So, you’ve got a business and you’re doing ok. As in, it’s moving, but not amazingly profitable… and it’s not fitting in with your idea time schedule.
OR maybe you’re at capacity and looking to grow your income without investing more of your precious time and giving up being with the fam bam.
But how?!
The answer is highly dependant on the type of business you have. But there are some principles that can be applied to most. So let’s break it down.
- run your numbers
- set your goals
- brainstorm ideas
- get people involved
- use technology
- go to market
OK lets get into it.
1. run your numbers.
You need to know your numbers inside out.
I’m talking knowing your costs, taxes, time input and profit. All said and done, how much are you actually making? And what’s it costing you time wise?
Then you’ll decide if you’re happy with that amount. And the answer is likely, no. Not because you’re not doing great. Maybe you are. But even if you are, you’re probably looking higher now, and so you should. You go mumma!
2. set your goals.
Once you’ve set your goals, you’ve got your next end point. This should include your desired income, and your ideal working hours. The awesome thing about this is that you can now compare this to your numbers.
Scenario 1
Lets say your ideal take home profit is $1500 per week. In this example you’re developing a product that leaves you with $15 profit each, and it takes 8 working hours to design/create/sell and do admin for 20 products – you’ve made (20*15) $300 or (/8) $37.5 per hour. If your max desired work week is 20 hours, – with your current business model your max profit is $750. Only HALF what you actually want to make.
Scenario 2
Your desired profit is $3000 per week. You’re a serviced based business charging $150 per hour. You’re happy to work the 20 hours but at the moment you only have 5 hours a week worth of work. Once you take away expenses, profit is currently $500 per week.
So how do we move from here, to where we want to be?
It’s time to put our thinking caps on.
3. brainstorm.
There’s 3 basic ways to increase your profit.
1 – decrease costs
2 – increase prices
3 – increase amount sold
Within these there are thousands of possibilities. Not all of these will be suitable or viable for your business, but the list below should be a good starting point for a solid brainstorming session.
So when you’re ready, schedule in a planning day, get out the pen and paper and put all the crazy ideas and possibilities down on paper. Out of your head and in front of your eyes. Yes some will be ridiculous, but some might have a glimmer of merit and that my friends, we can work with.
Ways to increase profit
- Decrease costs
- cheaper materials
- outsourcing labour
- changing suppliers
- changing procedure to reduce steps
- automating tasks with software
- Increase prices
- charging more for your product/service
- increase amount sold
- change marketing messaging
- get your message in front of more eyes via advertising or PR
- getting a sales person
- getting a salesforce (affiliates to sell your product for you)
No, this isn’t an exhaustive list. Again, it’s a starting point. And if you’re still stuck and need some more inspiration – jump inside our FREE FB GROUP and ask. There’s myself and heaps of other business mommas ready to help!
4. get people involved.
A few of the options above involve people. And the truth is, without people you’re not going to be able to scale your business very well.
People in your business can take the form of a mentor, a support group (see our Marketing Mastermind), a virtual assistant, an intern or a consultant or coach.
Without people, the time freedom component of your business isn’t going to go very far. Without people, you’re the product, the CEO, CFO, Marketing Manager, Administration … the list goes on. So figure out what you LOVE doing, and start planning to get yourself out of the activities you DON’T love doing, or you’re not fantastic at.
5. use technology.
my fav!! Technology these days runs my business. Without it, I wouldn’t get the results I do in my agency, and would spend waaaay to long on admin.
The 5 main tools I use everyday are:
asana – for task management
hub spot – for client management
zapier – for marketing integration and automation
planoly – for social media management
zoom – for recording videos and meeting with clients and staff
We also use online calendar booking software, proposal and invoice development and distribution software, email sending software and a whole heap more.
The ones I listed are actually great for most industries but there are also programs that will specific to your industry that can automate client follow ups and invoice sending X days after an enquiry etc.
So reach out to others in your industry and ask them what they’re using and why. Figure out which ones will help you (and your team) be as hands off as possible and have capacity to sell more. Surprisingly a lot of the software options are free or super inexpensive, but there are also the verrry pricey ones (hello premium hubspot, I’m talking to you!!)
6. go to market.
The last part of scaling your business is of course, selling your product.
Once you’ve actioned all the points above, you’ll have a solid foundation set up on which to grow your business. But how do you actually sell more??
Condensed to just a sentence … you need to put a desirable product/service in front of the right people, packaged in the right way. This sounds simple, but it’s definitely not easy.
No product or service is the same, and our audience wants and needs are ever evolving in this crazy world we’re living in.
If you’re just getting started, the best way is to test the market. Test different audiences and offers and packages, and messaging. Ask if Facebook groups for peoples opinions … join ours (https://www.facebook.com/groups/businessmummas/) – and we’ll give you some honest, gentle feedback.
Better yet – join our Marketing Mastermind and get professional marketers plus a group of successful business mummas behind the scenes inside your business every fortnight.