A Single Meeting to Gain Focus and Clarity
Today, we completed a planning session for one of our clients. We have done outsourced bookkeeping for the small business for a couple of months, and the need for business consulting has become clear.
This working session was attended by the small business owner, her Fisher business consultant, and the Fisher Business Management facilitator. We chose to use the strategy planning vehicles we did based on the direction that motivated her to set this meeting. The “sunset” photo discusses her longer term goals, and you can see shorter term goals set along the “roadway” to the sunset. We also took some time to outline specific opportunities, dangers and specific strengths of her business.
What makes this case interesting to use in the blog was the distinct mismatch between how she’s “feeling” about the business and its success, vs how it’s really doing when you hold up the financial reports.
Her emotional feelings are closer to burn-out and failure. Not sure whether to stay in the business at all. Yet, when we review her financials and duties everyone is doing, this business has great success.
We completed her planning session with some key goals set for the month, and repeating goals for each week. She knows the key indicators she needs to make sure she will be profitable each month. This includes break-even money and activity. It was a fun day of helping a small business gear up for growth!
About the Author Barb Fisher
Barb is the CEO of Fisher Bookkeeping, an outsourced bookkeeping consultancy that provides small businesses with a full-service financial department. Her favorite aspect of work is to break down the accounting to meaningful bits, so entrepreneurs can make a powerful difference in their own business. She's also a power lifter (squat: 215, DL: 270).