Entrepreneurship Newsletter 11/9/2024: Should a Profitable Business Still Use the Profit First System?

by Adam Litster | Nov 10, 2024 | Entrepreneurship Newsletter, VPS, Profit First

​​​​​​​ Summary: • Profit First isn’t just for struggling businesses—it’s for anyone who wants greater control over cash flow, less stress about finances, and higher profits. • Even highly profitable businesses often lack visibility into their spending, which can lead to waste. • By implementing Profit First, businesses can unlock even more growth and enjoy a streamlined, stress-free approach to financial management. Achieving profitability is a milestone, but maintaining and even increasing profitability? That takes a powerful system. You might wonder if Profit First is necessary for a business that’s already turning a profit—and the answer is a big yes! Here’s why Profit First can take a successful business to the next level, with an example to show just how transformative it can be.   Why Profit First Matters, Even for Profitable Businesses 1. Gain Control Over Cash Flow Profit First brings visibility to cash flow so you know exactly where your money is going. Even the most profitable businesses can lose track of expenses or cash flow patterns, leading to waste.   2. Increase Profits Through Simplicity Profit First is a straightforward way to consistently boost your bottom line by ensuring that profit comes first, expenses come second, and cash flow gets tracked closely. This process can make financial management easier and more rewarding for any business.   3. Build a Business that Supports Your Vision With Profit First, business owners gain peace of mind, clarity, and confidence in their finances. This system ensures you’re always aligned with both business and personal goals.   A Real-Life Example: A Chiropractic Practice Transformed One of my clients, a highly profitable chiropractic practice, had strong revenue, a healthy profit margin, and high owner’s compensation. Despite this, they were spending cash freely, often unaware of where the money was going. With operating expenses already near Profit First standards, they assumed they didn’t need to change a thing. But here’s what happened when they started using Profit First: • Visibility Increased: They quickly discovered duplicate or unnecessary costs eating away at profits. • Confidence Rose: With better control over cash flow, the owner felt more secure about their decisions, knowing they were building a financially resilient practice. • Profits Improved: By trimming down expenses and adopting Profit First principles, they’re now set to achieve profit levels well above the industry average. This client has seen a total transformation—not only in their business’s financial health but also in their peace of mind and alignment with their vision. Profit First isn’t just about making more; it’s about feeling confident that your business is set up for long-term success. Even the most profitable businesses can benefit from Profit First. By gaining visibility, simplifying cash flow, and streamlining expenses, you’ll take your business’s profitability and resilience to new heights. If you’re ready to make a similar transformation, Profit First might be just the thing your business needs to thrive! Adam Litster Certified Profit First Professional and Pumpkin Plan Strategist (816) 500-5779 adam@betterbizinfo.com Visit Our Website!

Entrepreneurship Newsletter 11/1/2024: 4 Secrets to Prevent Cash Flow Crunches when Sales Slow Down

