How Healthy is Your Business Right Now?

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Since February, our attention all day, every day has been riveted on our personal health and wellness. When you step out of the house, you mentally run through the checklist: Face mask up! Keep your distance from others! Wash your hands! But what about your work–do you have a healthy business?

We all know that maintaining any kind of schedule at the moment is tough. We’re turning to distractions to push the worry away. Presenting offers and selling feels strange when so many are hurting.

If you want to maintain the life of your healthy business, you need to give it care and attention.

We are far from business as usual at present. Instead, it’s important to be agile.

That means revising your business budget for the short-term and re-evaluating your current or near-future projects. Basically, too much is changing too quickly in the world right now; it’s simply not the moment to make any long-term plans, personally or professionally. How exactly do you approach business planning and budgeting then?

Here are some recommendations that may help while we ride out this pandemic with a healthy business…

• In less turbulent times, I advised women to reinvest a percentage of their profits back into their business for growth. For most business owners right now, that probably isn’t practical. If you’re struggling, the goal here is to keep your business alive. Anything extra that’s coming in is best set aside and easily accessible for emergencies.
• Keep a watchful eye on your fixed expenses (software or subscription fees, rent or lease payments, utilities) and variable expenses (advertising and marketing, payroll, taxes). Know how much your costs should be. When you’re on top of your numbers, any irregularities that pop up are immediately visible and can be resolved quickly.
• If you need to make budget cuts, don’t take a short-sighted approach and shear everything off across the board. While it’s difficult to project when and how quickly the economy will rebound, think strategically about what specific actions make the most sense to maintain your business now.
• If you set income or client/customer acquisition targets, give yourself a break at present and just do the best you can within your designated timeframe. So much uncertainty right now makes performance predictions or forecasting impossible.
• Postpone decision-making and allocating resources until you absolutely have to. The status of health in the nation, the state of the economy, and information around the re-opening businesses changes almost daily. You’ll make the best and most cost-efficient decisions when you have the most up-to-date information.
• Invest some time to review your business systems and processes. Get rid of needless complexity or inefficiencies that can drag down your profits.
• Beyond the numbers, think more creatively about how you can reframe your offers and delivery systems within the current situation. We see innovative examples of this every day… distilleries making hand sanitizers, restaurants partnering with grocery stores to sell prepared meals, virtual shopping experiences, etc.

As the owner of two businesses, I know it’s easy to go into panic mode at present, especially if your only source of income is your business!

Remember that uncertainty feeds fear and anxiety. To regain some control, I’m focusing on using this time – with no in-person meetings, no need to get dressed up in the morning or commute to an office – to practice self-care, catch up on things that have slipped through the cracks in my businesses, and dream a little about what life will be like when this is all over.

Speaking of the future, consider this…

…What if you used this time to ditch old ways of thinking and create a better business, especially now – when its flaws and weaknesses are visible?

…What if you looked for ways now to re-structure your business to better ride out new threats that will inevitably show up?

Taking care of your personal health is priority one right now. But your business has a pulse, too. To keep it alive (and well), do your best to give it enough TLC. If you can do this, you will be on your way to seeing your healthy business thrive.

Do you have questions about how you can succeed in your business and accelerate your journey toward reaching your goals? I invite you to learn more about From Startup to Success coaching packages. Begin with a no-cost 30-minute consultation to discuss where you are with your business and where you want to go.

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