Latest / The 3Bz Podcast - Building Better Business / EP148 - Busy Isn’t Profitable (And It Never Was)

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EP148 - Busy Isn’t Profitable (And It Never Was) · The 3Bz Podcast - Building Better Business

• 0:01
  Hi there business owner, and welcome to the Three BS Podcast,
• 0:04
  the place where we go beyond the numbers and dive into the
• 0:07
  strategies to help you build a Better Business one step at a
• 0:10
  time. I'm your host, Stephanie, a
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  multi awarding entrepreneur with over a decade of experience in
• 0:15
  the bookkeeping and currency world.
• 0:17
  If you're a business owner looking to streamline, grow, and
• 0:19
  get back the time that you deserve, you're in the right
• 0:21
  place tackling real world problems, answering tough
• 0:24
  questions and digging deep into business building secrets in
• 0:27
  just 15 minutes each week. So Are you ready to build a
• 0:31
  Better Business with confidence and clarity?
• 0:33
  Then let's go. Hello and welcome back to
• 0:36
  another episode of The Three B's Podcast.
• 0:39
  Your go to place for 15 minutes of CPD certified motivation,
• 0:43
  inspiration and education to help you build a Better
• 0:46
  Business. And here we are episode 148, but
• 0:51
  nearly at the big 150. I'm so excited.
• 0:54
  If you have any ideas of what I should cover in episode 150, do
• 0:57
  go to links in the show notes or find me on ABC S UK on all
• 1:01
  social platforms. Drop me a message.
• 1:03
  Let me know what you think I should cover for episode 150.
• 1:07
  It's got to be something special, right?
• 1:08
  Finally, January is nearly over, the emails are picking up,
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  clients are back online and Q1 is about to do what Q1 always
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  does and get busy very, very quickly.
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  Now for accounts and bookkeepers, we often say that
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  January is the busiest time of year for us, but the minute 1st
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  of February hits all those people that submitted tax
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  returns last year that don't want to leave it to the last
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  minute this year or got super stressed out about them will
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  start picking up their emails again.
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  So today's episode is about systems.
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  Not shiny tech, not complicated setups.
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  The systems that stop your business from feeling chaotic
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  when things start to speed up too.
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  Because when businesses get busy, the cracks don't suddenly
• 1:47
  appear. They're exposed and you can
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  really start to see the little holes in the business pocket.
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  Most business owners don't struggle because they lack
• 1:55
  motivation. I mean, we started businesses,
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  right? I'm a business owner too.
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  We started businesses because we wanted to do whatever our
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  business does. They tend to struggle though,
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  because they rely on motivation instead of systems.
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  And the number one problem is keeping everything in their
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  heads. The minute you get things down
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  into paper when you have systems, things absolutely
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  change when it comes to building a business, When systems are
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  missing, it can often show up as late invoices either going out
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  or coming in, chasing for information, repeating the same
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  conversations, forgetting what was agreed, working longer hours
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  just to stay afloat. And all of this isn't a personal
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  failing, it's just a structure problem.
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  Motivation comes and goes. As business owners, even though
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  we love what we do. Well, the systems are there
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  always. And I often think systems are
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  your backup. They're the thing that means if
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  you forget to do something, it's almost like your To Do List or
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  your checklist. So systems and processes mean
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  things are consistent, mean things are scalable, and means
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  that you can build a Better Business.
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  So let's start with the basics. As a bookkeeper and accountant,
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  of course I'm going to start with invoicing.
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  You should know exactly when you invoice, how you invoice, what
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  happens if someone doesn't pay? Hoping people pay on time is not
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  a system, and that's really going to affect and damage the
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  business. You should have a system of
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  whether you invoice at the point of proposals being accepted, if
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  you invoice at the point the order is put in, if you invoice
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  at the end of every month, you invoice at the beginning of
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  every month. Whether you use accounting
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  software to do it, whether you have a template set up, whether
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  you send a text to somebody however you invoice, we
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  definitely not recommend just a text.
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  But how you invoice the procedure can change too.
