The Final Episode of 2024
Download MP3Hello, and welcome to the Service Based Business Society podcast. I am your host, Tiffany Ann Botcher. On our weekly episodes, we will dig into everything you need to know about scaling your service based business without losing sleep. With my experience in creating over 7 figures per month and a passion for marketing, finance, and automation, this show will provide tangible tips and techniques for scaling your business. Let's get started.
Speaker 1:Hey, guys. Welcome back to another episode. It's crazy to realize that this is the last episode of 2024. I touched on a little bit at the previous episode, but we will be on holiday hiatus until January 2025. We're gonna take a little time.
Speaker 1:We're gonna work on our businesses. We're gonna enjoy some festive time with families, and then we'll be back. So what are we gonna talk about today for the very last episode of 2024, guys? It's gonna be a special one because we're gonna talk about sales targeting for next year and enjoying the journey to get where you are. 2 very specific pieces that really tie in together.
Speaker 1:So often when we are in it in our businesses, we don't necessarily realize how far we've come. And I was meeting with the business owner this week and it really resonated for me that we had had a meeting previously where she had a whole set of challenges and she's had a whole set of things that she really wanted to accomplish. And it was during this meeting that we were having that I realized that all of the previous challenges had been resolved. Super exciting. She was now exactly where she wanted to be.
Speaker 1:Also super exciting. But she had a whole new list of challenges. Because ultimately, as our business grows, we just grow into new challenges. If you think about your business almost as a child and all of the steps, you know, if you go from newborn baby to older baby to toddler, you know, then then we've got a kid in kindergarten. We've got older kids.
Speaker 1:It's it's crazy the different steps. And so if we think about our business being that way, you know, until your child is grown up with a career living on their own, doing their thing, there's there's different pieces, different challenges in every step of the way, and business is no different. So, you know, I was in this meeting and she was talking about all of these new challenges she was having, and I I had to just have her pause for a second. And I just wanna say to her, hey. These were all the challenges that you hoped for.
Speaker 1:So, first, congratulations. You solved all of the initial challenges, and you're exactly where you wanted to be. That's amazing. It came with a whole new set of challenges. But don't feel overwhelmed and just feel like there's been challenges forever because they're actually new challenges.
Speaker 1:And that should be refreshing, and that should be exciting. And really identifying first those pieces, calling them out to yourself will really help you feel better about them. Because in that moment, in that meeting, the client I was meeting with, she just felt super overwhelmed. She was like, this is crazy. We're growing so fast.
Speaker 1:I'm turning work down. I don't know. But it was it was all of these different things going at one time. All were true, but they were all the challenges she hoped for. And so, yes, solving a whole new set of challenges, sometimes not exactly what you wanna be doing, but that's what you wanted.
Speaker 1:And I think so often in life, we always want what we don't have. It's the curly haired people that really want the straight hairs. The straight haired people that really want the curly hair. It's the, you know, people who want whatever it is that they don't have. And as we're growing in our business, as we're doing all of these things, we realize that we always just want something else.
Speaker 1:At the beginning, you're getting started, and you're so excited to have a little engagement on social media. You're so excited for someone to reach out. You're so excited to have just a couple of people interested in what you're doing. Now fast forward maybe 2 years and suddenly just like this one, you're turning down work. You're so busy that you're like, I can't take on anything else.
Speaker 1:I'm maxed out. And one of the things that she said that really, really resonated with me that I wanted to share was she said, some of my clients I've had since the very beginning. They've been loyal. They're amazing. They're probably not people that I would currently accept as clients.
Speaker 1:And the challenge is they've been with me personally for so long that they don't want to be shifted to anyone else. So even if I hire someone to help me, they don't wanna deal with that new person. They wanna deal with me. That's why they're here. And this was a real real struggle, a real challenge for this business owner because she realized that the way to grow was through more help, but the type of help wasn't gonna work in this situation.
Speaker 1:So we had a couple of different ideas. You know? I made some suggestions, recommendations, thoughts. Sometimes it's just about brainstorming with someone else to say, what are some other ways that we could perhaps even just get you some help so that they still deal with you. You're still the face, but maybe you just have some more help in the background because you can't take on more if you don't have help some So we talked through those things and we also talked through what are other pieces of her business that she could stop doing.
Speaker 1:Now this business owner is her business. She's working in the business. She's working on the business. She is the business. And that's a little different than a service based business where this person can step out of it.
