A recent Harvard study cited five specific areas where entrepreneurs struggle during the start-up phase. They include: Financial Management, Customers, Business Model, Product, & the Team. While properly managing these areas is indeed crucial to the success of any business, there are a few other important nuances that entrepreneurs should focus on as well.
If you ever expect to reach your Peak Profit Potential, you have the right mindset when it comes to how you envision, engage with and execute your profit strategy. That starts with a focus on, you guessed it, making a PROFIT! Without this focus, entrepreneurs easily and quickly get caught up in the rat race of networking events, business lunches, and trade shows. Having the right mindset includes understanding what affects profit and not only how to manage it, but how to create it. It includes your firm belief that your business can & will be profitable instead of only hoping for the best.
Planning for your business success goes beyond logos and phone systems. Planning is about setting a goal and figuring out the steps that will get you there. Proper planning is both a science and an art. The science of it includes knowing your ideal customer and creating the perfect product/service. The art of planning involves pricing those products/services at the perfect point where competitiveness meets market tolerance meets highest profit potential. Planning also includes having the right front-end and back-end systems in place to ensure profitability. Every step in every department from marketing & customer service to accounting & operations must be planned properly.
Streamline/Automate:
Once you really understand your customers and have a product that fits their needs, the next step to being profitable on purpose is in your the automate as many of your processes as humanly possible. Figure out a way to only have to touch something once and still achieve maximum accuracy and efficiency. Perhaps you can automate the order processing piece of your business or perhaps it’s the billing side of the business. Every area in a business can be streamlined and potentially automated completely. I realize that many businesses are built on positive person to person contact, but even in heavy human contact businesses, there are plenty of systems and processes that can be tweaked and streamlined to ensure that you are squeezing every ounce of profit out that you can.
Continually Course Correct:
Finally, be sure that you are profitable by continually course correcting. Ship captains know that when they have to make a wide turn they can’t wait until the very last minute and expect to turn the ship on a dime. Pilots understand that they have to keep a watchful eye on their instruments at all times if they want to be sure that they are on course. Even unmanned drones have pilots to direct them throughout their mission! Likewise, entrepreneurs have to keep a watchful eye out for the tell-tale signs that the business is off course. Knowing what the ultimate goals of the company are, understanding the business climate and knowing how to navigate through those twists and turns are crucial to not only surviving but thriving in business. This means maintaining the right mindset, sticking to the plan while being flexible when necessary, and looking for ways to streamline systems. It also means that when the business is off course making the decisions that are necessary to get back on track.
Kemberli Stephenson is The Profit Sherpa & works with rapid growth women entrepreneurs, speakers, coaches, authors, small business owners, entertainers, etc. She helps those who are looking to impact their bottom line, increase profit margins and grow a successful business. Kemberli helps entrepreneurs rapidly increase profits by helping individuals and companies chart a course to the summit, discover their danger zones and blind spots, and develop and implement profit strategies that will grow as your organization grows. Follow @Profit_Sherpa on Instagram for daily tips and motivation for entrepreneurs.
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