by Adam Litster | Nov 1, 2024 | Entrepreneurship Newsletter, VPS, Profit First

​​​​​​​ In recent weeks, we have been exploring several valuable insights from the book Surge by Mike Michalowicz to help businesses grow effectively. I wanted to take a break from that today to address a very relevant and pressing topic many of our clients have been dealing with lately, cash flow shortages from seasonal demand shifts. We’re nearing the winter season where many businesses, especially in the outdoor or home services industries tend to struggle. I would like to provide some actionable insight and suggestions to help confront these issues.   Summary: Proactively managing cash flow during slower months helps keep your business running smoothly. By building a cash reserve and creating a seasonal budget you can reduce the stress of cash flow challenges. A little preparation goes a long way toward helping you maintain consistent cash flow year-round. Every business faces seasonal fluctuations, but with a bit of planning and strategy, you can avoid cash flow crunches and stay on top of your finances. Here’s how to keep cash flowing steadily even when things slow down.   Build a Cash Reserve Before the Slow Season Hits Every business experiences good months and bad months, but seasonal businesses tend to experience low months for extended periods of time each year, which can really hurt. Whether you deal with a bad week occasionally, or have 3 months of low sales every year, one of the best ways to avoid cash flow issues is to create a cash reserve during your busiest times. Here’s one of the most common mistakes business owners make when times are good: When revenue is really strong for a month, the owner will often take the extra cash windfall the results and spend it. This practice of increasing spending in line with revenue often makes it difficult to bring the spending back down when revenue drops again.   Setting aside a percentage of your revenue in a designated account provides funds to cover essential expenses when sales dip. We’d recommend you work toward a reserve that covers at least three – six months of operating costs, depending on your business needs.   How to Do It: Set a goal for your reserve fund and commit a percentage of revenue during high-earning periods. Treat this reserve as an essential “expense” each month to ensure you stick with it. If you are using profit First, add an account and update your allocation percentages to include the new reserves account When you have unusually high revenue months (months that exceed the level of revenue you’d need to meet the business needs), transfer a portion of that extra cash to the reserve account to be used for low months/emergencies. By doing this, you can now act as your own bank during cash flow shortages. You have cash available when you need it and don’t have to pay any interest!   2. Create a Seasonal Budget and Stick to It Mapping out your cash flow needs over a full year helps you understand when expenses might need to be trimmed. A seasonal budget lets you identify areas where you can cut back temporarily while still meeting necessary costs.   How to Do It: Identify predictable expenses across a 12-month timeline. Flag slow months and adjust discretionary spending during these times to conserve cash flow.   3. Offer Subscription Services or Additional Seasonal Offerings   Adding a subscription-based service or expanding your offerings can keep cash flowing consistently, even when business is slow. Subscriptions create a steady revenue stream and help maintain customer loyalty. If subscriptions aren’t a fit, think about other offerings to introduce in slow months that fit with your existing business.   For example, one of my clients in the window cleaning business typically experiences a slowdown in winter. In the past, they’ve had to rely on high-interest loans or credit cards to cover operating expenses. To counter this, they began exploring winter-specific services like indoor window cleaning and Christmas light installation. Not only does this boost their income, but it also helps retain their customer base throughout the year.   How to Do It: Brainstorm subscription or retainer-based options that add ongoing value to your clients, such as maintenance packages, consulting, or VIP memberships. Look at seasonally relevant products or services that could create a boost when your primary offerings are less in demand. Even small add-ons or “off-season” versions of your popular services can help generate additional income.   4. Use Short-Term Financing Only as a Last Resort   While it’s ideal to rely on cash reserves, short-term financing can be an emergency backup in unexpected crunches. Options like a business line of credits can give you quick access to funds. Use these sparingly and only as a last, last resort; and have a solid repayment plan to avoid compounding expenses.   Additionally, avoid using credit cards to cover cash flow shortages at all costs! If you use credit cards as if it is cash, you can easily find yourself with massive credit card debt and interest charges that make you lose sleep at night. Credit cards can be used strategically for benefits such as travel points or cash back, but only if they are controlled and used wisely. When you use credit cards for purchases, ensure you always separate funds enough to pay off the card in full. This way you will never have a runaway card balance.   A quick side note: I’d recommend business owners never consider invoice factoring as an option to cover cash flow needs. This is a costly and often ineffective system that will do more damage than good to your business.   What’s Next?   Cash flow management during slow seasons takes planning, but it can ease the financial stress and keep you ready for growth opportunities year-round. Whether it’s building up a reserve, refining your seasonal budget, or adding steady revenue streams like subscriptions, a proactive approach can make a big difference.   With the right preparation, you’ll stay focused on what matters—serving your customers and growing your business in every season. Adam Litster Certified Profit First Professional and Pumpkin Plan Strategist (816) 500-5779 – Option 2 adam@betterbizinfo.com Visit Our Website!

Entrepreneurship Newsletter 10/25/2024: 4 Tips to Refine Your Business to Attract and Retain Your Best Customers

by Adam Litster | Oct 28, 2024 | Entrepreneurship Newsletter, VPS, Profit First

In this edition:

• Refining is all about making small, meaningful adjustments that show your top customers you “get” them.
• When you fine-tune your products, services, or customer experience to reflect what your best customers care about most, you make your business even harder to resist.
• With just a few thoughtful changes, you can boost customer loyalty and keep your high-value clients coming back for more.

In recent editions, we’ve been exploring the S.U.R.G.E. process, a method to grow your business by connecting with your top customers in powerful, targeted ways. Each letter in S.U.R.G.E. represents a step in the process. Here’s a summary of topics covered in the last couple of weeks, with links to the related articles:

• S stands for Separate—identifying your top customers. (Read the full article here)
• U is for Unify—finding the common traits among these customers so you can better understand and serve them. (Read the full article here)

Now we’re at R for Refine. This step is about taking what we’ve learned and making thoughtful adjustments to improve the experience for those top customers. Even if you’re just joining us now, this edition will give you actionable ways to build a stronger, more customer-focused business by refining the details that matter most.

