Being in Business means you are transacting—buying and selling—so please don't be surprised about this :) There WILL be numbers involved.
I might talk about doing your Thing all the time, but there's a reason my business is called Being a BUSINESS Celebrity as I work with people to make money from doing their Thing as a business. And that means selling—with invoices and cash flow and everything!
You might think I am talking 'Business 101' here, but I talk to—and meet—a LOT of 'business owners' who really don't like the 'business side' of things. So then I have to ask them "Are you really in business?".
I remember once hearing from a business owner who had just got back from their accountant and was really pleased to hear that they had broken even last year. This had me falling off my chair for 2 reasons: 1. How did they not know they made no profit until then? and 2. Breaking even isn't the aim of a business (that would be making a profit). Now I am prepared to let the whole 'breaking even' thing go if you're still in the investment stage or providing you are actually paying yourself out of your business with a good salary—then 'break even' is totally acceptable. NOT KNOWING you only broke even until months after an entire financial year has ended is not acceptable, however!
A business is alive
Your business is working for you every single day and you need to make sure it's in shape. You wouldn't go to your doctor about a pain you had 8 months ago to get a diagnosis and have them say (hopefully) phew it's fine, it's OK, nothing serious, it got better on it's own. Worse still, what if you did have something wrong with you and you wait months and months to find out? It just wouldn't happen—you'd do something much quicker if you weren't feeling well. So why wait if your business is under the weather?
If your business isn't paying you want you want it to right now, if you're not making the income you want to be making—and remember here that income is NOT the same as sales (I won't go into a 'profit is sales MINUS costs' Accounts 101 lesson here, but take note if you've conveniently forgotten that!).
Check your business pulse
If you don't already set aside time every day/week/month (at least) to check the pulse of your business by PROPERLY looking at your numbers, then how do you know your business is still 'fighting fit'? And if numbers aren't your Thing, please hire someone whose Thing it is! You need to know where you are all the time with your business numbers so you can focus on doing your Thing without that worry of your business going into arrest!
Do it today.
Check your numbers and make plans that keep your business alive and kicking!
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