Grow or Die

I was talking with one of my clients earlier this week on growing his $50mm energy services company.  These guys process about 14,000 invoices per month with an average invoice ticket of approximately $300.

The only way to grow any business is to grow the number of customers, increase the average sales value, and/or increase the frequency of customer purchase.  That’s it.  

The key is to focus on improving each component.

I have used this simple formula with many types of companies including medical offices, construction companies, HVAC companies, truck parts distributors, job shop manufacturers, and technology resellers.  It's a formula and it works.

Once you understand the power of this, it will help really grow your business. 

I’ve talked about this before, but consider the following formula. 

Revenue

	Number of customers
x	Average sale price
x	Frequency of purchase per year
=	Revenue

I put together a program for one of my client’s segment and had the following results.  Amazing, small growth percentage with geometric results.

Number of customers	1,000	1,226
x Average sale price	400	456
x Frequency of purchase per year	7	7.5
Sales	2,800,000	4,192,920	50%

Notice the geometric growth – a 22% increase in number of customers and 14% increase in average sales with small increase in frequency of purchase gives a 50% increase in revenue. 

For the energy service company I was speaking to earlier this week, we outlined a small increase in the number of customers 7% based on current growth trends and an additional service offering to increase the ASP $100 as follows:

                                                       Current                  Plan          Chg

Number of customers	14,000	15,000	7%
x Average sale price	300	400	33%
x Frequency of purchase per year	12	12	0%
Sales	50,400,000	72,000,000	43%

I will keep you posted on the actual results.

I suggest you look back at the prior 12 months of sales and get your actual numbers.  Don’t make assumptions here.  Most business owners I talk to make assumptions as to the number of customers they have and ASP, but when we get the actual numbers, their assumptions invariably are really wrong.  Dump your invoice register to excel.  De-dup the customers or compare to sales by customer.  I also like to have average invoice value as that may be an easier way for your sales reps to focus on. 

Note - I love the simple trick in Excel to de-dup a list (data menu, remove duplicates), then use the sumif formula.  I use this trick all the time.

Once you have your actual historical data, develop creative strategies / ideas to increase each and EXECUTE a couple strategies.  Test and measure the results.  Optimize, then repeat.

It’s the only way to grow your business.  Customers x ASP x purchase frequency = revenue. 

Think growth and think profit,

/jon

Forecasting Predictable Results

 Besides forecasting and improving cash flow as I’ve been discussing in the last few posts, forecasting predictable results is the other huge problem business owners have. 

Forecasting is alone is difficult, but with predictable results makes the process even harder.  But – business with predictable results are worth much more than a business with a P&L graph that looks like my EKG – AND you’ll will sleep better; you can plan better; and you can focus on really growing and developing your business.

To help forecasting predictable results, follow these steps.

1.     Ensure month-end closing procedure tight and efficient.  The numbers need to be solid and timely.  It is essential to have a solid base. 

2.     Develop a consistent monthly reporting package.  Understand the numbers and what they are telling you. 

3.     Develop and use an Operating Plan with forecasted income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow.  Forecast and track overall profitability and cash flow drivers. 

4.     Analyze customer profitability and profit drivers.  The best way to leverage improvements and maximize profitability is to: analyze, measure, identify underperforming areas and improve those areas.

5.     Look at all processes for efficiency and Value Stream Map each process – again, measure and optimize.

Let’s break each down a little more.

Step 1 - Ensure your month-end processes are tight and efficient

·            Accurate and timely financial information is paramount for your business. 

·            Have a month-end closing book or network folder that is neat and organized.

·            Use a closing checklist for you, your bookkeeper, or your accounting staff – whoever is responsible for the financial statements.  Checklists are great for all standard processes.  See an example here. 

·            Ensure all accounts are up to date and reconciled.  Many business owners only care about monthly profitability and only look at the P&L.  Ensure the balance sheet accounts are accurate and reconciled.  I’ve made some really bad decisions based on bad balance sheet numbers.

·            Develop strategies to close faster.  The timing of issuing your financial statements obviously depends on complexity of your business – but work to improve the timeliness of producing accurate numbers.  I know many companies that close in one business day (I know others that can take 2 weeks).  Work to continually improve.

