Efficiency – The Chalifour Group

Should I Scale my Business?

This is a question that I get very often. This question comes from small business owners, solopreneurs, and even owners of medium sized enterprises. At first glance it may seem like an easy question to answer, YES. Why wouldn’t someone want to grow their company, hire more employees, and create more revenue for the company.

This topic is mildly more complicated than the initial knee jerk reaction. It basically comes down to two influences; what are your motives/goals as an owner for the business? And the question of economies of scale.

Let’s first talk about motives and goals. A lot of people start a business to escape the rat race and develop some financial freedom. Often times business owners never expect to be in a place where they need to decide if they want to scale the business, typically they just expect to hopefully replace their income and live a bit happier. Unexpected success is quite common for this type of person as it takes a specific personality to quit their job and take the big leap. If you are in this position, you have to take a moment and set some goals, sit down with a piece of paper and identify why you started this business and what the ultimate goal is. Without identifying these facts you will be unhappy or chasing something that you do not even want. Identify if you simply want to make a certain income every year and remain in your current state. Satisfaction and having enough is something that not a lot of people are capable of accomplishing, there is certainly piece in being able to make this realization. On the flip side, if your business is doing well and has grown as much as it can with you, then it may be time to hire some more employees, reevaluate your plan, increase marketing, and scale the business.

Until you understand what your motives are and where you are going you are going to constantly feel in limbo with your current life even if you are making $10,000,000 per year. Every task, job, business, etc. needs to begin with the end in mind, “why are you doing this?”

The second thing you need to evaluate when deciding whether or not to scale the business is economies of scale. This basically means that as you grow profits may diminish. If you are profiting $100k per year and you hire another employee at $30k per year now your profit diminishes to $70k. What you have to consider is what sort of return will that employee bring you? Do they allow you to focus more on new business? Are they a sales representative that will add revenue to the bottom line?

With new infrastructure (employees, office space, building, computers, desks, etc) profits decrease. These capital expenditures need to be discussed by looking at your books or speaking with your accountant.

Bottom line is scaling a business is not for everybody and it may ultimately mean some short term losses in order to get to your finish line. Before you even consider scaling be sure to understand what your motives are and be sure to understanding the financial implications (good or bad).

There is always room for growth within an organization and it starts with evaluating every process.

5 Ways to Limit Smartphone Use during the Work Day

Smartphones are one of the most exciting modern-day inventions, but they can also become a major source of distraction during the work day. Before COVID, studies found that the average American spent around 5.4 hours a day on their mobile phone. Just 6 months after the COVID-induced lockdown, a December 2020 study found that mobile phone usage was up 25% to 7 hours a day. This increased mobile phone usage could contribute to decreases in productivity and motivation, as more mobile phone usage is correlated with increased anxiety, depression, and sleep disturbance. Even knowing all of this, it can be difficult to limit screen time because these devices are insanely addictive. Here are 5 ways to help you limit smartphone use during the day so that you can hopefully be happier, healthier, and more productive:

Set time limits on certain apps

Most phones have settings that allow you to limit the time spent on specific apps each day—this feature is called ‘screen time’ on iPhone and ‘digital wellbeing’ on android. This allows you to actively limit the time spent on particularly addicting apps, such as social media applications (e.g. twitter, reddit, instagram, youtube). This feature is a great way of preventing you from mindlessly scrolling for longer than you intend.

Leave your phone in a separate room

If you find yourself unable to stop habitually checking your phone or scrolling through social media, one option is to just leave your phone in a different room than your work office. If you are working at home, then you could leave your phone in the kitchen or bedroom, far away from your desk or office. This way, you will have to intentionally walk across your living space in order to check your phone. This adds both a mental and physical barrier to checking your phone, which can be extremely helpful.

Turn off email and text notifications

Email and text notifications can be very distracting during the work day. You could be working hard to solve a problem and then a random email or text can totally take your out of your flow and halt your momentum. When you turn off or mute notifications, this distraction is completely removed. Then you can check your emails or texts every few hours, in a proactive and intentional way. Research has shown that batching notifications in this way can improve wellbeing and productivity.

