by Dr. George | Freedompreneur Mindset, Structure, Systems & Strategy: The Anatomy of the Freedom-Driven Business
In today’s tightening economy, profitability is a more critical issue than ever.
On paper, the profitability formula is quite simple:
Revenue minus costs minus expenses = Gross Profit
Just because your revenue increases doesn’t mean you take home more money; if your expenditures to generate that revenue increase the same proportion as your revenue, then your profits do, in fact, increase.
But what if your expenditures increase disproportionately, relative to your revenue, even though your revenue increases? Then you make less profit.
How long will you stay in business doing that?
Especially in today’s rugged economy, the smart strategy is to both increase revenue and reduce expenditures (I’m defining expenditures as line items such as costs of goods, costs of sales, and general operational expenses)
To decrease expenditure, adopt the practice of spending resources only on high-impact essentials. So, what’s a high-impact essential?
A high-impact essential is any purchase (a tool, equipment, service, etc.) that meets one or more of the following criteria:
- Increases revenue.
- Increases profitability.
- Decreases costs and expenses.
- Enhances productivity and safety.
Here’s a real-life example, albeit a simple one, to illustrate my point…
A couple of years ago, I bought a new computer bag, though the one I had was working just fine. The new bag cost just under $400, but I justified the new bag because:
- It had wheels. (You know, gotta save my shoulder and neck from the strain of lugging things around.)
- It was made by the same company as our other “lifetime warranty” luggage, so it was a perfect match.
- It was “more cool” than my existing bag.
After I brought it home, I proudly set it down on the floor of my office. It sat there for several days looking really cool, but something bothered me about the bag, and I didn’t know what it was.
Then I realized what it was; I hadn’t applied my “buying decision matrix” to the purchase:
Did it have the potential to:
- Increase revenue? NO!
- Increase profitability? NO!
- Decrease costs and expenses? NO, it actually increased it?
- Enhance productivity and safety? NO, not really.
Bottomline, I took the bag back to the store and felt really good about it.
So, my strong advice is before you or your team members make any purchasing decisions, however small or large, consider the above buying criteria. It’ll simplify the clutter in your physical space, minimize any mental agony around purchases, and it’ll give you a fighting chance to enhance your real bottomline.
by Dr. George | Freedompreneur Mindset
Courses, training, coaching…
…is there really a difference?
In my mind, yes, there’s a big difference. And, I believe that the distinction I make between coaching and training is an important one.
I define coaching as “providing advice, recommendations, and guidance.”
I distinguish training as “providing the information, developing the skills and support you need to get the job done.”
Of course, there’s overlap between the two: Certainly there’s coaching involved in training and there’s training involved in coaching.
Coaching can be one-time, intermittent or on-going. I view training as a longer-term commitment, one that requires consistency and persistence and a conscious willingness to develop new habits of action and performance.
While both coaching and training approaches can be quite intensive, it’s an important, yet subtle distinction to me.
I believe that a blend of the two approaches gives one the advantage of the best of both worlds.
Along those lines, be sure to check out the Freedompreneur Training Center. It’s a comprehensive coaching and training resource that provides detailed step-by-step guidance to help you create and grow a high-performance, high-value business.
Available 24/7 from anywhere in the world that you have online access, you’ll have a multitude of training programs on fundamental and advanced topics at your fingertips.
To address all learning styles, the content is delivered through a combination of articles, audio, video, webinars, and teleseminars.
And, you’ll be able to get on live coaching and training calls as well as get help through the online community forum.
Ultimately, the Freedompreneur Training Center is about you designing your business to improve the quality of your client’s and customers’ lives and supporting your ideal lifestyle. Click here to learn more
by Dr. George | Productivity
That’s a question that I for which I was not able to find the answer on Google.
So much for being able to find everything and anything on the Internet.
For those of you who use stock photos or your own images in your line of work, I got the following information from tech support at www.istockphoto.com, which is a very low-cost source of stock images. (Yes, Getty Images, in general, is higher quality, but so is the price.)
For PowerPoint presentations being displayed on a computer screen:
Use 72 dpi images (istockphoto “small” image files)
For screen projection presentations:
Use 300 dpi “medium” files.
NOTE:
The “xsmall” files can be useful for:
- Web pages
- Selected PowerPoint presentations (if the image fills only a small part of the slide and/or you are using a low screen display resolution)
by Dr. George | Freedompreneur Mindset
As an entrepreneur, you take risks everyday, from financial risks to liability risks – all without any guarantees of success. So why bother?
Most entrepreneurs are inspired to build the business of their dreams because they have a great product and/or service and they feel compelled to share it with the world. But they also value their independence. They want to call their own shots. And, they want to enjoy greater financial rewards for their talent, enthusiasm, and risk-taking bravado.
Ultimately, the greatest motivation for an entrepreneur is freedom. Entrepreneurs crave the freedom to run their own show, to deliver their products and services the way they believe is ‘the right way.’ They are allured by the possibilities of freedom of time, money, energy, and spirit to be, do, experience, and have that which brings the most excitement and fulfillment to their lives.
But without the right approach, building the business of your dreams can quickly become suffering the worst of your nightmares. Instead of your business supporting the life of your dreams, your life quickly becomes shackled to your business – all because you have become the business.
Enter the world of the freedompreneur. A freedompreneur is someone who’s greatest motivation for being in business is the freedom of time, money, energy, and spirit to be, do, experience, and have that which brings the most excitement and fulfillment in life.
Freedompreneurs quickly transform their high-potential businesses to high-performance businesses. They build high-value businesses that are their greatest asset – these businesses provide lasting value to its clients and customers, produce outstanding profit, afford them the freedom they’ve envisioned for their lives, and contribute to enhancing the lives of others in meaningful ways.
To build a high-value business, freedompreneurs apply the right blend of laser-focus, business structure, highly leveraged strategies, powerful tactics, comprehensive systems, action-oriented accountability, and follow-through. Such discipline leads to profitable and sustainable growth. It’s a challenging journey, no doubt, but the payoff can be enormous – ultimate freedom.
The only question is: “Is this path the right one for you?
If your answer is ‘yes,’ then you’ll need to be sure you have built a solid foundation to launch or re-launch your enterprise.
I invite you to consider the options that might support you on your journey by: clicking here
