We realised recently that a lot of our blogs start with a question! Funny how that happens without you noticing…
With over 30 years’ experience within bookkeeping, PA and secretarial roles, we know that there are lots of questions that our clients and other small business owners don’t ask, so it’s often where we like to start. But if you aren’t asking those questions, you might not be getting the value from our content.
So, this month we wanted to talk about FOCUS.
Regardless of how long you’ve been in business, or how many businesses you’ve managed, time and a busy schedule can cause us to lose touch with our purpose, our values and generally leave us feeling misaligned when we finally stand back to catch our breath.
Sound familiar? Maybe you’ve entered Q4 feeling a little tired out and ready for time off over Christmas. Either way, here are a few things to start thinking about to bring back that money making mojo:
- FOCUS – to achieve focus, you need to get clarity on your values, and set clear goals that you’re able to reach within the short, medium and long term. Keeping your focus will help with motivation when you’re struggling with energy or finding things challenging. Having a really good understanding of where you are financially and where you’d like the business to be can also help with focus.
- MARKETING – don’t wait until the new tax year before working on a marketing strategy for the weeks/months ahead. It’s important to understand what your competitors are NOT doing, and being intentional with where and when you’re posting content on social media or in the wider world. Perhaps it’s time to get creative with how you reach your target audience.
- LEADERSHIP – this is a big one. For culture, moral and motivation, your people will look at you. Being a good leader is about being involved and having a clear vision. Work on developing more meaningful relationships with the people around you, so you can better understand how to get the best out them. Your sustained efforts will be rewarded with increasing productivity, which usually means more profit.
- OPERATIONS – are you inadvertently increasing your workload by following a process that is long winded or tedious? Taking a step back to review internal processes can help you to refine what you’re doing and free up time for more important tasks. This might even mean outsourcing certain roles to contracted professionals or hiring someone in-house, so you can get back to the things you’re best at, usually sales and delivery.
- CULTURE – where you’re a one person show or a team of 10, culture is really important to motivation, focus and productivity. Do you allow yourself and your team to enjoy a flexible work schedule? Are you listening to their suggestions and improving conditions or processes (as mentioned above)? If you create a positive, supportive and inclusive culture, you’ll find more oomph and drive to completing your work and successfully seeing out 2023.
If you take some time to focus on these 5 key areas of your business, you’ll feel even more motivated to set new goals in 2024 with the confidence that you will be able to achieve them.
Looking to outsource your bookkeeping as a way to save time and efficiency? Perhaps you want to better understand your financial data and create a realistic forecast for the year ahead? Fill in a contact form or get in touch using the details at the bottom of this page, and we’ll be in touch.