What Does “Refine” Mean for Your Business?

Refining your business is about tailoring it to fit your top customers better. Think of it as fine-tuning your approach, using what you know about your most valued customers’ preferences, challenges, and values. The goal is to strengthen customer loyalty and keep them coming back, while also appealing to new customers who fit the same mold.

Here are a few core areas where refining can make a big difference:

1. Products and Services: This is about understanding what your top customers value most in your offerings. Are there features or customizations they would appreciate? Even small product adjustments can show your customers you’re tuned into their needs.
2. Customer Experience: Look at the experience from your customers’ perspectives. Are there points in the buying or service journey that could be smoother? Improving response time, simplifying the ordering process, or streamlining customer service can make a noticeable impact.
3. Pricing and Payment Options: If you’ve noticed that your top customers prefer certain price ranges or payment flexibility, consider adjusting your options. This could mean anything from offering payment plans to introducing loyalty rewards.
4. Marketing and Messaging: Based on your top customers’ values, adjust your messaging to emphasize what resonates with them. This builds a stronger emotional connection and makes your brand feel relevant to the people who matter most.

Steps to Refine Your Business for Your Top Customers

Here’s a simple process to help you refine in a way that’s intentional, manageable, and impactful.

1. Get Feedback from Your Top Customers
   1. Whether it’s through casual conversations, feedback forms, or CRM data, gather insights from your top customers to pinpoint what they love and where they see room for improvement.
   2. Look for recurring themes, like requests for specific features or feedback about service touchpoints.
2. Prioritize Small, High-Impact Changes
   1. Not every improvement has to be massive. Sometimes, it’s the little things that matter most—like faster service responses, clear instructions, or product packaging that reflects your brand’s personality.
   2. Start with changes that directly address the top needs of your best customers, especially if those needs align with your business goals.
3. Test and Get More Feedback
   1. Try testing any larger changes on a small scale first. Offer a new feature to a select group of customers, for example.
   2. Gather feedback and use it to fine-tune the offering before rolling it out to everyone.
4. Focus on Value Adds
   1. Look for small, valuable “extras” that make a difference, like product tutorials, extended support, or surprise discounts for loyal customers. It’s the little perks that can go a long way in strengthening relationships with your best clients.
5. Measure Results and Keep Refining
   1. Track customer engagement, repeat purchases, or feedback to see how your refinements are performing. Refinement is an ongoing process; adjust as you learn what resonates most with your high-value customers.

What’s Next?

“Refine” is about building deeper relationships with your top customers by making your business fit their needs more closely. These tweaks set the foundation for the next stage of S.U.R.G.E., Gather, where you’ll use what you know about your top customers to expand your reach in the places they congregate.

Entrepreneurship Newsletter 10/18/2024: How to Attract Top Customers

by Adam Litster | Oct 18, 2024 | Entrepreneurship Newsletter, VPS, Profit First

Finding Your Top Customers: The Key to Unlocking Market Opportunities

Entrepreneurship Newsletter 10/11/2024: Surfing the Market Waves: How to Spot the Next Big Surge

by Adam Litster | Oct 18, 2024 | Profit First, Entrepreneurship Newsletter, VPS

Entrepreneurship Newsletter 10/4/2024: Profit First: Your Best Defense Against Price Increases

by Adam Litster | Oct 4, 2024 | Entrepreneurship Newsletter, VPS, Profit First

Hey there, entrepreneurs!

If you’ve been paying attention to the headlines this week, you probably heard about the dockworkers’ strike that nearly brought our supply chain to its knees. While it was resolved fairly quickly, the scare is enough to keep many business owners up at night. I personally had several conversations with my wife about what we would do if all the prices went up, how our budget would be impacted, etc. It doesn’t take much—a single disruption like this—and suddenly you’re facing price increases that ripple across your entire operation and potentially put your personal finances in jeopardy also. It’s more important than ever to put your business in the most healthy position possible so you can weather any unexpected storms.

Before we dive in, here’s what you can expect from this article:

• How Profit First creates a financial cushion to absorb unexpected price hikes.
• Why sudden price increases or supply shortages don’t have to derail your business or personal life.
• Strategies for handling rising costs without immediately passing them on to your customers.
• A real-world example of how a business owner successfully navigated rising costs using Profit First.
• Actionable steps to ensure your business is ready for the next disruption.

Now let’s dig into how you can stay profitable, even when the world around you seems unpredictable.