Speaker 1:Perhaps now you have a team and and now instead of being on-site now you're in the office, you know, or, you know, something where you are managing a group of people that are executing on the tasks. That didn't apply to this business owner. So then she had to look outside of that and she had to say, what are other tasks? What are other things that I can just stop doing? So things like marketing.
Speaker 1:Although she'd had someone helping with social media for a very long time, that person is now doing more because that person used to do part of it and then she would send this and then the business owner would, you know, download this and upload that and do do do. Now she doesn't it's like, hey, let's just let's just cut that out. This person is now gonna help start to finish. Something like, hey, we're gonna make sure that the bookkeeper has access to these things and and they're going to do it start to finish. Avoid being she's gonna avoid being the middle person in all sorts of interactions because as soon as you have to be the middle person in all of these interactions, it just takes so, yes, there are ways that we can improve.
Speaker 1:We can make differences. These are all things that can help. But if we if we don't take the time to just realize that we've come so far, that there is success to celebrate, that there is a journey, this episode is brought to you by Path to Profit Bookkeeping. Don't let messy books hold you back from your growth. Path to Profit can help you use your numbers to narrate growth.
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Speaker 1:And talk to the show. It all just gets lost. I want you to really take the time in the month of December to take a little bit of a break, maybe with a notebook, with a laptop, something with just a little bit of quiet time, not in your typical work environment, not where your email's going and your phone's ringing, but take a little bit of time to go through and really think about what are the biggest pieces of success that you have experienced at 2024. And what are your biggest challenges as you round the corner into 2020? Only then can we start to really set an action plan for 2025.
Speaker 1:Ultimately, with the end goal of sitting down at the end of 2025 and realizing that those challenges that we wrote down now, they're done. They're over. And, sure, you probably will have a new set of challenges just like your kid who will at one point be in diapers, and then they will potty train. And then at one point, you don't even have to help. There is a growth.
Speaker 1:There is a progression, and it is the same thing with your business. Maybe you are mentoring someone in your business that will take on some new things. Maybe you're taking you maybe you're you're coaching and guiding and doing all of those things. Ultimately, with the goal of them really being able to help you. Well, a year from now, that person will be immersed in the business.
Speaker 1:Of course, they will be helping you. They will be doing amazing things, but there will be new challenges then too. Why do I say why am I harping on the fact that this is so important? Because when we get lost in the journey, when we put our nose down and we just grind and we don't take the second to just pop up and look at where are we, what pro what progress have we made, we almost start to just think that the journey is endless and that we're not actually moving, that we're spinning the tires, but we're not going anywhere. We have to take the time to say, hey.
Speaker 1:Where did we actually start? As much like, you know, my comparison with kids, if you see them every day, you don't necessarily see that they're growing. It just happens. Then if you don't, you know, all of a sudden you're like, oh my goodness. You've really grown.
Speaker 1:It's it's more noticeable when you take the time or a little bit of distance, get a little distance from it to say what's going on. When we go into 2025, we wanna start with a plan and realize that plans change. You should have a plan and then ultimately a plan for the plan that doesn't work. When we look at budgeting, this is the budget season. And how does budgeting tie into both of these things?
Speaker 1:Well, when we set our budget at the beginning of the year, we really should be factoring in for growth and the changing business challenges. Well, if you budget in the calendar year, chances are your 2024 budget is almost up. You may say, well, I don't actually have a budget yet. That's okay because this is a perfect time of year to start. And why is it so important?
Speaker 1:Well, because often we choose a sales target. So often we see online, I wanna be a 7 figure business owner, but no one really knows what it takes to get there in their business. Now if you have a digital product business that has very little cost to generating more you know, there's there's no cost. You've generated the product once and you're gonna sell it over and over and over again, well, the only real increase in cost is gonna be your advertising. That is a very unique business model.
Speaker 1:There's very few things that you can create one time and sell over and over and over again. And I would say that most people listening to this podcast that doesn't apply. So we need to know what does it take. So even if you didn't have a 2024 budget, even if you didn't have a sales target, now is the perfect time of year to sit down and look at all of your financial data to date for 2024. You have enough data to really start to look at what is the average.
Speaker 1:What is this typically? And we can normalize some of the numbers. Now what does normalize mean? Normalize means that we wanna take out any of the extraordinary expenses. So if we're saying on average our overhead is typically 14% except for in the month of July where it jumped up to 27%, We look at July and we say, well, in July, we had that huge, motor vehicle breakdown and we had to do all these things.
