Stay Ahead of the Game: Know Your Numbers to Navigate Your Business Journey with Ease

Hello bada$$ business owners! As entrepreneurs, we often get caught up in the day-to-day hustle of running our businesses. But let me ask you, do you really know your numbers? I mean, do you REALLY know your gross revenue year to date? If not, you're not alone.

If I were to ask you, “Off the top of your head, what are your gross numbers year to date?” Would you know exactly or ballpark it? 

You could ballpark it but you don’t really KNOW (unless you are like my friend Bob who is in  his stripe account every single day).  I don’t have time or energy for that! 

As we all know, revenue is just one part of what we measure, but hey, it's an important one, right?

So, one of my goals for 2023 is to make $25K more than last year, all while working the same hours as I did in 2022. 

I ran my financial report and at first, I have to admit, I felt like it was too low. But then, guess what I discovered? Stripe showed me what I made during the same time period last year, and guess what? I'm actually $5K ahead of last year! Talk about a pleasant surprise!

Now, the old, old, old me would have been like, "Whew, I have a safety net of $5K for slow months!" 

But the new me, the savvy entrepreneur that I am, was like, "Keep doing the same each quarter!" 

That's right, the data is telling me that I've been putting in the same hours as last year (I did a time audit too) and I've made $5K more. So, if I keep up that pattern, by the end of the year (fingers crossed for a perfect world), I should make $20K more than last year, all while working the same hours. 

How cool is that?

But wait, let's say the data showed that I was “even-steven” with last year in terms of revenue and time. Well, that tells me I'm on track to make the same as last year, so I need to either adjust my expectation of making $25K more, or figure out what actions I need to take to bring in more qualified leads and turn them into clients to increase sales in my business.

Maybe I need to get more visible to grow leads that will book more Discovery/Sales calls?   

Do I need to take action to fill my funnel so I can nurture those leads to sell more of my product/offer/service? 

Or perhaps it's time to let go of smaller things that take up my time but don't make as much money, and focus on higher-priced packages. 

You get the idea, right?

And what if the data showed that I made $5K less than last year? Well, that's just data too. It's not the end of the world. It's a signal for me to adjust my expectations OR assess what actions I need to take in my business to bring in more leads and convert them to clients, and hey, maybe even consider if it's time to increase my prices because my value has increased.

The bottom line is, we need to use money as data. It's a powerful tool that can help us adjust our course faster and avoid surprises.

Know your numbers so you can adjust your course faster and not get caught by surprise. 

Revenue is just one piece of the puzzle, but it's a powerful one. 

So, let's crunch those numbers, analyze the data, and make informed decisions to rock our online businesses! 

Yours in success,

Kimi Brown

Joyful Contrarian

PS other audits you can do

• Time/Energy Audit - are you spending more or less time on your business this year? When you add that to the revenue numbers it can give you even MORE data to adjust course.  
• What % of your revenue YTD comes from which services/packages/offers? Do you need to get rid of lower % packages and focus on the ones that bring in more % of  $ OR do you need to focus on the ones that “cost” you less in time/energy?

PS: What kind of audits do you do in your own business quarterly?