Profit First: Building a Buffer for Your Business

If you’re already using Profit First, you know that this system is about prioritizing profitability from day one. It’s not just a tool to track your money—it’s a strategic approach and mindset that allows you to prepare for the unexpected and build a buffer against rising costs, like the ones we’ve seen threatened by this week’s strike.

Instead of reacting to price increases after they’ve hit, you’re already ahead of the game. You’ve allocated a percentage of every dollar earned to profit, so when supply chain costs rise or inflation sneaks in, you’re not scrambling to cover your margins. You’ve built in a cushion—peace of mind that lets you focus on growth, not survival.

Handling Price Increases with Confidence

We know that, in the economic environment we live in, price increases are inevitable. Even disregarding the recent increases in strikes and natural disasters, we are facing increased regulations, political turmoil, and military conflicts around the world.  But with Profit First, you’re not caught off guard. You’re not forced to pass on the costs to your customers right away or slash your own income just to keep things running.

With a well-thought-out Profit First strategy in place, you can evaluate the situation calmly. Can you absorb the extra costs? Can you tweak your allocations slightly for a month or two without putting your business in jeopardy? Maybe you can negotiate better terms with your suppliers because you’ve built a stronger financial foundation. These are all questions that are only possible because you’ve made profitability a priority. Further, because you are prioritizing profitability, your business is providing you with the compensation you need to provide for yourself and your family AND still have some left over for profit/emergencies! You are in a position where you have the ability to act rather than react to outside stimuli or pressure, without worrying that you will have to sacrifice your own personal income to keep your business afloat.

Profit First in Action

Take the real world example of a pizza restaurant which successfully weathered the COVID-19 pandemic because they used Profit First. I read about this business in an article, which explained that despite the pandemic causing numerous challenges for the restaurant industry, the Profit First methodology allowed the owner to continue to make allocations and pay his bills throughout the pandemic, despite the fact that his doors were closed for months. By maintaining financial discipline, he could keep the restaurant operating while others around him were closing. This method gave him the ability to weather the financial storm by focusing on profitability from the start rather than waiting until year-end to assess his financial health.

This is the kind of financial flexibility Profit First gives you. It’s not just about profitability; it’s about control and confidence in the health of your business. And as we’ve seen with this week’s strike, having that control is priceless.

What You Can Do Right Now

If you haven’t read and implemented Profit First yet, now is the time. Here’s a link to get it on Amazon (I believe there is going to be a promotion on Amazon later this month!). The dockworkers’ strike is just a reminder that there will always be external factors beyond your control. But we can control how we manage our money. Profit First gives you the tools to handle the unpredictable with confidence.

And if you’re already using Profit First, take a moment to revisit your allocations. Are they set up to help you weather the next supply chain disruption or cost increase? If not, it might be time to adjust.

Bill Litster and I are experts in cash flow management. In 2022, our firm was recognized as the Profit First Professional Firm of the Year. All this is to say that if you need help or would like someone to guide you through improving your business health, we’ve got your back. Click here to schedule a call with us!

We would like to provide as much value as possible through these weekly posts. If you have any feedback or recommendations on how we can do better, or are struggling with something in your business that is keeping you up at night, let us know!

Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!

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Adam Litster

Certified Profit First Professional and Pumpkin Plan Strategist

(816) 500-5779

adam@betterbizinfo.com

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Click here for my calendar to schedule a call or meeting

Entrepreneurship Newsletter 9/27/2024: Scaling without losing your sanity

by Adam Litster | Sep 27, 2024 | Entrepreneurship Newsletter, VPS, Profit First

Welcome to our weekly entrepreneur newsletter! Is there anything in your business that is keeping you up at night? Let us know! We’d love to help and provide our advice/experience in future newsletters.

Main takeaways for today:

• Systematization drives growth without the added stress.
• Document processes so the business runs smoothly without you.
• Delegate and automate to streamline routine tasks.
• Focus systems on your most profitable clients and services.
• Refine systems regularly to keep pace with business growth.

Scaling a business should bring freedom, not more work. But if you’re like most business owners, it can feel like growth just means longer hours and more stress. Being transparent, we are dealing with the exact same issue at our firm. We want to grow, but being in a service industry often means we “trade hours for dollars”. What we have learned (and are working to apply ourselves also!) is that we don’t have to do it all ourselves. When we build the right systems, we can scale without sacrificing our time or sanity.