Speaker 1:We don't need to plan on having those big breakdowns unless, you know, you have have like, there, of course, are situations where we would plan for that. But what I'm saying is we don't wanna just say and and wash that into the average because that wouldn't be typical. We want to know what are the costs of generating our sales. So what are the materials? What are the labor?
Speaker 1:We need to know what are as a percentage of sale, what are they typically? So if you typically have, you know, 40% of your sales goes to labor to generate those sales, well, then now you have an actual number. If you say I wanna do a $1,000,000 in sales, now you know that it's going to take you $400,000 worth of labor. Now you can decide, well, how many people do I need to hire to actually spend $400,000 worth of labor? There is no way for you to hit your $1,000,000 in sales target if you don't have the people hired, if you don't have them trained, if you don't have a source on enough materials, it's not possible.
Speaker 1:So now is a great time to sit down and decide what is possible. We've talked about in previous episodes, organizational capacity. What is your business set up to do? Can we change what it's set up to do? Yes.
Speaker 1:But those are strategic decisions, and they must be backed up with why are we doing this? Are we doing this so that we can sell $1,000,000 next year? It doesn't make sense to invest only in one part. If you have 3 ingredients to your product, well, we don't wanna invest in only one of those ingredients to selling the $1,000,000 because, ultimately, if you only have enough of the other two ingredients to sell $500,000, it doesn't make sense. Now is the time to really sit down and look at your business in the way of ingredients.
Speaker 1:To say what are the ingredients required in order to generate my product or service? And oftentimes when I say things like ingredients, people think of physical product. But, ultimately, even if you have a service, you still have your your your service is your product. So if you are a plumbing company, you need a plumber to go to the location and do the work. Well, that means you're going to need a vehicle for them to get there in because people don't bring their clogged toilet to your office.
Speaker 1:It doesn't work. So instead, they're going to you they're expecting you, your plumber, to arrive at their location. So you're gonna need a vehicle. Then you're going to need the plumber and then you're gonna need the equipment because a plumber driving around in an empty van with no equipment, also not helpful. All of these pieces must be in line to reach the sales target.
Speaker 1:So how many plumbers, how many vans do you require to meet the sales target that you're looking to meet? And you may say, well, I'm just gonna get started, and wherever I get to, that's where I get. And that's okay. But I guarantee that you will have more success if you have a plan. And, no, you don't need to say I'm gonna hire a person on the 2nd week of March, and I'm gonna hire another person on the 3rd week of July.
Speaker 1:It doesn't need to be that specific. It could be, but it doesn't need to be. Instead, we need to focus on what are our ingredients and in what ratio do we need those ingredients so that we can say, hey, as we grow, all of a sudden, our labor costs are sky high. Why? Well, perhaps we've hired an additional person who's doing a lot of training.
Speaker 1:And by 3 months in, they're gonna be able to go out on their own. So those are the types of things where we need to be able to identify and then make reason. Oftentimes, I get on a call and someone will say, my goodness. Is it okay that this is now more? And I always have to say, well, what is the reasoning?
Speaker 1:If it is a strategic decision, it's probably okay. If it is just an increase in cost with no real plan, with no real oversight, all of a sudden you realize, hey. My costs have gone up by 50%, but you don't really know why. That's a problem. Knowledge is power in your business.
Speaker 1:So let's not just choose arbitrary resale schools because that's what that's what happens at this time of year. Hey. I'm gonna do $1,000,000 next year. I have no idea what it takes to do a $1,000,000. I don't know if it's possible for me to do a $1,000,000, but I wanna do a $1,000,000.
Speaker 1:So, sure, it starts there. It starts with this exciting, blind $1,000,000. But then it has to be followed up with, what do I need to do to make that happen? You have to reverse engineer the $1,000,000 sales target and say, how many staff members will I need to do that? How many vans, if they need to get to a site, will they need?
Speaker 1:How many of this do we need to have access to? Now is the time to start planning. 2025 can be your most amazing year yet, but it's gonna take a little bit of light work. It's gonna take a little bit of planning. It's gonna take a little bit of preparation.
Speaker 1:So what are we really talking about here? We're talking about the fact that we need to pause. We need to figure out where did we come from? Where are we going? What are our new challenges?
Speaker 1:And enjoy the fact that we have new challenges to solve. That means there's progress. That means there's growth. If you were solving the exact same challenges that you were solving at the end of 2023, I hate to be the one to give the reality check, but that's a problem. That shows a lack of growth.
