When you are adding services, products, or people to your company, there are two questions that you have to ask yourself:
1. Is this making me money?
2. Is this saving me money?
These aren’t always easy questions to answer, especially if you aren’t sure how it all works out on paper.
Finding the Value in What You Do and Use
Some products you add may allow you to charge more for your services. They will move you into a world where you are working with more exclusive clients and products.
Other times, you may find an amazing deal on something you already use, at a much lower price. WIN!!!
You have to have some sort of baseline (unless you’re really new) so that all you really have to do is ask yourself the two questions above.
Consider other things as you look for ways to improve your company. Time is money; we all know that. But while making things go faster is a bonus, consider some things you might not have before.
Consider the value that can put on your personal time. It may, in fact, be more valuable than company time. If you can find something that allows you to spend a little more time at home with friends or family, that time could be worth a whole lot more than an extra hour at work to squeeze a job in.
Consider the value you put on things when you consider the questions above. In your quest to excel in life, what are the things you value? What needs to happen to make you feel successful? What is real, and what is a distraction?
Consider those things as you make business decisions for your company. You want the best bang for your buck. Is the best investment defined by, “all that and a bag of chips” or is it defined by the things you really need from the Value Menu?
Ask yourself: Do you need it, or do you want it?
While all this sounds philosophical, it’s practical too. When you look for someone to help expand your business, do you pay minimum wage for someone to warm a seat in the office, or is it worth a few bucks more for someone that has the ability to do more than one thing at a time effectively? If you are looking for ways to streamline your processes, are you going to be taken in by features you will never use, or will simplicity win the day?
Kick the tires; do the research. You may find that your list of wants and your list of needs are completely different.
The one thing you need more than anything, is to ask yourself how is this going to affect my bottom line, personally and in my business. You will find that as you take a close look at the details, that some of the other things are just distractions.
