The Growth Season Challenge—Activity 3: Make more

Dee’s recruiting firm was the most popular nursing staffing agency for two years but then Dee went out of business.

Nobody could believe it. Clients continued to call her for years. But Dee just couldn’t take the pressure anymore because the truth is, she wasn’t making money. She’d run up debt, and shutting down was part of her promise to herself to get her life back.

Everyone around her was stunned. How could someone with such big customers not be making big money?

Business is business—Treat it that way

Lots of businesses start because the owner is passionate about something. Dee was a top recruiter at a big agency who saw her chance. Some things about her recruiting business worked. Her timing right before the pandemic couldn’t have been better. Travel nurse salaries skyrocketed and hospitals desperately needed her help.

But Dee hated to think about money and just trusted it would all work out. She assumed that if she just kept doing what she excelled at—taking care of clients—she’d win too.

But she took her eye off the finances and the business lost money slowly, then suddenly.

This is a common entrepreneurial mistake. And fixable! If you see a bit of yourself in Dee, that’s actually good. It means you have the chance to make huge revenue gains just by putting your chief financial officer (CFO) hat on and treating the business like a business. And by working on your business—not just in it.

When you make time to work on the business, you create a company that takes care of you, too. To do this, sometimes you have to say it out loud.

Try it: “I want to make more money.”

Did you get the chills? Was it difficult? Great! This is the lesson for you. You cannot help the people in your life and community when you are financially drowning. Dee learned this the hard way.

So, today, shout it with us: “Money makes it possible!” Take pride in your profit.

7 easy ways to work on your business

You can’t do it all. Sometimes it’s a good idea to hire someone to do the accounting, finance, and invoicing work for you. They can advise you on how to tighten your operation to find added revenue.

The wildest thing about Dee’s story is, months after she shut down, a customer reached out saying, “I wish you’d have said something! We could have worked it out. I had more budget.” Dee may have been a great entrepreneur. But if she also known to put her CFO hat on, she might have made it.

Let Dee’s story be a lesson—the best way to continue helping others is to maximize our income. Otherwise, in the end, we can’t help anyone.

Today’s one action

We believe you will be shocked at how much your customers and clients welcome these changes. They want your support. Like Dee’s clients, your customers would deeply miss you if you stopped.

Tomorrow, we talk about easy “no loss” expenses you can cut.

The Pilot Team