Speaker 1:That shows a lack of dedication to getting them solved. And when it gets busy in your business, it's so easy to just allow things to roll over. You know, you write it on task lists and then you carry on, carry on, and and it just keeps moving from list to list. You almost become blind to the fact that it's even there because it's just following you along. Now is the time to say, what are the challenges I have that have rolled over?
Speaker 1:Let's get them solved immediately before the year ends. What are our new challenges? Let's be excited about those new challenges. What are we hoping to do in 2025? Not all of our goals need to be financial.
Speaker 1:Oftentimes, people will say it's not about the money for me. Money is a measure. It's very hard to measure success. Money is a unit of measure that measures success. Now you could take all of that money and you could donate it.
Speaker 1:You could take all of that money. You could put it in a savings account for your grandkids' grandkids. You could take all of that money and you could buy a vacation to Hawaii, whatever you want to do with that money. Ultimately, money buys lifestyle. Money buys enjoyment.
Speaker 1:It's not all about the money, but money is a unit of measure that says, is this working? Because, ultimately, if we're not here to make any money, it's just a hobby, and hobbies are great, but we must know that our business is making money because it takes that growth. It takes making money to invest back in to grow more. I need to double my advertising budget. Well, we need to make money in order to double the advertising budget, which will then increase the sales and carry on the journey.
Speaker 1:All of it is really like a string of dominoes. You push 1 domino over and the sequence of dominoes falls. Now is the time of year to decide what what dominoes are we setting up? What dominoes connect with each other? And how does this affect our success overall?
Speaker 1:When we look at the growth, when we look at the progress, when we look at all of these pieces together, it's important to sit back and say, did I did I meet my own goals? Why? Why not? Were they too easy? Were they too big?
Speaker 1:And you may say, there is no such thing as a goal too big. And I agree with you. I don't ever wanna think small, but a big giant goal without any plan to get there is really just kind of a pipe dream. Let's be honest. A plan, a strategy is required to actually make them happen.
Speaker 1:It's great to say, I dream of doing a $1,000,000,000 next year in my business. Lofty, ambitious, absolutely useless if we don't know how to do that. If we don't sit down and lay out a plan, how on earth are we going to accomplish that? Because if you think about your staff and growing your team, you almost need the farm team, if you will. You know, if you think about a pro sports team, they have the the team and then they have kind of the junior team, the farm team, where where promising prospects go and they train and they do all these things, and some of those people go to the pros and keep going.
Speaker 1:Others don't. They fizzle. So if hiring good people is one of the biggest challenges that prevents you from growing, if if team members are a big part of your business, well, you need to know what is a good source for these. How do you find these good people? How long does it take to train them?
Speaker 1:How long does it take for them to become completely independent and understand your business vision and messaging and customer experience? All of these things come together to talk and and build a picture of what does 2025 look like. 2024 could have been the best year of your business to date, or for some, it's been a real challenge. There has been changes in the economy. There's been changes and evolving changes in the political landscape.
Speaker 1:There have been changes in preferences. There are some industries that were changed by COVID that have never returned to pre COVID. There are new industries that were born out of COVID that go on to be incredibly successful. Situations like COVID show that there is so many opportunities and so many challenges. Everyone was presented with the same circumstance, and from that came so many different things.
Speaker 1:It's the reason why one cleaning company can be super successful and another cleaning company can fall flat. Because although the industry is the same, although the client base is often the same, although some of the everyone has a different way of doing it, a different strategy, a different plan. Some people are willing to invest more up front in order to reach the long term goals. Other times people say, I don't wanna do those things. I will invest less and I will grow in a slower rate.
Speaker 1:Knowing where you sit, knowing what feels right to you, knowing where you wanna be is really an incredible journey. Knowing knowing where you wanna get to really helps set the milestones that enable you to know that you're doing the right thing. We've talked about it in previous episodes. As a business owner, there's not a lot of accountability to others other than our clients, and they don't provide that similar feedback. When you work for someone else, they say, I would like you to accomplish these 10 things, and in exchange, I'm going to pay you x number of dollars.
Speaker 1:It's very clear. As a business owner, that list of 10 things is always ever evolving. And sometimes you get paid more than the x number of dollars. And other times, perhaps in a slowed down economy, you struggle to collect on all of your invoices and maybe cash flow became a problem and you didn't make x number of dollars. There's more uncertainty.