Delete distracting apps from your phone

If you find that you are manually overriding the time limits or walking across the room to check reddit, one idea is just to delete these apps from your phone entirely. This adds another degree of friction between you and distracting phone applications, as manually re-downloading apps and signing in (i.e. having to remember your password) is quite tedious. This may your best option if you find that just having the app on your phone makes it difficult to have a balanced relationship with your mobile device.

Turn your phone into greyscale mode

One thing that makes our smartphones so dazzling is that they are full of rich colors and exciting videos/images. One way to make looking at your phone less appealing/stimulating is to turn on greyscale mode, which essentially turns everything into black and white. This makes looking at your phone much less absorbing and therefore easier for you to put your phone down after you are done using it for your intended purchases. Here are instructions for this setting on iPhone and Android.

Final thoughts: Hopefully these tools help you curb your smartphone usage so that you can be happier and more productive during the work week. That said, all of these settings can be manually overridden and turned off. The ultimate truth is that you are in control: you have to make the choice to limit your phone usage, and the best tool for doing so is self-discipline. Perhaps find a different activity to take breaks during work, such as meditation, walking outside, or exercise. Have a great week everyone!

Keep on Keeping on

This past year has been hard for all of us, and Pew Research reports that 42% of US adults under the age of 50 reported difficulties in finding the motivation to work since the beginning of the pandemic. So how do we get through this seemingly never-ending struggle?

Discipline. That probably is not the answer you wanted to hear, as it points to the fact that working hard is the real way to overcome dips in motivation. Motivation comes and goes. We have great days at work that inspire us and remind us why we do what we do, but we may also go weeks without any form of gratification. The key is to stay disciplined throughout the ups and downs. We have to keep in mind that all of this is temporary—someday we will work in offices again and see our friends and family. But for the time being, if we are fortunate enough to have jobs, we have to keep on going. The struggle we are working through now is building strength we cannot even appreciate or comprehend at the current moment. This is a training ground for your mental discipline, your ability to keep on keeping on even when things get tough. This skill, also known as Grit, is actually more important for long-term success than raw intelligence.

So although the current times are hard and we may not feel motivated, just remember that the work you are doing right now (both professionally and mentally) is building your strength and mental disciple, and that you will reap these benefits for years to come. Discipline will carry you much further in life than pure excitement or passion. One day you will look back on how you worked through this difficult time and feel proud and thankful for your own hard work. Keep on keeping on. We are all in this together.

5 Ways Science Can Help Your Business

Science can be a great tool to improve your business, as it allows you to get objective, quantifiable evidence that you can use to make evidence-based business decisions. Here are 5 ways you can use science to help your business:

Survey your employees

A great way to get feedback from your employees is to just ask them. Surveys can be a great way for you to select the questions you are interested in, and then survey employees across your company to get both quantitative (i.e. ratings of agreement) and qualitative data (i.e. open-ended responses). This can help bring to light issues within your company you may not be aware of, which could differ by department—maybe the sales employees face a different set of issues than the human resources team. You can also make your surveys anonymous to get more honest feedback than you might from a face-to-face conversation. Overall, this technique can really give you a better idea of what is going on within your company.

Survey your customers

If you are designing a new product, a great way to get feedback from your target audience is to survey existing customers. This can allow you to see what they might be interested in and what might determine whether they purchased your new product. In addition, you can conduct a product test with a focus group to get their opinions on different prototypes. Getting to know your audience through their ratings of likelihood to buy as well as candid feedback can be really helpful before launching your product into the public market. Qualtrics is a great tool to survey both employees and customers and easily analyze your data.

Use psychometric tests when hiring

Job applications and interviews often don’t provide enough information about candidates to decide whether you want to hire them or not. The employees you bring into your work place directly contribute to your company’s culture and overall success, so having more information when hiring is extremely helpful. Using psychometric testing can be a great way to learn more about a candidate’s personality, work ethic, and potentially their long term success at your company. There are many different tests you can use, and it depends on what you are looking for in new hires, but one great resource is the Predictive Index, which is “an untimed, free-choice, stimulus-response tool that measures a person’s motivating drives and needs” that can be used to “hire candidates who are hardwired to be a great fit, to design teams that perform like magic, and to manage employees in a way that pushes them to perform at the top of their game.” Do keep in mind that no scale is perfect and it can never truly encapsulate a person—for this reason, interviews and ‘gut feelings’ are still very important.

