"Is my business healthy?"

Hello and welcome. In today's read, I am going to help you to do some diagnostics on your business in order to answer this question for yourself –

is my business healthy ?

I feel like this is such a great topic for every business owner out there because it really does help you across a whole lot of categories – understand where you're weak, where you're strong, and where the opportunities lie in order to optimise PROFIT, CASH and TIME.

Because that's the three things that it's all about.

I have recorded my recent podcast while I'm on holidays in Tulum in Mexico. So the noise that you may be able to hear in the recording background is the ocean, so forgive me for the background noise. It's the ocean, hopefully you can enjoy it. I am on workcation, and I love working when I'm away because it's just fun, creative stuff like this, and I did not want to wait till I got home to record my podcast. So that's what I am doing, and I can holiday while

my business take care of itself primarily because I have SCALED it.

And, if you would like a hand with scaling your business – doing all the things that you need to do to scale and achieve the INCOME and the LIFESTYLE that you want and probably deserve – then please feel free to reach out.

Today I want to help you answer this question, which a few clients and prospective clients have asked me lately. And there is nothing more important than the question on your lips because I can be a little inside my square. So when a client asks me a question, boy do I answer. So that question is, is my business healthy?

So recently, one of my business buddies read my 7 Deadly Cash Flow Sins, my mini book, which if you haven't read it's a really great how to guide to optimizing your cash on your profit. So, he read it and he identified cash flow issues within his business. Now, he is very profitable and he's quite cashed up, but he did identify the cash flow pressures. So that made him wonder, what else he didn't know because he became aware that there were things – through reading the 7 Deadly Sins book – that he didn't know, which led to him telling me, "Jeannie, what I really want to know is my business healthy?". And to help you answer that question for yourself, there are some key questions that I would like to ask you today. And actually, these questions form like a Business Health Check that I've created.

This Business Health Check is designed to help you like a diagnostic tool, to have a look at where your business sits in various categories now, and potentially where it could go. So as I ask each question, you're going to score yourself on a scale of one to five. One being terrible, don't know this stuff, haven't got it nailed and five being nailed, done all over it. Okay? So the lower you score in each question, the weaker you are in that area, and

the bigger the OPPORTUNITY TO OPTIMISE your business

by improving your score. Simple. So let's get started.

So the first lot of questions are around your numbers. You're going to rate each question: one being untrue through, to five being true. So 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. So each statement really represents optimal. So in each statement, if you were to say, "Yeah. I'm a five out of five on that one," that means that you've nailed every single one, okay? And the lower your score, the more room there is for improvement. So don't beat yourself up if you're a one in any of them. I'm sure you are in good company. And you can think about where you score one to five to give you the idea of the opportunity to optimize your profit, cash and time. So let's go.

• My bookkeeping is up-to-date within one to two weeks and accurate.

• My customer invoices are always paid on time to ensure my cash flow is not at risk.

• I understand what industry benchmarks are.

• I have financial targets in key areas developed from industry benchmarks.

• I sit down monthly to compare my results with my targets.

• From my sit down, I create an action plan to improve my cash and profit.

• I take action from my plan and I see improvements month on month.

• Cash flow never stresses me out.

• My gross profit is pretty much where I want it to be.

• My net profit is pretty much where I want it to be.

• I don't have any ATO or tax debt that is stressing me out or that isn't being managed easily.

• I am not drawing out more money from the business than I am making in net profit, minus cash reserves for other things.

• I am not dipping into my own money to prop up the business I am not, or I am not getting into debt personally to service the business.

• I am up-to-date with all my employee superannuation, lodgements and payments.

• I understand that employee entitlements don't show up in the profit and loss or balance sheet, and I am comfortable that I have reserved money to cover them so I don't end up with cash flow problems.

So that's the end of the numbers section. So think about where you scored, if you've got a lot of ones or twos or threes, reach out, please. Book a complimentary consultation so I can just go through your results with you in a personalized way and give you recommendations. Okay? So that is the advice I'd give you there. If you've got fours, you're doing pretty well. If you've got fives, you're probably an accountant, or a strategic bookkeeper.

Part two is more around the general business check, or I like to call it the operations. So let's do the same thing again, rate one to five. So, plan.

• I have a simple plan for my business.

• I know what optimal cash and profit looks like, and my plan is designed to take and keep me there.

• Marketing: I have a strategic foundation, vision, mission, target market, core values, big game marketing.