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  And most importantly, of the three different invoicing
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  systems you need, what happens if someone doesn't pay?
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  What does your credit control look like?
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  Do you have a bookkeeper that does it for you?
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  Do you have a process of automated reminders?
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  Do you have a process of when do you pick up the phone and start
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  calling? So in every client that we work
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  with ABCSUK, we have a slightly different credit control system.
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  Some clients will get incredibly offended if you pick up the
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  phone and call them. Some clients will get incredibly
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  offended if you send them an e-mail.
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  Some clients need their customers to get a WhatsApp
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  notification because they're out and about on site.
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  They don't look at their emails often enough.
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  Some only look at their emails and won't deal with you on the
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  phone. All of these things need to be
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  in a system and a process that is streamlined across your whole
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  business. And if you're a business owner
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  with multiple businesses, those systems might be slightly
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  different for each business, or they might be the same across
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  the more. But either way, a system needs
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  to be in place for when you invoice, a system for how you
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  invoice, and a system for what happens if someone doesn't pay.
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  I'd also like to add that having a system in place for how you
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  get paid is also quite important.
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  So whether that's a payment link, a bank transfer, cash or a
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  cheque, those systems need to be written down so that you know
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  how these things work. Often they get put at the bottom
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  of your invoice. So this is how you how you would
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  make payment to us. But occasionally it's something
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  that you would use tap to pay, for example.
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  So some accounting software, Zero, for example, have a tap to
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  pay option now where you can literally open your phone and
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  they can tap their phone to your phone and you get paid
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  instantly. If you are a mobile hairdresser
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  or a plumber, then going out to site to clients and doing it
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  there and then it's going to make your life so much easier.
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  Then you don't need a credit control system because the
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  credit control system is payment is upfront before you do the
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  service or payment is done at the time of delivery.
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  Second, cash flow visibility. I know the last three episodes
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  I've talked about cash flow, but it's so important to help you
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  build a Better Business. You don't need a 12 month
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  forecast, so you do need to know what's coming in and going out
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  of the next 30 to 60 days. Having that cash flow
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  visibility, knowing what's coming in, knowing what's due to
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  go out can just make sure that you have that security.
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  If you'd say slightly slower month or a slightly busier month
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  or when things get really busy, you know where you are.
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  If you're looking to invest in new equipment, new stock, new
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  software, 3rd expense tracking. Now this is the thing that blows
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  my mind that so many business owners don't know what to do.
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  There's an app called Apron Apron capture.
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  Go through your bookkeeper account and I'll drop me a
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  message if it's something you want.
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  It's £5 plus V80 a month and that gives you a portal where
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  you can take photographs of your receipts as you put fuel in,
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  take a photo. If you prefer WhatsApp, you can
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  have a WhatsApp number and you just send via WhatsApp your
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  pictures of your receipts in your invoices.
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  And then for your digital ones, you can forward it to a unique
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  e-mail address and everything is kept in one place.
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  You know where everything is. And when it comes to doing your
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  VAT return or doing your bookkeeping or handing that
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  information over to a bookkeeper, it's all there in
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  one place for a small monthly fee.
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  Something that streamlines your process, your procedure and then
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  that becomes your system. Every time you put make a
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  payment, you put something into April, whether that's forwarded
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  via e-mail, WhatsApp or uploading via the mobile app,
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  not dumped into a folder and dealt with.
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  When panic sets in, the VAT returns due or something needs
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  doing urgently and you can't find that receipt from fuel you
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  put in 10 1/2 months ago. A system as simple as that
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  doesn't just help your finances, it reduces anxiety because
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  you're not guessing. It reduces that panic when VAT
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  comes up because you know you're on top of it.
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  And it's not just a finance area of your business that needs
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  systems. The operational side of your
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  business needs systems too. These systems protect your
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  energy and as a business owner growing a business this is so
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  important. Client on boarding should be
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  consistent, same information, same expectations, same next
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  steps. Every time when you are taking
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  on a new client, what is the process?
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  What is the journey that they go on from saying yes, I want to
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  work with you to being on boarded to having them as a
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  client on on board. If you're a product based
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  business, that journey is going to look slightly different.
