Every working day, we’re all slammed with hundreds of things to do. We might need to occasionally slow down and ask ourselves whether we are working on the most profitable things we could for our business. Are we constantly fighting fires, dealing with urgent but not important client matters and neglecting the things that could grow our business?
One way to move off this treadmill is to create a “profit hour” in your business. Look at your to-do list and identify the highest return item you can be doing in your business. There might be something in the back of your mind that hasn’t even made it in writing onto your to-do list that you know would make you money.
You’re probably not going to find this high-return item in your email inbox. Your highest return item is not necessarily going to be found serving existing clients, although that is going to be bringing the revenue in, which is essential. You’re not going to find it in designing your logo or getting your website done. You’re not going to find it when you answer an unscheduled telephone call. You’re not going to find it going to a networking meeting. And you’re not going to find it when you’re double-checking an employee’s work. None of those are high return.
What might be a high return would be going to lunch with a college friend that works in a position where he can refer you a lot of business. Now s/he’s not going to probably call you up one day and say, “Let’s go to lunch.” You’re going to have to take the initiative to call them, and it might feel a little uncomfortable, but it could result in a huge amount of business. Another profit-hour item could be taking time for coaching. Another idea is to work your LinkedIn network to find someone you know at a company that can bring you a big account. These high return items – profit makers -- are a little bit scary, so we avoid them with the excuse that we are too busy serving current clients. By staying in the safe routine, we miss any chance of actually crawling out of the grind and taking our practice to the next level.
Please carve out an hour every day to come up with and do these money makers. If that sounds too overwhelming, start out with an hour a week. When you put these tasks on your to do list and get started, you’ll be shocked at how your revenue is going to change.
Here are a couple of other examples:
- Calling an influential industry contact to see what you can do together.
- Setting up a speaking engagement and going out to speak to 100 of your ideal clients.
- Calling your top client to see how you can help him or her further
- Coordinate an event with a couple of other partners and get some sponsors to help cover the costs.
- Making time to design a new program or a new revenue stream.
- Sending that email to a public relations company, journalist, or TV/radio show host.
- Submitting a speaking proposal for an annual event where all your clients are.
What can you do that is going to bring in a significant amount of business across a multiple number of clients? That would be a profit-hour task.
Keep your profit hour pristine. Avoid the temptation to check email or answer the phone during your profit hour! It’s certainly easy to fall back on comfortable habits instead of doing the uncomfortable, but once you get started on profit hour, you will eagerly anticipate it.
Try out profit hour on your schedule, and let me know what you think.
Sandi Leyva
Author Bio: Sandi Leyva, CPA, CMA, MBA, and founder of Accountant’s Accelerator, has helped thousands of tax and accounting professionals earn more, work less, and serve their clients better through her innovative marketing, training, and coaching services. Author of 30 books and hundreds of CPE courses, Sandi has won 12 awards for her thought leadership. Visit her at accountantsaccelerator.com and acceleratorwebsites.com.