#45 The Problem With Profit

Are you investing in your business, or simply finding clever ways to justify spending money? We've all done it. Signed up for a course, bought new software, joined a membership or paid for something because we were convinced it would help our business grow. But here's the question: Did it actually deliver a return? And what about the other side of the coin? Are you so focused on keeping your costs down that you're refusing to spend money on the very things that could help you become more profitable? In this week's episode of Figures Without Fear, we're exploring the difference between a business cost and a genuine investment and why getting it wrong could be affecting both your profits and your ability to pay yourself properly. Because here's the thing. Just because you call something an investment doesn't automatically make it one! What You'll Discover in This Episode 💰 Cost vs Investment: What's the difference, and why does it matter to your bottom line? 💰 The Investment Trap: Why spending money on courses, software and memberships doesn't necessarily mean your business is moving forward. 💰 The Cost-Cutting Trap: How being too afraid to spend money could actually be holding your business back. 💰 Understanding ROI: A simple explanation of Return on Investment and how to work out whether your spending is worthwhile. 💰 The Hidden Profit Drains: How forgotten subscriptions, unused memberships and unnecessary expenses could be quietly eating into your profits. 💰 Making Your Money Work Harder: The questions you should ask before making your next business purchase. Two Simple Tasks to Put Your Learning Into Practice As always, I don't want you to just listen and forget about it! I've included two practical exercises to help you take a fresh look at your existing business costs and decide whether your next purchase is really an investment worth making. Neither will take long, but both could make a real difference to how you manage your business finances. Why You Should Listen If you've ever justified a purchase by saying, "It's an investment in my business", or found yourself saying, "I can't afford that", without considering what it might actually deliver, this episode is for you. You might discover that some of your so-called investments are simply unnecessary costs, while some of the expenses you've been avoiding could be exactly what your business needs. The answer isn't always to spend less. It's to spend more intelligently. 🎧 Have a listen to this week's episode of Figures Without Fear and discover how to make every pound you spend work harder for your business. Because remember, turnover is for vanity, profit is for sanity, and profit is where your payday lives!

The Problem with Profit: Why You're Making Money but Still Can't Pay Yourself Properly Your business is making a profit, so why is there never enough money left to pay yourself? It's a frustrating situation that far too many small business owners find themselves in. You're making sales, customers are paying and business seems to be going well. You might even be looking at your figures and thinking you're making a healthy profit. But when it comes to paying yourself a decent salary, the money just isn't there. So what's going wrong? In this week's episode of Figures Without Fear, we're talking about The Problem with Profit and why understanding the difference between gross profit and net profit could completely change the way you run your business. You see, many business owners calculate their profit based on what it costs to deliver their products or services, without properly factoring in all the other expenses involved in running their business. And one of the biggest things they forget to account for is the cost of paying themselves! That's why you can be incredibly busy, generating plenty of sales and still struggle to take home the income you deserve. What you'll discover in this episode We'll be looking at: Gross profit vs net profit: What they actually mean and why understanding the difference matters. The hidden costs of running your business: Why the money left after delivering a product or service isn't necessarily yours to spend. The problem with paying yourself last: How treating your own income as an afterthought can leave you working hard for very little reward. Why profit doesn't always mean cash in the bank: The important difference between profitability and cash flow. Making your salary part of the plan: How to start working out what your business needs to generate to pay you properly. Getting your pricing right: Why covering your direct costs isn't enough if you want to build a financially sustainable business. I'll also walk you through some really simple examples to help you understand where your money is going and why your business might not be as profitable as you think. Two simple things you can do straight away As always, I don't want you just listening and carrying on as before. I'll give you two straightforward tasks to help you put what you've learned into practice. The first will help you understand how much of your gross profit is actually available once you've considered the costs of running your business. The second will get you thinking about how much you really want to earn and whether your business is currently generating enough to make that happen. Because until you know what you need your business to deliver financially, how can you build a plan to achieve it? Why you should listen If you're working hard, bringing in sales and wondering why you're still not earning what you want, this episode is for you. You don't need to be an accountant or love spreadsheets to understand your numbers. You just need to know which figures matter and what they're telling you. Making sales is one thing. Making a profit is another. But building a business that pays you properly? That's the real goal. And remember, profit is where payday lives, so make sure you're looking in the right place! 🎧 Listen to this week's episode of Figures Without Fear and start understanding what your profit is really telling you. If you find the episode useful, please share it with another business owner who might benefit. You never know, it could help them look at their business in a completely different way. Useful Links: Subscribe to Figures Without Fear to get more hints, tips and ideas to grow your business Sign up for my FREE Figures Without Fear training day and come and work on this stuff with me in the room. Book a FREE strategy call to help align your business plans with your personal income goals Share this podcast with your audience to help other small business owners Join The Business Club for ongoing support, advice and guidance. Join Here!

