Why You're Scared of Your Biz Numbers And What You Can Do about It

- Hello, hello, hello. It's Emma Holmes at Coaching Rockstars and I want to talk to you about why you're scared of your business numbers and what you can do about it. I know that when you are a heart-centered, soulful entrepreneur, a lot of the time the numbers aren't the thing that are first and foremost in your mind and often the deep-seated driven mission is about helping and supporting other people. It is about you being able to look after your crowd and be able to help them with the things that you do. You know, being able to help them with the things that you do. Polly's come to join us. And that's not lame. I want to say that first and foremost. It's not lame to want to help and support other people. It is not lame to have that as the heart of your business mission. I know that I've seen lots of people that say, "Only unsuccessful people say it's not all about the money." Well actually that's not the case and it is fine for it to be not just about the money. But we do still need to look after the numbers and the finances behind our business. Because if we don't take care of the numbers and the finances behind our business they tend to come and bite us on the bottom. And they tend to come along and they sneak along and you know, best case scenario is that you're doing better than you expected and therefore you haven't paid yourself tax efficiently. Or you've done better than expected and you owe more tax than you thought you would. Or you've done worse than you expected and therefore that financial stability and the ability to take the business forward is compromised. So let's start to look after these numbers. It might be that you don't track numbers because you say, "I don't do maths." Okay, that's the first one. I'm no mathematician. In order to get through my maths GCSE as it was in the UK at that time I needed a maths tutor and I got a C, but I have never been naturally gifted at maths. It isn't my thing. I don't love it so therefore I don't put lots and lots of energy into it. So you don't need to be a massive mathematician in order to make your numbers work within your business. If you are saying, "I don't do it because I don't like it," well, neither do I. "I don't do it because I don't do maths," well, neither do I really, but I do look after my business numbers. It might be that you're not tracking the numbers because you actually don't want to know the reality of what those numbers say. But as I said to you a minute ago, if you don't know that reality then that reality from either this end of the spectrum or this end of the spectrum can come along and bite you on the bum. It can be that you've earned more than you thought and you haven't dealt with that in the right way or you've earned less than you thought and the financial sustainability of your business becomes compromised. It might be that you don't track numbers because you say that you don't have the time. Well, I do my accounts every single month and I put out a couple of hours each month to do my accounts so that it never, ever becomes a big job. I make sure that my accounts are done and they are ready to go off to my accountant at the beginning of each month. The first working day of each month I make sure that those accounts are nailed and ready to go off to my accountant. I also use a stats tracker to take the numbers out of my business so that I can continue to monitor growth in other areas that give me a numerical value. For example, Facebook likes, Twitter followers, Instagram followers, podcast downloads, YouTube subscribers, all of those numbers I capture on a monthly basis and I can see where the growth is in my business. You can get hold of the exact same stats tracker that I use by going to www.coachingrockstars.com and hitting on the freebie frenzy button and there's stats and targets tracker available in the Freebie Frenzy section. You might not be doing your numbers because you might be frightened that it would tell you something that you don't want to know. Well, you need to know, okay? There's no good burying your head in the sand. There is no good trying to avoid the inevitable. If there are numbers in there that are giving the alarm sign, (alarm noises) then you've gotta know. You've gotta know because if you know you can do something about it. If you don't know then you will continue with your head in the sand and probably there'll be a compound effect and that will get worse and worse and worse and worse because you'll keep doing what you have been doing in order to get those numbers into that situation. So knowledge is absolutely power. The other one that I hear a lot is, "I'll do it when, dot, dot, dot, dot." I'll do it when whatever happens, whatever circumstances come about. Well, the longer you put it off the fact is that that job becomes a harder job because you then have months of accounts to do. You have more things that you need to deal with. The sooner you do it the better, and then maintaining that on an ongoing basis is good for you because you then get into that situation where it doesn't take you quite as long. "Numbers make me feel sick," is another one. Well, like I said at the beginning, I'm no mathematician. I don't love maths but I just get on and get them done. In life we've got shoulds and we've got coulds and I am all for opening the door to doing more of the could things, you know? You want to perhaps look at all of the shoulds and see which ones really are shoulds so that you can open the time door and opportunity to doing those things that you could be doing, those things that are more exciting. But actually the accounts is a should job that must stay, because like I said, this stuff is gonna bite you on the bum otherwise and it's gonna compromise your whole business. It's going to compromise your whole mindset. It's gonna keep you stuck. So it's really, really important that you get to do these things. The other one is, "This is what a proper business does. "Proper businesses do their accounts." Well, let me tell you that you are actually a proper business and it is important that you look after your numbers. You might feel things like fear, panic, scary, reality, obsession, stress, upset, angst. These