money but not generating income.
Once you identify it, remove it or them from the model.
2) Duplicate: What is it that can be done without YOU
doing it and have someone else do it. Duplicate yourself.
LESSON #2: FOCUS ON INCOME:
Spend 70% of your time on the things
that generate income.
Biggest mistake most business owners
make is they focus on things that don’t
create income such as;
*emails
*if your in real estate the construction process
*drama
*social media friends, etc.
When you tip the scales to focus on income
70% of the time, the income can come quickly
and in large amounts. By doing Lesson #1, step 2,
you will be able to spend your time generating
more income.
BONUS LESSONS…
LESSON #3: FOLLOW YOUR INSTINCTS
Now, this you may need to be careful on
because fear and instincts can feel the same.
Instincts is what compels you to make a
big decision.
Fear is what prevents you from making that
big decision.
Or it is at least the feeling you
get after Instinct “kicks in”.
The biggest challenge people have to face when
dealing with Instinct vs Fear is in personnel decisions.
You know you need to release that employee or vendor
because of them;
*not “quite being with it” during
company meetings
*not following company rules,
*or lack of productivity.
**The biggest one is following company rules**
Many times because these individuals feel
that they have “been there from the start”, the
company rules don’t apply. These people have
to go.
Rules are what makes a company thrive, duplicate
efforts, keeps you compliant with governmental laws
and keeps profits in line.
I have had employees and vendors that wouldn’t follow
the rules and my company is better without them, I have
employees and vendors that follow the rules and and my
company is better with them!
If you have an instinct that someone must go, your
bottom line will not suffer.
I can assure you it is suffering more with them
than without them.
LESSON #4: FEELINGS ARE CRAP
Listen, before you fall off the deep end saying
“See I knew the rich had no feelings”, read this
carefully.
You should and need to have feelings for your
family, friends, employees and vendors.
If you have blood pumping through your veins
feelings for people you work with will happen.
What you CANNOT do, is make
decisions based on the worry of what others
may think of you.
My dad once told me “If you don’t want to be
criticized, do nothing with your life”.