Where are the Hidden Profits in Your Business?

WEBVTT

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There are some people that make their
work just another thing they have to do,

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and there are those that make their
work something that they want to do.

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Welcome to Working on Purpose with your
host Elise Cortes. In our program,

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we provide guidance and inspiration from those
people who have found deeper meaning and

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personal connection to their work life.
It's beyond nine to five. It's working

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on Purpose. Now Here is your
host, Elise Cortes. Welcome back to

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the Working on Purpose Show. Thanks
for tuning in again this week. I'm

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your host, Elise Cortes, joining
you from Dallas, Texas, which is

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home base for me. This program
is all about helping people more meaningfully and

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productively connect with their work and equipping
organizations and leaders to do the same for

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their employees. I bring on guests
to a particular perspective or experience that I

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think contributes to or expanse this conversation, and as a manageer, consultant and

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social scientist, I draw on the
meaning and work research I've been doing over

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the last fifteen years, as well
as for my own expel and consulting,

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speaking and developing workforces across the globe. I'll get to the program in just

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a moment, But let me thank
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a fifty percent discount by using the
code WOP five zero short for Working on

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Purpose fifty percent off. Last week, if you missed the show live,

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you can always catch it you record
a podcast. We were on the air

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with Brian Honorio, who is an
entrepreneur and currently the founder and CEO of

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Proposa, a best in class SaaS
solution for building stunningly beautiful proposals in half

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the time. We talked about his
journey as an entrepreneur, starting his first

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company at age twenty four, and
what he's learned along the way that fortified

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him as a business owner. With
us this week is Lauren Midge a business

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and franchise consultant, author and speaker. She's the author of four books,

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including Awake Strategies to Increase Profits from
the Franchise Owner and other Insomnia business owners

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and at six Am and I'm already
behind thirty Strategies to get caught up in

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a crazy busy world. She's also
just launching her podcast, The Business of

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Profits. She joined us today from
Grapevine, Texas, just outside of Dallas.

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Lauren, welcome back to Working on
Purpose. Hello, Elise, how

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are you. I'm glad to be
back. I know it's so good to

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see you. At the last conference
we were at, what was it Women

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of Visionary Influence, the two of
us were speaking. It was so good

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to see you again there and reconnect. Love what you're up to, Lauren,

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Thank you. I am too.
I'm passionate about it, actually,

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I know. And you've been cultivating
lots of years of experience and so as

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a context for our listeners. And
let me remind you that we have the

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wonderful privilege of having listeners across the
globe and various different kinds of capacities and

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roles, so to start off and
just to give them a context for who

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you are and what will be drawing
from. Will you just share a little

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bit of your back ground as a
sales executive and business owner. Sure.

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So I was a sales executive for
a company that was originally an independent distributor

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network a lease and then we ended
up franchising the business. And so in

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my role at that company, I
worked there seventeen years. Twelve of them

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was in the sales arena. One
was VP of sales and the other was

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VP of franchise development. And what
franchise development means is that we recruit in

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franchisees, we help them build their
business, train them, and you know,

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just focus on what it takes to
help them be profitable and successful.

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And so it was all about sales, but also, you know, I

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believe that you can grow a business, but you can do it unprofitably.

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So one of the things that we
wanted to make happen was our franchisees would

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grow the business, but do it
profitably so that they would be in business

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and sustained. If you will.
And then you've been off on your own

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consulting, providing your own consulting services
for how long? So I've been doing

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that since twenty ten eight years,
eight years, uh huh and yeah,

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and focused on again businesses in helping
them to look at their profitability but also

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the productivity. So I work with
business owners directly as well as their staff

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as to you know, what are
are they all about in their business,

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their vision, their mission, what
are they getting done, and what are

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they not getting done? What do
they need to focus on that would bring

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the business to the next level.
So sometimes it's what do they need to

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stop doing, what do they need
to start doing? And we look at

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all of that, assess the business, and then I get involved with the

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team to implement in the business,
you know, to get to impact res

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great. So one of the reasons
I wanted to have you back on again,

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Lauren, is one we talk a
lot on this program about people really

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pursuing meaningful work, going after their
dreams, which of course I stand in

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that place of helping people greach for
their dreams and live an inspired life.

