As accountants and business advisors helping business owners achieve their goals, we meet with different clients every day. We might meet with a diesel mechanic contractor in the morning, and a jeweler in the afternoon.
Two very different people operating in two very different fields. One repairs or rebuilds 50 Tonne mining ore trucks and the other is working with tiny tools and steady hands to create or repair jewelry. However, no matter how different the people and their businesses are, there are always a lot of similarities when it comes to their numbers.
Numbers, such as measuring how much profit the business has earned, or what is the cost of their goods sold to sales, or what the percentage of their wage costs to their sales. These are all examples of numbers that apply to both of these business owners, and they can be measured and applied to any business in operation.
It could even be measuring how many hours the business owner works each week compared to their profit (we usually find that it’s too many!).
Any business, at any time, will have either a problem in an area of operation or an area that can be improved. Any problem can be measured with a number, that number can be measured as it is right now, and you can set a target or a goal to improve that number. Ideas and strategies on how to get there can then be discussed and implemented.
An improvement in the number shows the problem is addressed and your business improves. You can then move on to another area of your business, and start the process again.
You would be surprised just how quickly a business can improve if they identified just one important number in need of attention, measured and focused on it to improve it, and then move on to the next. It makes a huge impact.
So the full question would be: What’s your ‘number’ right now? And how are you going to monitor and improve this?
If you need help identifying these key numbers, developing goals and keeping yourself accountable, get in touch with us today!