Growing A Debt-Free Business Without Expensive Software

At 67, Clark had owned his contracting business for 40 years…he was proud, but tired.? The business had given him a chance to live in a good home, send his kids to good schools, and take a trip every now and then.? Of course, business didn’t grow while he was gone.?

At 67, he reached out to a business broker and asked, “how much can I sell my business for?”

He had always been told his business could be his retirement plan.? HE was the value of the business and HE did not want to work anymore.

How do you grow your biz without debt, without expensive software, and yet WITH hope that your business can provide for you long after you have stopped working???

Can you imagine a business that not only runs, but grows without you?????

Is that even possible?

What happens to your business if something happens to you???

Did you know that 80% of a biz owners net worth is locked away in their business???

How does an owner grow their number one asset without debt and expensive software?

I’m going to lay out four available next steps for you to choose from in taking meaningful action to be liberated from business chaos and build your biz to run and grow without you… especially if you plan to stay!

First, you must Write The Vision Down.? Hope is not a plan, but hope is necessary.? I hope to be a race car driver someday.? I hope to live in Istanbul for months at a time.? I hope my home increases in value.? I hope the BOP team continues to build on it’s meaningful culture.? Hope is the desire…but vision is the clarification of that hope

Writing a vision down converts hope into existence.? Gerber says “if you don’t write it down you don’t own it”.? We say, “if you don’t write it down it doesn’t exist”.

Write your vision down over a series of pages describing what you want for your family and freedom, your finances, your product or service, your team, your ideal client, and your culture.

The second tool for growing your business without debt or expensive software is committing to a simple life of spreadsheets.

I got a t-shirt made that says spreadsheets change lives!

What Project Management software is the best?? Whichever one you will use.

Don’t try to drive a Stock Car before you’ve driven a Civic.? Prove to yourself you will use the digital tools by using the free versions first.?

Start any new tracking initiative on a spreadsheet…prove yourself, THEN you can sign up for the big boy stuff.

The third ingredient owners use to grow their biz without debt or expensive software is a culture calendar.

Culture is a science term, not a biz term.? Culture is not something that happens to you but it is something that you proactively build.

You must create and invite people into a culture of RPM’s (repetition, predictability, and meaning).? What a young generation does not want is a business or process that is glitchy, confused or bottled in your head.

What do they want?? Clarity!

Stop Wasting time recreating the wheel.? Start building a culture where people wake up and want to do hard things.

You will need a tool that build the RPMs of great culture: repetition, predictability, and meaning?

Take a simple spreadsheet and add the weeks of the year along the horizontal bar at the top while adding all of the cultural ingredients you wish to install along the left hand vertical side.

Review this culture calendar in your weekly team meeting and implement.? The team will begin to run and grow the business with or without you

The final tool to help you grow your business without debt or expensive software?

Subdivide your bank accounts and stop binge-drinking borrowed money!?

Money leaks the fewer bank accounts we have.? If we have 1, 2, or 3 accounts then it looks like we have a lot more money than we actually do

A $1 receivable drops down to pennies when we begin removing the cost of doing business. For every dollar of receivable you may realistically only be keep 2 to 4 pennies in CASH!

I’m not talking about your Net Income or P&L statement… that’s what the government and your CPA look at.? We look at the cash you have in the bank.? Nobody EVER has been able to withdrawal money from the bank using a P&L!

Of course, those tools are important, and so is subdividing your cash.

Mike Michalowicz’s book Profit First is the definitive resource on this simple tool.

First, subdivide your bank accounts into at least 6 accounts.? Then set percentages on each of those accounts.? When receivables come in, subdivide the dollar up and put it in each home.

Don’t overthink this…don’t make excuses…you know what your doing now is not working.? Money is creeping in the front door and flying out the back door.

Once you have subdivided, now you can begin tracking your actual cash every single week and limit your need to borrow money.? This is real-life cash flow, not some static report that you pull when you are in trouble.

It’s time to seeing where your money is sneaking

Sales are not your problem.?

Marketing is not your problem.

Your process is your problem that free spreadsheets and subdivided bank accounts can empower you to solve.

Today, that 67 year old Clark is now 75 and he rarely leaves his house…he coughs all day.? He always said, “when I retire, THEN I’ll…”??

This wasn’t what he had planned… and his story can act as a catalyst for you to do something different.??

To live NOW…enjoy your business now…enjoy your life NOW…stop allowing chaos to determine your life.

Write your vision down, commit to a life of spreadsheets first, implement the culture you see, and subdivide your bank accounts.??

My new audiobook walks through these in details.? Go search Let Your Business Burn: Stop Putting Out Fires, Discover Purpose, and Build a Business That Matters.

Scott Beebe is the founder of Business On Purpose (mybusinessonpurpose.com) and speaker for the AEC industry and author of the book Let Your Business Burn: Stop Putting Out Fires, Discover Purpose, and Build a Business That Matters. Business On Purpose works with business owners to articulate purpose, people, process, and profit to liberate owners from chaos and make time for what matters most.