Summer is nearly over, and my favorite time of year is right around the corner. The warm months can be a bit slower for business with vacations and holidays. The fall months are when I double down on what’s working and make a final sprint to the finish line for the year. Here are a few things you can do to increase your profits as the seasons change:
Dig Into Your Books
For a while, I didn’t understand the importance of accounting. I viewed it as a necessary evil when managing a business and not as a tool to grow it. Being laser focused on the books is one of the ways I increased profits.
The key metric I started looking for in my accounting system was what was bringing me in the most cash. Until this year, I had worked on many little projects for clients. After doing an analysis, I realized that the best use of my time was on fewer big projects that paid three to four figures each. The smaller assignments took up quite a bit of time but paid less. I prioritized the larger jobs and asked for more work from those clients. This led to a sharp increase in income.
To Do: Financial records are the backbone of your business. Start digging into your financials to see if there are any opportunities. Focus on what’s bringing in the most money. Consider cutting some projects in the last quarter that are sucking up your time.
Promote, Promote, Promote
The summer slump is real. Fewer people are on social media. People are not in the office. And if they are in the office, they’re doing the bare minimum. It can be harder for you to land projects, partnerships, and contracts when everyone has summer fever.
Traffic for my blog usually decreases through the summer while people are out having fun and starts to edge upward during the fall months. January and February are typically when I see the most blog traffic. To prepare for this, I’m working to roll out new content and editing ebooks.
To Do: It’s time to go hard again. Promote your books, content, and courses. Pitch brands, publications, and companies for partnerships.
Implement
The summer and early fall are also conference and meeting season. I’m speaking at a conference at the end of September. I’m looking forward to soaking in as much knowledge as I can from other speakers and breakout sessions.
That’s the only conference I’m attending this year. There’s such a thing as conference overload. It’s when you go to a bunch of events without implementing. The end of the year is the perfect time to get down to business and start putting some of the things you learned into practice.
To Do: Take a few things that you’ve learned either through books or conferences and commit to implementing for the entire fourth quarter. No excuses.
This time of year is a good opportunity to look at your annual goals to make sure you’re on the right track. Keep pushing, focus on what’s working, and stay consistent!