·            As a small business owner, sit with your bookkeeper or accounting manager and review each financial statement account.  This will engage them in the process.  If a larger company, sit with your CFO and leadership team to review the monthly financial statements.  This is mitigating control is essential and enhances overall participation, buy-in and contribution.

I will take each the other steps planning, policies, and processes for each step in future posts.  

Up Your Cash!

To continue the cash flow discussion from last week.  Predicting cash flow is one of the most difficult thing small and medium size company do.  Last week we looked at a tool which can dramatically help predicting cash flow – the 13 Week Cash Flow Worksheet.  I hope you put this tool to use and continue using it on a weekly basis. 

Now, the question is – how can I improve my business’ cash flow?

There are many techniques and strategies to improve cash flow and many are dependent on your business.  The following are 7 best ways to Up Your Cash:

1. Negotiate better terms with your vendors – payment terms of 40 days vs. 30 days significantly enhances cash flow – a business with vendor related costs of $14mm that extends the average days to pay from 30 to 40 days enhances cash flow by $400,000!
2. Get some cash down up front - This is a great way to have your clients fund projects - not you. 
3. Be careful with your payment terms with customers – balance due on completion is much better than 30 day terms.  If you do extend credit terms, be diligent in your collection practices.  Even slight improvements in day’s sales outstanding (DSO) can be a significant enhancement to cash flow.  If you are a $20mm business with $2.2mm in accounts receivable, a 5-day improvement means a $274,000 incremental increase in cash flow.  Ensure you invoice your customers quickly and develop a credit management strategy and process focuses on reducing DSO.  I recently worked with a client that took a week to invoice their customers.  Employing a couple simple strategies (immediate invoicing, emailing/faxing invoices vs. mailing, and accepting ACH payments vs. customer checks) improved cash flow by over $200,000.  Simple and effective.
4. Manage your inventory better – the same principal as DSO and average days to pay applies to days of inventory on hand.  Any improvement here has serious implications to improve cash flow.
5. Watch your operating expenses.  For most businesses, the most significant operating expense is payroll and payroll related cost, but carefully watching all expenses is imperative.  Any improvement directly enhances cash flow.
6. Use a line of credit at the bank to plug any shortfall of cash flow and allow you to take advantage of vendor programs. Remember taking advantage of quick pay discounts is an excellent way to leverage your cash flow to enhance profitability.  Taking advantage of a 2%10, net 30 discount returns approximately 37% – so it may make sense to tap your line of credit occasionally to take advantage of the vendor discount. 
   
   
   Use the following formula to calculate the cost of not taking a discount.
   
   
   Cost of failing =          Discount %                   X   360
   to take discount          100% - Discount %       Final due date - Discount period
   
   
   So, in the 2%10, net 30 example above the calculation looks like this: .02/.98x360/20 = 37%.  That’s a lot to give up by paying in 30 days instead of 10.
7. Watch what you take out of the business.  Shareholders use the business to pay business related and other expenses, but anything you take out directly reduces cash.

Additional cash generated by using the above techniques can be used to grow the business, to paydown debt, or to take advantage of quick pay vendor discounts.  

Well, have a great Easter, and I hope you are able to spend some time with your family.

And as always – Think Cash Flow!

/jon

News Diet for Me

I was riding my bike on the trainer this morning and flipped on television - something I usually don’t do.  I usually watch a Netflix show or listen to a podcast.  But this morning, I watched the morning news programs.

All the news was all extremely emotional, tragic and sad.  

A Korean ferry capsized with 300 missing high school students, 12 people were killed on Mt Everest, some asshole shooting people in Kansas City was arrested, Ukraine and Russia are getting ready to battle, etc, etc, etc.  (The only good news was a piece I saw was on the 50th anniversary of a Ford Mustang).  The rest of the stories were horrible and personally stressful.  

And there was absolutely nothing I could do to change what happened.

There should be a ‘good news’ news program.

I've concluded that I am going on news diet – starting today.  Why should I stress myself out with all this negativity and overwhelmingly sad stories when there is absolutely nothing I can do about most of it?

