This past week, my husband and I went to visit our accountant to get our annual taxes compiled… still a month ahead of the official US tax date of April 15th and I can’t you what a relief it has been to finally have the numbers tallied up. I for one was seriously avoiding looking at the numbers this year… I knew I had started a new venture, there were start-up costs, training and coaching investments I had taken on, while figuring out what my fledgling business was going to look like, who it was going to serve and how many hours I could realistically spend on a business, considering I had a toddler at home, a family to care for and a household to run… I knew the numbers this year were going to be ‘interesting’ at best!
So, what do the numbers really tell you? Of course there’s the obvious income and expenses to look at, but beyond that, what other numbers do you care about? Have you considered where your income actually comes from? Was it from where you expected? Did you do a bunch of little tasks that added up? Or was it from a specific activity or product or class that was more popular than you expected? Did you learn anything unexpected from your numbers? Did you realize there were some things that really didn’t give you a return on investment and perhaps there were other ideas or relationships that bought you more than you expected? Were those things fun to do while you were doing them? Did you expect they might work out as well as they did? What will you do differently this year, based on what you learned?
For me, what my numbers told me, apart from the obvious, was that investing time and resources to connect with people is well invested; for me, relationships are key and I like writing out referral checks! ;o) I also like working with team members and I will always have an exchange of money rather than a barter of services, even if it’s a wash…
I also learned that I like being in business, I enjoy connecting with other business owners and helping them to figure out their technology; that it is something I actually enjoy doing, it’s not just something that I can do to earn money… and I also learned, I will do the numbers as I go along this year – not bury my head in the sand and hope it will all go away!
There is power in knowing where you are with your money, income and out-going and more specifically if you enjoy those activities and if you enjoy what you spend it on… So I invite you, get a handle on your money situation. If you happen be great at spreadsheets, that’s a great way to track and if you aren’t but want to use a simple tracking spreadsheet – if it helps, I have already prepared one, for a very small fee that you can order from my site and start using straightaway. In either case – I would love if you shared what you use to track your numbers and/or any money rituals or practices you use to connect in with your money… here in the comments below or on my Facebook page would be great!