Simply Smarter Numbers

If you’re questioning whether you’ve outgrown your offer or maybe business is feeling hard, heavy and not lighting you up anymore, maybe you need a little Ruby Lee in your life! 

Ruby Lee and I are talking money flow. We are talking about our desire for consistency. Consistent income, energy and finding the courage to make the changes that you need to make.

Listen in for a little shot of Ruby Lee energy.

Whether we like it or not we have to meet with our accountant each and every year, so, why not make the most of the money you’re paying them and proactively ask them some questions that will really help you make some smart business decisions.  

I have five things that you can ask your accountant now.  It’s worth your while to take out a notepad and pen and write these things down so you’re prepared for the next time you meet with your accountant.  

Accountants aren’t always the best at communicating and it can be intimidating sitting across from your accountant, but with a few smart questions in hand you’ll be able to pick their brain and walk away knowing more about your business than you ever did before!

In a chance meeting, online, in a large and busy facebook group about 18 months ago I met today’s guest Simran Singh. 

Simran is an ex-lawyer turned marketing expert. She’s intelligent, articulate and she knows her marketing stuff. Simran & I are walking through her 7 steps to growing a big business when you’ve only got a small following.  

So, no, size isn’t everything and today Simran spells out exactly what we should be doing and she’s spelling it out for us in detail. 

Let’s talk about the gap between what you pay yourself now and what you want to pay yourself.

How much are you paying yourself? How much do you want to pay yourself? How much should you be paying yourself? If there’s a gap between what you are paying yourself and what you want to pay yourself then listen in because I’m talking about why that gap might exist in the first place then I’m talking through what you might do to close that gap. 

Is it ever ok to DIY your branding and design? And how to do it yourself without butchering it? Today I’m talking to branding & design expert Zoe Scott from The Design Order. We’re talking about why branding is more than just a nice-to-have. We are talking about why it’s essential but we’re keeping it real and practical. 

If you’re not ready to outsource your branding and design yet and DIY’ing is your only real option right now Zoe Scott has some affordable stepping stones for you. 

And be sure to hang around to grab a hold of Zoe's very generous gift to you all. A discount code for everything in her beautiful new online store!

I want to talk to you about experts. Not all experts are created equally. I want to premise this by saying not all experts are bad! But not all experts are great and not all experts are even experts!  

Who are these experts? They are the people we give our time and our money too to solve specific issues that we are not equipped to solve on our own. These are the people we take advice from to grow, scale and change-up our businesses. 

The website expert, the branding expert, the copywriting expert, the mindset expert, the legal, accounting, coach, consultant, marketing, social media or technology and so many more different types of experts that we can place our trust in. 

But first, why am I talking about this today? Because it’s incredibly important that we surround ourselves and take advice from the *right* people. The reason being that the *wrong* people can kinda lead us up the garden path. Slow us down, cost us money and waste our time. Now, you already know this. But I’m going to be brutally honest here and say that I’ve seen so many people become overnight experts in so many things that it’s starting to make my head spin and I think its a cause for - not concern but it gives us cause for caution.

If you think you’re not a numbers person, think again! Today I was lucky enough to chat with fellow numbers expert Julie Alig from Manchester in the United States about the real business numbers, the simple business numbers that you need to know in your business. 

Now before you cringe and jump ship at the thought of two numbers experts talking numbers, I can assure you we are keeping it real and keeping it practical.

We are talking about real business numbers such as client retention, conversion rates and the illusive lifetime customer value.

Today's podcast is going to be short and sharp but sweet. Short and sharp because I want to keep the point super clear and sweet because when you nail this sweet spot in your business life begins to get a whole lot easier. 

I want to talk to you about your perfect profitable client. Who they are, what they look like and how you’ll know. 

But before we get into the details, why do you need to know what your perfect profitable client looks like? 

Because they are the one who will help you build the most elegant version of your business. And if you need a reminder as to what I refer to when I talk about the most elegant version of your business - it’s a business that’s lifestyle friendly. It’s profitable enough to financially support your lifestyle goals but it’s also structured in a way to support your freedom goals.

Knowing and finding your perfect client is one step to building yourself this elegant business.

Right now we are nearly 3 full months into 2021 and I have a question for you.  Are you running your business on your terms?

I want to talk to you about the business hangover.  

If you’ve ever felt like you’re knee deep in mud but you’ve gotta try and stride it out cos your clients are depending on you, cos your team is depending on you, cos your family is depending on you and all you really want to do is take a big long nap, preferably on a warm sandy beach somewhere? If so, you’ll have some idea of what I'm referring to when I talk about the business hangover. 

Sometimes it can be hard to find the energy to do the things we know we should to change and shift our businesses for the better.

The year of 2020 caused us all a level of uncertainty and showed us all what it feels like to have a distinct lack of control.  

A lot of us are putting off making the big (or small) decisions that we need to make to move our businesses forward.  And when we are indecisive, we get stuck. Maybe you can call it a rut. I call it a business hangover.

As for why you need to get out of the mud, over the rut and cure the hangover?

There's this thing called a cost. Sure, there's a cost to do a lot of stuff but there’s also a cost of not doing something.  

We are talking about what that cost might be and how to go about moving yourself out of the mud, the rut, the hangover. 

Which area of your business should you be putting your energy towards first?

Which comes first when building a profitable, elegant, lifestyle friendly business? Which should come first? Efficiency or Effectiveness?

There’s a lot of talk in business about being efficient. I talk about it a lot with my clients.  And it won’t be news to you that efficiencies in business are key to reclaiming your time and making more money with less effort.

But if you're adding efficiencies to areas of your business that are not effective - aren’t you wasting your time, your money and your headspace? 

So the question is -  which part of your business should you prioritise your efforts for efficiency?