Blog - Scattered to Streamlined

🌟Would You Say You Are Successful?🌟

Success means different things to different people. Some might put a monetary value on success. Others a lifestyle change. For me, it was having a beautiful location from which to work. One that inspires both my clients and me. I’m here, loving it and my business pays for it. (That’s my office and one of my planning retreat spaces in the photo.)

What does success look like for you? Once you have that picture in your mind, how do you go about obtaining it?

I’ve got some success tips/habits to share with you.

Successful Reset for Business Owners

When it comes to owning a business, things are always changing. Sometimes, markets take a completely different turn than anticipated. Other times you may find yourself feeling overrun, burnt out, or stagnant. Whatever the situation, business owners will have to be adaptable and consider taking a proper reset period multiple times through the lifecycle of their business.

For me, my most recent reset was a bit forced. I was getting knee surgery and I knew that my business life would look a bit different as I healed. Though a reset might sound scary, I’ve found that when life forces you to slow down, sometimes it’s even more important than you realize. Below are my tips for experiencing a successful business reset that will leave you rejuvenated and ready to take on the challenges that come with your business:

Implementing Systems Saves Cats

The other day there were a bunch of nasty geese in our yard. (after being attacked by three geese decades ago, I have no love for these flying, pooping beasts 😝) I let our crazy dog, Dylan, out the door to chase them away. What I hadn’t noticed were the neighbor’s cats hanging out next to their house. Yep – Dylan ignored the geese and instead made a beeline for the cats. The cats ran into their house and Dylan followed, running up on the neighbor’s porch and trying to get in through the luckily-smaller-than-an-80-pound-dog cat door. Eeks! I hurried over there myself to find his butt hanging out that door and yanked him back to me. Great way to ingratiate ourselves to our relatively new neighbors, eh?

Shhhh . . . . Don’t tell anyone I told you this

I see a lot of knocking of new year’s resolutions and . . . . . . . . I’m actually a huge fan of them. 🤫

Why?

Finding Freedom through Finding Time

“Either Run the Day or the Day Runs You”
-John Rohn

Have you ever been uber-busy all day long, frantic, running from one task to another and, at the end of the day, had someone ask you what you did that day – only to rack your brain and not be able to come up with one item of significance? The day has just run you.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful, instead, to:

End your day feeling calm, on purpose, and being able to clearly state at least one major accomplishment for the day?
End your work day and not give another thought to business until the start of the next work day?
Actually find MORE time in your day? Time for health, fun, other meaningful priorities?

Using my 3 step Finding Freedom through Finding Time (plus some Secret Sauce) process, you WILL make this happen!

“Watch the Pennies and the Dollars Will Watch Themselves”

My questions is – Are you watching either?

As small business owners often responsible for ALL aspects of the business, it may be easy to “forget” to review the business’ financial figures. You may have a feeling things are not going as well as you’d hoped – who wants to see that? Or – the money is rolling in and checking the actual numbers doesn’t seem as important because you see the frequent deposits and have a sense that all is well.

All too often while reviewing the five key categories of a business with my new clients, when we get to the financial pillar, I find one or more of the following key financial metrics either not tracked or not reviewed on a regular (i.e. monthly) basis.

How about you? As a small business owner, how would you rate your diligence when it comes to reviewing the following?

Ack – What Do I Charge??

Do you find yourself asking any or all of the following questions?

As a start-up business – What should I charge to begin with?
As an experienced business – Am I charging enough?
What do I charge so I don’t scare anyone away?
An expert tells me I should be charging 10x what I am currently. Should I and, if so, how do I make that kind of jump?

While none of those questions has an absolute tried and true answer, one thing I know for sure is when someone says they’re not sure whether they are charging enough, they definitely are not.

But – we have businesses to run. Clients and customers to support. Marketing to be continued. Operations to run smoothly. Who has the time?