Are you your business's greatest asset, or could you actually be the very thing that's holding it back? It's a question that might make you feel a little uncomfortable, but it's one that every small business owner should be asking themselves. We spend so much time measuring turnover, profit, sales, conversion rates and marketing performance, but how often do we stop and measure the value we bring to our own business? And I'm not talking about how many hours you work or how many things you've managed to tick off your to-do list! In this episode of Figures Without Fear, I'm exploring why being busy doesn't necessarily mean you're being productive, why being indispensable isn't always a good thing and how you can start measuring yourself as one of your business's most valuable assets. Because there's a huge difference between working hard IN your business and doing the things that actually help it grow. What you'll discover in this episode ✅ Why you could be your business's biggest bottleneck without even realising it. ✅ Why working longer hours doesn't automatically mean you're creating more value. ✅ How to calculate the profit your business generates for every hour you work. ✅ Five key areas you should be measuring to understand your contribution to your business. ✅ Why making yourself less essential to everyday tasks could actually make your business stronger. ✅ How to start thinking and acting like the CEO of your business, even if you're a sole trader. Two simple tasks to put into practice As always, I don't just want you to listen and forget about it! I'll share two practical exercises to help you understand the return you're getting on your time and identify where you could be making better use of it. You might be surprised by what the numbers tell you! It's time to put yourself first You didn't start your business just to create yourself a job that demands more hours and pays you less than you deserve. You started it to build something that supports the life you want. And that means making sure you're not just working hard but working on the things that will make your business more profitable, sustainable and less dependent on you doing absolutely everything. So, here's the question I want you to think about: If you were employing yourself to run your business, would you be happy with the return on that investment? 🎧 Tune in to this week's episode of Figures Without Fear and find out how to start measuring your own value to your business. Because being your business's greatest asset shouldn't mean being its hardest-working, lowest-paid employee. Let's stop chasing turnover and start building businesses that actually pay us properly.   Useful Links Subscribe to Figures Without Fear to get more hints, tips and ideas to grow your business Join my next FREE Figures Without Fear training day. Book a FREE strategy call to help align your business plans with your personal income goals Share this episode with your audience to help other small business owners Join The Business Club for ongoing support, advice and guidance. Join Here!  

How long do important decisions sit in your business before you finally make them? A day? A week? A month? Longer? In this episode of Figures Without Fear, I’m talking about decision-making and why knowing your numbers can help you make better decisions, faster. There’s an idea in Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich that successful people tend to make decisions promptly and change them slowly, while less successful people tend to make decisions slowly and change them quickly. And I think there’s a really interesting link between that idea and the numbers in your business. Because when you don’t know your numbers, you’re often making decisions based on gut feeling, assumptions and phrases like: “I think…” “It feels like…” “I’m not sure…” But when you understand your costs, profit margins, conversion rates, average sale value, pipeline and other key figures, you’ve got facts to work with instead. That means you can make decisions with more confidence — and you’re less likely to change your mind just because something doesn’t seem to be working as quickly as you hoped. In this episode, I cover: Why some business decisions sit for far too long Why delaying a decision can cost you money The difference between making a decision based on facts and making one based on feelings Why changing your mind too quickly can be just as damaging as taking too long to decide Why every important decision should have a measurement attached to it How your numbers can help you decide whether something really isn’t working — or whether it simply needs more time Why “I think” and “the numbers show me” are two very different ways to run a business I also share two simple exercises to help you put this into practice: Create a Decision Parking List Write down the important decisions you’ve currently got sitting unresolved and identify what information you actually need to make each one. Turn One “I Think” Into “I Know” Take one assumption you’re currently making about your business and find the number that will tell you whether it’s really true. The aim isn’t to make reckless decisions quickly. It’s to stop procrastinating because you don’t have the information you need. Know your numbers. Make the decision. Measure what happens. And if the facts change, change the decision. But don’t change it simply because today it feels like it isn’t working.   Useful Links: Express your interest in Yiply: https://getyiply.com/ Be one of our first 50 subscribers and get free one to one support to set up your pipeline. Subscribe to Figures Without Fear to get more hints, tips and ideas to grow your business Book a FREE strategy call to help align your business plans with your personal income goals Share this post with your audience to help other small business owners Join The Business Club for ongoing support, advice and guidance. Join Here!  