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And yet at the same time,
there's this little thing called profit and actually

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having money in the bank and actually
paying for our bills. And so part

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of the reason I wanted to have
you on is to not necessarily ground us

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back per se, but really give
us some tools and resources to really stand

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in that space of being a profitable
business, not just one that does really

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amazing things that inspire us. So
I want to understand a little bit about

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that experience that you had. Obviously
you were rivet on helping franchise owners become

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successful and to make money, but
you've really created a niche as far as

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I could tell, Lauren, in
productivity and profitability. So what was it

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about your experience that governed you to
that place? Particularly so A Lisa,

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it's interesting that you bring that up
because as I looked at our franchise network

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and the franchisees in it, those
that were successful and uh, let's say

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loved their business were those that had
figured out how to be profitable, what

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product lines to focus on, what
to embrace, how to go out in

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the marketplace and find those clients to
be profitable. And then you know,

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along with that was you know,
they had resources in their business of uh,

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you know, people that work for
them and or outsourced resources as well.

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And you know, I look at
it as the CEO's role in that

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business is to figure out how to
use that human capital to the advantage of

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the business, to serve clients to
make money. Right, So it's kind

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of it's kind of a step by
step process there, right, And so

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the CEO if they're not focused on
where you know, how are people using

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the time for the business, uh
to make money? If you know that's

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kind of gone astray, then we've
got to corral it back in if you

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will. It is it truly is
a niche, but I believe it's one

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that kind of goes hand in hand. And you know, if we think

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about the old axiom a lease about
time and money, right, you know,

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time we can't make more of,
so we've got to use it widely.

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You know, we're you know,
are those minutes that just happened five

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minutes ago? They're gone? You
and I will never get those back,

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right. But on the money side, you know, if we if we

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are not profitable, we can go
make more money, but we need to

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use time and the right resources to
go make that happen. So it goes

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back to that whole axiom of time
is money, money is time, all

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of that and kind of linking those
two together. And so in my business,

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that's what I really wanted to help
business get focused on. Hmm,

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very very very important. I know
certainly for many many years that I ran

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in my own consulting business. Early
on, I made probably every mistake in

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the book in that way, and
then some I invented them on the fly

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those mistakes, if you will,
Lauren. So, one of the things

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I like to do in this program, as you might remember, is really

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give our listeners something actuable that they
can walk away with being able to apply

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what we talk about in their own
spaces. And so to that end,

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what are some of the bigger mistakes
that you see franchise and business owners making.

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What are they doing that's not working
for them? In general? If

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I look across my client base,
your current clients and past clients, it

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was the fact of being unfocused and
overwhelmed and not necessarily realizing where the profits

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in their business are coming from.
I call it the little money machine,

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right, And so it's kind of
stopping and saying, let's look at this

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business strategically. What are you doing
well, what are you doing right?

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What's working? And and as we're
going to get into you know, I

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believe that the profitability of the business
in the financial statement that shows those profits,

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that's the end scorecard. If you
will right. I can't tell you

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how many businesses I talk to that. I'll ask the question, well are

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you profitable? And the question the
answer will come back, I don't know.

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I have to wait until I see
my financial statement from my CPA,

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and you know my belief. So
the mistake that I think a lot of

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business owners make is that they're not
they don't know their numbers, they're not

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close to, you know, their
business enough to know, you know,

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are we making were we profitable this
week, where we profitable this month,

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where we profitable this quarter? And
if so, where did those profits come

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from? What kind of client,
what kind of product? Uh? You

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know, how did that all lay
out to make that happen? And I

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call it slice and dice the business. Look at the business from all different

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angles with a really truly objective view. And so the mistake is if we're

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focused on too many things or too
many products, too many offerings, sometimes

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we're not profitable on any of them, or just a little bit profit in

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some of them. Right, And
so that that review and the strategic look

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at the business really does make a
difference. It really does. And how

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often would you recommend, then,
Lauren, that that business owners look at

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their strategy and their areas of profitability. So it depends on the business at

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least. And it's a good question
because like, let's say you're a retail

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business or you're a brick and mortar
business. You have a point of sale

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system. You know what your daily
sales are, and you're you're looking that

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on an ongoing basis. You know
what your expenses are on a daily basis.

