Module Three – Clarify Your Current Profit Picture

When you expand your business, it might involve some financial investment. You can limit this to a set budget, but you can only establish that budget once you know what money is coming in and what is going out. Some entrepreneurs are on top of their numbers, but many are not.

In this module you’ll bring together data from your existing offerings to clarify where you stand financially today.

Your Current Financial Picture

Whether you’re driven to grow by a desire for increased income or something else, you need to know the financial picture of your business today. Get clear on where your profits are coming from before you think about making changes. Again, don’t assume you know – do your homework and check the facts.

Take your current offers and answer these key questions:

• What do you charge for each?
• What does each cost you to provide?
• What profit do you make on each item?

Gathering this information now will be useful later on when you write your Business Growth Plan.

Additional Considerations

Business isn’t just about profits. Satisfaction goes along with income as you see people buying and enjoying the offerings you have developed and promoted.

As a small business owner, you are very close to your products and services. For example, if you have a coaching or consulting business, then you will be investing your time for one-on-one work. If you’ve invented a product that sells well, you will remember the time you spent designing and perfecting your invention before you allowed it to go on sale.

This probably means that you get more of a buzz from some offers than others. You might have initially put up with offers you didn’t love in order to get your business off the ground. But now that you’re at a place where you want to scale up, it’s time to review the satisfaction you get from your products and services. Being in business is about doing the things you enjoy (or should be) as well as ensuring your bottom line.

Before you go further into growth strategies, look at:

• What you enjoy doing or providing in your current offers – these are elements you’re going to want to keep
• What stresses you or takes too long for little reward – these could be the offerings you change or drop altogether.

Key Takeaways:

• Keeping on top of your numbers is a prerequisite for business success.
• Identify where your profits are coming from today before you make changes.

Action Steps:

1. Quick Win: Note where you think your biggest profits come from and what the profit margin is.
2. List all your current offers in your Action Guide and answer the questions to clarify your current profit picture.
3. Write down what you enjoy doing or providing in your current offers and what stresses you or takes too long for little reward.