Here’s how to make that happen:

1. Document repetitive processes

If you’re handling repetitive tasks yourself, you may be working harder than you need to. Every process that happens regularly—like billing, scheduling, or client onboarding should be written down. This way, any member of your team can handle it, giving you room to focus on growth, not the day-to-day grind.

Example: Our firm does bookkeeping for a handful of clients. We found recently that every time we bring on a new bookkeeping staff, we spend a large amount of time walking them through each client and training them on all the many steps involved in managing their books. We are now going through the process of documenting these processes in Standard Operating Procedures (SOP’s) for each client so that any new staff can easily reference the document and skip the hours of training. This will free us up to focus on serving our other clients and growing the business!

2. Automate and Delegate

You don’t need to be involved in every little thing. Once you’ve documented a process, take a step back and ask, “Does this need a human touch?” Many tasks can be automated—like sending reminders or tracking expenses. Those that can’t be automated, consider if you can delegate them to your team.

Example:  Sales can take up a lot of time for business owners. We know this is a crucial part of growing the business, but we often spend a lot of our time vetting and emailing incoming leads, setting up calls, etc. And as our business grows, this would only take up more of our time. Recently, we invested in a CRM and set up automated sequences so that when new leads come in, the system automatically sends out a tailored email to them with links to set up a call. When they set up the call, the system sends scheduled reminders and follow-ups. The process that previously took several hours each month is done automatically and has had an amazing impact on our business!

3. Build Systems Around Your Best Clients

Not all clients are equal. If you’re spending time and resources on low-value customers, your systems are helping the wrong part of your business. Focus on creating systems that help serve your best clients, the ones who bring in the most revenue and truly align with your vision. You will find that your ability to provide value to these clients increases, they are happier with you, and you become much more attractive to potential clients (not to mention you are now much more profitable by spending less time providing more value!)

4. Continuously Refine Your Systems

Your systems should grow alongside your business. As you expand, make it a priority to regularly assess and refine your processes. Whether it’s streamlining something further or automating new steps, evolving your systems helps you stay efficient and maximize profitability as you scale.

The key to scaling without losing control or becoming burnt out is having the right systems in place. Systematizing doesn’t just reduce stress, it gives you the freedom to step back, work on your business rather than in it, and pursue the growth you want. You will be actively leading the business in the direction you envisioned when you first opened the doors!

We can help you build the processes that drive growth without sacrificing your time or quality of life. If you’re ready to systematize your business and prepare your business to scale effectively, reach out to us! We’d love to hear your ideas and provide our expertise! Click here to schedule a call with us!

Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!

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Adam Litster

Certified Profit First Professional and Pumpkin Plan Strategist

(816) 500-5779

adam@betterbizinfo.com

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Click here for my calendar to schedule a call or meeting

Entrepreneurship Newsletter 9/20/2024: Are You in a Cash Flow Crisis?

by Adam Litster | Sep 20, 2024 | Entrepreneurship Newsletter, VPS, Profit First

Welcome to our weekly entrepreneur newsletter! If you are new and would like to check out any prior editions, click here! I had the amazing opportunity to attend the ProfitCon conference this week, where we gained valuable insights into the unique challenges entrepreneurs face today and what can be done to face those challenges successfully. It was such a fantastic experience, so I would like to share some of those insights here for all of you.

In this article, we are hoping to help you better understand:

• The common cash flow challenges that small businesses face
• Why overconfidence in cash flow management can lead to financial issues
• The top drivers of cash flow problems, including labor costs, seasonality, and late payments
• A few helpful tips to better manage your cash flow:

As small business owners, we often find ourselves facing solving problems on the fly — whether it’s handling a sudden staff shortage or delay in an inventory shipment. But one challenge that quietly lingers and can easily sink a business if ignored is cash flow. 91% of small business owners face cash flow challenges, and yet, many believe they have a handle on it until they find themselves in a cash flow crisis.

The Overconfidence Trap
The majority of small business owners check their bank balance daily to make financial decisions, but relying on a single bank balance doesn’t provide the full picture. In a prior newsletter, we discussed the importance of having visibility into the finances of our business. This comes from understanding and interpreting financial statements, and just as important, managing the cash flow of our business. During the conference, I learned that small business owners are on average 42% overconfident in how well they manage their cash flow, and this overconfidence often leads to missed payments, increases in debt, or, arguably the worst of all, not being able to cover payroll. It’s not just about having cash today — it’s about knowing where that cash is supposed to go tomorrow or next month – having an understanding of the cash flow needs of your business, ensuring you are prepared for whatever crisis may be around the corner.

