3 Painful Ways You Lose Money Every Month
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But like so many gym memberships, the money’s just flowing out of your coffers without a whole lot of payoff. Read on and see if these three money mistakes are draining you dry (and find out how to stop the bleeding).
Mistake #1: Not using something you’re already paying for.
Just like those unused gym memberships, you may have services you’re paying a monthly fee on - but not even using. Or you may have forked out hundreds (thousands?) for a product that was supposed to turn your business around … but it’s still sitting on your shelf. And you most certainly have those books on your coffee table that were intended to teach you something profitable. You keep telling yourself you’ll “get around to using it,” but every month you’ve delayed, it’s just money down the drain.
The Solution: Dedicate some “implementation time” each week to start putting these tools or services into practice. Even if it’s just one hour per week (even a lunch hour), commit that tiny slice into your work week. Once it gets a foothold in your schedule you’ll start taking it seriously and make even more time to put those profitable ideas into action.
Mistake #2: Not spending time to get better results with the tools you have.
Even when you are putting tools and services into practice, you know there’s some tweaking you need to do. Maybe it’s making your email marketing more effective. Perhaps it’s getting better data from your statistics packages. Or maybe it’s testing and optimizing your blog to increase the number of subscribers. All of these things could make a definite, specific impact on your sales numbers for the month … but you’ve been putting it off, excusing yourself by saying “At least I’ve got something in place.” But something doesn’t increase your bottom line.
The Solution: Dedicate some “research and development time” each week for improving the way you do business. If you’re meeting internal resistance, get a feel for the dollar value that these improvements could pay off in. And don’t forget that the gain is cumulative - if you spend 10 hours making your sales process 10% more effective, you’ll reap the rewards every month until the end of time. And that’s pretty motivating.
Mistake #3: Not investing money in additional high return tools and services.
No matter what kind of business you run, there’s bound to be resources you haven’t purchased because you’re still telling yourself “that’s too expensive.” But when you focus on price you’re losing already, because you’re not making the decision based on the value you get in return. If something costs $1,000 a month, but you know it will make you $5,000 per month in return by taking your business to a higher level, you know what you need to do. Understandably, you may have other reasons for resistance (low cash flow, not enough customers, no time to put it to use), and that’s what’s been holding you back.
The Solution: Dedicate some “negotiation time” with yourself and find out what it’s going to take to overcome each bit of internal objection. You don’t have the money? Well, then how much would you have to focus on Mistakes #1 and #2 to increase your sales enough to buy it? Don’t have the time? What are you willing to do to make the time happen? The solution here is to decide to find a solution, no matter what … and to keep pushing yourself until you find it.
Bonus Mistake #4: Not leaving a comment below about your decision to kick butt this month.
If you’ve read this far, then something’s been speaking to you, and you know you need to act on one of the solutions to boost your bottom line. You absolutely know deep down that you could really improve your business with these tips. You know that the #1 thing you need to do is to step up your game and find a way to make the time to become more profitable.
The Solution: Decide what you’re going to do to make your business stronger and post it as a comment below. Don’t skip this step, because making your decision to play the game full-out a public one boosts your chances of following through immensely. (And if you’re feeling really frisky, Digg the article as well)
Keep it rocking,
Dave
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Dave Navarro is all about helping you get more done faster. Pick up your free “More Time” kit at your30hourday.com.
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19 Rockin' Comments
November 12th, 2007 at 12:12 am
I think you hit it on the last one, #4, it is time. Everything takes time and it is a balancing act between spending the time needed to keep the “loosing ways” at a minimum. Scott
November 12th, 2007 at 1:23 am
Yep we need to step up a gear and to become more profitable. For me it is #1 using what I’ve paid for and stopping things that I have not been using for a long time.
November 12th, 2007 at 2:09 am
I’m fired up for number 3.
I’m still using a couple of applications that were released somewhere in the mid to late mesozoic era… when dinosaurs roamed the earth and software was still somewhat affordable.
Thanks for the article it was just the motivation I needed.
Bob
http://www.answers-for-freelancers.com/
November 12th, 2007 at 7:42 am
chipseo, Xenia, Bob -
Glad this article kicked you in the butt - make it a great week!