Run an experiment

Not sure what option will work best for a particular problem in your business? The best way to find out is to run an experiment, where you can compare multiple options and see the different results. You can then use basic analysis techniques to see if there are significant differences in outcomes between the two options, products, etc. For example, you could have sales associates use two different scripts at random for 100 times each and then compare the success rate for the different scripts.

Research the psychology behind your industry

Every business is run by humans. Psychology allows us to better understand the human mind, what motivates us, and why people do the things they do. One way to improve your business is to research the psychology behind your particular industry. The sales process is very psychological, and different findings from the scientific literature can be leveraged to improve your business practices and increase success. Learning about the science of psychology can really help to improve your communication skills and the way you interact with your human customers. We are all people and we are all motivated by similar things.

Bonus tip: If any of these ideas sound appealing to you, but you aren’t sure how to properly implement them in your business, hire a scientific consultant to help you accomplish these goals and provide evidence-based solutions for your business. We at The Chalifour Consulting Group offer scientific consulting services, so feel free to reach out at info@consultingandsuccess.com.

Mondays Don’t Have to Be Miserable

The feeling of waking up on a Monday is so iconic. Tired, still holding onto the bliss of the weekend, not quite ready to work, slightly anxious about what is to come for the week. And yet we face these same feelings nearly every Monday. After so many times of experiencing this, we can learn to notice these thoughts and patterns and accept them, so that we can rise above and not react to these thoughts or let our entire energy be dictated by them. The best way to promote this awareness and create our own energy & perspective for the day is to start off our morning with meditation. This helps to clear the anxiety, the tension, all the bubbling thoughts. The mind is like a cup of sediment-filled water. At first, it is murky and dirt is floating everywhere. But as the cup sits, slowly and surely, all of the sediment starts to sink to the bottom, and the rest of the water becomes clear. This is what happens to our mind during meditation. Especially at the beginning of a week, we tend to have lots of chaotic and frantic thinking, as well as general feelings of avoidance and resistance. Meditation helps us let all of that sink to the bottom so we can see clearly once again. What do I have to do today? Okay, I will do it. It’s that simple, but we make it so complicated with all of our likes and dislikes, our beliefs and opinions about the work we do and what we would rather do instead. Start a daily practice of just 5 minutes each morning and see how it helps your life and work productivity

Even after reading this, you may still have the same feelings arise next Monday. The difference is how you react to those feelings—instead of getting sucked into them and believing them, just note that they are there and then let them go. I am not as successful every Monday, but I’ve noticed that taking this mindful approach really helps work get off to a good start each week. Another really important thing is to try and keep the same sleep schedule on the weekend as you have during the week. When we don’t do this, and we stay up late and sleep in on the weekend, waking up early on Monday morning is an even bigger shock to our system. It is much harder to be mindful, productive, and motivated when we are exhausted. So make sure to take care of both your body and your mind in order to set yourself up for success this week. And just know, hey, it’s a Monday, it’s never going to be that amazing. When we accept this, it takes a huge amount of pressure off how our Monday goes. We shift our view from anticipation to acceptance, and embrace whatever comes. This change of mindset has been incredibly helpful for me in enhancing my enjoyment of work and my overall productivity, and I hope it can help you too.

9 Habits of the Most Successful People in the World

After a little research, here are 9 habits that the most successful people in the world incorporate into their lives daily:

Wake up early

Having a set routine and following it every single day can create positive outcomes. 95% of the most successful people in the world wake up early in the morning. To name a few, Jack Dorsey who started Twitter wakes up every morning around 5:00 am, meditates, and goes on a run. Tim Cook, CEO of Apple wakes up at 4:30 am and is at the gym by 5:30 am, and finally Steve Jobs wakes up no later than 6:00 am and also works out. Out of these three successful men, they wake up on average around 5:00 am and not later than 6:00 am. For those of you thinking that this won’t work because you’re a night owl, you could do a little extra research and see what you can incorporate at night to help yourself fall asleep and stay asleep earlier.

Write down your goals

Research shows that writing down your goals on a physical piece of paper will help you pursue and accomplish them. There was a study done by Harvard in 1970 for the graduating class. These 100 students were asked what their goals were upon graduating. Out of the 100 students, only three of them had written down their goals on a piece of paper. 10 years later, Harvard followed up with this graduating class to see if they had accomplished their goals. When they followed up that 3% of the class with written goals were two times more successful than the 90% combined. This proves the importance of valuing your goals and taking the time to write them down.

