The cows are lying down and other signs to watch for...

My mother and aunt were quite superstitious. So I grew up hearing warnings that it was bad luck, for example, to spill salt and when you did, you had to toss some over your left shoulder.    When you gave someone a wallet, you put a penny in it for good luck, or putting shoes on a table was bad luck, and so on.

But my aunt’s favourite was that when the cows were lying down, it was going to rain.  Now this one, may have some semblance of truth to it, and I thought of her the other day when I drove past our field and noticed that all our cows were lying down, and sure enough, later it did rain.

So what are the signs that you need to look out for in terms of your business. My mother would tell you that itchy palms meant money. Hearsay is that if it is your left hand, the money was going out, whereas if it’s your right palm, it was coming to you.  So is this a sign that your business may be about to take a nose dive or more positively, just take off?

Certainly tracking your numbers is the obvious first way to predict what may be going to happen, yet many business owners don’t. 

Studying your figures and where you make the most money is one way to tell you which program/product/service to pursue further, and those where, when you do the math cost you a lot to provide and are slow to sell, are perhaps the ones to drop.

And it is something you need to do on a regular basis, not just once in a while, because things change and what was popular one month, may not be three months down the road.  Everything has its season.

There are other signs around us too that are indicators of how business will be.  When it is a tight economy and people are scared about the future, there’s less funds available to spend on what may be considered luxuries.  This may be the time to introduce lower-priced items or services or to bundle your offering.

When you see local retail businesses close down, you have to wonder what is happening?  Have the landlords put the rent up? Have property taxes gone sky-rocketing?  If you own a store and those around you are literally closing up shop, you need to pay attention.  When there’s empty spaces around you, people have fewer reasons to come shop in your area.   

Another sign to pay attention to, is what your gut is telling you.  Too often as women we ignore our instincts, and yet, when we reflect back about doubts we may have had, we find we were right.  So pay attention to your intuition. 

None of us has a crystal ball about what the future holds, but often there are signs to watch for, we just have to pay attention.

As for our cows, I am watching them carefully as then I will know when to bring my umbrella with me. 

How to make your business viable

Over the past few days I have enjoyed conversations with business owners from across Canada and further afield.

But no matter where you live or what business you are in – the challenges seem to be the same.  Some may be sprinkled with some local issues such as the violence in Brazil and the gender roles and expectations in that country, but basically there is little difference, whether you are in Vancouver, Sao Paulo or London, England.

The key question I kept hearing was how do I make this business viable?  So many are doing what they love, and are hoping the book Do what you love and the money will follow is right.  But what we all want to know, is when?

What is it that you have to do in order to bring in a decent revenue so you can pay yourself?  My first suggestion is to track where it comes from – what’s your most popular source of income, but you also have to look at how much time you have to spend in order to get there.  If the project is labour-intensive, then you may want to rethink if this is the best revenue stream for you.

After ten years of hosting a Christmas Show, for example, I decided not to do one this year.  Why?  Because at the end of the day, when I added up all the hours I would spend both organizing it and being at the event, I barely broke even and even more telling, I was exhausted.  It would take me days to physically recover.  So I decided it wasn’t worth it.

While most of us probably have a good sense of where we make our most money, sometimes when you actually sit down and total up the costs and revenue, there are some surprises. 

And then there’s the programs/services that we love to offer, that truly get us excited, but don’t bring in much money.  Here you have to weigh it up because if all you are doing are these types of projects, it is going to be hard to make ends meet.  You have to develop revenue streams that are more profitable, so that you can then afford to basically “volunteer” your time.

For example I love working with “newbies” - women who are starting out, but as one consultant reminded me “There’s no money honey.”  And of course she was right.  That doesn’t mean I don’t do that work, it just has to be tempered with projects that generate more income.

Much is said about finding your niche, and moving away from being a generalist, and that may be true, but when you are starting out, you can’t afford to be such a purist.  You also don’t really know which aspect of your business will take off, and even then, it can change, so keeping your options open is not a bad idea.

And talking of ideas, brainstorming with others from the same sector, can help you zero in on where you fit in the spectrum of services and what you can offer and where you need to direct your energies.  When you take an abundance approach and share ideas with your peers, you can in fact end up further ahead.

After you’ve looked at your finances, you may want to do the Stop, Start, and Continue exercise where you take a hard look at what you do and what’s working for you.  We do that at the end of a major event, for example, while it is still fresh in our minds.

Bottom line, you need to decide whether you want a business or a hobby.  Either is fine if that is the direction you want to go in.  But if after all this analysis you determine that you have a hobby, when you really want a business, you will have to change what you are doing to get the business in gear.