November 12th, 2007 at 8:10 am
The first 3 astute points all relate to a mixture of making use of the opportunities that are available to you, and being as efficient as you can with your time in making use of those opportunities.
#1 - You bought a tool to make doing X either easier or possible. If you’re not using it, that’s a missed opportunity.
#2 - Yes, you can continue to use that tried and true method of making photoshop buttons. But if you were to built those up into a series of actions, you’d be that much faster at it for the next project, and your profit margin would be greater.
#3 - Not purchasing that tool or service is letting another opportunity pass you by. Depending on the product, it might be worthwhile to not purchase the first one you find, but continue to research that area and not let that service area be a missed opportunity.
And I’m all about #4 and not letting that opportunity to post a comment pass me by. Great post Dave!
November 12th, 2007 at 9:21 am
I used to feel the same way about my magazines subscriptions… I had 05, 06 magazines subscriptions and used to read only 02, 03 at maximun. Now I hope I can kick my butt about my website. It’s under construction forever (ok, 02 years now), and me only spend time and money! Thanks for the kick! Have a nice week.
November 12th, 2007 at 10:49 am
Inspired by Dave’s bonus mistake #4 maybe a mistake # 5 I would like to add
Before buying the tool you really need to buy do some research on freeware and open source software that you could use instead of this software. There are a lot of applications online that you can just use for free.
Look at the applications google offers, or freeware websites like http://www.freemacware.com/. Off course some applications like illustrator, flash and photoshop can not be replaced but why spend money on Microsoft office when you don’t have to?
I’ve spent half a day on research and found out the only thing I really needed was Adobe CS3. It saved me a lot.
Good luck saving money!
Joeri Rodenburg
November 13th, 2007 at 1:07 am
i think what you said all above is about us not taking the time in gaining knowledge to enhance our skill and taking the action to acquire needed skill. if you refer to online biz IMO i would say internet environment has influence our thought to act in certain ways and most of the time it leads us to go the wrong path.
we likely not to take action because we feel that what we have already is not enough and believe there would be other better resources out there especially things like autopilot. only after we are already tired seeking and looking we will stop and look what we already have.
“You see, in life lots of people know what to do, but few people actually do what they know. Knowing is not enough! You must take action.
Anthony Robbins
“Do not wait; the time will never be “just right”. Start where you stand, and work whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along.”
Napoleon Hill
November 13th, 2007 at 1:17 am
You know it is interesting the tendency we have to do things 3/4.
I appreciate the implementation time suggestion and will mention it to peter.
November 13th, 2007 at 9:12 am
Great post, Dave.
I think for #1 the only thing I’d add is: If you’re not using it and know you never will, cancel the service/sell the product.
I tend to use the physical things I purchase, but services with those recurring monthly fees are SO easy to forget about until you get smacked with the payment. :)
November 13th, 2007 at 5:28 pm
I’m definitely guilty of Mistake #2: “Not spending time to get better results with the tools you have.” I keep thinking that if I get less and less sleep, then I’ll have more time to utilize the tools I have…. but then I just end up wasting more money at Starbucks…
November 13th, 2007 at 7:54 pm
Christine -
Check your email. I’ve sent you something that should help you kick the Starbucks habit …
November 15th, 2007 at 4:36 am
I think No.2 is so on the money. It is certainly the one that resonates most (perhaps im with Christine and alittle guilty of this one). It is so easy to get things done then let them sit and not tweak to get even better results, or to lose motivation to improve certain aspects.
However personally within the last few months i have increased my productivity simply by using the tools at my disposal in a more efficent manner and streamlining and refining my business practices. In regards to running my business i am continually tweaking to improve productivity and conversions.
For no.3 were all scared to make that big financial commitment, your advice on deciding on a solution and committing to it is serious food for thought, in fact its gonna on a stickie on my screen!
November 15th, 2007 at 2:00 pm
I hear ya Grace! I love my productivity tools… but then once I get more productive… I just fill up that extra time with more things that make me even busier - ah!
Dave - thanks!!!!!
November 16th, 2007 at 5:56 am
Christine (by the way big fan of selfmadechick!) thats so easy to do! Get more productive = more free time = more ways to fill this time!
December 2nd, 2007 at 7:58 am
Really nice post. I am using one way :(
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