I’m just going to put my head in the sand for a while and concentrate on things I can impact – like my health, my relationships, my productively, and my business.  

That seems to make more sense than spending any time focusing on other problems that really don’t impact me and where I cannot help.

Forecasting Cash Flow

Predicting and managing cash can be one of the most difficult things small businesses do. 

If your company is growing, it’s extremely important; we all have seen many growing companies run out of cash due to growing accounts receivable and inventory.  And if your company is not making money, it’s obviously extremely important watching every dollar.  We need to make payroll and keep the business operating.

I like to put in place two process tools that really help any business predict and manage their cash.  The first tool which is essential for most small businesses is to put in place the 13 Week Cash Flow worksheet.  This should be updated, reviewed and revised every week.

The worksheet is simple – it has weekly forecasts for cash receipts and cash disbursements.  The trick twofold:

·        Being able to predict the timing cash receipts

·        Having place holders for planned disbursements

Predicting Cash Receipts

In smaller companies, detail expected payments for all outstanding invoices.  In the most companies, however, due to the size of receivable aging, assumptions must be made based on current expected cash conversion.  Accounts receivable turnover is measured on a weekly basis and strategies are developed and implemented to make improvements.  Small improvements in accounts receivable turnover as a dramatic effect on cash flow. (For example, a $10,000,000 parts distributor with $1,500,000 in accounts receivable, decreasing accounts receivable on average of days 5 days, increases cash approximately $139,000.)

Disbursements

The worksheet needs to contain placeholders for everything.  Bi-weekly payroll, benefits, rent, debt payments, operating and admin expenses, A/P, inventory purchases, cap ex, debt and other payments.  No surprises. 

Each week, review the prior week’s worksheet with actual receipts and disbursements, and recast the next 13 weeks. 

The process is straight forward and over time you get better at your predictions.  Forecasting cash flow in your business makes life much better.  Less stress, more predictability, ability to make commitments, etc. 

See the example of a 13 Week Cash Flow worksheet.

The 2^nd tool is an Operating Plan forecasting the basic financial statements: balance sheet, income statement and statement of cash flow.  The Operating Plan uses some key business drivers as its base. 

I’ll discuss this in more detail later.

As always – Think Profit and Think Cash Flow!

/jon

How Are Your Q1 Goals Progressing?

Now is the time to look at your short list of Q1 goals, and ensure you’re on track to meet your objectives. 

It’s also a good time to book your 'Q1 Review Meeting' on your calendar with just yourself or your team.  I do many of these with business owners I work with early in April.  (I also like to book these a year in advance).

I don’t care how big or small your business is -  I like my clients, either with me or without, to spend most of a full day for their quarterly reviews.  These are extremely important to ensure the big things are getting done.  Also, given the current business environment, it seems like our growth strategies can change at hyper-speed, so quarterly strategy sessions make sense. 

So, schedule these on your calendar – preferably offsite to allow you to focus. 

I like to start off with some deep breathing and a few minutes of basic gratitude discussion or thinking - where we are now, what good things have we recently done with this business, etc.  Stay on the positive side.

After reviewing a few highs and get on the table a few lows of the previous quarter – customers issues, product difficulties, personnel challenges, etc.  This can help identify and prioritize improvement areas.

Review your financial statements (see previous posts) – quarterly income statement compared to last year and to target, balance sheet, big balance sheet accounts, 5-8 key indicators - actual vs. plan, etc.  Also, review the softer attributes of your business.  Spend some time thinking about your shareholders, employees, customers, and vendors. 

Look at your mission and longer term vision.  It’s easy to get caught up in the strategies and operational details.  Ask – what does my business look like in 5 years. 

Write goals for the upcoming quarter.  After looking at your long-term business vision, make a short list of specific 90-day objectives – list the 5-7 most important things to do next quarter.  I put this list on an index card, so it’s easy for me to keep these things in my mind.  I look at this list on a weekly basis to make sure I’m on track and moving the ball forward.