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  But what does that journey look like from reaching your sales
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  page, from reaching your your web shop, from stepping foot
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  into your store to make a purchase?
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  What does that journey look like?
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  And that should be a system that should be a template that is
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  followed time and time again. And The thing is, is these
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  things are going to change and tweak over time.
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  Systems are constantly evolving. You'll find better ways.
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  You'll find more economic ways. If you've got staff on board,
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  they're probably going to look at your system and go, actually,
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  if you do it this way, it's much easier.
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  Or if we do it this way, it's much easier for me because of XY
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  and Z. Listen to your staff, change the
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  procedures. This is a working document.
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  This is something that changes constantly as the business grows
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  and scales and evolves. It might be just you and your
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  business right now. When you take a member of staff
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  on board, how much easier is it going to be to train them up?
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  If you have all your systems and processes down on a document
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  somewhere that they can look at, whether that's subscribed with a
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  step by step screen recording. Whether it's you give them the
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  what we call a Bible and tell them to go and figure it out, or
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  you sit with them and train them.
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  Having that fall back of those systems and processes, it's a
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  lot of information to take on board.
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  When you're new in a company. It's the same when you take on a
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  new client. There's always lots of nuances
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  in every client that you need to learn and understand.
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  Now having that as a system, if they could give you a Bible and
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  go, OK, this is how we do our process.
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  This is our credit control process, this is our sales
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  process, whatever it may be. How much easier would that be
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  for you to take on that contract, to take on that
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  client? If that is the way it would be
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  done, if everyone just systemized everything, it would
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  be so much more easier, efficient and the same across
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  every client. Communication boundaries matter
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  too. How clients contact you, more
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  importantly when you respond to them and what counts as urgent.
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  I think this is one of the biggest mistakes I made when I
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  started. ABCSUKI made myself 2 available.
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  What's at me? It's 8:00 on a Sunday night.
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  I'll apply within an hour, e-mail me on a Sunday afternoon,
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  I'm probably going to reply to you within an hour.
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  Because for me as a business owner, having that high level of
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  service and making sure my clients are getting that five
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  star service was so important to me.
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  However, I have working hours. So unless it's urgent, it needs
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  to be responded to within working hours.
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  Because if not, you just burnout.
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  And if you don't define the communication boundaries with
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  the client, they're going to decide it for you and it's
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  normally way more than you're willing to give is way past your
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  own boundaries. Task management is another big
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  one. Whether you've got a digital
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  tool, ACRMA, simple To Do List, a notebook, whatever it needs to
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  be, work needs to live somewhere other than in your head.
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  As I said, that's one of the biggest downfalls I see in
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  businesses is that when you're running on your own, when you're
• 10:52
  running on a small team, no one knows what's inside your head.
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  You know your clients better than anyone.
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  So when you take on staff, when you do start to grow and scale,
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  having it all in your head means it's even harder to train them.
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  It's one of the biggest mistakes I made taking on an employee.
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  I had everything in my head. I thought I'd started writing
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  down my system. It wasn't enough.
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  And that meant that because I was so busy running a business,
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  I'd taken on a staff member because I needed more capacity.
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  I had actually had less capacity because part of my capacity was
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  sent was spent teaching this employee.
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  It just didn't work. And that's because I didn't have
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  systems and processes in place. And for the bit that people
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  often miss, I'm probably one of my favourites is having systems
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  for better decision making. Systems aren't just about doing
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  the work, they're about deciding when you've got clear numbers.
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  I know got to say that I'm an accountant and a bookkeeper.
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  Defined processes and documented expectations.
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  You make decisions faster and with less emotion, and as a
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  business owner, taking the emotion out of it is going to
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  really help you grow and scale your business.
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  Having those clear numbers, as I talk about all the time, that
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  data helps you make an informed decision.
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  Less likely to fail, less likely to fall, less of a risk.
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  Defined processes mean that things are standardized, more
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  efficient, and you're not missing anything.
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  And documented expectations just mean that there's a standard
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  that's kept the same across all areas of your business.
