5 Steps to Take Control of Your Business

Are you fed up of feeling out of control and overwhelmed?

Confused about what to prioritise?

Not sure which new ideas to pursue?

Not consistently making as much money as you want to be?

Do you feel like a passenger in your own business? Let’s get you back in the driving seat…

Follow these 5 steps to gain control of your business:

1. Set your goals

If you don’t know where you’re heading, it’s difficult to get there! Think of it as plugging your destination in the sat nav.

So, where would you like to be in 3 years’ time? Think about the detail of your day-to-day life. Really try to visualise it – where will you be living, what kind of lifestyle will you have?

Try not to get distracted by how you will do this – just think about where you would like to be.

Now you need to turn that into numbers. The easiest way is: look at what you’re spending now and make adjustments for how much more (or less) will you be spending on things like your mortgage, holidays, children’s activities.

2. Understand your profit per hour

If you want to be in control of your business, it’s absolutely crucial that you know how much profit you make per hour, for each service/product that you offer. 

You will use this information to build your business towards your goals.

So, for each service write down:

• • how much you charge;
  • if delivering it costs you anything (eg printing costs or 3 hours’ time of a VA); and
  • how many hours it takes (that’s how long it really takes, including everything you do to prepare and follow up).

Sometimes, it can be a bit disheartening to see these figures in black and white. But, now you know where you stand, we can do something about it.

3. Play with your profits

Now for the fun part – what could you do? Here are a few ideas:

• • Are there some services that just aren’t worth it? Could you just stop them?
  • Are there any that would be worth it, if you increased the price?
  • Is there one stand-out service that makes you the best return for your time? Could you focus more of your time and energy on that, if you ditched some of the others?
  • What new ideas do you have? Pop them on the list – where do they fit? Do they give you a better return per hour?

4. Build your 3-year strategy

So now we need to set out a roadmap to get you from today to your 3 year goal. This is going to be an iterative process – don’t expect to get it nailed the first time round.

You have already set your goal for the end of Year 3. Now you need to decide where you want to be at the end of Year 2, and then the end of Year 1.

You’ll probably come back and adjust this in a minute so, for now, just have a stab at what looks like a reasonable progression.

Next, let’s think about the detail: for each service, you need to estimate how many you will sell (each year), at what price.

This isn’t an exercise in wishful thinking. It’s taking the ideas that you had when you played with your profits, and seeing if they can build the business that you want.

If they can’t, then go back and have another look – adjust the prices or the number of services that you plan to sell. You may need to go round a few times to build the business that you want.

This exercise is key to driving your business to meet your goals. Otherwise, you’re in danger of working hard, but not creating the life that you want.

If you can’t find a way of making the numbers add up to your 3 year goal, then it isn’t going to happen unless you do something different. Don’t despair – it’s better to know this now, than in 3 years time.

There are lots ways you could tackle this. It may be that you need to invest some time in learning more about creating different income streams. In my Business Strategy Pitstop programme, you get my expert eyes on your business, and I can help you to generate ideas.

 5. Make a detailed plan for the next 12 months

Once you have your 3-year plan, you can create yourself a detailed plan for the next 12 months. This month-by-month roadmap will help to keep you on track.

So, you need to plot your progress from today to your ‘end of year 1’ figure. Work through your services, and plan out what you will be selling in each month.

Now do a reality check: for each month, list out the activities that you will need to complete in order to achieve the sales you have listed (eg course creation, marketing activities). Just check that you haven’t overloaded yourself at any point, and this is realistic.

So, if you followed these steps, you should have a plan to get you from today to your 3-year goal. If you like the thought of following this process, but need some help, then take a look at my Business Strategy Pitstop programme. You can get my expert eye 1:1 on your business, and get on track to meeting your exciting goals.

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