• Marketing: I have my method mapped out visually. (This is how I do what I do for my clients and customers in order to get an optimal result. We call it your secret sauce recipe marketing.)

• Marketing: I have an ascending product letter.

• Marketing: I have a marketing playbook. (This is a deep dive into who you serve and what problem you solve, which serves as how to speak to and serve your market. And it's a brief for marketing agencies.)

• Marketing: I have a system of keeping in touch with everyone on my database, clients, prospects, business buddies, et cetera.

• Sales: I have enough leads coming in from marketing activities all year around.

• Sales: I am able to respond to leads fast enough that I never lose the opportunity to quote to a competitor.

• Sales: I have a system to follow up vigorously until on quote I get a yes or no.

• Sales: I convert 70% of quoted works into jobs prospects to clients.

• Productivity: I have mastered the proactive rather than reactive mindset. I work to my own prioritized structured agenda rather than reacting to emails, queries, notifications, phone calls, et cetera. I am proactive rather than reactive.

• Productivity: I spend an hour a day minimum working on the growth and stability of my business and my goals rather than just in the business.

• Lastly, on the whole, I feel more like I'm moving ahead than a hamster on a wheel, busy going nowhere.

So that's the end of the operations section. So think about where you scored, where you got a lot of ones, twos, threes, and if you feel like you scored a lot of ones and twos and threes, once again, reach out and I can talk to you about my personalized recommendations based on your results.

So the very last part is more relevant to if you have recruited one on more team members, and I'll go through them now, even if you haven't, it's a really great one to listen to because you may be planning to at some point get some help. So our subcontractors, team members, et cetera. So let's jump in there.

• I feel like an effective manager focused on these five key areas, planning, organizing, staffing, directing, and controlling.

• I am extremely happy with how my team is performing.

• I have a robust recruitment process that helps me hire the right people for the right jobs.

• I have formal standard operating procedures in place, which my team use and follow to ensure my business runs smoothly.

• I run a week ahead meeting so the team can report to themselves, support one another, and ensure they kick their goals during the week ahead.

• I run a week in retro meeting to review the week that was, to celebrate the wins, learn from the losses, and to improve our processes.

• And lastly, my team does not interrupt me or each other in an unscheduled way because we have tech and forums for this.

So yet again, score yourself one to five. If you're getting a little ones, twos and threes, reach out. I am happy to review your results with you and give you complimentary recommendations as well.

Now you know that I am all about you taking action –

because it's one thing to gain the knowledge, but you must TAKE ACTION in order to actually move ahead.

So thinking about the actions that you could take, if you just listen to the health checks and you are feeling a little nervous and a little like, I have not got this stuff nailed, then the action I would highly recommend is simply to reach out because it costs you nothing to have a chat, to get some recommendations, than to just keep moving ahead, doing the same thing and not getting the recommendations, not actually finding out what to do. Because the way I always think of it is in order, and it's why I started the Better in Business podcast. So in order to actually get things right, to move ahead to OPTIMISE your PROFIT, CASH, and TIME, because they're really the three things in business, you need to think the right way first. And a lot of business owners, we are thinking the wrong way. And I have been a business owner that has had lots of times where I've thought the wrong way.

And I also call that you need to be REDIRECTED. So imagine that you were literally driving in your car to a destination and you didn't realize that you had taken the wrong route, you wouldn't end up in the right place. And then somebody says to you, "Hey, you are heading in the wrong direction, you need to go that way." I think of business education a lot like that. So when I am working with my clients and I redirect them, or when I'm talking to you about the results from your health check, then I give you education that redirects you. And I say, "Okay. Here's the way you need to think. Yeah. So here's the right way of thinking, and therefore here's the DIRECTION that you need to take."

And guess what, when we put one foot in front of the other direction, we get to the destination. Success is in the long game. There's no silver bullet. There's no, here's what to do, and tomorrow you've done it all. So that's why I really recommend to reach out and to get those recommendations. But if you're absolutely not going to do that, then it's all about picking one thing at a time on the list that you can improve. Because once again, success is in the long game. And it's about putting one foot in front of the other in the direction of success here. The little things add up.

So my friends, that is it for today. I have dropped some links above so you can grab the book and the health checks. And I guess that's it – bye from Tulum in Mexico.

Some useful links:

• The 7 Deadly Cash Flow Sins eBook

• Business and Numbers Health Check

• Tune in to the Better in Business podcast Spotify | Apple Podcast | Youtube