How Many Customers Buy Again? Most businesses spend a lot of time thinking about how to attract more leads, win more customers and make more sales. But there’s another number that can tell you a huge amount about how your business is performing: How many of your customers buy from you again? In this episode of Figures Without Fear, I’m looking at repeat business — why it matters, how to measure it and what your numbers can tell you about the way your customers behave. Because growth doesn’t always have to come from finding more and more new people. Sometimes the biggest opportunity is already sitting inside your existing customer base. In this episode, I cover: why repeat customers can make growth easier how to calculate your repeat customer rate why you shouldn’t just look at the percentage what to measure alongside repeat purchases how to encourage customers to buy again why staying in touch after the sale matters how to spot gaps and opportunities in your customer data how repeat business links to customer lifetime value why your best marketing source may not be the one generating the most leads how to use the data to make better decisions about where to focus your time, money and energy I also talk about the importance of asking one simple question: What should this customer logically buy next? Your numbers aren’t just there to tell you what has already happened. They can help you decide what to do next. Listen to this episode of Figures Without Fear and then take a look at your own customer data. You might be surprised by what’s already sitting there.   Useful Links: Express your interest in Yiply: https://getyiply.com/ Be one of our first 50 subscribers and get free one to one support to set up your pipeline. Subscribe to Figures Without Fear to get more hints, tips and ideas to grow your business Book a FREE strategy call to help align your business plans with your personal income goals Share this post with your audience to help other small business owners Join The Business Club for ongoing support, advice and guidance. Join Here!  

Is Growth Actually Profitable? When we talk about business growth, we usually talk about turnover. More sales. More customers. More money coming in. But more turnover doesn’t always mean more profit. In fact, your business can be growing on paper while you’re working harder, spending more and still not paying yourself properly. In this episode of Figures Without Fear, I’m looking at what profitable growth really means and why growing your business shouldn’t just be about chasing a bigger turnover figure. We’ll look at some of the numbers that can have a much bigger impact on profitability, including: Controlling your costs Increasing your Average Sale Value (ASV) Improving your conversion rate Making sure your pricing is right Protecting your profit margins Understanding how much of your turnover you’re actually keeping I also explain why you might not need more leads or more customers to grow. Sometimes the biggest opportunities are already sitting inside your business. A small increase in your prices, a better conversion rate, a higher average sale value or tighter control over costs can make a significant difference to profit without you having to dramatically increase your workload. During the episode, I also ask you to think about one important question: If your turnover increased by 20% tomorrow, would your profit increase too? Because the goal isn’t simply to build a bigger business. It’s to build a better one. A business with stronger margins, better profit and more money available to pay you properly. If you’re focused on growth over the next few months, this episode will help you look beyond turnover and understand which numbers really matter. In this episode, you’ll learn: Why turnover isn’t the same as profitable growth How costs can quietly eat into your profit Why ASV is an important number to track How better conversion can help you grow without finding more leads Why pricing needs to support healthy margins How to identify the area of your business that could make the biggest difference to profit Listen now and ask yourself: is your business genuinely growing, or are you simply getting busier?   What to do next… Express your interest in Yiply: https://getyiply.com/ Be one of our first 50 subscribers and get free one to one support to set up your pipeline. Subscribe to Figures Without Fear to get more hints, tips and ideas to grow your business Book a FREE strategy call to help align your business plans with your personal income goals Share this post with your audience to help other small business owners Join The Business Club for ongoing support, advice and guidance. Join Here!

Stop Celebrating Sales – Start Measuring Them A sale is great news. But the real question is: was it actually a good sale? In this episode of Figures Without Fear, I’m looking at why small business owners need to go beyond simply counting sales and start measuring what those sales are actually telling them. Because turnover alone doesn't tell you whether a sale was profitable, whether it cost too much to win, whether it came from the right marketing activity or whether that customer is likely to come back again. In this episode, I talk about some of the key numbers that can help you understand your sales properly, including: profit margin customer acquisition cost where your customers came from conversion rate average order value how long it took to make the sale repeat business referrals customer lifetime value I also explain why looking at these numbers can help you make better decisions about your marketing, your offers and where to focus your time and money. You'll also hear about two simple tasks you can do straight away to start understanding your sales data better. And I introduce Yiply, our business management system designed for small businesses, by small business owners. Yiply gives you one place to keep track of leads, customers, sales, notes, pipeline activity and where your business is coming from. We're currently looking for the first 50 businesses to try Yiply, and each of those businesses will also receive an implementation call to help get everything set up and working in just one hour. Because there’s no point having another system sitting there unused. It needs to help you understand your business and make better decisions. So if you’ve ever looked at your monthly sales figure and thought, “That looks good,” this episode will help you look a little deeper. Because the sale isn't the finish line. The real value comes from understanding what that sale can teach you. In this episode, you'll learn: why turnover only tells part of the story how to work out whether a sale was genuinely profitable why Customer Acquisition Cost matters how to identify your strongest sources of customers why improving your conversion rate can sometimes matter more than generating more leads how Average Order Value can affect growth why repeat customers and referrals matter what your sales data can tell you about what to do next Your action for this week Don't just ask: “How many sales did I make?” Ask: “What are my sales telling me?”   Useful Links: Express your interest in Yiply: https://getyiply.com/ Be one of our first 50 subscribers and get free one to one support to set up your pipeline. Subscribe to Figures Without Fear to get more hints, tips and ideas to grow your business Book a FREE strategy call to help align your business plans with your personal income goals Share this post with your audience to help other small business owners Join The Business Club for ongoing support, advice and guidance. Join Here!    

