Author: admin

Do you like fruit? Do you like mixing soft fruit with green veg? If you do …then you probably have a smoothie maker lurking in the kitchen.

It’s the only way you can mix kale and cranberries with a clear conscience. Any other form of culinary conjoining is probably adventurous and yet a bit misguided. Kale makes your smoothie go green too, for an added alien cook book look.

I have a smoothie maker now thanks to post Christmas exuberance. How I’ve managed to survive for over 40 years without blended greens and berries is something of a mystery. I am hoping that being late to the party isn’t going to cause a problem for my longevity. Although I have promised myself that, in order to maintain a healthy perspective on healthy eating, at least every tenth smoothie will be based around a Mars bar.

Which brings me to the banana of progress.

I’ve noticed that bananas comprise the largest part of a Rich-smoothie. They add bulk and fibre and taste and essential nutrients, such as potassium.

If we take our delicious smoothie, whizz it up into a business metaphor and decant it into our thinking, we can think about the ingredients which make our business a success.

And the point of focussing on bananas, as the single biggest element, is to prod our thinking to work out what is our single biggest contributor to success?

Is it brand reputation? Low cost? Impeccable service? Unique products? Handmade individuality?

A decent smoothie has many ingredients and whilst goji berries are meant to be good for you, we still need our faithful banana to make it a viable product. (Nobody really knows what a goji berry is, what it does, or where it comes from. They must be pure magic. There is a smoothie conspiracy out there amongst chefs, I’m sure).

Bananas are not as glamorous as specialist mystery berrries and it would be easy to forget them in the rush to add exotica to our breakfast comestibles.

The same applies to our business. If high class service is our ‘banana of progress’ powering our business along, then we need to audit our performance to make sure it’s still doing what we think it is. If standards have slipped then our banana has been lost to us and we’re heading for trouble.

So, this week we can all have a delicious smoothie and ponder what really drives our business. Then we can measure that element and make sure it’s kept firmly in view.

And if you’ve been affected by my reckless use of fruit and veg in this blog, or have issues related to goji berries please don’t write in. Just chuck in some chocolate when you next make a smoothie and the world will feel a better place again.

Next week: Hold The Boundary

Little things add up. If we park our car away from the supermarket doors every time we shop we will walk an extra few miles each year. If we stop putting sugar in our tea we will lose weight. 

Making small simple changes can add up to a big benefit to our health.

We are sensitive beings and it’s easier to keep nudging things in the right direction than to make a commitment to buy lycra shorts and run 10 miles a day. Maybe we can start by wearing lycra to the supermarket and get used to feeling more healthy? Perhaps I will get some daygo running trousers and report back at a later date!

For now though we can look at our business and see where we can nudge it.

Sensitivity analysis means modelling the dynamics of income and expenditure and seeing what effect changing the numbers has on our profit.

For example, if we want to earn more and work less we can play with the numbers and see what happens. If we have 100 clients a year and charge each one £50 then our income is £5,000. What happens if we had 80 clients and charged them £60? Well our income drops to £4,800 but we have freed up 20% of our time. We only need to see 2 clients at £100 and we have the same income as before, but with less effort. 

People often price to what they perceive the market rate to be. Charging £50 is a  happy sort of round number, but our clients might be willing to pay £60 as they perceive that’s still great value.

Once we start to play with the numbers and model the 2018 version of our business we create new opportunities for ourselves.

Sensitivity analysis allows us to find the sweet spot that maximises income and opportunity and we can decide what is important. Less income and more time might allow us to do some training, or to give us thinking space to develop new products. 

When I looked at my own business I realised that using Skype meant I could reduce my rates, save on travel costs and be left with a higher net income, for some specific clients.

All we need to do is compile a spreadsheet and change the numbers around to create different scenarios for us. It’s productive, thought provoking and fun!

So, this week we can all take time to model our business and see what we can do differently for 2018.

Happy analysing!

Next week: The Banana Of Progress!