Work ethic

People are not born with a strong work ethic, rather it’s something that you build upon each day. Finding something you’re passionate about and working hard in it every single day can create a valuable work ethic. Over time you will continue to develop it and continue to work harder.

Exercise

Our bodies are incredible temples that help and support us every day. Research shows that the more exercise you give your body the more energy it will give you. The first time you go to the gym you may be tired. But your body realizes this and gives you more and more energy to get through the workout. Eventually, your body will adjust and it will get stronger. This energy doesn’t leave when you exit the gym. It gives your body energy throughout the whole day which allows you to work even harder than you would have otherwise.

Read

The average person reads 1-2 books a year and the average CEO reads 60 books a year. That is a huge difference. You may be telling yourself that you don’t have time to read 60 books a year and that’s okay. CEOs are some of the busiest people in the world and they find time to incorporate reading into their life. However, if this is too much, try starting small and reading one book every month. Not only is reading important but the type of reading you do is crucial. Many CEOs aren’t reading murder mysteries or romance books. They are reading books proven to better themselves such as mindset and psychological books

Plan your week

Most people go in every week hoping that it goes the way they want to. Instead, try going into the new week with a detailed plan that you are ready to execute. Every Sunday try to sit down and have a personal meeting with yourself. Look back at the past week and use the start, stop, and continue the method. The start is the new things you want to bring into the week, stop are the things that didn’t go well and you’re not going to do this week, and continue are the things that went well that you want to continue doing. Writing these things down will give you some sort of list you can follow throughout the week.

Positive, Self Talk, Gratitude

Starting every day off with positive thoughts will help you continue to have them throughout the day. What you focus on magnifies so thinking positively will only be beneficial.

Mentors

On average, successful people have about 7 different mentors that they look up to. This could be a business partner, a fit person, or even someone you admire that is a great father. These mentors are in your life because you seek them out. They don’t have to be someone that you see every day and that is always around you, but someone that you know will always be there for you.

Proper Nutrition

Giving your body the proper nutrients will help fuel you through the day and accomplish your task at hand. Certain types of food will give you energy and some foods that will take away your energy such as cheese, greasy food and red meat. If you feel like you can’t eliminate these foods or that you don’t want to, try eating them for dinner instead. Listening to your body and what it needs is extremely important.

5 Tips for Mindfulness at Work

Work has been challenging and different for nearly all of us this past year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A report from Stanford University estimated that, “42 percent of the U.S. labor force now working from home full-time. About another 33 percent are not working – a testament to the savage impact of the lockdown recession. And the remaining 26 percent – mostly essential service workers – are working on their business premises. So, by sheer numbers, the U.S. is a working-from-home economy. Almost twice as many employees are working from home as at work.” Given all of these unexpected changes to how we work, many Americans are facing increased stress and anxiety. Reports indicate that, “up to 72% of American employees experience daily stress and anxiety that interfere with their day-to-day lives.”

Mindfulness is a great tool that can be used to help handle work-related stress. Mindfulness is the practice of maintaining awareness of our thoughts and feelings, and is often paired with meditation to help calm down and re-center. Extensive scientific research has demonstrated that mindfulness can effectively reduce anxiety and stress. Below are 5 tips to promote mindfulness while you work:

Meditate before work every day. This is very helpful in establishing a calm state of mind before you begin work, and it also helps you let go of anxious or avoidant thoughts about the tasks you have to complete each day at work. A recent study found that “meditation practice may positively influence job performance, including job satisfaction, subjective job performance, and work engagement.”
Take short breaks at the top of each hour. This is really important, because as we work we start to use our thinking minds, and that can create a lot of chaos and pressure inside of us. Take a 1 to 5 minute break at each hour to re-center and clear your mind. Research has shown that taking breaks can improve mental well-being, motivation for work, increase productivity and creativity, and improve learning.
When you notice yourself getting stressed, come back to your breath and slow things down. Try not to rush through the tasks you have to do to get them over with. Instead take things slowly and do them with 100% of your effort. Not only will you do a better job, you will feel calmer and better about the work you’ve done.
Go outside. Many studies have shown that going outside improves mood and concentrations. For me personally, it blows my mind how stuffy and tense things can get when I stay inside working for too long. Then when I finally walk outside, especially in nature, feeling the fresh fair clears everything away, and I realize all that tension I’ve been building was unnecessary.
Exercise after work. This can be really helpful to relieve the tension you build during a normal work day, and it can provide a nice break between work and the rest of your night (dinner, hobbies, etc.). Extensive research has shown that exercise improves anxiety, stress, depression, as well as psychological, physiological, and immunological functions.

