3 Things to Audit Every Quarter [BIZ EDITION]
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As a business owner, it's easy to get caught up in the day-to-day operations of your business. However, taking the time to step back and audit your business every quarter can help you identify areas for improvement and ensure that you're on track to meet your goals. In this blog post, we'll discuss three important areas to audit every quarter: revenue and sales, marketing, and mindset.
01. Revenue and Sales
One of the most important things to audit every quarter is your revenue and sales. This will help you identify what's driving your revenue and what's hurting it. Take a deep dive into your financial statements and identify any trends or patterns. Look for areas where you can cut costs or increase revenue. This could involve renegotiating contracts with suppliers, increasing prices, or launching new products.
One of the biggest ways I do this incorporates my weekly finances date. I did a deep dive into this on YouTube and the most important part of that finance data and check-in is the fact that I am tracking any of the income that is coming into my business (and day job) and where that income is coming from in my business.
This is one of the big reasons that I’m so obsessed with this finance date—it literally makes the financial aspect of doing my weekly review so much easier because I already know where all of the income in my business is coming from and which part of my business is the biggest income driver. Simultaneously, I have an “expenses” section of my business where I can see where I am (and am not) on budget and what budgets are dominating my costs. This is huge for me and makes a really big difference with me being able to make informed decisions about the changes that I’m making in my business.
As I stare down this quarter’s review, I know that I’ll likely be making some pivots to where I’m focusing my energy and efforts in my business based on what I thought would be my biggest income drivers and what actually is!
I also ask myself a number of questions when I do my quarterly review. Not only do I ask the typical “what worked” and “what didn’t work” questions, but I also detail what actions increased revenue, what held me back from hitting my revenue goals, and what I can focus on in the upcoming quarter to help me better meet my goals. Sometimes it’s an issue of spending less, and sometimes it’s changing what parts of my business I’m focusing my marketing efforts on.
Speaking of marketing…
02. Marketing
This brings us to another important area to audit every quarter: your marketing. Your marketing strategy should be constantly evolving to keep up with changes in your industry and the needs of your customers. Take a look at your marketing metrics, such as website traffic, social media engagement, and email open rates. Identify what's working and what's not, and adjust your strategy accordingly. This could involve trying new marketing channels, creating new content, or tweaking your messaging.
I am constantly tracking my subscribers, followers, open rates, etc. But I don’t just stop at that. I also track which marketing efforts drop the most revenue OR drop the most leads and inquiries. I’m also looking for patterns in the content that my subscribers are most connecting with. What newsletter content are they opening most? What YouTube content are people connecting with most (thought, that’s easy—Notion content!). I use that information to infrom the pivots in my social media content and email marketing. I also have business stats that I check in on each month which I use to track my website stats and other marketing stats. So, I’ve got this information in multiple places (just like my biz financials) to make this info easy to capture…
03. Your Mindset
Finally, it's important to audit your mindset every quarter. Running a business can be stressful, and it's easy to get caught up in negative self-talk or limiting beliefs. Take a step back and evaluate your stress levels. Are there things that are adding to or taking from it? What is your mindset like? Are you approaching challenges with a growth mindset or a fixed mindset? What is your enjoyment like? Are you still passionate about what you're doing, or are you feeling burnt out?
Naturally, this is something I’m super aware of and that I think is super important…
Some of the ways in which I’m keeping track of this is, of course, in my weekly reviews. But I’m also more specifically checking in on and rating my brand messaging, confidence, selling, consistency, marketing, etc. Then, I go through and answer a few questions. For example…
What were your biggest blocks?
What were your biggest time sucks?
What were the top lessons you learned?
What were the top memories?
That last one I also think is super important. We can so easily get caught up in all the things we need to improve and do differently in our businesses that sometimes we forget to stop and cheer/celebrate ourselves for the things that we did well. I have another part of my review (the revenue section) where I ask myself what my top successes were. Part of your mindset is celebrating your wins!
* Side note: I also have a part of my Notion that I call my “Proof” section—I screenshot shoutouts, great comments, email love, etc. that I can re-read when I need a reminder that I am enough and that I’m doing great work!" *
Tips for a Successful Quarterly Business Audit
Here are a few tips to keep in mind to ensure that your quarterly business audit is successful:
Set aside dedicated time. Make sure to block off time on your calendar specifically for your audit. This will help ensure that you don't get distracted by other tasks. I do this in two ways simultaneously—I have a recurring task in my Notion systems AND I have time blocked out on my calendar to make sure that the Quarterly Review happens.
Involve your team. If you have a team, consider involving them in the audit process. This can help generate new ideas and perspectives. I currently am a solopreneur, but best believe, I plan to have this be a team effort…
Focus on actionable insights. While it's important to identify areas for improvement, make sure to focus on actionable insights that you can implement in the coming quarter. What can you change? What can you do differently? Where can you shift your focus and what does that shift in focus look like? If it’s not something that you can take action on, it’s likely not going to be helpful to you!
Celebrate your wins. Don't forget to celebrate your successes and wins from the previous quarter. This can help boost morale and motivation for the upcoming quarter. This is something that’s super important in that mindset section!
In conclusion, auditing your revenue and sales, marketing, and mindset every quarter is a crucial step in running a successful business and ensuring that you're on track to meet your goals. By auditing your revenue and sales, marketing, and mindset, you'll be able to identify areas for improvement and make necessary adjustments. By taking the time to evaluate your progress and identify areas for improvement, you'll be able to make informed decisions and achieve long-term success. Remember, running a business is a marathon, not a sprint. Take the time to step back and evaluate your progress so that you can make informed decisions and achieve long-term success.
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