As a business owner, you need to work on high impact projects to continually develop your business.  So, if you’re reading this now, take out your ‘2014 Q1 90-Day Objectives’ on your index card and make sure you’ve made or you’re making progress on these 5-7 most important things to be done by March 31^st.  We all still have 3 weeks left in the quarter to make progress. 

Again, it’s easy to get caught up in the operational part of your business – but make sure you’re moving the ball down the field, getting the 5-7 most critical items done each quarter. 

If you need any help looking at your numbers or want advice or strategies to improve your business processes to build a more profitable and valuable businesses, let me know - I love helping business owners improve their businesses.

As always – Think Profit!

/jon

Look at Your Results Now

We are all hustling to close our financial statements for last year. 

Hopefully by now, most small and medium sized business owners have their internal year-end financials in hand (or half year if you are a June 30 year-end).  If you don't have yours completed, get them done as soon as possible.

January is a great time to look at your numbers. 

First, ensure all month-end procedures are complete and all balance sheet and income statement accounts are completely reconciled.  Solid closing procedures ensure timely and accurate month-end numbers.  If this is an issue for your company, definitely make this an improvement goal for this year.  A quick, accurate close is essential to run your company effectively.  It’s impossible to make smart decisions without accurate numbers.

Spend time now reviewing the income statement and the balance sheet.

Monthly most business owners compare actual month-to-date and year-to-date results to budget and to prior year. 

At year end, it is a great time to look at other key statistics as well.  

For most businesses, I like to look at:

• Number of invoices for the year.
• Average invoice amount – calculated: revenue ÷ number of invoices.
• Number of customers that bought from you last year.
• Average revenue per customer – calculated: revenue ÷ number of customers.
• Transactions per customer – calculated: revenue ÷  number of customer ÷  average revenue per customer.

· 

Once you have these actual numbers, drop them into a spreadsheet as follows:

Basic Business Model	Actual per Year	Next Year Plan
Leads		7,500
Conversion Rate		80%
Customers	5,550	6,000
Transactions per year	2.00	3.00
Average revenue per invoice	$        474.00	$        525.00
Revenue	5,261,400	9,450,000
Margin	34.0%	35.0%
Gross Profit	$    1,788,876	$    3,307,500
SG&A	$    1,431,101	$    1,431,101
Net income	$      357,775	$    1,876,399

Note that small improvements in number of leads, conversion rate, number of transactions per customer, and average transaction value have a huge increase in profitability.

Also, look at sales and gross margin by business segment and by customer.  Several techniques can be used to including summarizing customer data in a matrix as follows.

  

Work to move customers from the LV/LM quadrant.

Also, business owners need to review their balance sheet.  Many small and medium sized business owners skip or skim over the balance sheet.  Remember, the balance sheet is a snapshot in time of what your company owns and owes. 

Important items on the balance sheet include leverage ratios, accounts receivable turnover, inventory turnover, and accounts payable payment days.  All are straight forward calculations.

Note the power of cash flow with the follow example:

If you are a $20mm business with $2.2mm in accounts receivable, a 5-day improvement in receivable turnover means a $274,000 incremental increase in cash flow. 

Several strategies can be employed to improve turnover statistics.

This is also great time to take another look at your upcoming year’s strategic plan and operating forecasts.  Consider using some of these techniques to set monthly targets and goals.

If you need any help looking at your numbers, let me know - I love helping business owners improve their businesses.

As always – Think Profit!

/jon

Quick Reflection

Quick post since I haven’t posted at all in a while.  I have been writing, but obviously not here.

What a busy year?  Good in most respects.  This time of year, I like take some time and reflect  - and truly be thankful for so many things in my life.

I also take some time and reflect on what I wanted to get done for the year, and what I actually got done for the year.  It helps me recognize accomplishments – something no one does real well at anymore.  We all need to celebrate more wins and the wins of others.

This reflection time also helps set me up for a one month push to get some things over the goal line and sets up the upcoming year with new dreams, aspirations and goals. 

This becomes my working draft for my goal planning in December.  I do this with all of my year-end clients as well.    

I’ve been busy with a couple business re-structuring projects this year.  These are generally very difficult projects, but also can be really fun  - most things have to change and the change is always better.  

