We all make mistakes. If there was a way that you could avoid making a mistake โ especially a costly one โ I know youโd love to learn all about it.
So Iโve decided to pull a Clint Eastwood and โmake your dayโ!
Iโm going to give you the skinny on how to avoid a huge mistakeโฆand a potentially costly one. Many entrepreneurs put limits on their own incomes. Now, youโre probably saying to yourself, โSeriously, who does that? I donโt know a single person in business for herself that does that! Why on earth would anyone want to make less money? That makes no sense!โ
And youโre 100% right. Nobody does this intentionally.
There are five things women entrepreneurs do that make it difficult for them to make more money in less time. Iโm going to tell you what they are so that you can look critically at your business and see if youโre doing them. If you are, you can stop โ right away โ and start making more money.
1. You Lack Concrete Goals
Remember when you were in elementary school, and the catchphrase was โReading is Fundamentalโ It still is, but thereโs another fundamental you need to embrace. This one pertains to the world of business. GOALS are fundamental. Without clear, measurable goals for your business, you wonโt be able to maximize your income. You need to answer some important questions before you attempt to set your goals so that you know theyโre really guiding your business to where you want it to be. Ask yourself these questions:
- How much money do you want to make in a year?
- How many customers do you need to meet that number?
- What is your ultimate lifestyle like? How do you want to live?
- What does your exit strategy look like?
- Who is on your dream team?
If you know how much money you want, and how hard youโll have to work to make it, youโll have a blueprint that will help you build a foundation for your business.
Add to that the number of hours you want to work, the work/life balance youโd like to achieve, and whether you want to be merely comfortable or over-the-op rich.
Then think about how youโll leave your business when itโs time. Will you sell it? Pass it on to a family member? Train and promote some great employees to manage it for you when you retire at the beach and sip margaritas. Whatever option works for you is the option you need to work toward.
Lastly, you need to think about the people youโll need on board to get your business to this point. Youโll need to identify their skills, learn where to find them and master the art of training them.
Once this is done and your goals are set, you can move on to the next mistake you may be makingโฆ
2. You Donโt Have a Time Management Strategy
I also call this โShiny Object Syndromeโ. Youโre all over the place, looking for the โnext big thingโ. Your focus is scattered instead of tight. Youโre easily distracted by something that looks better than what youโve got. You donโt buckle down and work hard toward a key objective.
Establish time blocking.
If having everything in your life on a fixed schedule, makes you cringeโฆstay with me. That isnโt what weโre talking about here. You need to build some flexibility into your schedule, but you also need to establish some firm guidelines and stick to them.
For example:
Choose a schedule creator (I love Google CalendarโฆGoogle Calendar is my boss!) and set a block of time aside for certain tasks. Make this consistent. On Mondays, block out three hours for lead generation. Tuesdays, block out three hours for accounting. On Wednesdays, block out three hours for sales calls. This is the kind of pattern Iโm talking about โ making sure that thereโs a specific place in your schedule for the essential tasks that need to be done and that makes you money. When you do this effectively, youโll see that your bank account mirrors whatโs on your calendar. What you focus on expandsโฆso focus on the right things that drive revenue in your time blocks.
3. You Donโt Have Set Systems or Processes
To fix this mistake, youโll need to establish step-by-step processes.
- Develop operational standards for your business โ Create manuals or guidelines that establish how your business will be run. Set the bar high and always surpass your standards.
- Establish a clear sales funnel โ Know where to find your customers and learn what marketing strategies work best to reach them.
- Identify and use tools that help you manage your sales process โ Streamline your sales pitch and improve your closing skills.
- Lay out a profit model โ So you know how many sales youโll have to close to meet your income goals.
Most of all:
BE CLEAR ABOUT HOW YOU WANT TO DO THINGS AND HOW YOU WILL MAKE YOUR MONEY.
4. You Donโt Value Your Time
Know exactly how much an hour of your time is worth. To do this, take the amount of money you want to make in a year and divide it by the number of hours youโre willing to work in a year. This will tell you if an hour of your time is worth $15, $50, $350 or $500+.
5. Youโre Not Thinking Like a CEO โ Youโre Acting Like A COE
A CEO is a Chief Executive Officer. She functions at the highest level of the organization, delegating, facilitating, and managing. A COE is a Chief of Everything โ a flustered, frazzled, overworked, and overwhelmed person who feels that she is solely responsible for anything and everything that needs to be done in the business. From taking out the trash to driving sales numbers.
Or perhaps itโs messy, disordered, and over-full, so the door doesnโt shut and mess spills out everywhere for everyone to see. You canโt find things or take care of your priorities because thereโs so much else in the way.
So, how many of these mistakes are you making?
Until next timeโฆ