Tag: goals

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Managing Cash Flow

manage cash flow

With 2023 in full swing reach your financial goals by effectively managing cash flow.

Cash Buckets

The first step to managing your cash flow is to open six checking accounts, each named for their purpose: income, inventory, profit, owner’s compensation, taxes, and operating expenses are a great place to start. Opening multiple checking accounts prevents you from overspending in significant areas.

Next, you’ll have to prioritize money for certain expenses. This will help you save money for inventory, emergencies, taxes, etc. To avoid overspending, make purchasing decisions with the funds available in your account for that category. If the account is empty, wait for it to be replenished.

It’s important to stay in a rhythm. This means to avoid spending frenzies when cash is available allowing you to breathe easier when cash is in a pinch.

Reviewing Spend

Every two weeks, transfer the money in your income account to your checking categories based off pre-determined percentages. Every quarter make an extra payment on your debt, profit distribution, and taxes.

Also evaluate your pre-determined allocations quarterly. Some adjustments will likely need to be made. Finally, review the plan with your financial adviser annually to reach your financial goals.

Inspiration for this post comes from “Reach Financial Freedom” by Jacob Curtis published in the December 2022 issue of Creative Retailer.

If you’re looking for more information to guide you in owning a retail business, subscribe to Creative Retailer today. Already a subscriber? No worries—join our Facebook group for insights and dialogue from industry specialists like you. And don’t forget, you can always purchase single issues if you prefer that instead.

If you still can’t get enough, register for the Creative Retailer LIVE Spring 2023 event May 2-4 in Pawhuska, Oklahoma for opportunities to learn from peers and network with industry professionals.

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Monthly Planning

monthly planning

Take control of your time through planning.

This post is for anyone feeling overwhelmed and like they never have the time to get projects done. Read on for tips on how to can clean your calendar and schedule the time to reach your goals.

Start Fresh

Similar to any cleaning project, what’s the first thing you do? Empty it out of course! Emptying your calendar is a little more difficult than that, but there is a work around.

First, start with a blank calendar. Next, fill in nonnegotiables, like working out, picking up kids, etc. Then block off any appointments that happen each week. Finally, fill in projects that move you and your business forward. The time this takes will vary person-to-person, but make sure it becomes a date on the calendar and not just something to do someday.

Last but not least, finish with your tasks. This can be working on books, social media, marketing, etc. If any of these can be made into categories put them on the calendar on days you’d like to complete them. The best part about this piece is that some tasks only need to be done once or twice a month.

Planning Around Your Schedule

Now, reality sets in. It’s time to compare your ideal calendar with what’s really happening. Is there anything you can move to be more intentional with your time? Can anything be integrated so you can be closer to the ideal?

Patience is key here as the ideal is just a goal. Remember, you control your calendar. Don’t let your calendar control you!

Inspiration for this post came from “Take Charge of Your Calendar” by Julie Miller Davis published in the June 2022 issue of American Quilt Retailer.

If you’re looking for more information to guide you in owning a retail business, subscribe to American Quilt Retailer today. Already a subscriber? No worries—join our Facebook group for insights and dialogue from industry specialists like you. And don’t forget, you can always purchase single issues if you prefer that instead.

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Implementing Your Goals

Annual goals

In honor of this past week’s AQR Academy session, we’re covering how to implement your goals.

Step 1: Create Yearly Goals

Start by defining five big goals. Some examples include increasing sales by a certain percentage, gaining new online qualified leads, upgrading technology, etc.

Although defining these goals might not be easy, they should be simple. By that we mean if you can’t write down your goals on a napkin, you have too many to feasibly accomplish.

Step 2: Define Quarterly Benchmarks

The next step is to create an action plan. Start by breaking down these goals into metrics. At the end of each quarter, what sort of growth would you like to see as progress to accomplishing your end result?

Step 3: Weekly and Daily Tasks

Now comes the mundane part. After setting quarterly metrics, break down what needs to happen each week, then each day, to get to these metrics. A good goal to have is 15 tasks a week, or 3 tasks a day.

