Posts Tagged ‘business planning’

Stress proof your business and your life

Friday, August 27th, 2010

Owning and running a business can be incredibly stressful. So we have decided to do something about it by producing a book called “Stress proof your business and your life”.

 You can find it on Amazon at £12.99 – but you are welcome to a copy with our compliments.

 But please don’t be put off by its title, since it is categorically not only for people who are stressed. In fact, one of the key benefits from reading it is that you’ll get dozens of excellent ideas for putting a great deal of extra cash into your business and personal bank accounts.

 There are four parts to the book.

 Part 1, Stress proofing the business stuff, looks at what people can do to reduce and prevent the stress caused by their business and its financial situation. And it provides simple yet effective solutions to common challenges such as:

  • Not making enough profit
  • Running out of cash and other similar cashflow problems
  • Being forced to work more than you want to
  • Having too many things on your to-do list
  • Too much depending on you, and too many things that can only be done by you
  • Not getting the right life-work balance
  • Not having the information you need to make sensible decisions
  • Losing too much of what you earn to the taxman
  • Other people, especially customers and your employees, behaving unreasonably or unfairly

 Part 2, Stress proofing the money stuff, looks at what people can do to reduce and prevent the stress caused by their personal financial situation.

 In these first two parts much of the emphasis is on strengthening the financial and business fundamentals – since they are so often the primary sources of stress and anxiety for business leaders. But strengthening them is also extremely worthwhile for people who aren’t suffering from stress.

 Part 3, Stress proofing the personal stuff, broadens the discussion by explaining how to reduce and prevent the stress caused by the other things going on in people’s lives.

 Finally, Part 4 brings it all together into a practical action plan.

How to get your FREE copy 

So, would you like a copy?  We would be happy to send readers of the blog a complimentary copy….all you need to do is drop us an e mail or call the office on 01422 365981 and we’ll get one sent straight to you.

Watch & Use your breakeven point

Saturday, April 11th, 2009

break_even_point_neurmadicaestheticflickrYour breakeven point is that point in time when your income equals your expenses.  Once you get past that point and your income exceeds your expenses, then you are making a profit.  If your expenses exceed your income, then you are making a loss.

All that sounds relatively straightforward, I’m sure.  But knowing what your breakeven point is within your business is absolutely vital.  If your business doesn’t sell enough to meet it’s everyday expenditure and support you as the business owner, then you are going to be in trouble, sooner rather than later.  By knowing the level of sales that you need to hit your breakeven point, you’ll have a target each day, week and month that you know you need to hit, just to stay in business.

A tale of two businesses – The impact of breakeven analysis

I’ve had two seperate conversations in the last couple of weeks about breakeven points with business owners and they both showed me the power behind knowing or not knowing where the breakeven point was.

The first business owner sold consultancy based services to their clients and charged on a time spent basis.  They knew that if they charged 40 hours per week at £x per hour, then they would have a gross sales revenue that would represent a good income.  However, they had no idea that to actually cover their overheads and personal expenditure each month, they had to charge out 30 hours per week, i.e. 3/4 of the total chargeable time available.  Once we’d worked out how many hours per week were spent on non chargeable time (meetings, research, training etc), it soon became clear that there was a problem.  Indeed, the business owner commented “so that’s why I don’t make any money”.  Once they knew what they had to achieve, they went away to change the business model and re look at their pricing strategy.

Compare this to the owner of a local chain of sandwich shops.  He knows, on average, how many sandwiches he needs to sell each day to break even and he records this.  At 3pm each day, he calls all the shops and asks for the sales figures, not just the £value, but the volume as well.  He understands the gross profit margin on his sales values and as he knows his breakeven point, he can quickly work out a rough profit figure for the day.  He records all this on a spreadsheet and regularly monitors his calculations against the “real results” when his books are written up.

Increase your profits, know your breakeven

Make sure you fully understand  your breakeven position.  It is one of the most powerful business tools you have at your disposal.  Armed with it you can make informed desicions about your pricing strategy, staffing levels, marketing strategy and expansion plans.