Momentum - Business to Business Online Magazine MOMENTUM October 2019 | Page 18

FROM THE BUSINESS COACH MIKE HILDERBRAND, BS, MBA, CBC ActionCOACH of Galveston [email protected] www.galvestonbizcoach.com Know Your Numbers! F all is here, and with Fall comes the beginning of the planning cycle for next year. Now is the time for business owners to reassess their businesses and begin to plan for the changes they will make in the coming year to improve revenue, profitability and efficiency. The problem is that so many businesses are in such chaos that they can’t see the forest for the trees. The job of a business coach is to coach business owners from chaos to control, with the ultimate objective of creating a commercial, profitable enterprise that works without them. To do this generally requires a lot of hard work, the ability to initiate and sustain change, and an attitude and desire to create a business, which will help owners reach their goals and dreams that they had when they first started in business. At the start, most businesses are in complete disarray. The initial series of steps in getting control is through what we refer to as “Mastery”. And the first step is Mastery of money. What is money mastery? When it comes to money, it is amazing how many 16 MOMENTUM business owners aren’t aware of the basics. They don’t know their revenues or for that matter even their break- even points. Most owners don’t set themselves any sales targets or budgets; most don’t have cash flow figures and don’t have any idea about how many leads they get (and from where), their conversion rates, or their profit margins. Owners must know where they are in the first place, so they can establish a benchmark from which they can set goals and expectations. Unless you know where you are, it is very difficult to set specific strategies to make positive changes. Therefore, getting mastery of all the key financial areas of the business is essential, and once the owner understands these aspects, it makes it so much easier to start working on other areas of the business. Knowing your figures Very often, business owners are reluctant to admit to not knowing their figures. However, once they realize their issues are the same for most businesses, they are much more willing to acknowledge their situation and start learning. Of course, none of these changes can be done with the flick of the switch, and it takes considerable determination and persistence to make the changes happen. A good business coach will work with owners on a weekly basis to take the journey from chaos to control step by step. In the end, it is amazing how much change can take place in a business willing to adapt and to learn. It is equally gratifying from a coaching point of view. The question is, as an owner, do you have control of your business? Do you own your business, or does it own you? If you’re no longer enjoying your business or are working long hours with little return perhaps it’s time to make a change. It starts with the acknowledgement that there could be another way to do business. Then, it means taking action to make the changes for a more profitable business.