Everyone claims they want more profit and more of their profits in their pockets at the end of the day and yet most people ignore a very important piece in what I call The Return Exchange™ — expenses.
Recently I was looking to slash some expenses on both the business side and my personal life. With just two phone calls I slashed a major expense by 50% and another by 80%.
That’s no small change.
Similarly when I was recently at a client site for an in-person session, I helped her quickly slash $15,000 from her yearly budget. (You can see my video about that here.) –
Whether it is $15/month or $15,000/year every bit of money that you do not spend on something that is not bringing you value in return is FOUND MONEY.
Now, let’s be clear, I’m not suggesting you never spend any money. What I am saying is do NOT spend money on something that is not giving you a satisfactory return.
Return doesn’t have to be a traditional ROI financial return either. It can be measured in time, money, or physical/mental/emotional energy invested.
Squeezing more money out of your business doesn’t have to painful and it doesn’t have to take a great deal of time. It simply requires knowing where you spend your money and why (yes, I realize for some of you this may be the very definition of painful, but I can help you make it less so).
Then it requires ditching what isn’t giving you a proper return and re-pricing things that are more of a commodity (insurance, certain software as a service, etc.).
Here’s the biggest hazard you face when you call to inquire about reducing your prices.
They may tell you yes, no problem. That’s exactly what happened to me when I went to cancel my online fax service. They said – oh, we can put you on the $3/month plan (versus the $15/month plan). So, I kept it for the occasional medical form fax needs.
So the hazard is the big OUCH you feel when you think:
How long have I been over-paying for this??!
Be kind to yourself and move on.
By creating a habit of doing this regularly, you can be sure you are maximizing profits.
I zapped some personal insurance premiums in HALF and tidied up a bunch of business expenses with just a few phone calls. Now that money can go to work (or play) for me in better ways.
If you are intimated by the whole money thing or just never “get around to it”, contact me and let me know. Or go straight to a complimentary spot on my calendar for a discovery call here.
We should talk. I can make the whole thing less scary and make it work better for you.
(It gives me a chance to trot out all that knowledge from my accounting degree too 😉