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  That's how businesses grow calmly instead of chaotically
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  and more sustainably. A word of warning though, do not
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  spend Q1 building systems you don't need.
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  You don't need 17 new apps. You don't need automation
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  everywhere. You don't need perfection before
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  progress. Start with the friction points.
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  What I mean is what's the bits that the sticky points in your
• 12:42
  business? What are the bits that either
• 12:44
  slow you down the most or stress you out the most?
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  There are where you need to start with systems and
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  processes. And when I say a system and
• 12:54
  process, it can simply be that you are writing down in a Word
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  document how your procedure flows, how your customers buy,
• 13:01
  how your sales procedure works, how your onboarding would look.
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  In an ideal world, system should support your business, not
• 13:10
  become another full time job. And it could sit literally be
• 13:14
  that you set aside one afternoon a week or an hour a week to
• 13:19
  write down a process. Or you go along.
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  Every single time you do a process, you write that down.
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  And then every time you go back and do that same process, you
• 13:26
  just check everything is in there because it doesn't need to
• 13:30
  be a whole job and it doesn't need to be overwhelming.
• 13:34
  I think you need to break it down in the way that works best
• 13:36
  for you. Like I say, either a task at a
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  time or setting aside a time in your diary, part of your CEO
• 13:43
  time. When you review your KPIs and
• 13:45
  review your numbers, you put another area of your business
• 13:48
  into an SOP, standard operating procedure or a document just to
• 13:53
  keep to get started. And then every time you get
• 13:56
  there, you can start building them out, making them more
• 14:00
  detailed, adding bits, taking away bits.
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  You'll be able to see then where your inefficiencies are as well.
• 14:07
  I think writing down your systems and processes, although
• 14:10
  they are an exercise that takes time to do.
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  So you get to see where you are not making sense anymore, where
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  you are missing out on those hours, minutes, seconds, things
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  that could be quicker, easier, more streamlined and efficient
• 14:25
  and therefore more profitable if your system in process.
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  So you could do something on this computer and then it has to
• 14:32
  be sent over to this person to to sign it off and then it has
• 14:35
  to go back to this person. Does it really need to go to
• 14:38
  this person or can it go straight from 1:00 to 3:00?
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  And therefore you're putting out the middle man.
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  The delay in getting the approval, the delay in actually
• 14:45
  getting the task into the correct person's hands and
• 14:47
  completing that task. So as we enter the second month
• 14:50
  of Q1, let's ask yourself, do I know what's happening with my
• 14:54
  money? If the answer's no, book a
• 14:57
  discovery call with me at ABCS UK.
• 14:59
  Take 15 minutes out of my diary, make yourself a coffee, and
• 15:02
  we'll see where we can help you. As a reminder, do I know what's
• 15:05
  happening with my money? Do my clients know what to
• 15:08
  expect? Do I have a clear way to manage
• 15:11
  work? And do I have visibility without
• 15:13
  overwhelm? January isn't about perfection.
• 15:17
  It's about preparation. If you found this episode
• 15:20
  useful, please do like rate and review wherever you are
• 15:22
  listening or watching. If you're on YouTube, press
• 15:25
  subscribe and hit that notification bell.
• 15:27
  It really helps this podcast get into the ears of business owners
• 15:30
  who need to hear it. You can find links, resources
• 15:33
  and ways to work with meet in the show notes or find us on
• 15:36
  social media at ABCS UK. And I will see you next week for
• 15:39
  episode 149. Bye and that that brings us to
• 15:44
  the end of another episode of the Three Bees podcast.
• 15:47
  I hope you found it useful and that you're walking away with
• 15:49
  some motivation, inspiration or education to help you build a
• 15:53
  Better Business. Don't forget to subscribe, leave
• 15:56
  a review and of course, connect with us on social media for more
• 15:58
  insights, tips and behind the scenes content.
• 16:01
  Your next step in building a Better Business is just a click
• 16:03
  away. I can't wait to connect with you
• 16:05
  and I'll see you on the next episode.
• 16:07
  Bye.