#100: The Language of business are its numbers…learn to understand and use them.

This is #100. My 100th entree into my lets-talk-business blog. The evaluation of one hundred business issues most business owners never thought to even consider.

Learned in the trenches of hand to hand business combat, finding out what works and what doesn’t work, while solving difficult business problems and building profitable business organizations.

There are another hundred issues to discuss, and then a hundred after that, and all will be subject of further writing, evaluation and publishing, but for now let me conclude my first one hundred with one of the most important lessons I can share with you, the one lesson you want to learn, absorb and use in your business life:

Numbers are the language of business. Learn this language, use it, understand what it is telling you and be in control of your business.

Successful business starts with a vision, a plan to reach your vision, an organizational format to support your plan, adequate financing to support your roll out, and off you go developing your dream and delivering your product or service.

But that’s just the beginning…. For a business to be successfully managed, one must listen to its heartbeat, take its blood pressure and track its pulse, monitoring its key indicator numbers in each department, finance, sales and marketing and operations.

One must track, monitor and control the key indicators, reviewing profit and loss statements, balance sheets, profitability, overhead, payroll, accounts receivable and payable agings, all the numbers of doing business. One must provide incentive based reward systems,  based on the carefully monitored key indicators.

Without tracking  the numbers, your business is a runaway train, headed for a crash somewhere sometime. Closely track, monitor and  control  your business based on the key indicator numbers and financial reports and it will soon play like a Stradivarius. The business will succeed. You will make management decisions based on real information not just gut intuition. You will never utter the word… Oops! again.

Business success is not just about the product or service, its as much about the science of doing business and that’s controlled by numbers.

Listen to the numbers, embrace what they tell you, they will show you the path to success, consistency, growth,  profitability and security.

Far too many people say they are not numbers people and do not relate well to numbers so they skip this part of their business operation and reject this requirement preferring to focus on the vision, delivering the product or service they have passionately chosen to provide the market.

I say, then get a job, do not consider small business ownership as an occupation because numbers are the language of business. and without understanding them you are destined to fail, despite the quality of your product or service.

Learn this and success will follow. Its not that hard to do.

Learn to understand what the numbers are telling you and  you will grow your business to wherever you want it to go and it will become whatever you want it to be.

That’s a promise, a guaranty. Call if you need help. 413-549-2966.