bottom line – Growing Forward

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All businesses must spend money to make money. We call this healthy harmony of financial spending and revenue ‘cash flow,’ and this allows companies to develop themselves even when operating at a loss for the time being. This can also be quite common for smaller businesses just trying to get their footing. But no matter the size of your business, big or small, centralized or decentralized, raised or flat in terms of hierarchy, and no matter what assets you’re sitting on or how well known you are, avoiding unnecessary business spending is always key.

Overblown spending can affect your bottom line deeply. It affects your cash flow to the point where expenditure is not longer replenished by the revenue you gain. It can lead to you defaulting on other bills that need to be paid, or can often lead you to an ineffective solution. Often, when budget is a factor, you look for the most efficient means forward. When somehow justifying unnecessary spending, you might actually be harming your productivity.

But how do you prevent this from happening? Let us explore that:

Repair Your Equipment

It can often be that business leaders wish to run their operation from only the most pressing and new equipment needs, especially when it comes to an IT network or when securing the manufacturing line. But in reality, it can often be the case that repairing existing goods can help them remain perfectly functional for a longer time, helping you gain the most value out of them. But of course, maintenance isn’t something you just click your fingers and expect to happen immediately. This also takes effort and time to perfect. Using an CMMS service such as Maxpanda.com can help you implement ticketing solutions to ensure internal and external maintenance priorities are kept in order, helping your staff apply their prioritized skillset to the right task at the right time. This leads your firm to reduce the wasting of precious assets, and instills company pride.

Recuperation

Sometimes, a business will spend money trying to fix a mistake it didn’t need to make in the first place. This can be a true pain, and quite upsetting for those who managed the initial project. Let’s say your marketing effort was a blunder. This is because you decided to arrange this campaign yourself, despite having no marketing hires and little marketing experience. Because you’re not quite up to date with current trends, it might have fallen flat on its face. Only then do you need to hire professionals to once again restore your PR and then acquire the services of a good marketing firm. Consult with the professionals first and foremost, and realize, expert knowledge is priceless.

Staff Turnover

If staff aren’t happy, they will leave, taking the training and development you have invested into them, both in time and budget. You’ll also need to replace them using the same investment. This means that investing a little more in the staff experience, giving them a competitive package and treating them well can help you avoid losing money on your labor engagements over time.

With these tips, you’re sure to avoid the waste of unnecessary business spending.

When it comes to business everything funnels back to the bottom line. Financials matter, but shows like The Profit emphasize that if your people aren’t the right fit, it may not matter what your product or service is. The traditional organizational chart is slowly being replaced by a more “flat” model, but since decisions need to be made quickly most companies still rely on an ultimate point person.

If you are the CEO, the pressure’s on, but for the majority of people who aren’t you have to manage up. If you’re in direct contact with the owner or main power player great, but if you’re not you still can influence the company if you’re intentional about it.

The heart of an organization usually lies with the sales force because without profit, you don’t have a business. Numbers talk, but even if you’re not in sales your “voice” becomes louder with results. So regardless of position, hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard. If you want to be heard more, do something that makes noise so others notice you. If you put your head down, do your work and duck out you’ll never move up (as far as you’d like). It takes a shift from “me” to “we” in order to climb the ladder. That means when you start taking ownership for your responsibilities and realizing where it fits into the bigger part of the organization it starts to click.

At this point is where you start to take pride in your work. If a job is just a job, it’s only a matter of when, not if you leave. Looking at your position from the boss’ perspective changes everything. Like a well-oiled machine you start to see how each maneuver affects the other parts. The different layers of management start being more crucial to the overall success of the company. How decisions from the top trickle-down to the frontline: the customer-employee transaction. Now you understand how the top affects the bottom. Because you imagined how to run the company like it was your own.

It’s usually at this point where employees leave current positions to start their own business. You’ve learned an industry, witnessed a process that works and have ideas of how to make it more efficient. Thinking top-down doesn’t mean you should become an entrepreneur, but it should be your goal to at least think like one. So no matter where you are in your career, don’t forget: if you really want to affect the bottom line, start at the top.