What’s Really Causing the Problem?
We’ve seen that there are four factors that most often drive cash flow crises: rising labor costs, seasonal fluctuations, late payments from clients, and sporadic/excessive spending. These factors can lead to the “feast or famine” cycles we’re all too familiar with—making it difficult to budget or plan for growth.

But here’s the good news: Cash flow is one area where simple changes can lead to  significant positive results.

4 Tips to Get a Grip on Cash Flow

1. Use Multiple Accounts

Many of us toss all our cash into a single account, which can make it look like we have more to spend than we actually do, and limit our ability to prepare for large or rare expenses that may come in the future (i.e. annual fees or taxes). By opening multiple accounts—for profit, owner’s compensation, taxes, and operating expenses, you create clear boundaries around where your money should go. I read something an expert said, “You wouldn’t throw all your clothes into the same drawer, so why throw all your money into one account?” Keeping your finances organized this way is one of the simplest ways to avoid overspending and financial panic.

2. Practice Profit First

When it comes to managing cash flow, too many businesses focus on revenue and expenses first and profit last. It is often an afterthought. We have a profit if there’s money left over after all the bills are paid. By adopting a “Profit First” methodology, you set aside a portion of your income for profit before you account for expenses. This forces your business to operate within its means while ensuring profitability. Your profit should drive your business decisions, not the other way around.

3. Integrate Your Banking and Bookkeeping

We often meet business owners who manage their business finances in excel, or even with a paper and pencil. I’ve seen this work for maybe one or two businesses, but more often than not, this is an ineffective way to manage business finances and does not provide real time or helpful information for making smart business decisions. There is great value in integrating your banking with accounting software like QuickBooks and using this software to manage business finances. This not only saves time but also ensures you have real-time data when making financial decisions. The more accurate your view of incoming and outgoing cash, the more effectively you can plan ahead. If you are struggling to track your business finances or would like help getting set up, we’re here to help! Click here to set up a meeting with us.

4. Leverage Credit Wisely

Many businesses use credit as a lifeline in a cash flow crunch, but it needs to be used with caution. When managed properly, credit products can provide various benefits such as cash back or travel rewards. However, we encourage business owners to only use credit cards in a controlled system (i.e. reserving funds each time credit cards are used, so the card can be fully paid down each month and avoid interest. Many entrepreneurs poorly manage or abuse credit products to make purchases or pay bills that they do not have the cash to pay back. Most business owners assume they’ll make back the money that they borrowed, plus the interest. But they haven’t run the calculations. In other words, they’re going off of AOI instead of ROI, meaning assumption of investments and not return on investments. Getting hit with massive interest charges on credit cards and loans can severly limit your ability to stay profitable and run a healthy business. Before using credit, always consider “What is the likely return and what is the probability of that return?” Remember, using credit wisely is a strategy — abusing it can be a downfall.

Cash Flow and Your Peace of Mind
What’s at stake isn’t just your business’s ability to pay bills. It’s also your personal well-being. Cash flow stress impacts 71% of business owners, leading to anxiety, burnout, and sleepless nights. But by taking control of your cash flow now, you not only secure your business’s future, you also reclaim your peace of mind.

Managing cash flow might seem like a daunting task, but the right systems and a proactive approach can turn this challenge into a manageable part of your business.

At Better Biz Info, we are cash flow experts and have coached many businesses through cash flow crises. There’s always a path to better business health and personal peace. If you have questions or would like help managing the cash flow in your business, click here to schedule a call with us!

Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!

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Adam Litster

Certified Profit First Professional and Pumpkin Plan Strategist

(816) 500-5779

adam@betterbizinfo.com

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Click here for my calendar to schedule a call or meeting

Entrepreneurship Newsletter 9/14/2024: Do you know what your Unique Offering is?

by Adam Litster | Sep 14, 2024 | Entrepreneurship Newsletter, VPS, Profit First

Welcome to our weekly entrepreneur newsletter! If you are new and would like to check out any prior editions, click here! We’re really hoping you are enjoying it so far. We’d also love to share this with as many other entrepreneurs as possible. We would be very grateful if you would share the newsletter on Facebook, X, or LinkedIn by clicking on the link below to share the post. Here’s a link to our share on these platforms:

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Time for our topic of the week, identifying our unique offering!

