It’s so easy to get lost in the detail of the ‘doing’ of your business, that it’s all to easy to forget to stop and look back at the big picture.

Where are you headed with all this? What are the big goals over the next six, 12 and 36 months in terms of your target numbers of customers, your turnover, your profit and even your business asset value. Are you building a business that might have a value to someone else?

Think about it –have you ever tried using a SatNav and not putting your destination in? Pointless!  Sure, you get the chance to change direction along the way – and thankfully the ‘voice’ doesn’t reprimand you for going wrong – it simply readjusts the journey, telling you how to get back on track with your journey.

Planning for your business is no different – it’s a journey, not a precise itinerary and you may need to make adjustments, but ultimately you ALWAYS have to know where you are going or you simply will never get there.

How much profit did you make last week?

Any accountant could tell you that your profit equals your revenue less your fixed and variable costs [P=r-(fc+vC)].

But if i asked you how much profit you earned last week, could you tell me? At worst, what about last month? If you are relying on your accountant to tel you – 6 months after the year end – how profitable you were last year, you are not demonstrating one of the key characteristics of successful people. They simply ‘know their numbers’. Do you?

Your marketing ROI

And do you know how cost effective your marketing is? Your return on investment? Are you even tracking what works? Are you using Google Analaytics? Call tracking numbers (for your ads and leaflets)? Or are you just asking customers?

If you know what’s working and where you are getting the best ROI on your marketing budget – you never have to have a marketing budget again! After all – if you kept giving me a £1, and I kept giving you £5 back – at what point would you tell me you’d reached your maximum budget?

Source: Nigel's Botterill's Entrepreneur's Circle

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