3 Immediately STEPS TO MORE PROFIT IN YOUR BUSINESS Did you know there are 28 million businesses in the United States today and of those only 6 million are turning a profit? If you are ready to be counted with the profitable businesses but not sure how to get there, here are 3 steps you can take TODAY to see more profit in your business - immediately. Step #1 A DOLLAR SAVED A business coach once said to me: For every 1 dollar you spend you need to earn 3 This has always stuck with me and without a doubt been one of my most important money lessons learned. Of course earning money takes time, so I quickly figured out that if I wanted to see more cash in the bank account right away I needed to spend less from the start. We ALL have stuff we are spending money on right now that we don t need to be. In fact, you are probably paying some monthly expenses simply because you have not taken the time to cancel the membership or unsubscribe from the service. Am I judging? Hell no. I ve been there myself. But, when I started adding up those few dollars here and there I quickly realized I didn t have the time NOT to take care of it. If you are not sure where some of this money could be hiding, here are some places to start looking: Dues or association fees to organizations you never attend. Cancel them now. Don t sign up again unless you ll use it. The (fill in the blank) monthly service you are paying for but you either don t like it, don t use it, or just have not taken the time to cancel it. Throwing money at ads that never yield sales. Cancel them until you can work with a pro who knows how to get results from them - otherwise it s just money wasted. Are you hosting old websites you don t use anymore? Sending money to a charity you don t really believe in? Paying for software when you don t use it anymore? Jennifer Dawn founded her first business at age 23, growing it from nothing to seven figures while traveling the world. She went on to become the Software Division President for a $54M manufacturing firm, lead national accountability & mastermind groups, and now mentors entrepreneurs to grow healthy, profitable businesses. P A G E 1
Pull out your credit card / bank statements and LOOK at the monthly recurring charges. Make sure you are not being billed for any product or service you no longer use or need. Many companies count on you not paying attention so they can keep charging you. Don t be afraid to scrub everything clean. Little expenses DO add up over time. Beware of little expenses; a small leak will sink a great ship. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN I do this exercise at least once a year. No matter what. The last time, when I was done, I trimmed out $209 a month. Here s exactly how I did it: Taking the time to make these changes took me about 2 hours. The total monthly savings of $209 will equal a yearly savings of $2508. That s like getting paid $1254 an hour people! -$10 monthly video game subscription my son had stopped playing -$50 downgraded cell phone plan - paying for more than needed -$5 planned to cancel cable until football started (we don t watch TV) but it was more expensive to stop. They offered me a slightly reduced rate anyway so I took it! -$10 downgraded scheduling software more licenses than I needed -$10 downgraded Hootsuite to FREE version which works just fine -$49 cancelled monthly membership dues - no time to attend -$75 switched to one feeding a day for my horse Hockey (instead of 2) which reduced the total board bill and still keeps him fat and happy +$209 TOTAL MONTHLY SAVINGS (YIPPEE!!) Now, to really have fun with this take the monthly savings of $209 (or whatever YOUR number is) and transfer it into a separate savings account. Remember, you ve been spending this money every month anyway so you won t really miss it. Setup an automatic transfer so the money isn t in the checking account to spend. If you do this 1 simple exercise TODAY and stop saying it s only 20 bucks you ll see more cash immediately. Look at how much you can net over the course of a year by simply cleaning up your monthly expenses. $200 month = $2,400 year $350 month = $4,200 year $500 month = $6,000 year P A G E 2
Step #2 CUT EM LOOSE Right now in your business you probably have one bad client, vendor, or employee that kinda makes your life a living hell. You keep them around because: The bad client brings in income which you really need to pay the bills. The bad employee is doing work which needs to be done and you don t want to do yourself. The bad vendor is the only one who supplies what you need or has the prices you can afford. So...you keep telling yourself that you must keep this person/company in your life. Well I m here to tell you it s bullshit. This is a lie you are telling yourself. It may sound tough, but it s true and here s why: If you want to see more profit in your business immediately then you need to cut em loose. These toxic folks are not only a drain on your energy and creativity, they are also draining your bank account. When your time is tied up in these negative or unhealthy relationships, then you can t use that time working in your genius zone. The more time you spend working on what you are genius at the more money you will make. The nightmare client? The horrible employee? The awful vendor? Fire them today. When you close the door on this type of bad business, it will open another door for the RIGHT kind of client to enter in. The extra time you now have because you are not trying to please an impossible customer you can now devote to new sales or invest in your top clients (who want to do more business with you anyway and are willing to pay for it). Fire them today. You CAN find the right person to do the work. Be picky. It s okay not to settle and don t hire out of desperation. When you find them you will be so much happier with the results and realize they were worth the wait. Not only will the right employee do the work better, they will become an asset moving your business forward not an anchor holding you back. Find a replacement then fire them. Everybody CAN be replaced but you have to spend the time looking. Ask around, get on Google, reach out to peer groups in your industry. That perfect vendor is waiting on you and the improved relationship will make working in your business everyday far more joyful than you can imagine. You re the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with. JIM ROHN P A G E 3
Step #3 LOW HANGING FRUIT In 20+ years of business, the place I hear the most excuses (and used to make them myself) is around SALES. Yes, Sales. That one golden area of your business you sooooo want to flourish, yet is the piece that gets neglected, overlooked, despised, or just plain ignored. Now I m not talking about the friends of SALES, which are marketing and PR. Hanging with those guys is much more fun. Isn t it so much easier to just create an email campaign than talk to real people? It is. But, if you want more profit in your pocket immediately, then SALES needs to become your best friend. A sure fire way to kick start sales is to go after low hanging fruit. This is money literally hanging low on the tree and all you have to do is go pluck it off. If you think you don t have any low hanging fruit you are not looking hard enough. I ve never once spoken with a business owner where we could not identify some quick, easy cash just waiting for them. Not sure where to start? Here are 2 examples: Service PEEPS: Right now you probably have a list of clients you have been meaning to call. These are folks who want to spend money with you right now and you just need to get on the phone and close the deal. But gee whiz you just have not had the time. Make the time. This is low hanging fruit. Product PEEPS: There is a complimentary product you could easily upsell with your own product. You don t need to develop it from scratch. You simply need to make a few phone calls, establish a wholesaler account, slap on your label and GO. In a few hours time, you could increase your average product sale by 5% 20% or even more. Get on the phone. This is low hanging fruit. Every Monday morning, when you sit down to plan out your week think about the low hanging fruit in your business. It IS there just sitting and waiting for harvest. Start to set aside even just 1 hour per week to go after it. The low fruit will continue to appear week after week, it s never just a one time shot. When you start to look for it, recognize it, and GO AFTER IT on a regular basis you will see immediate results to your bottom line. Be thankful for what you have; you ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don t have, you ll never have enough. OPRAH WINFREY P A G E 4
Last Step GO DO IT Okay... so now you ve made it to the end of the action steps. Yay!! It s one thing to read about what to do and another to actually do it. I m challenging you to implement at least ONE of these steps into your business today (I mean like now and don t procrastinate okay?). When you do, I d love to hear about your results! How much money did you save each month? How do you love the new client that came into your business? How many sales did you close quickly and easily by simply making the time to pick the fruit off the tree? Please share your amazing success with me - and you can send me a selfie of you doing the happy dance too if you want :) xoxo Jennifer Dawn Email: jennifer@jenniferdawncoaching.com Website: www.jenniferdawncoaching.com Linked In Facebook Twitter Want More? If you take an honest look at your business today - are you really where you want to be? If you answered no then I can help. Take the first step today and email me to setup a free consultation. Together we ll create a plan to move your business forward and help you get the results you want and deserve. PAGE 5