Speaker 1:There's more, you know, effects by the external landscape. When we sit here at the end of 2024, it's taking all of these pieces and deciding, I really need to make a plan. I need to review the year behind us. I need to look at the year ahead, and I need to decide what does success look like for me. Sitting here at the end of 2024 realizing that now is the time for you to review the year behind you and look at the year ahead.
Speaker 1:Decide what success looks like. Decide what are the challenges that you need to solve. Decide where are you going, and how are you gonna get there. Then it's time to get to work because there is no supplement for hard work. If you wanna be a business owner in today's world, you're gonna have to do hard work, but it'll be worth it.
Speaker 1:Sitting here at the end of 2024, we've talked a little bit about reviewing the past. We've talked about looking at some of the metrics. We've talked about using that to really forecast out and plan for 2025. We've talked a little bit about the challenges, solving the ones that haven't been solved yet this year, enjoying the fact that there are new challenges, deciding what are the pieces, how did what does success look like? What is it that you're looking to get out of your business?
Speaker 1:And then take all of that and remember not to think. So often as business owners, the biggest difference between those who do great things and those who do amazing things are people who are just willing to think bigger, who are willing to have a bigger idea and not feel like they should just tame it. If when you share what you wanna do, people look at you like you're crazy, that's okay. Big things, big ideas. Sometimes people think they're crazy.
Speaker 1:And I think as business owners, we often feel like there's this, you know, balance of what should I be doing. You should be doing what lights your soul on fire. And maybe it's not one specific part of your business, but remember why you started your business in the first place. We talked a little bit about how money is a unit of measure. It is a measure of success even if it's not all about the money.
Speaker 1:Money measures your success. If your business is profitable, something's working. If your business is not profitable, something is not working. It is not successful. We need to figure out how to grow sustainable, profitable businesses that continue to fuel your path, that make you excited, that make you wanna keep going because the business journey has its ups and downs.
Speaker 1:And, ultimately, if you can't enjoy the high points, if you can't find the things that make you passionate, that light your soul on fire, it is a long road. 2025 can be the best year yet. All you have to do is do the work. Guys, I wanna thank you for an incredible 2024. In 2024, we wrapped up season 3.
Speaker 1:We have enjoyed the first part of season 4 and we will be back the 2nd week of January. Next year, we have some incredible guests. We have lots of content that is gonna help you continue to scale your success, do big things, and really make sure that you are strategically ready to do the things you wanna do. So take the time in the next few weeks of December. Sit down.
Speaker 1:Enjoy looking through your business and deciding and working on the things we've talked about today. Whether you wanna do that next to the Christmas tree or if you don't celebrate Christmas and you just wanna take some time while other people are off, you know, no matter what you do over the holidays, there's still that time to just take a moment and really reflect. If 2024 has been an incredible year, congratulations. As business owners, we don't often get that recognition. Congratulations.
Speaker 1:Well done. In a year of ups and downs, you've done great things. If 2024 has not been a great year for you, if you feel like you're not sure if you wanna continue, if you're thinking this is really hard, keep going. Keep going long enough that you know why, Why you started, why you wanna keep going, and why you maybe don't wanna keep going. Look at the pieces we've talked about today.
Speaker 1:Decide what challenges you need to solve to make the difference. If it's been a rough year for you, that's okay. Fresh start in 2025, and not so much from a fresh start for anyone other than you. Your mindset. Enjoy January.
Speaker 1:Take it as a new time to kick off. Make sure your bookkeeping is in order. Make sure your strategy is on point. Make sure that you're excited in doing all the things. Guys, thank you for tuning in and being absolutely wonderful through 2024.
Speaker 1:It has been an absolute pleasure. Guys, thank you for turning in for 2024. It has been absolutely a pleasure. If you are looking to connect with us and chat about the podcast, whether you have a question, whether you perhaps wanna be a guest, you can do so on Instagram at the Service Based Business Society. You can also do so on LinkedIn at the service based business society podcast.
Speaker 1:We are available in both of those locations. You're able to send us a message. If you have an idea for a future episode, we welcome those. Again, Instagram and LinkedIn. Guys, it has been absolutely incredible year.
Speaker 1:I, myself, am so excited for 2025. Not because I'm looking forward to that fresh start, but because I'm looking to continue what we started here. 2024 has been an incredible year, and I can't see what the future has in store. We're all out of time for today, but the fun doesn't stop here. Make sure to subscribe to the Service Based Business Society podcast on your preferred podcast app.
Speaker 1:If you're hanging out over on YouTube, search for Tiffany Anne Botcher. Your likes, shares, and reviews really do help the show. Until next time, have a great week.
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