3 Simple Steps to Discover What Success Truly Means to You
Ceri James BSc DipM MBA
Enabling Ambitious North-West Business Owners Make More Money and Build a Valuable Asset With A Proven 6-Step Process | Coach | Facilitator | Speaker | SSAS Investor | Property Investor
Steven Bartlett, the youngest Dragon on Dragon’s Den and author of “Happy Sexy Millionaire: Unexpected Truths about Fulfillment, Love, and Success” recently gave an insightful reply to the question “what does success mean to you?” at the recent ActionCOACH UK Biz-X conference:
“Having balance in my life, and challenge, and the feeling that I am moving forward with something worthwhile”.
This response highlights that success is unique and personal to everyone. Yet, societal expectations and pressure can make it difficult to define what success means to us.
Here are three simple steps to help you identify what success means to you.
Define your values
Your values are the principles that guide your decision-making and determine your priorities. They are reflective of who you are and what you stand for.
Start by making a list of your core values and beliefs. This can include things like honesty, integrity, respect, spirituality, and others.
Once you identify your values, you can then consider how they align with your goals and what success means to you.
And here’s a very simple tip - what really annoys you? The opposites of your answers are your values.?
Identify your goals
Your next step is to identify your personal aspirations and goals.
Ask yourself what you want to achieve in your personal and professional life. Write down these goals, regardless of how big or small they may be.
By defining these goals, you can then compare them to your values and evaluate whether they align with your definition of success.
Reflect and evaluate
The final step is to reflect on your values and goals and evaluate whether they align with your definition of success.
This means taking a step back and examining whether your goals and actions are aligned with your core values. If they are not, consider making changes to your goals and actions so that they align with your definition of success.
In conclusion, working out what success means to you is all about your values and goals, and evaluating whether they align with your definition of success.
These three simple steps will help guide you on your journey towards defining success for yourself.
In the Spotlight….How to Cultivate a Growth-Focussed Business
Business Spotlight is a series of interviews to enable local business owners to create great content, share their journey and connect with potential suppliers, partners and prospects.
We know better than anyone that running a business is hard, and sometimes it can feel like you're on your own.
We help Business Owners like you to succeed. One of the ways we do this is through sharing real stories with real people, an extensive network of like-minded entrepreneurs.
Below is one of our interviews for the week, so learn about what local business are doing in your area and hear their stories. If you think they can help you, reach out and let's build our community:
In this Business Spotlight we hear from Luke Taylor, Co-founder of SoandMo Ltd, who bring professional lawn care services to private customers via an innovative subscription model involving a combination of product supply and service support.
Luke shares his lessons from venture capital raising, marketing across a range of channels, and customer service from building up the business over the last 2 years.
If you'd like to share your story via Business Spotlight, get in touch at https://cerijames.actioncoach.co.uk/ (it's free)
And Finally.....How to Track The 5 Most Important Numbers in Your Business
“Sales are vanity, profit is sanity and cash is king.” A phrase that is well known, but much more rarely acted upon by business owners, many of whom are bamboozled by balance sheets.?
So how do you take responsibility, accountability and control of the future performance of your business?
The Average Way
Average is easy - that's why most people acheive it.
You leave the financial details to your accountant, because that’s what you pay them for. You know the figures that you believe to be most important (monthly sales, sales growth and performance versus budget and previous year).?
You are not completely comfortable with profit because it comes in many shapes and sizes (gross, net, EBITDA etc) and you adjust things as you go along to take dividends.?
Profitability by each of your product or service lines, breakeven points, working capital management, balance sheet, and cashflow forecasting and monitoring are mysteries that you expect your accountant of finance director to understand and deal with.
The Average Result
You do not have understanding or control over the key financial levers in your business that drive profits, cashflow and business value.
Your bank provides you with the balance in your current account which often takes you by surprise and your accountant is analysing your historical figures to make sure you pay the right amount of tax.?
The High Performance Approach
You recognise that finance is the language of business and that it is your responsibility to know your important numbers so that you can make plans to improve your future business.?
You realise that your accountant’s job is to look at yesterday’s figures and not to develop sales and marketing strategies that affect tomorrow’s figures.
Your financial dashboard includes lag indicators (e.g. sales made that you can no longer impact) and lead indicators that predict future performance (e.g. sales calls made, website activity, numbers of leads generated).?
You’re on top of your profit drivers, your cashflow forecast and your current business valuation
The High Performance Result
You have a small number of measures that tell you the ongoing financial health of the business, with a plan in place to make adjustments to your tactics and resources to improve those figures moving forward.?
You know exactly what measures contribute to the likelihood of being able to sell your business and the probable multiple of your annual net profits to calculate the value.?
This gives you understanding and confidence.
Frequesntly Asked Questions
Which are my important numbers??
Leads, conversion rates, average sales per customer, total costs and working capital days.? These can be used to calculate net cashflow and operating profits every month.
Why can’t I leave all this to my accountant??
Because their focus is on yesterday’s figures, not tomorrow’s. And future business performance is driven by your strategy, people, systems, marketing and sales capability. How much does your accountant know about any of those things?
Why can’t I leave this to my finance director??
Because the important figures are impacted by all members of your operational team including marketing, sales, operations, HR, and finance.
Example
I’d been working with Gary for about 6 months before he started analysing the option to buy a catering design specialist to complement his refurbishment business.?
We put the finances of the target company through one of our key financial tools to identify the key numbers, the financial strengths and weaknesses of the company and the potential impact of making adjustments to each of their numbers to see how to best turn the business around and estimate current and future business value.?
“That work with Ceri was critical in my decision to buy the business”
After making the acquisition, sales for the combined group went from ￡2.9M to ￡4.8M in 2021.
P.S. Whenever you’re ready, here are 4 ways you can help yourself get what you want from your business:
1 - Take a 3-Minute Next Level Business Assessment
This assessment tool will help you diagnose the potential weaknesses and areas of improvement in your business. It takes just 3 minutes to complete and will reveal which of the 4 key business growth areas you should focus on.?
2 - Create Engaging Content to Share with Your Prospects
Are you looking for ways to create fresh engaging content to go onto our website and social media?
Our Business Spotlight series enables you to share your story and attract new clients via a well edited and packaged video interview.
It will take around 20 minutes and is 100% free.
Book your 30 MINUTE BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT INTERVIEW HERE and I'll get straight back to you with all the details.
3 - Book a FREE 30m Discovery Call
Go from uncertainty and doubt to clarity and confidence around your business goals and priorities in one 30m ‘Business Health Check’ Zoom call with me - 100% free.
4 - Join us to get a 90 Day Business Plan Built and Executed for Your Business
The 90 Day Business Planning Masterclass will show you how to break through profit-ceilings, create crystal-clear, short term goals with achievable outcomes PLUS identify strategies to help you hit your success targets faster than ever before.
You’ll also receive personal, hands-on guidance and support at every step from an experienced instructor who’s helped hundreds of other North-West owners successfully grow their business under any market conditions.
Register now for this exclusive, one-off event and take control of your future success.
VIP invitations are limited - so reserve yours today!