Author: admin

How good is your business? Seriously, how successful are you? A marginal business is one that makes a profit, but not much of a profit and is vulnerable to the loss of one customer, or where the truth is we’d be better off getting a PAYE job and increasing our take-home income pay.

A sustainable business is one that makes enough profit to generate surplus cash that we can save for a rainy day (and we are guaranteed to get those every five years) or to reinvest back in our business.

Into which group does your business fall? Be honest here.

A few years ago my accountant suggested my own business was becoming increasingly marginal and maybe I needed to do something about that. So I did. I set up a sales spreadsheet and hired a PA to help me manage enquiries and make sure that once a month we sat down to discuss what I was doing to generate work, who needed a nudge, who was wasting my time and who needed a quote or a visit and so on.

Most people try to do everything themselves and can suffer because they lose focus and forget to do important tasks, such as sales and marketing. By investing in a pair of hands and setting up a defined process I sidestepped my own weaknesses and began to increase the activity in my sales pipeline. My business is now successful and has moved out of the danger zone and I still keep up with the sales activity, having learned my lesson!

Instead of working in our business we need to work on our business and how many of us really do enough of that?

It’s a straight choice. Work on the business and be more successful, or skimp on it and be marginal.

What do you need to do differently?

Next week: Crossing The Rubicon

Do you like coffee? Delicious, hot and perky, it’s a great brew and I’m sure if you look hard enough you’ll find an ancient Starbucks at Machu Pichu.

It also messes with your system and reduces the flow through capillaries in the brain, but let’s not worry about that. Live for today! Drink more coffee!

Well, that was me ten years ago and then I gave up coffee. I had headaches for two weeks as my blood vessels adjusted and then all was good. I had clearer skin too and brighter eyes and clearly my body was rejoicing at being caffeine free for the first time since I’d had my first black coffee in 1974.

My primary school teacher, Mrs Roberts, was drinking a mysterious dark beverage and when I told my mum later that day, I was astonished to find that it was called ‘black coffee’. This was exotic stuff back then and quite avant garden to forgo milk. I tried a cup, my mum thinking I’d hate it. I loved it and never looked back.

Until 2006 when a friend suggested I might have an allergy to coffee (I had an annoying skin complaint that had defied medical science). She was right and I’ve never had so much as a sip since.

I tell the story because if we set a personal goal it can often be over complicated, such as to run so far in a set time whilst looking uber cool. We need to think more simply and set a personal goal that is easy to say in no more than ten words.

One change can unlock another so we would be well advised to find the key that sends ripples through our life and our well-being.

Ten years ago coffee was that key. This year it’s sleep. I’ve been exhausted and need to sleep for an extra five hours a week. The cumulative effect of this will be huge for me. Worth going for!

What’s your personal goal this year?

Next week: Marginal Or Sustainable?