Some people are good at changes; some are not.  From my side, it’s about planning, communication, execution, communication, evaluation, communication, repeat.  Notice communication is mentioned 3 times.  Something else we can all do better at.   

As always, if you need any help, let me know - I love helping business owners of companies with 10-100 employees improve their businesses.  

Think Profit,

/jon

Good Start?

I hope everyone is having a good start to their year.   

I certainly am.  Work is going well, I've been skiing a few times, my daughter is back in college, I feel pretty fit and healthy - you know, life is good.  I just took some time in for some planning - long-term & short-term.  I put together a comprehensive binder that I use on a daily basis. 

What I learned in my fitness quest - the only way to get maximum results is by setting action plans and targets, and writing down results on a daily basis.  I’ve logged every workout since 1996.  Not that I’m in great shape, but if I hadn’t logged the workouts, I bet I’d be like a lot of other people out there - fat and out of shape, but that’s another story.   

I break my big areas in my life into dreams; dreams into goals and goals into tasks.  I type it, and I look at it.  Goal Setting 101.  It’s a pain and requires discipline and habit change, but it works.   

Anyway, with your business, it’s the same.  Set your operating plan with action plans and key targets, and measure your results with your financial statements.  It’s Business 101 and it works. 

I’m working with a client now – they did the first step very well.  They have a strategy and have communicated it with their team, but they aren't measuring results  - because the accurate results are not available.  Business 201.  Accurate information must be instant.

We quickly developed a simple one page dashboard and a process to reduce the financial close from 20 days to 5.  The processes and controls implemented made the financials completely accurate and regained the team’s confidence in the numbers.  Get your financial close process smooth and tight so you get accurate results - fast. 

And all your business processes need to be constantly reviewed and improved.  Think like a franchise and develop the most efficient repeatable processes you can. 

If you need any help, let me know - I love helping business owners improve their businesses.  

Think Profit,

/jon

How are Everyone’s 2013 Operating Plans Coming Together?

Well, it is November 30.  One more month until the year is over.  A couple questions for Business Owners:

·         How did you end up this year, compared to where you thought you were going end up? 

·         And, how is your business plan looking for 2013? 

I hope everyone is continuing to make serious progress in their business.  One more month - finish this year with a strong push. 

Hopefully, you have put together a solid 2013 business plan by now.  If not, it's time to get cracking.  The process I use is relatively straightforward and simple.  For each segment of business think about each of these pieces:

• Strategy
• Sales
• Operations
• Systems
• People

Strategy in the marketplace is the single most important thing to solidify and clearly communicate to your team.  As you develop your strategy, work with the sales team to develop a solid monthly sales forecast.  I like to really challenge sales to dare to deliver– and most of these people will put together aggressive programs.   

This sales plan is the basis for the business plan numbers.  Address your cost of sales, salary plans, and operating expenses assumptions.  Once you have your monthly income statement laid out.  Look at your balance sheet items and the income statement effects to inventory, accounts receivable, and accounts payable.  Evaluate the other sections of the balance sheet.  Remember – Cash is King.  Know your cash drivers.  Believe me, banker's appreciate that.  I have seen many business owners, running growing companies, wondering how they ran out of cash.  Again, know your cash.

I agree every business is different, however, each revenue segment should have a couple key indicators that are measured on a daily/weekly/monthly basis.  This may be a good time to reevaluate and think those through.

If you do have your business plan for 2013 complete, December is an excellent time to take a fresh look at it and make revisions as necessary.  Revise, revise, revise = improvement. 

It is imperative that these operating plan ideas and key measurements are understood by the key individuals in your company.  Everyone must know the businesses strategy and the scoreboard to add value and to succeed in 2013.

If you need any help, let me know - I love helping business owners improve their businesses.  

Think Profit,

/jon

Thanksgiving

I love Thanksgiving – It’s my favorite holiday. 

We certainly have a lot to be thankful for, and there are no gifts to deal with. 