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You know, some businesses you look
at it on a daily truly on

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a daily basis. Now do you
make big long term decisions on a daily

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basis? The answer is no.
But then then there might be businesses where,

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let's say the it's not the brick
and mortar or it's the not you

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know, the daily transactions are not
you know, in a high number,

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but yet the revenue is big in
volume, and where the sales cycle is

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a little bit longer. Something like
that might look on a weekly basis,

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might look at on a monthly basis. In order to truly know where where

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you stand and what it's like.
You don't want to, you know,

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right now in twenty eighteen, to
look back at twenty seventeen and say,

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which we have done to make it
a more profitable year, right, I

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mean it's an ongoing process, and
the good businesses, you know, realize

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that and are on you know,
cyclical review of how are the profits coming

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into the business. Mm hmm,
okay, great. It almost reminds me,

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of course, of the various things
that I've been involved in over the

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years and have seen is just having
really some measure of having like a dashboard,

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right so you can kind of see
right where where, how fast is

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the car going, is it close
to running out of gas, is the

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engine about to overheat? You know, those kind of things. In so,

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I'm just really curious about that sort
of thing when you think about what

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what does it take to be able
to look at your business in a strategic

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way and really monitor your activities.
Because what I know, certainly from what

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you said that unfocused, overwhelmed feeling, I can certainly resonate with that,

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yes and go ahead. I was
going to say, as an example,

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I was speaking to a business this
this morning, one of my clients,

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and she felt that there was one
area of her business that she and her

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partner were very focused on. They
had a large couple of large clients and

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services on she had her systems and
she and you know, from the financial

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standpoint, she knew where her buildings
were with that particular client, she knew

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what the expenses were. Everything was
really really in place with that side of

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the business, or let's call it
the line of business, the product service

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that she offered, if you will. As we got talking, she you

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know, she said, there's another
area of our business that we provide a

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service. We're starting to build it, we want to scale it. But

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Lauren, it is chaotic and it's
a mess. And I said to Iryce,

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said, you're going to have a
real hard time. Let's say,

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you know, are you profitable.
Well, we really don't know because it's

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such a mess. Right, And
so I said, you know, this

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other side of the business is doing
well. You need to take some time

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to really truly brainstorm. What are
the systems you need to put in place

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to get rid of that chaos,
get rid of the mess, sort through

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it, put some you know,
routines, rules, procedures, policies in

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place so that it, you know, runs as well as the other side

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of the business. And I said, you know, why have you you

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know, why is it such a
mess? And she said, we just

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haven't spent the time putting those systems
in place and the routines to make that

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happen. And I said, if
you did that, would you be able

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to sort out pretty quickly, you
know, revenue minus your expenses, where

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you stand on a profitable basis?
And she said yes. I said,

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if you did that on a week
could you do that on a weekly basis?

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Is that of interest to you?
Do you need that information on a

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weekly basis? And her answer was
absolutely, And it was it was you

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know, her belief was that we
needed to they needed to see the profitability

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on a weekly basis to be able
to decide do we want to keep taking

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in those kind of clients, offer
those types of services and that kind of

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thing. And so for her,
it was really just creating the systems in

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place that were not there and causing
frustration and overwhelm. Got it. I

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want to talk more, Lauren about
some of the key decisions that go into

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those kinds of strategies, etc.
But let's do this first, just because

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I want to make sure that's a
thorough and a complete conversation. Let's go

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ahead and grab a break really quick, and then we'll come back for that.

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I'm your host Alis Cortez. We've
been on the air with Lauren Midgley.

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She's a business and franchise consultant,
author and speaker on productivity and profitability.

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She's the author of Awake Strategies to
Increase Profits for the Franchise Owner and

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other Insomnia business owners, and soon
launching a podcast called The Business of Profits.

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She joins us today from Grapevine,
Texas. We've been talking a bit

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about her background and a bit about
some of the factors that come into and

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take away from productivity and profitability.
After the break, we're talking about key

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decisions and some key areas that impact
profits. Stay with us, We'll be

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right back. Alice Cortez is a
speaker and engagement and development catalyst. She

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designs and delivers professional development, leadership
and engagement workshops and can bring her expertise

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to your organization will ignite meaningful development
within your workforce that will increase employee engagement,

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performance and retention. To learn more
or to invite Elise to speak to

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your organization, please visit her at
www dot Elisecortes dot com. She would

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welcome the opportunity to help get your
employees working on purpose. This is working

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on Purpose with elease Cortes. To
reach our program today, send an email

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to a lease Alise at Aleasecortes dot
com. Now back to working on Purpose.