So try these tips and let us know if they improved your mindfulness at work, and how this impacted your mood and stress at work. Wishing you all the best during these challenging times.

Leadership, Culture and Retention

My business partner always says that for the most part a person does not quit their job, they quit their boss. If you are in a leadership position of any kind, this statement should immediately grab you and cause the hair on the back of your neck to stand at attention. If it does not then you should not be in a position of leadership – period.

Retention is a direct result of the leadership. It’s as simple as that. Leadership is not about telling people what to do, we should know that by now as leaders. It’s about listening, guiding, teaching and doing the right thing. Everything has changed from the days of the baby boomer’s 30 years and a gold watch.

Medium.com writes in a recent blog post that according to a 2018 study by Mercer, a whopping third of all employees plan on quitting their job in the next 12 months. That number is astronomically high compared to when our our parents and grandparents were our age. This growing amount of turnover is getting more and more expensive for companies. In fact, one study revealed that replacing a high-talented employee will cost a company 200% of the employees annual salary.

Leadership is culture. That’s right, the culture developed by leadership is one of the most critical components of retention. How a team member feels they are perceived by the leadership will dictate the commitment and diligence put forth by the team member. Long gone are the days where a simple transaction takes place everyday – a wage is paid to perform a job. The days where an employee shows up in the morning with their lunchbox in hand, punches a clock and leaves at the end of the day with another clock punch.

Today, the working culture is more committed to the overall function of the day. There is more skin in the game and they wanted to be treated accordingly, do you blame them?

Take a look at these stats compiled by Marvin Russell on Medium.com:

In a survey of 2,000 employees, almost half (43%) said they are looking for a new job, and corporate culture was the main reason.

Source: hayes.com

When surveyed, 82% of employees said they’d be more loyal, and less likely if they had more flexible jobs.

Source: FlexJobs

92% of employees said that would be more likely to stay with their job, if their bosses would show more empathy.

Source: Businesssolver

Engaged employees are 59% less likely to seek out a new job or career in the next 12 months.

Source: Gallup

37% of employees would quit and take a new job that allowed them to work remotely part of the time.

Source: Gallup

A strong learning culture led to 30–50% high retention rates in companies.

Source Robert Half

70% of 2,000 millennials surveyed said they would quit a job if lacked high performing and fast technology.

Source: Jive Communications

62% of millennials are willing to quit their job in the next two years and work in the gig economy.

Source: Deloitte

71% of employees would accept a pay cut, just to get a better job.

Source: hayes.com

Money is not the problem. In fact, only 12% of employees actually leave their job because they want more money.

Source: CareerBuilder.com

89% of bosses wrongly believe their employees quit because they want more money.

Source: Source; Leigh Branham, author of The 7 Hidden Reasons Employees Leave

Generation X, employees born between 1961 and 1981, reported the highest levels of stress in the workplace, and thus have the highest risk of leaving your company.

Source: hayes.com

Employees who feel they get to use the best strengths and abilities and work are 15% less likely to quit their job.

Source: Gallup

When surveyed, 76% of employees who don’t feel valued at work are seeking other job opportunities.

Source: Lifeworks

Over 70% of “high-retention-risk” employees want to leave because they see no future advancement in the current job.

Source: Willis Towers Watson

20-50% of the reason people quit is burnout, according to almost half of all HR professionals surveyed.

Source: Kronos

In a global study, 60% of millennials have worked at 2 to 4 different companies, and 43% of them feel like their company only cares about profits.

Source: O.C. Tanner

42% of millennials, who have worked at 2 to 4 different companies, said their job creates a huge amount of stress, and 36% feel their job has a negative impact on their health.

Source: O.C. Tanner

30% of employees would consider quitting if they were unhappy at work, and 79% of employees said their bosses didn’t care about their happiness level.