Thanksgiving Day is a day to relax a bit and reflect a bit and spend some real quality time with your family.  It's a great time to think about what happened in your life since last Thanksgiving.  When you consider that, it’s not only amazing how quickly time goes, but also the many things that ‘happened’.  Things got done, new experiences occurred, different parts of the world were explored, special moments happened…a lot of things ‘happened’ since last Thanksgiving. 

These are what we should reflect on tomorrow; and be thankful for those experiences.  Hopefully, many of the things that happened were positive, but we learn from the negative things as well.  Also, be thankful for the day, the specific moment in time. Things move fast, but the simple moment in time, the present, is what we have at any point in time.   

The trick can be putting the present, the single days, together to accomplish big things and overall purpose – whatever those are for you. 

Me for Thanksgiving?  I’ll get my Thanksgiving Day trail run in with some of my friends.  I'll spend some time thinking about what things 'happened' since last Thanksgiving.  I'll spend the rest of the day with my family and being thankful.  The earlier workout will give me the green-light to eat a little more – perfect.   I love Thanksgiving dinner.

Enjoy the day tomorrow, and I hope we catch up soon.

/jon

How Finance Executives Get Stuff Done

It’s all about prioritization and the focus to get stuff done.  There are tons of books and articles on the subject. 

My approach is simple.

Delegate what you can and make a daily list. 

I like to chunk my time into what I think is important – family, sleep, workout, projects/clients, fun, etc. totaling 24 hours.  This help ensures I look at the big picture. 

My projects and tasks are based off my 30/60/90 day plan. 

My daily list is a printed form I developed.  It has a few boxes titled Projects, People, and Priorities then some space for handwritten tasks.  I have a box with all my projects listed at the top, then a box for people to reach out to, then a list of priorities to get done that day.  Since I print a new list every day, and I update the ‘things to do today’, I shouldn’t drop any of the priority tasks. 

It’s not perfect, but it’s easy for me and easily tracks all the items I get done daily, weekly, and monthly.  I am also using the iDone This app to track my accomplishments.  Check that out and some of the psychology around reflecting on and celebrating your accomplishments.  It is also an great app to manage your team.

The key is to ensure your addressing your overall strategy.  How do you string days together for a life of action and purpose?  That can be the difficult part and is a huge subject on its own.

Think Profit,

/jon

Half Time

This Saturday is June 30^th.  Unbelievable, I know, but it is.  The kids have finally all graduated from high school and summer is officially underway.  I seem to be going to a lot of graduation parties lately.  It’s fascinating to me to watch these high school graduates moving to their next stage.

I love these long days – we need to be energized, exercise and fuel our bodies properly so we can take full advantage of them. 

The year is half over.  As in sport, it’s halftime.  It is a great time to look at yourself, look at the scoreboard, assess your offense, look at your defense, and prepare to come out for the 2^nd half of the game - strong and ready to win.

I like to use this time right now to assess my situation, think a little, and develop a game plan for the 2^nd half of the year.  I do this with myself and my clients  - and it works.    

The time right now is perfect – use the July 4^th week for short halftime sessions with yourself.  Get your June 30 numbers as quickly as possible – then do a halftime review of your business’s performance with your team.

Assess your initial plans – what did you get done, what didn’t you get done, what went right, what could have been better? 

Assess your team – how are the players performing, do you need to work on developing any strengths and weaknesses? 

Assess the score and the statistics - How do the numbers and statistics look, how are you doing compared to how you thought you’d be doing?  How’s everyone else in your space doing?

Revise the game plan for the 2^nd half based on what you learned in the first half and engage the team to explode and deliver. 

I remember watching a Syracuse University girl’s lacrosse game last year against University of Connecticut.  My friend Gary Gait is the SU coach and my good friend’s daughter was an All Big East first team junior at UConn.   The two teams seemed well matched and went into half time tied at 6-6.  Right from the start of the 2^nd half, SU dominated the field in every way and wins 17-9.  My guess it wasn’t a rah-rah session at half-time, but Gary was able to assess his situation and develop a succinct approach to shut UConn down.  That is an example of excellent leadership in a non-business setting, but it’s the same approach in your business.

