The four mistakes I see small business owners making time and time again

Julie, an amazing woman in her 40s, worked in corporate America her whole life. This year she acquired the line of business she had been working in from her employer stepping into the CEO + owner's role.

Claudia, a very cool woman in her 50s, has been a real estate agent for decades + decided earlier this year to create from scratch a new blow out bar concept.

Philippa + Fiona, kind + generous, both in their 50s, started their very first consumer packaged goods company at the end of last year, after becoming empty-nesters.

Why am I telling you about these women's ages? Because it's never too late to embrace your entrepreneurial spirit + step into your CEO-ness!

All of these fantastic women have never had any accounting training. Yet, with the Profit First system, they didn't need to learn accounting. Using our intuitive cash flow management system, they have such a firm grasp on their business finances that they are able to pay themselves what they are worth while growing their businesses in one of the toughest climates we have ever experienced.

They are killing it!! Growing top line revenues profitably + sustainably. Not too fast. Not too slow.

You see these women have figured out exactly the right-sized company that meets their lifestyle needs. We reverse-engineered the top line revenues they need their business to generate to meet their personal Lifestyle Congruence Number.

So what are some of those mistakes that these cool women are avoiding?

1. They pay everyone else before they pay themselves + never have enough left over to pay themselves what they are truly worth.

2. They think that the fastest path to profitability is growth + get stuck in the vicious cycle of make more money, spend more, pay off debt, have a low month, take on more debt, skip paying themselves, scramble for the next sale, make more money, spend more money, pay off debt .... and so on .... never getting out of the cycle.

3. They believe (because that's what we've all been told) that bigger is better instead of scaling the business to the sweet spot that works for their lifestyle so they work way too hard doing the hustle without ever actually getting to enjoy the fruits of building their business.

4. Finally, and rather counter to the above 3, they are too conservative with their money. Because they have never really managed business finances before – where it is their own hard-earned revenue – they get scared of spending it + end up throttling their own growth.

I'm curious: have you ever made these same mistakes in your own business? Email me at jmckinley@thebeautyofprofitfirst.com and let me know what you did about it.