By Jay Thompson
What you measure is what you get done
Business Bitz
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It’s late December and now is the perfect time to reflect back on the past year. Ask yourself, how did you do? What could you have done better and what turned out better than you had planned? Was your year a success? Successful business owners monitor and measure their results. Why? What you measure is what you get done. It’s all about focus. Your success or failure in business for the most part, is determined by the numbers that you achieve. Your numbers define your performance, and there is plenty you can do to improve them.
If you are like most of us, you need to do a better job of keeping track of what’s going on. It’s so easy to get caught up in the busy activities of the day and then realize you missed the main thing you wanted to accomplish that day. Also, monitoring and measuring your numbers can be a little unsettling because it tells the truth about what kind of job you are doing.
Without measurement, it is easier to ignore and rationalize our failures and to overestimate our successes.
To improve, we must be able to see our current situation clearly and be objective. We need a clear picture of reality.
It’s not only the financial numbers that must be tracked but also the activity numbers. For example, I know in my business that if I meet with ten people three will become a client and each client will represent a specific amount of revenue. Now I have a formula. If I want to create a certain amount of revenue I need to meet with a certain number of people. I also know that fifty percent of those who did not become a client today will within the next two years. And that’s amazing. If I didn’t keep track, I would never know this.
What are the numbers of your business? If you’ve been established for a while, it’s easy to look back and calculate. If you are just starting out, it will take about six months to see a pattern.
Once you see your pattern, you can create a formula. You can adjust from there to obtain the desired results.
Take some time and get together with your spouse, significant other, or business partner and figure out what you want to accomplish in 2017. Write it down. Now you can create a plan to achieve your goals. It won’t be perfect, and you will probably need to adjust along the way, but I’m certain you will accomplish more and have a sense of purpose about you.
Next time we’ll talk about creating goals and objectives, and you have probably heard it all before. But that’s okay we’ll do it anyway with the objective being your success.
Don’t hesitate to contact me if one of my associates or I can be of service. We are here to help, and your success is our success!
