Pages

What Are Your Margins? (By Chris Atley)

Person Holding White Printer Paper and Pen

I enjoyed a fabulous week quasi off with the kids for spring break and quasi working. It was a nice combination. I especially loved retreating for the night with my business women's group I personally belong to for my own business growth and development. We were at a fellow member's property where she runs retreats, and it is such a spiritual spot tucked away in the mountains from all of the busy-ness. Here is a picture of the hillside surrounding the retreat center.There is a lot of talk in the personal development marketplace these days about how much people are making, and it can be really discouraging for the folks that aren't there yet. There is a lot of judgement and comparison. In today's article I talk about what is really important and how to move away from the judgement and do what is best for you. Read on below.

Have a wonderful weekend and Happy Easter to those of you celebrating with family and friends. We don't have family in town this year, and are looking forward to an Easter egg hunt with the kids tomorrow morning and to the beach in the afternoon with friends. Our theme this year is about being thankful for what we have and the people in our lives.

First, I want to start of this week's article with us focusing on what is really important to you in terms of profit. Have you taken the time to look at what type of lifestyle you are really wanting? If it's been awhile, go ahead and do it again. Things shift, people change.

What do you really want? What is important to you? We want to be really mindful of not falling into comparisons and "shoulds" here. What is important to you in life and business? What type of business do you ultimately want to run, what support do you need and what does it look like cost wise? Do the same in your personal life. What lifestyle do you want and what is important to you? Is it travel, experiences with your family, savings, college funds, etc.? What is it for YOU?

Get clear on this first and drop the judgment and comparisons from there. This is about you living life to the fullest on your terms and no one else's.

Second, take what others are saying with a grain of salt. When a business owner talks about how much their company did in a given month or year, this is typically gross, not net. It's not a criticism, but something to keep in mind when you hear this info. so that it doesn't bring you down and make you feel bad for not being where you want to be. You could be earning way less, but keeping way more. It's all relative. A better determination of success is looking at your profit margin. How much are you earning versus how much you are keeping over a given period of time. That is a better indicator and most small businesses don't look at that percentage.

* You can calculate your profit margin by taking your total revenue and subtracting your total expenses, and then taking that number and dividing it by your total revenue to get the percentage. The percentage is your profit margin.

Start looking at this for your own company and determining what you would like to see happen. The average standard for a healthy business is having a profit margin of 25% or over, generally speaking to give you an idea. Once you figure out your own profit margin, you can then use your own business results to compare to and not others going forward. Let's get you to where you want to be in your business and what feels good for you, and not for someone else.

Happy calculating and planning!



http://ezinearticles.com/?What-Are-Your-Margins?&id=9687909

No comments:

Post a Comment