5 Bricks To Build A Solid Business Foundation

There’s a verse in the Bible that talks about how the foolish build their houses upon sand, unlike the wise who build theirs upon rock.

When the storms come, which they will from time to time, the houses built on the firm foundation (rock) will not fall. But for the poor souls who built their house upon the sand, they will crumble with a great crash.

The same principle applies to your business. The way in which you develop your business is crucial to the overall success you will achieve.

Here are 5 ways to ensure the foundation you are building your business on is a solid one.

1. Hold yourself accountable to a non-negotiable number. What does that mean? It will be different for whatever business it is you’re in, but in terms of insurance sales, I used 20. I had to protect, at minimum, 20 families a month. That was my non-negotiable, meaning that if I wasn’t on track to hit that number by the end of those 30 or 31 days, I wasn’t going out with friends, or to dinner parties, or out golfing; instead, I was out working even harder, even faster.
2. Downgrade your lifestyle (momentarily) to upgrade your business. It’s exciting when your business starts to make you some money, especially when you aren’t used to seeing those kinds of profits hit your account, but take caution! This is where most people begin to slip… instead of spending that newly-earned money on luxuries and the things you want, the best thing you can do for yourself and your business is to reinvest it back into the business. Businesses don’t grow without capital.
3. Allocate your money in different places. In terms of reinvesting your money back into your business, make sure you determine a monthly breakdown that works for you. Create percentages of what goes where, a percentage to: pay yourself, office supplies, energy bills, business subscription, overhead, investments, etc. These should be percentages, so that when you start to make more money in your business (which you will!), the “amount” remains the same even when the $$ changes.
4. Open yourself up some business credit. The quickest and easiest way to do this is to open a credit card. Business credit lines typically offer you more money to work with if you need it, and the credit isn’t tied to you personally, but to the business. Not only does that protect you, but it allows you some more flexibility in your personal endeavors (buying a house, leasing a car, etc.) if things don’t go as planned. And business credit cards usually have better perks - flights, hotels, points, etc. This should be used only for business expenses.
5. Track your expenses. Make sure you know where your money is going, and make sure that the money that is leaving your account, is going toward building your business. You’d be surprised how much money you can spend in unproductive places (like Starbucks - a $5 coffee doesn’t seem like much, until you realize you get one 5 days out of the week). PS — A great tool for this, if you don’t want to do it manually, is to use quickbooks.

Remember this — A house, or your business, can only be built as high up as the foundation is deep.

Lay it down brick by brick, starting with these 5.

You can do this! Stay strong, stay positive.

Until next time,
GP