Most entrepreneurs and small business owners share a common goal – to grow their business, but many of us struggle with this. We are no different. Last year, in an effort to grow our business, we decided to engage a marketing firm to help. We spent thousands of dollars for them to remake our website, update our public image, and do advertising and social media marketing campaigns to increase the lead flow to our business. We went through this for several months of using this marketing firm, and after all that time, we had not received a single lead. Perhaps some of you have had better luck following this route (if so, let us know what made the difference!), but in our experience, many entrepreneurs go through similar experiences as ours and can relate to this. So why do we so often fail to generate even a fraction of the leads we hoped to receive from these big campaigns? And what can we do to have more effective marketing? I don’t profess to be a marketing expert, but I hope to address at least one of the factors that we have seen have a huge impact on attracting more business, and even more important, to attract more of the kind of customers you want. It is true that not all leads are the same. We can get a thousand leads a month, but if none of them care about or need the product you are offering, we’re not going to be any better off. It is essential that we are able to attract the type of customers that we want, our best customers. This comes from understanding our unique offering, i.e. that thing that makes you uniquely different from your competition.

The Pumpkin Plan Process

As we guide entrepreneurs through the pumpkin plan program (if you haven’t read “The Pumpkin Plan” here’s a link to the book on Amazon. I highly recommend it!), one of the most important and valuable exercises we go through is helping them to interview their top customers to discuss how they can serve the customer better. It is a revealing and transformational experience every time! During that interview, they ask the customer questions such as,

“When working with a business like mine, what impresses you the most?”

“What are your biggest complaints about businesses in my industry? What do you wish they would do differently?”

“If you could ask for anything and get it, what would it be? What do you wish we would offer?”

Through this experience, we are able to peer into the hearts and minds of our top customers, the customers we value the most and who value us the most, to understand what matters most to them. We start to see clearly what we do that has the biggest impact on our customers. In our experience, the answers are usually quite different from what we expect, which is one major reason our marketing and messaging are so often ineffective.

A Real Entrepreneur’s Experience

We went through this exercise with one of our clients whose business provides training to drivers seeking to get a commercial driver’s license. During the interview with all their top clients, our client was surprised to hear almost the same responses from every person. They said that the thing that impressed them so much about their experience with our client was that he guided them through the entire process of getting a CDL license from start to finish (when the client received the license), so they didn’t have to go through the process blind. Many of our client’s competitors would provide the training and stop there, but our client went above and beyond, ensuring every client had the best experience possible. This was our client’s unique offering. This is what made him stand out and made him better than everyone else out there. Then we looked together at our client’s website to see what his messaging was to attract new customers. On the website, it said things like, “We’ve been in business for 10 years, we have the best prices, etc. It didn’t mention anything about the unique and personal experience he provided to every customer. Can you guess what messaging each one of his competitors had? They were saying almost the same exact things as our client! There’s no way he could stand out with that kind of messaging.

When we start focusing our messaging and marketing around the things that our top clients want and what they most like about us, we are infinitely more capable of attracting more of those types of clients. It changes everything about the effectiveness of our marketing and the flow of leads into our business.

If you are having trouble growing your customer base or bringing in more leads to your business (or even if you’re not), we really believe this is an extremely valuable exercise for you also. Take some time this week to write down what you feel like your unique offering is. Even better, schedule interviews with your top clients/customers. This will quickly help you find that thing that makes you special to them and to start articulating your unique offering. Then focus your messaging and marketing around that thing.

The process really works! We’ve seen it with everyone that has put in the effort and, for each of them, it has transformed their business. If you would like a guide as you work through this process, we are here for you. Click here to schedule a call with us to learn more!

Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!

Adam Litster

Certified Profit First Professional and Pumpkin Plan Strategist

(816) 500-5779

adam@betterbizinfo.com

Visit our website

Click here for my calendar to schedule a call or meeting

Entrepreneurship Newsletter 9/6/2024: Visibility – Drive Your Business, Don’t Let It Drive You

by Adam Litster | Sep 7, 2024 | Profit First, Entrepreneurship Newsletter, VPS

Welcome to our weekly entrepreneur newsletter! If you are new and would like to check out any prior editions, click here! And feel free to reach out to us with any suggestions, questions, or feedback. I got some great feedback from one of our readers last week that really opened my eyes to a different perspective on the importance of core values in running a healthy business. We’re all here to grow together, so thanks to everyone for being a part of this!

