What is the financial health of your business?

Business growth and financial stability is usually at the top of business owners’ lists of goals and priorities. After all, without money coming in you really don’t have a business at all.

The biggest challenge, however, is ensuring that you have consistent financial growth. Just because you bring in six figures each year doesn’t mean that you’re a six-figure business. Business owners often forget to pay attention to (or even consider) the actual bottom line.

Here’s what you can do, today, to get the financial health of your business on track:

Organize the Data

Without full knowledge of where you are financially in your business, it’s a challenge to make decisions that will help you grow. Create a spreadsheet that can help you track your budget–both what you’re spending in your business and what you’re bringing in.

You don’t need fancy accounting software to get started, but I recommend investing as soon as you can. There are a lot of options, like Wave, Xero and QuickBooks Online. Tracking your money will help you determine your bottom line. Because just because you’re making $100k in sales doesn’t mean you’re a six-figure business. If your expenses are more than half of what you’re actually bringing in, what are you actually spending your income on?

Get Pricing on Par

If you’re busy and booked out and you’re billing six figures but you just aren’t bringing in the cash you need to make your business sustainable, your pricing may not represent the value you’re bringing to the table. Chances are your pricing is too low, causing you to be overworked and underpaid.

Look at revamping what your services are so you can uplevel. Consider doing away some of your lower-end services–those services that take more time but don’t offer you enough financial return on your time investment.

Find the Right Support

The financial health of your business starts with you getting a good handle on the numbers, but eventually you’ll want to surround yourself with some financial pros to take you to the next step. A bookkeeper can keep your books organized while an accountant will help you plan for taxes, payroll and making financial projections on the future of your business. Likewise a financial planning expert can help you make investments and plan for retirement.

Just like we need accountability groups, masterminds, coaches and biz besties, we also need financial experts on our side if we want to grow and maintain our financial health.

Analyze Your Team

Team members who aren’t performing up to par are costing you money. Sounds harsh, but it’s true. And your team is more than just people. It’s also the systems and tools you use inside your business. Your client management system, project management software, email systems and more are all part of your team.

If something (or someone) isn’t doing the job you need done inside your business, you need to find an alternative. First, be sure you’re actually delegating effectively and have a delegation mindset. Then be sure you have the right people on your team by auditing some of the tasks you’re doing. And if you need help choosing the right tools to help you level-up your systems, ask a business friend–or ask me!

If making money in your business is a priority to you, it’s time to take action. Put up your boundaries, create a budget and get the financial health of your business on track. This is truly the only way to get that profit in your business that will help you turn it into the sustainable growth machine that you want.