How does this help? By setting aside the time to define what forward movement looks like, you can get right into the difficult work knowing that it’s moving you towards your yearly goal.

Be Flexible and Stay Motivated

This structure is a great place to start, but don’t be too hard on yourself. Flexibility is a good thing and some weeks certain tasks are going to slide—and that’s ok!

Keep in mind what sorts of activities help to keep you on track. Whether that be daily exercise or silent time to yourself, those goals are just as important to schedule into your days and weeks.

Inspiration for this week’s blog comes from “Implement Your Goals” by Beth Montpas published in the April 2022 issue of American Quilt Retailer.

If you’re looking for more information to guide you in owning a retail business, subscribe to American Quilt Retailer today. Already a subscriber? No worries—join our Facebook group for insights and dialogue from industry specialists like you. And don’t forget, you can always purchase single issues if you prefer that instead.

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Check in on those goals

Goals

Before we jump into today’s blog, we wanted to let you know about an event were throwing next Thursday, February 4th at noon CST.

The first AQR Academy will be a Zoom workshop dedicated to making social media work for you, including Creating Content to Sell and How to Get Your Social Media Moving.

Still not convinced to join? We forgot to mention the workshop will feature internationally sought out content strategist Kristy Honsvick and social media strategist, consultant, and trainer Hollie Clere.

Feel like you’re missing out? You can still purchase the recordings and digital recap from 2020 Academy events.

Now, on to those goals.

Goals, goals, goals

We’re already one month into 2021, which means it’s the perfect time to check in on how your goals are doing.

What was your focus for this year? Reducing expenses? Increasing efficiencies? Improving customer experiences? Whatever it is, know that if you don’t have a metric to measure progress, you’re going to want to find a way how.

As we know, data can be extremely helpful, but don’t get bogged down in having too much of it. Similarly, some employees can be extremely motivated by data. Find a way to publicly post metrics. Of course, you don’t want to make anyone feel bad about their performance, so encourage each employee to hit the same goal each week. If you have a weekly training, schedule time for questions so they can talk to each other about what works (or doesn’t).

Then, check in on the status. If you’re not on track to reach your goal, consider changing your performance (or even altering the goal itself).

Good luck from us friends at AQR! We know you can do it.

If you’re looking for more information to guide you in owning a retail business, subscribe to American Quilt Retailer today. Already a subscriber? No worries—join our Facebook group for insights and dialogue from industry specialists like you.

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The Art of the Pivot

The Art of the Pivot

This year has been full of pivots. As business owners, we are constantly pivoting to changes large and small. What’s different about this year is that some of the changes we’ve made ended up being permanent.

Re-evaluate your goals

With some of these more-permanent changes, it’s a good idea to re-evaluate your business goals. Has new customer retention fallen or remained the same as last year? Don’t look at this like a con, rather take the opportunity to invest more time and energy in the customer base you already have.

Do you feel like you’ve spent all year focusing on short term goals instead of mid-to-long range goals? If you feel this way, you’re not alone. It’s ok to continue responding to you ever-changing short term goals until things feel stable again.

Change marketing

Part of the business shift this year is redirecting your marketing to mainly online efforts. Since we’ve had to remain at home people have been spending much more time online. This is a great way to reach your audience—find out where they are (Facebook? Twitter? Tik Tok?) and spend your marketing budget there.

Pivot from the sale

Selling to someone who recently lost their job or continuing your sales operations as if everything were normal is insensitive. Instead, practice empathy and let your customer base know what you’ve been doing to respond to the health crisis, as well as share that you know what they’re going through. This can mean changing your inventory to include more of what they need (supplies to make face masks) and less of what used to be a trend the same time last year (ribbon wreaths).

As we mentioned earlier, business owners are constantly pivoting to respond to market needs. Why should this pivot be any different?

Inspiration for this post came from “The Art of Pivoting” by Sommer Leigh published in the October 2020 issue of American Quilt Retailer.

If you’re looking for more information to guide you in owning a retail business, subscribe to American Quilt Retailer today. Already a subscriber? No worries—join our Facebook group for insights and dialogue from industry specialists like you.