Source: One4All

Organizations with poor on-boarding programs have double the chances of experiencing employee turnover.

Source: Digittate

Clearly the paycheck is not the major issue here. It’s important that as leaders we recognize and value the team members in a way that brings them into the fold as pseudo partners and contributing assets. If we are not able to do that the simple truth is that they will move on and look for that with another company.

Are we listening and recognizing talents? Are we taking the time to talk with the team? Are we spending time in the trenches with them to see what it’s like from their perspective? How does a person manage when they have no idea what goes on in the various departments that they have charge over. Have you given your team members a voice? Do they feel like part of the solution and therefore part of the success of the company?

These are questions that really need answers and those answers will dictate your leadership style and also the changes that need to take place.

If you’re unsure about what the culture is in your workplace, let us help. We can get these answers for you and customize a workplace mindset and new culture, just give us a call.

We are always at your service and eager to help.

3 ways to work smarter!

Life is short and often times we are just working to get to the weekend. In addition, we find ourselves saying “there just is not enough time in a day.” That is just not true, it is all about how we use the time that we have and by measuring your results rather than your time.

Time management is the number one factor in successful people. They know how to work hard and often how to play hard. Time is the one resource that we can not waste. It all begins with a solid plan that includes short term plans and long term goals. These two points play in together as all your short term plans/lists should coincide with your long term goals. I have said before that when I work with businesses my number one objective is to increase a companies valuation making it more attractive for purchase. In a personal career or life, the long term goal should be retirement which is essentially the same thing for the sale of a business.

Goal setting is the first priority in working smarter. Set your end goal, say it is to retire by 40 years old with 2,000,000 in the bank. Then, as I have said before work backward from that end goal. Start with the end in mind. Then you know what you have to do to get to the goal, if you fall short one day, week, or even year, then you know exactly what you have to do to make up for the loss.

With all that said here are the top 3 ways to become more productive and to achieve your longterm goals.

Plan your days and weeks in advance

Each day I set forth making a to do list. This to do list encapsulates everything that I would like to get done on a given day. Often times, it is a mix of both personal and professional activities. If you have a cloudy mind in your personal life your professional will suffer, so be sure to stay active and up-to-date with your personal priorities. The list starts with the most important tasks that I absolutely have to complete by days end. The list ends with tasks that are “less important” but do have to get done at some point.

As I go through my day I complete my tasks and typically start my to do list for the following day. Anything that I will not have time to get to, I move to the top of the list for the following day. Additionally, as your day progresses you get new projects that have later dates and thus you are able to start to do lists for the following days. Often times I have a to do list scheduled out for the week. I spend much time scheduling and compiling lists as it keeps me on track and organized. It is important not to take too much time that it becomes a distraction but you do have to make it a priority. Having a road map for your success is critically important to staying on track.

Measure your results not your time

This is a tough benchmark to wrap your head around and typically requires a complete shift in mindset. This productivity tip is why it is so important to know where you are going and what your ultimate goals are. If I close or complete a large job at 10am or 11am I may call it a day or even take the next day off. I am measuring my results not the time I have into it because the week before I probably worked 80 hours. I know how much money I want to and need to make so when I hit that benchmark it is my decision if I want to keep working for the day or week. However, I am measuring my results not my time. You may not have to work 40 or 50 hours to make the amount of money that you want to make. Even with a normal 9-5 job you still have the power to measure results not time.

Measuring your results is a great way to mind your headspace. As Americans, we get very wrapped up in work, putting in 40+ hour weeks fully encompassed by our profession and often let the results fall behind. Time card punchers should never be the goal, have pride in the work you do.

Minimize Distractions

Distractions are the root of all evil. Distractions are, where the phrase, “there is not enough time in a day” stems from. Hate to break it to you but everybody has enough time in a day to accomplish what they need to the issue is with distractions. Fortunately or unfortunately, we live in a technological world where just about everything is available at the tip of our fingers. Our two most productive tools, phones and computers, are also our two biggest distractions. It is important to silence or delete apps that cause distractions while you are trying to be productive at work. Not only does it take away precious time but it also affects your results. Distractions affect both time and results.

Bottom line is there is plenty of time in a day to achieve the results we desire. We simply have to be well organized by compiling lists and scheduling your tasks, we need to measure results not time, and strive to minimize daily distractions. When beginning this life altering shift, start with the end in mind by setting goals. If you have questions on setting goals check on our blog on “Don’t dream, set goals.”