things actually are feelings that people have attached to numbers. But when you look at them and deal with them on an ongoing basis and you discharge the emotion from it and you get on top and you stay on top then you'll find that these aren't quite as emotionally charged things as you thought. And it's also going to give you the opportunity to make those numbers better. That which gets your attention is the stuff that changes, and if it's not getting your attention then it's not going to change. So it is important that you keep an eye on those numbers. Vanity numbers. So some of the numbers in your business can be purely vanity. We need to look at those sanity numbers. Vanity numbers are things like, your turnover actually could be a vanity number because really the important thing from your perspective, you know, the most important thing, is your profit. Yes, you need to know your turnover in order to work out your profit. Yes, certain taxes are calculated on your turnover. But your profit is actually your sanity. It's the number that is left in your business after those outgoings, after you have paid out things, after you have dealt with the numbers that need to go out of that door. What you've got left in that room is then your sanity. Facebook likes could be a vanity number because you can go out there and you can rack up Facebook likes. You know, once upon a time you could do it even more easily than you can now, but they can also be classed as a vanity number because the sanity behind your social media numbers are the people that are interested in you. The people that are interacting with you. The people that you are genuinely helping. So we could have an extra 10 000 people on your Facebook page but if they are ambivalent and they are not really interested, and when they're not really interested Facebook algorithm is gonna make sure that they probably don't see your page in any event, so actually they're just a foreign number. Let's look at looking at the sanity of those numbers. I would rather you had a smaller crowd that was completely engaged with you and loved what you do than a bigger crowd of people that just didn't really care. So make sure you don't get caught in the vanity of numbers and always look at the purpose behind the growth. Always look at, right, okay, so why am I looking to grow this? What is it that I'm looking to get out of this growth? How will this growth help and assist me moving forwards? If you ignore the numbers then they will continue to bite you on the bum or they will come along at some point. It might not be today, it might not be tomorrow, but at some point they're gonna come along and they're gonna bite you on the bum. So keeping an active management of those numbers is what is important. Remember that, you know, money isn't icky. Money is simply energy and you can change energy and you are in control if you have the reality in front of you, if you know what those numbers look like, if you have that in front of you. If you are completely off track and you're getting into that panicky situation then grab the reality checklist over on the Coaching Rockstars website because that will help you too. Remember that your self worth is not attached to these numbers. These numbers are absolutely important for you to start keeping an eye on but do not attach your self worth to them because you are going to look at improving them. So if they're negative, you're gonna look at improving them. If they're positive, you're gonna have to take steps to look after them even better. So you know, making sure that you know the reality of the situation is going to give you power. Tracking is important. Rewarding yourself for tracking is important, so I take a couple of hours out of my diary at the beginning of each month to do my accounts, and then in the same way as a child, I give myself a treat afterwards. I've done something that I didn't particularly want to do, I give myself a treat afterwards. Look at where you can add a treat in there for doing the things that you're not so interested in doing. I might walk into town and go and grab a coffee. I might take the dog out for a little bit of a longer walk and get out and about a little bit more. What is it that you can put in as a little treat after you do the things that you need to do? There are loads and loads of resources over on the Coaching Rockstars website that will help you with this. In the freebies section, you have got things like the tracker and stats sheets, and that also includes a targets class which will help you to set targets for your business. Not pie in the sky targets, not targets that are just plucked out of thin air, but actual targets that you can work with in your business. We've got the reality checklist so if you're feeling like you do need to start to make more money but you feel like you're grappling around a little bit, the reality checklist will help you find the reality in your business. It will help you get down to knowing where you are right now so that you can then move forwards from that point. We've got how to turn on the money tap, so if the money isn't flowing in your business there's a free masterclass there that will help you get on top of that and get the money flowing. If sales is an issue, we have got heart-centered selling for the scared in there as well. And there's also in the Want Some Help? Section in the shop there's a product that's called Revive Your Money Moxie which is a fantastic programme that deals with getting your numbers working for you, starting to make some money, starting to step into the flow. It is a lovely, holistic blend of mindset work around money but also the practical advice about how you can start to get the ball rolling and start to actually see a change in your bank account. They are all available for you over on the Coaching Rockstars website. I hope you found this super useful. I'd love to hear your position in relation to numbers. Whether there's something that you fear. Whether you've got any questions 'cause I will come back and do some more videos if there are any questions that you've got surrounding numbers 'cause this is a really important one. I'll speak to you really soon. Have a great day, bye!