I read an article today that said that approximately 90% of entrepreneurs prepare monthly financial statements or at least have someone prepare them. However, only about 50% of entrepreneurs are able to read, understand, and interpret them. This is not suprising to me as I have spoken with many business owners who struggle to understand their finances. Many even track their businesses’ financial information only to be able to file taxes. I am convinced though, that in the fast-paced world of entrepreneurship, where decisions need to be made swiftly and confidently, understanding financial statements is not just an advantage — it’s essential. In the case of managing a healthy and profitable business, I really believe that knowledge is power, power to make sound business decisions about the direction of your business, power to act quickly before a crisis hits, power to create a business that gives you the life you want.

Of course, it is true that some entrepreneurs become mega-successful, building and selling their businesses for millions of dollars without having any training or skill in finance. However, in my experience, I see that business owners who do not understand their business finances, more often than not, find themselves in a constant struggle to grow their business to a level where they can make a decent living.  We see that most business owners follow a system we often refer to as “bank balance accounting”. Many of you who have read Profit First have heard this term used extensively to describe the practice of making decisions based on the balance in our business checking account. We look at the bank account, and if there’s money there, we are free to spend it; whether to pay employees, pay bills, or buy new equipment. This system works whenever there’s cash in the bank, but quickly falls apart when you need to pay for payroll or pay a bill and find that there’s not enough cash. This is one of the most stressful experiences many business owners could have, having to face the possibility of not being able to make payroll. You don’t want that, and we don’t want that for you either. The challenge with operating a business like this is that we always tend to spend the money that is available to us. So, as our sales grow, our expenses inevitably grow at the same rate. This is why it rarely really solves our problems when our sales grow… because the cash leaves the door just as fast as it comes in, and there never seems to be enough left over.

Profit First is an amazing system, which uses this natural tendency of doing “bank balance accounting” to our benefit. I won’t go into too much detail about how the system works today, but you can find out more about Profit First by clicking this link!

Profit First is about being proactive, rather than reactive. It is a powerful step in getting back in control of your business and leading it rather than leading you. It is a very simple and easy system that can have a huge impact on the health of your business. One of the reasons for this, we believe, is that it takes several overly complicated concepts held in traditional accounting principles and shapes them and applies them in a way that any entrepreneur can understand, whether they have training in finance or not. It works with our habits and skill levels. We believe that every business owner can learn to understand their business finances and how to make good decisions using that information, and it really doesn’t take a degree to get there.

Whenever we begin the process of guiding an entrepreneur through implementation of Profit First, we will always complement this by teaching them how to read, understand, and interpret their business financial statements (such as their Profit and Loss, and Balance Sheet). We have found that this contributes greatly to their success in improving their business in many ways.

Just as one example of the benefits of this: regularly reviewing financial statements helps you identify trends, both positive and negative, before they become significant problems. A decline in sales or profit, or an increase in debt could signal underlying issues that need to be addressed. Early detection allows you to implement corrective measures swiftly, potentially saving your business from more severe financial troubles down the line. As you look for trends in your sales and expenses, you are also able to identify areas in your business that need to be adjusted. I recently met with a client who had just recently started looking closely at their financial statements. During one meeting, when looking at their Profit and Loss for each month of the year to date, they noticed invoices to one vendor were relatively consistent for each month, except in the current month, the amount decreased substantially. With some investigation, they found that there was a timing issue with the billings from that vendor, and there were several missed invoices would be combined with the next months’ billing, resulting in a much larger than normal bill. If they didn’t catch this early, they might have seen an excess of cash in the bank, and not knowing why, thought that cash was available to use on … something else. Then, when the next month came around, and this massive bill came in, they would be thrown into a panic, because the cash was gone and they couldn’t pay the bill. Our client was able to see this early, and reserved the cash so the future bill could be paid without any issues. And the weight that was lifted off of them, knowing they were in control of their business, was such a great feeling for them.

Seeing trends and identifying issues early is only possible by having your finger on the pulse of your business – by understanding your business financial information.

We have worked with many of you to help you learn to understand your business’ financial statements and have really enjoyed witnessing the drastic change in your ability to lead your business where you want it to go and achieve your business goals. It is an amazing thing when an entrepreneur gains this power and confidence over the direction of their business. This is our favorite part of what we do.

We believe that the best person to be in control of your business finances is you. If you would like help with learning how to understand and interpret your business financial information, to be more confident in the direction of your business, we’re here to help you. Here’s a link to set up a free meeting with us to learn more.

Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!

Adam Litster

Certified Profit First Professional and Pumpkin Plan Strategist

(816) 500-5779

adam@betterbizinfo.com

Visit our website

Click here for my calendar to schedule a call or meeting