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Thanks for staying with us, and
welcome back to working on Purpose if

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you're just joining us. My guest
is Lauren Midsley, a business enfranchise consultant,

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author and speaker on productivity and profitability. She's the author of Is six

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Am and I'm Already behind thirty Strategies
to get caught up in a crazy busy

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world, and is soon launching a
podcast called The Business of Profits. So,

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Lauren, we were talking before the
break about some of the decisions that

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that business owners might might consider taking, and I wanted to get more in

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detail about that before we get into
some of the areas of that impact profits.

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And so if you could weigh in
on what are some of the key

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business decisions to consider when assessing a
business? What should we be looking at?

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So I believe that there's seven areas
of a business a lease that really

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play into and impact our profits.
The first is what products slash services are

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you offering to the market. Second
is pricing, Third is people, fourth

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is markets, fifth is acquisitions.
Sixth is technology and the last one is

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productivity. Okay, I want to
really be through about those and really kind

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of bring them to life for people. So go for it. Okay.

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So in the product arena, you
know, if you're franchised, you have

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specific products you offer to the marketplace
based on you know, your franchise business.

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But if you're a business owner,
oftentimes there might be some adjacent products

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to your original offering. When you
started the business, you created these products

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inder services, you went into the
market with it, and you've been in

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business for a while, and you
know, things have changed over time,

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your customers' needs have changed over time. There might be some adjacent products that

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make sense to offer to your existing
clients, and so that might be profitable

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for your business. And let's say
where the energy comes about is those same

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products. Those products are offered to
the same client and so it's you know,

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let's say your salespeople can easily present
that product set, the new product

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set to the same client. It's
not necessarily that you need to make new

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clients with that new product set,
But what might be some adjacent products to

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your business that makes sense that would
be add on, and you go acquire

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that line, or you go find
a source to acquire those products wholesale so

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that you then can sell them to
your clients. I really want to as

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much as I can paint this as
a picture for our listeners. Can you

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give an example of what might be
an adjacent product area? Like, what's

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the product first? I mean,
what might be an adjacent product area?

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Okay, So there are massage types
of franchises that are out there, right.

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They came out when the original franchise
came out with offering massage therapy to

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the public. It was primarily just
massage, different types of massages, et

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cetera. What's now happened in that
business is now you walk into a massage

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franchise and you see that there's a
skincare line. You see that there are

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you know, the abilities to you
know, get facials, get other types

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of services because you're there all ready, if you will. So what happened

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for those types of franchises It allowed
them to expand their product line. They

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had to have some inventory as a
commitment for that skincare line, if you

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will. But then they had you
know, individuals resources that they hired that

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were the estheticians. So not only
did they have the massage therapist, but

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they had the estheticians. But I, as the client, am coming into

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that brick and mortar place anyway for
a massage. Now, this might be

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another add on product service that I
want to utilize. I'm already there is

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a client. It's you know,
convenient for me and for the franchise owner.

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It allows them to add on that
sale deep in the relationship that you

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know they have with me as the
client, if you will. So it's

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an adjacent product and it just makes
sense. Got that beautiful that was beautifully

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illustrated. That kind of really brings
it to life for us. Okay,

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Pricing pricing, pricing is a tough
one because what happens that I see at

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least, is most small business owners
do not want to increase prices. So

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let's say they started their business five
years ago products and services. They figured

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out what the pricing and their pricing
strategy was at the time. They may

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not have taken price increases through the
years, but in fact, their expensive

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expenses have increased. So that's one
area is like, is there some availability

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in your pricing strategy to increase prices
to clients that would make sense? I

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mean, clearly you're not going to
do price gouging, but you know that's

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just one area. When was the
last time that you took a legitimate price

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increase? And again that's offsetting potentially
on the other side, increased expenses,

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and you know, if there weren't
increasing expenses, the increase in that price

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of the product would fall to the
profitability line. The other area is sometimes

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we will take on a large client
and we will give them a special price,

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discounted price to get their business,
and then three years later, you

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know they've been you know, buying
our products, I've been buying buying our

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services. They you know, they're
at you know, tier one, triple

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A client. We love them,
but we've never really adjusted their original introductory

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price when they came in and started
with us. So what I find sometimes

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is that there's not an ongoing pricing
review with on a client by client basis.

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And again it depends on the business. But again looking at are there

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some prices that need to be adjusted? Started out with an introductory price and

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with three years later, we're still
giving them the introductory price, So that

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those are just a couple examples on
the pricing well, and then too I

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would think, and this is something
that I hear my clients talk about too.

