3 Simple Ways to Fatten Your Bank Account
I did a One Day Intensive with a new platinum client yesterday and in the middle of the session she asked me: how do you do day-to-day management and monthly management of your money? I suddenly realized how important it was for me to teach systems around this ever-important component of running a business. How does a business owner manage money?
Why should you even pay attention to your money? Well, as I always say “Money Loves Attention”. Just like most relationships, the more love, honor and attention you give Money the more of it you will make. You may be someone who avoids looking at your bank accounts and bills – a classic avoider. I know that I used to reside in that camp. Or you may be someone who feels as though you don’t need any money to do what you love – you’re a classic martyr. Or perhaps you just spend every dollar that comes into the door – you’re a spender. Or finally, you might hoard your money so close to you that you deny yourself pleasure and you aren’t growing – you’re a saver. No matter where you fall – starting to track how much money is going in and out – is going to help you create a better relationship with money. And that will translate to more green stuff in your bank account and more massages and tasty restaurant meals. Here are three ways to start receiving more money today:
Just as a note, these three tracking mechanisms are not necessarily for your accountant. They are more for you to keep an eye on your money. What you do for your accountant may or may not be different.
1. Daily: Track Revenue: Create a Revenue Tracking Sheet. This is very low-tech. Take out a piece of paper. Number it from 1-31 on the left – these numbers stand for the days of the month. On the top, write an inspirational quote for yourself. For example: “I am a money attracting genius and it comes to me easily and often.” Also write down how much money you would like to attract over the next 30-60 days. For example: 60 Day Goal: April 10th – $8,500. Now next to each of those numbers you will write down all the money that comes to you from all the sources in your life. It doesn’t matter whether it is business-oriented or not. If you find a $20 bill on the street, write it down. If your grandmother sends you a card with a check, write it down. Every time you write the number down – rejoice. Give it good energy. Invite it to flow even more readily towards you. Remember, “money loves attention” and it also loves honor and respect.
For those of you that use 1-shoppingcart or another merchant shopping cart, I write down the number that comes in from the day’s total. Those e-mails go into a special mailbox so that I can find them easily.
Take note, some of you are thinking, “Monica, I don’t make money every day. My sheet is going to be dismally blank.” Well, buck up my friend, this process is almost magical. By the 5th month, you’ll be attracting more money than you ever did before. Why? Because you’ll be giving it attention of course. And we all know that what we focus on grows. But don’t be fooled. You can’t just sit in your home and wish for the money. What you’ll find is that you start to get creative about how to attract money here, there and everywhere, namely because there is a part of you that wants to fill your sheet. It’s not that different from the gold star tracking system that our grade school teachers used. I mean who doesn’t want more gold stars?
2. Monthly or Weekly: Track Expenses: Ok, this one isn’t as much fun, but it is necessary. As a business owner, you also have to be aware of what is going out. The way that I do this is in excel. I set up a spreadsheet that has all the categories of my expenses for both business and personal in the first column. The second column is titled personal and the third column is titled business. Then I save every receipt everywhere I go – business or personal. At the end of each week or each month, enter the receipts into the business or personal column. That way you can get a sense of your spending for the month in various areas. You can also hire a bookkeeper to do this for you either in Excel, Quicken or Quickbooks. You can also learn to do it yourself in the software. It’s up to you.
3. Quarterly: Evaluate Revenue and Expenses and Evaluate Your Marketing Plans: First, evaluate your expenses: Have you ever looked at your credit card bill and noticed that you are being charged for a club that you totally forgot that you joined? Or that you haven’t been to the gym in three months even though you’ve been paying dues? It’s good to evaluate your expenses each month and make sure that you are still paying for what is important to you. You should also do a check on how much you’ve been paying for certain categories. I noticed once that my restaurant bill had more than doubled and it came with 10 extra pounds! You can bet I did some more home-cooking after that!
Second evaluate your Revenues: What launches worked well? Which ones brought you less money then you had liked? For example, I often see practitioners offering retreats where they either break even or make very little money on each client. When they work with me we figure out a service that takes less time and brings in a higher return on the investment. Decide what could you do differently over the next 3 months? Then change your marketing plan accordingly so that you are doing activities that bring in the most amount of money and give you the greatest amount of pleasure.
In terms of money attraction, this is just the tip of the iceberg, but these activities alone can double your revenue if you do them consistently. Good luck with it all and do let me know how it works for you. And feel free to tell me how you manage your money in the comments below. I’m always open for new ideas.
