So what else do you need to do in order to work "on" your business? This week I challenge you to look at your own role and how you are performing in your business.

How many of you have actually invested your money in your own business? If you have not used your own money have you signed your house away to the bank for an overdraft, signed guarantees for suppliers or left your profit in the business? Do you back yourself as an investment?

Do you as the business owner have a scorecard for yourself? Do you track how you are performing against your own targets? Do you even have targets for yourself?

As a small business owner you are often in charge not only of the business strategy, but also the marketing strategy, the finance budget, setting the prices, chasing the bad payers, selling your products or services and controlling the cashflow in the business. Too often we are the biggest issue in our own business! Procrastination is something that is inbuilt into each and everyone of us. It's human nature to want to do the things that we like doing and are good at and human nature to put the hard tasks or the ones we don't like in the too hard basket (the one you go home thinking I will get to that 1st thing in the morning!)

If part of your role as an employee of your business is the marketing manager, how are you performing in this role? If you have no benchmarks for yourself how do you know if you are performing well or not? If your role is the marketing manager what preparation do you do for that role? Have you been trained to do this role? Do you update your skills for this role?

If you are in control of the finances and the pricing for your business do you know your margins, your breakeven sales figures or whather you have enough cashflow to grow? Do you know the difference between mark-up and margin? Do you know if you can afford that piece of new equipment? Or what your sales need to increase by if hiring a new employee? Do you look at these numbers each quarter / year? Do you have profit targets, debt targets or an optimum sales target?

Remember working "on" your business is exactly that - setting time aside each week to look at how your business is performing and how you can improve. That starts with setting some targets not only for the business but for your own roles inside the business. These targets need to be measurable - what do you need to sell on a daily basis to break-even and to get to your target profit level. How much time have you scheduled into your diary in the next few weeks to set and review your own scorecard?

Growthwise can help you set these targets and more importantly monitor your results. Call us if you need assistance 02 4927 8982.