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And some of these are you know, middle medium sized companies all the

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way up to very large companies.
Deciding determining what that price is. It's

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got to be a whole other art
in and of itself. Absolutely it is.

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And again, is it you know, taking the cost and you know,

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using a multiplier buy it, or
is it coming at it in a

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different way of you know, whatether
the competitors are doing, or is it

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looking at here's my product and service
and I'm going to price it higher in

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the marketplace because I wanted to be
seen as a premium priced entity and I'm

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willing to you know, provide the
value and the add on let's say services

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and benefits that you know the clients
are looking for for that solution, if

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you will. Is a huge area
that truly truly impacts profitability. And I

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will tell you give an example is
a restaurant. If they have their product,

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their pricing on their menus to love
right, chances are they're not going

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to be around for very long because
they're just not going to be able to

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make it. Pricing is a key
eat area on profitability. I totally understand

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that, and I well, we
could devote probably a whole episode to pricing.

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In fact, I did interview somebody
sometime back on value based pricing,

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so we'll sidekick that for a little
bit because I want to make sure and

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get through the rest of all these
as well. But the third thing,

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because I took notes, as you
mentioned, you talked ps people. So

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people are huge googe in the sense
that you know, I kind of put

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people into two categories. One is
the internal staff that are reporting to you

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as a business owner, and your
outsourced vendors let's say that are reporting to

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you as well, but they're all
helping you to create that value in the

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marketplace. And then the other category
on people is truly your clients and customers.

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But the area I want to touch
on here is oftentimes we'll make decisions

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to hire someone and they come in
and they let's say, may not have

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a clear direction on their roles and
responsibilities, but they come in and decide

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how they want to do the job. And over time, you as the

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owner, allow that to happen.
But then you become dissatisfied with their performance

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with you can become dissatisfied with the
job not getting done, or you know,

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they're they're kind of off on tangents
that you really don't want them to

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be on. And so people is
it's a huge asset for the business.

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But on the other hand, it's
a huge expense, or it can be

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anyway and impact profits if you don't
have the right people in place. I

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find oftentimes that small business owners are
hesitant to make decisions and or confront poor

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performance and have a conversation about performance. But yet all of that can impact

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profitability in a huge way. I
mean, just think about think about the

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last time you went into a store
and in fact, I just had this

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this afternoon where that the employee.
You went into this establishment, and the

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employee gave you some attitude, if
you will. But it's a place that

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you love going to. You love
their products, you love their services,

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but this employee just kind of left
a bad taste in your mouth. And

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you walk out the door and in
your impression of that business is different than

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when you walked in. You walked
in and positive, you walk out as

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a client negative. So the question
is, do you have people in your

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organization that are let's say, you
know, uh, not representing your company

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in the way that you truly want
it represented. And you know, I

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think there's a difference between someone that
needs information as an employee to do their

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job well versus someone that you know
and they're trying right and they have a

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great attitude versus someone who you know, they may know how to do their

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job well, but they have an
attitude and it comes across to your clients

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in a negative way very quick.
I just wanted to presence this for our

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listeners. I was having a conversation
with a small business owner who provides services,

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certainly above board services, but I
want to say what kind because I

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might actually identify them, but they're
they're in Denver, and she was saying,

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you know, I really have a
problem with one of my key employees,

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but I'm so scared to do anything
about it because the labor market is

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so tight. I'm afraid I can't
find anybody to backfill this person. And

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I just sort of put up with
it and a lot of times do his

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job because I'm fearful, you know, three point eight percent unmployment rate in

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the United States, that I can
actually find anybody, you know, in

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a timely matter to backfill him.
So certainly recognize that the people part of

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the equation. And that's a big
reason I'm going The business that I'm in

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is incredibly problematic for small business owners
or ANYUS owner for that matter. Absolutely,

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So if you think about what you
just said, is she's doing some

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of his work anyway right now,
that's right, and and so you know

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it's taking her time away from the
productivity of you know, other areas that

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she should be minding in her business. She's doing it anyway if she in

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fact, again it's confronting the performance
first, give the person an opportunity to

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correct behavior and kind of get back
on board. If they don't, then

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you know what would be the worst
that would happen If she were to,

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you know, terminate that indidividual.
She would have an impact in her profitability

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during that time when that person was
not in place. But if she's doing

