1. Back to Basics
To make lasting change in both your personal and corporate finances, you need to identify key areas where you can improve. I know, creating a list of “opportunities” isn’t exactly crazy or exciting. But, the resulting change can be.
If you can honestly assess your company’s strengths and weaknesses, you can attack those trouble areas with a vengeance. For example, when my company started struggling, I realized I was spending all of our revenue in order to keep the organization afloat. By switching to a budget that included a cash-flow component, I was able to save some of our proceeds and use the resulting fund to chase more opportunities.
2. Create Additional Value for your Customers
If you need access to cash quickly, the easiest thing to do is find a new way to service your existing customers. Google is infamous for this. They started with a humble search engine and have since expanded into Alphabet. This massive company provides consumers with internet service, search results, productivity tools, communication software and advertising opportunities.
Google didn’t just set out to make money. They set out to become a bigger and bigger part of their end-user’s daily life. In 2015 they set a record with more than 247 million U.S.-based unique visitors to their platform. If you’re in a bind, it’s time to figure out how your company can create something valuable and immediately leverage your existing user-base to generate revenue quickly.
3. Rebound from a Repossession or Other Negative Credit Action
There are few things in life more stressful than realizing that your property is about to be seized to fulfill a debt obligation. But, even if your property is repossessed by the bank, you can take quick action to bounce back stronger than before.
According to FastSaleToday, you can start recovering by “…repaying your repossession in full, but you must ensure that your lender writes off the debt and records that you paid it in full. It is possible to ask the lender to remove the account from your credit report so it doesn’t have a negative impact on your credit score.”
Forcing yourself to focus on generating money removes distractions from life and allows you to refocus how you spend your time and energy. Get mad at your debt. Treat it like the biggest obstacle in your life, whose removal will result in immediate happiness and a boost to your self-confident.
You’ve got this! Now get mad, get smart and do something about it! You’ll be surprised at how your habits change in a positive way.
4. Motivate Yourself to Network
If you’re anything like me, the thought of attending a networking event and making small-talk with people you barely know is a scary proposition. I’m a big-talk kind of person. I like to know what people think, debate ideas and find ways to solve real problems. If you want to talk about sports, the weather, or a party you attended this weekend, it’ll be hard for me to really maintain interest and contribute to the conversation.
None the less, I have been called one of the most social and effective networkers in my community. I’m shocked, considering how much I hate it. But, my theory is that since I have a mission when I network, I’m way more effective than someone that’s there because they love meeting new people and talking trash about a sports team.
If you force yourself to network in order to survive, you’ll learn very quickly. Your mind will focus on ways to be more efficient and generate more meaningful connections; you’ll find that you waste a lot less time on low-value connections. You’ll hyper-focus because your survival depends on it, and you’ll eventually outperform the rest of the room at parties and functions.
5. Increase Revenue Streams
As you add value to your existing product lines and focus on building connections with the people that can help you get things done, you’ll find yourself opening the door to more and more opportunities. While not every opportunity is a good bet, it’s important to find ways to increase and diversify the revenue streams in your life.
For example, I was working on building a strong presence online. After a local mixer, I found myself emailing more and more with someone that provided telecom services to small businesses. The more we discussed the market and the challenges small businesses faced, the more we realized that communication and marketing are closely related; especially online.
We eventually founded a company based here in Seattle that grossed more than 2 million dollars last year based on simply providing companies with a strong online presence. Without forcing myself to network, add value and leverage my existing work, I would have never been able to take advantage of the opportunity.
Get out of your shell. Don’t let temporary financial challenges define you. Instead, own the situation, use the pressure to sharpen your senses and start creating new habits that form the groundwork of your future success!
Business & Finance Articles on Business 2 Community(23)