Take a halftime in your business this year, look at the scoreboard and your numbers, assess your situation, project the plan with numbers, then come out for the 2^nd half strong and shut the competition down and win.  

Timely Financials - Know the Score

I have worked with so many companies over the years, and it never ceases to amaze me how some can't or don't get their financial statements closed timely (let alone accurately) every month.

The financial statements are the most basic business scorecard.  Scorecards by definition keep you accountable, let you know how your doing, and push teams to excel and do better.   

I can't stress enough how important getting timely, accurate information is.  It helps you drive sales, profit and cash flow. Timely information also let's you spot trouble early and allows you to make better decisions. 

Also, most business owners focus completely on the income statement and almost ignore the balance sheet. The balance sheet is a key aspect to running an effective company and driving profit and cash flow.   

I push all my clients to speed up their financial close process.  Just think, GE closes its books in 2 days. Push to get the monthly financials done by the 5th day of the following month. 

So, the challenge is to push your bookkeeper, accounting manager, controller or CFO.  They may say it's impossible - we can't close any faster.  Blah, blah, blah.    

The key is to develop a month closing checklist.  Drop in each item that needs to occur, who is responsible, and what date you expect it completed.  Work backwards and focus to reduce each closing process.  A slow process means things aren't automated and accurate all the time. That is the expectation.  Can we run a weekly P+L?  If not, why not.  You get my drift.

And now that you have you financials, review them and get you leadership engaged with the numbers.  Shouldn't they know the score?  

30 Days Left

It’s hard to believe, it’s March first already.  2012.  The end of first quarter is 30 days away.  Now is the time to look at your Q1 plans and get on track for a strong 2012.  

I looked at my Q1 individual plan and noticed a few needed some action.  I developed a ‘next action’ list for each.  It’s a good idea.

I looked at several of my client’s IP’s developed toward the end of last year as well.   Most of them have progressed nicely – some needed some action. 

It’s a good time for everyone to do the same.

I just read 3 books, and I am in the middle of the biography on Steve Jobs.  If you haven’t read it, read it or at least think about how this guy helped change the world with the PC in the 80’s and 90’s – let alone the other great Apple products we have today.  But he also thought differently. 

We need to think bigger – dream big and dare to fail.  Try to change the world.   Even our own world whatever that definition is for you.

I’m big in 30, 60 and 90 day plans – simple with actions and dates.  Whether it’s health and lifestyle, business, personal fulfillment - the point is to take action now. 

I love the Lance Armstrong quote:

“Time is limited, so I better wake up every morning fresh and know that I have just one chance to live this particular day right, and to string my days together into a life of action, and purpose.”

 

Anyway, get out your 30 day plan, type up some bullet actions with deadlines and get going  -  30 days left.  2012.

I’ve logged every workout I’ve done for the last 16 years  -  and I work out generally every day. 

We also just moved in to the fourth quarter.  90 days left until the end of the year.  I’m feeling pretty fit right now, but I’d like to step it up – there’s still time left.

As fall arrives and the weather cools (46 degrees and raining today), I usually start running more and get back into strength training. 

I will then move into my restoration period in late November to enjoy the holidays and let my body totally recover.    

Now, I’m going to focus running more, back into P90X, and improving my diet. 

I was thinking about how the first thing I consume at 5AM is coffee.  The body has been resting and needs to start with regular water – not coffee.  We all need to consider what we put into our body as fuel.    

The better the fuel, the better the engine’s performance.  Our body’s performance is critical to how we perform in everything we do – everyday. 

As business owners and corporate professionals, our body needs to feel good and perform to the max to get the most out everything - our family life, our careers, school, projects around the house  – everything we do.

Here’s what I’m doing going forward:

•        16 oz of water first thing – not coffee first
•          Eating as organic and local  – almost 100% now, but it gets more difficult in the fall
•          1 gallon of water every day - critical!
•          Carrot juice +4x per week - juicing makes sense, but it's a pain - I'm committing for a couple months.

 I'll let you know how I make out.

Take a look at what you’re using to fuel your body.   If you don’t exercise – start!  We are all working animals.  It’s imperative to keep all your systems working properly so you can perform energized and at your optimum.