If you are an entrepreneur, one of the biggest mistakes you can make is ignoring your financial information. There is a lot it can tell you about where you are headed!
Driving to win
Most entrepreneurs just drift along in their business. They know what they want, and they try very hard to get there. But it’s difficult, and sometimes impossible, to accomplish what you want without first understanding what you have. Stephen Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People has written on this exact topic.
“It’s incredibly easy to get caught up in an activity trap, in the busyness of life, to work harder and harder at climbing the ladder of success only to discover it’s leaning against the wrong wall.”
So what does winning look like for you and your business? Before you can build a road-map and model for success, you have to be clear on where you are going.
The best way to do that is to take an honest look at your finances.
The scary part is…
Most businesses don’t want to look at their financial information.
The truth is that you don’t need to be any kind of financial expert to start creating your roadmap. You can take just 10-15 minutes out of your day to look at where you are. The point of your financials is to act as a scoreboard!
Keeping score has nothing to do with compliance, taxes, or making sure your numbers are categorized correctly.
Most entrepreneurs will keep accounting at an arm’s length because it does not seem compelling, and some entrepreneurs think it does not directly correlate with what they want.
But that could not be further from the truth!
How can you win if you aren’t keeping score? (You cant.)
- Your vision creates the rules of the game
- Your dashboard is the scoreboard
- If you are losing, you can make adjustments
So what do you have to do to start creating your scoreboard?
Begin with the end in mind
For entrepreneurs it can be so difficult to see the forest from the trees. There is so much flying at us all day every day, we have to react and make decisions. It’s very hard to take a step back, see the big picture and have time to think strategically.
But we must. We have to be intentional about where we are going. Otherwise, we’ll drift and never stumble into the business and life we want to have.
Starting Your Road-Map!
Let’s begin by taking powerful, yet easy steps.
Answer these 3 questions!
- Think big. Where do you want to be in 3 years?
- Where will you need to be 1 year from now to set yourself on the right path to achieving your goal?
- What are the practical first steps you can take in the next 6 months?
Don’t wake up in 5 years and realize you have been drifting all this time! It is easy to ignore your financials – but with a detailed plan and an understanding of your finances, it becomes much more clear on how to drive to your goals.
Interested in learning more about how to connect your goals and vision with your financial metrics? Schedule a strategy call with Kahuna Accounting and we can discuss best practices for driving cash flow, profit and growth!
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