Passive Income

Passive Income is a term that is thrown around constantly and is often misunderstood by many. Passive Income is defined by Investopedia as “Earnings derived from a rental property, limited partnership, or other enterprise in which a person is not actively involved”.

Generally speaking I think it is understood to be money that a person makes while being uninvolved. Many people will say something like “I have this great stream of passive income where I am making money right now.” Meanwhile the individual is on the beach, on vacation, or involved in some activity that is more fun than working! Now that sounds pretty good if you ask me, making boat loads of money while sipping a corona on the beach, sign me up! But here is where the misunderstanding takes place.

To develop a solid stream of passive income takes an incredible amount of work, time, and often money. It falls under the same misbelief of get rich quick schemes or get rich over night seminars. But solid passive income is very possible and is enjoyed by millions of people every minute of the day so why not you? Whether you are a current business owner, employee, or dreamer it is possible to achieve the American dream which has become far more than simply a nice house with a white picket fence in the suburbs. Nowadays the American dream has become more about achieving wealth and becoming an every day millionaire.

Millionaire, you might be thinking “Craig, that is a big statement I don’t think I can ever become a millionaire like the people I see on TV.” Well fortunately those are not the millionaires that I am talking about, I am talking about the millionaires that are your neighbor and you do not even know they are millionaires. Millionaire is defined as having a net worth of one million dollars or greater. This dream is very attainable by just about everybody.

Many people, 32% of Americans, contribute to a 401K with every paycheck. And this number should be a lot higher considering 59% of Americans have access to a 401K. Well guess what I consider a 401K, passive income. While investing in the stock market you are making 7-10% on your investment every year, this means that you are making money even as you are sleeping. This is by far the simplest way to create passive income.

The more complex ways are to start a self sufficient business, buy real estate (Even owner occupied real estate is passive, as real estate appreciates at 3-5% on average), or some other enterprise. So no matter where you are in life you have an opportunity to create some stream of passive income even if you are not realizing that wealth today. However, in this blog post I want to specifically speak to business owners or prospective business owners.

My number one objective when working with new clients is business valuation. Business valuation is not exactly our specialty but I am talking about the term generally not about actually valuing your business. The entire point of starting a company, owning a company, operating a company is obviously to make money but more importantly to generate wealth. Your business should be the largest item on your balance sheet within your financial statement. Even if a business owner has no desire to sell you should be looking to make it worth more each an every day and thus more desirable to purchase.

Growing your businesses worth can be done through a multitude of ways; increasing sales or revenue, cutting costs, or increasing capacity by hiring more people. Although those aspects are incredibly important, the most important thing about a business valuation is how easy is it for someone to buy you and take over.

How easy is it for someone to buy you and take over, this is an ambiguous statement and what I mean is what systems do you have in place, what processes run your company, are these systems and processes commonly known, is one person largely responsible for more than 20% of your revenue, can the owner be removed from the business and it will run swimmingly?

These are the questions that you need to ask yourself as a business owner or as a prospective business owner looking to develop a business plan. The age old example of this is McDonalds, which we have talked about in our blog before. Every McDonalds has the same procedures, protocols, and manuals. This makes the business very desirable, as just about anybody can own and operate a McDonalds franchise. Your business needs to be more like McDonalds and thus making it more similar to passive income versus active income.

This means every position needs an employee manual, you need a proper succession strategy for every management member, proper CRM (To track past, present, and future clients), solid marketing plan, business plan, goals and plans for minimum 5 years out, and a process for all business operations.

This is why we stress the importance of processes because this allows for a higher valuation for the business, increases wealth on a daily basis, and creates a stream of passive income so that you can go start another business that follows that same model. Starting a business is hard work but the reward should not be working 80 hours a week making a million dollars a year but rather to create a business process that allows you to make a lot of money in a more passive nature while increasing valuation and personal wealth.

If you are a business owner or prospective business owner and you do not have this mindset it is time to change your frame. Begin to remove yourself from the business by creating processes. If you are knee deep in your business and find yourself putting our fires everyday, this process is going to take time but be patient as it will be worth it. As always if you have any questions or need help creating this structure give us a call.