Are you so busy delivering work for your current customers that you’ve stopped thinking about where your next customers are coming from? If so, you’re definitely not alone. One of the biggest causes of peaks and troughs in small businesses is that when we’re busy, marketing is often the first thing to disappear. We stop following up. We stop networking. We stop posting. We stop checking our pipeline. And then, when the work starts to dry up, we suddenly switch everything back on again. The problem is there’s usually a delay between the marketing you do today and the money that comes in tomorrow. So, in this episode of Figures Without Fear, I’m looking at how much of your time is being spent on growth versus delivery. We’ll talk about how to create a better balance between serving the customers you already have and making sure there are still opportunities coming through for the future. And we’re also going to look at something else that might be stealing far more of your time than you realise: all the stuff you’re doing that probably doesn’t need doing at all. Because sometimes the answer isn’t working more hours. It’s being much more deliberate about where those hours are going. So, let’s get into it.   Express your interest in Yiply: https://getyiply.com/ Be one of our first 50 subscribers and get free one to one support to set up your pipeline. Subscribe to Figures Without Fear to get more hints, tips and ideas to grow your business Book a FREE strategy call to help align your business plans with your personal income goals Share this post with your audience to help other small business owners Join The Business Club for ongoing support, advice and guidance. Join Here!  

Welcome to another episode of Figures Without Fear, the podcast designed to help small business owners understand their numbers, what those numbers are telling them and how to use them to make better decisions. In today’s episode, we’re talking about a number that a lot of business owners never actually calculate: The value of your sales pipeline. I recently covered this with my Mastermind clients and they were absolutely gobsmacked when they started adding up the value of the potential sales already sitting in their businesses. People they’d spoken to. People who had enquired. People who had asked for prices. People who had said “not yet”. And people they simply hadn’t followed up with. They discovered thousands of pounds sitting there, just waiting to be converted. Because sometimes the problem isn’t that you need more leads. Sometimes you already have enough opportunities sitting in front of you — you’re just not managing them properly. So in this episode, I’m going to explain what a sales pipeline actually is, how to move people from cold to warm to hot to sold, how to work out what your pipeline is worth and why every single lead should have a clear next step. And I’ll also talk about why your sales system doesn’t need to be complicated. In fact, a simple spreadsheet can be enough to get started. So, if you’ve ever found yourself saying, “I just need more leads”, this episode might make you look at your business very differently. Let’s get started.   Useful Links: Express your interest in Yiply: https://getyiply.com/ Be one of our first 50 subscribers and get free one to one support to set up your pipeline. Subscribe to Figures Without Fear to get more hints, tips and ideas to grow your business Book a FREE strategy call to help align your business plans with your personal income goals Share this post with your audience to help other small business owners Join The Business Club for ongoing support, advice and guidance. Join Here!

Welcome to another episode of Figures Without Fear, the podcast where we take the fear out of your figures and help you use your numbers to build a stronger, more profitable business — and importantly, one that pays you properly. Today, I want to talk about something that I learned the hard way very early on in my own business journey. Are you overly dependent on one customer? Because having a brilliant customer who gives you lots of work can feel like you've hit the jackpot. You're busy, there's money coming in and you don't have to constantly worry about where the next piece of work is coming from. But there can be a hidden risk. When I first started my business, I put far too many of my eggs in one basket. A large proportion of my work was connected to a charity I was supporting and everything was going brilliantly — until the charity ran out of funding. Suddenly they could no longer afford to work with me. I didn't just lose one customer. I lost all of the clients associated with that work too, and almost overnight, the majority of my income disappeared. And the timing couldn't have been worse because I'd just signed a lease on new premises. It was a painful lesson, but it's one I've never forgotten — and I've never made the same mistake again. So in today's episode, we're going to look at how dependent your business might be on one customer, one source of work or even one income stream. We'll talk about why being busy doesn't necessarily mean your business is secure, how to spot customer dependency in your numbers, and why having more than one sensible income stream can make your business much more resilient. I'm also going to give you a couple of really simple exercises you can do to work out just how exposed your own business might be. Because the question isn't whether you'd be disappointed if your biggest customer disappeared tomorrow. The question is: Would your business survive it? Let's get into it.   Subscribe to Figures Without Fear to get more hints, tips and ideas to grow your business Book a FREE strategy call to help align your business plans with your personal income goals Share this post with your audience to help other small business owners Join The Business Club for ongoing support, advice and guidance. Join Here!