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the work anyway, you know it, maybe it's it's the right move for

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her to make. I've seen I've
seen business owners that will keep somebody who

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is impacting the rest of the team
kind of a answer in the business if

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you will, and just be really
hesitant to take an action when they take

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that action, after they take that
action and they dig into what you know

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was left behind by that person,
and it's wow, I wish I had

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done this six months soon or nine
months soon, right, you totally get

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that, totally get that. Lorm
Okay, next big one seems to me

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markets. Yes, so markets,
I mean, and again, markets can

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be defined as whether it's a specific
demographic market or it could be defined as

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a geographic market. So let's assume
you're in the business here in let's say

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the Dallas area, but you know
there's another large market. You know,

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we have two large markets that are
not too far from this particular geographic area.

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Austin is maybe three hours away,
Houston might be four or five hours

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away. You know, what would
it take to expand into those markets?

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If the Dallas market is going well
for you, you and you find opportunities

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in the in those other areas,
and really that kind of lends itself into

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expansion or acquisitions. But it's you
know, it's looking at could I expand

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my business into other markets? And
again I'm speaking more on the geographic side.

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On the demographic side, it's if
you have a certain product service that's

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geared toward let's call it the general
public, if you will, Is there

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a way to niche down into a
market maybe you know, maybe what you

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have in your massage therapy And again
recently saw this was that in your shot

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massage therapy business there were lots of
posters and signs about arthritis. Well,

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then you're clearly going after a demographic
market of let's say, the baby boomers

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that might be experiencing that. But
you know those signs in that marketing helps

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kind of you know, expand into
that market that you may not have been

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as niched into. This reminds me, Lauren so much of a conversation ahead

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00:31:03.440 --> 00:31:07.880
with Bill Lee several several months ago
about how he's created a few businesses and

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it was just simply by listening to
his customers or even even prospects, talking

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00:31:12.559 --> 00:31:15.640
about their points of pain and what
they needed, and going, oh,

409
00:31:15.839 --> 00:31:18.720
I could I could address that,
I could solve that. So it seems

410
00:31:18.720 --> 00:31:22.599
to me that some of these ways
of being able to expand our business via

411
00:31:22.640 --> 00:31:29.160
either demographic or geographic markets is simply
to listen to or ask inquire as to

412
00:31:29.240 --> 00:31:33.880
what our clients need or aren't getting
from us. Right, and but and

413
00:31:33.960 --> 00:31:38.119
here's the here's the counterbalance to that
too, at least, is that if

414
00:31:38.160 --> 00:31:42.240
it defocuses our total business, then
we may not want to do it because

415
00:31:42.279 --> 00:31:48.319
that could impact profitability. But if
it focuses our but that focuses our business

416
00:31:48.359 --> 00:31:52.000
and we're already kind of doing we're
in the mode, we have systems,

417
00:31:52.039 --> 00:31:56.319
we have people in place already,
it makes a lot of sense to do

418
00:31:56.400 --> 00:32:00.160
it. And again it's a strategic
decision, you know, coupled with some

419
00:32:00.240 --> 00:32:04.559
marketing and you know, some training, development of staff all, you know,

420
00:32:04.640 --> 00:32:08.799
and it can happen and it really
does make sense. Mm hmmm.

421
00:32:10.000 --> 00:32:13.319
Yeah. And then again, like
everything else we've been saying in this conversation,

422
00:32:13.359 --> 00:32:15.079
there's an art and science to making
these decisions, which of course we

423
00:32:15.079 --> 00:32:19.759
don't have time to go into at
this point, but so much goes into

424
00:32:19.799 --> 00:32:22.000
these decisions, and I understand that. I think just presencing these areas,

425
00:32:22.000 --> 00:32:27.039
these key areas, is a terrific
value to our listeners. So this is

426
00:32:27.079 --> 00:32:30.200
good stuff. Thank you, Lauren, You're welcome. You ready for the

427
00:32:30.240 --> 00:32:35.160
next one, which I think if
I I am my handwriting acquisitions, acquisitions

428
00:32:36.119 --> 00:32:38.519
and or expanding the business. So
I give an example, I work with

429
00:32:38.559 --> 00:32:45.400
a young lady who owned haircutting a
franchise, and she had started probably about

430
00:32:45.400 --> 00:32:49.799
eight years ago with her first one. I absolutely loved it. She did

431
00:32:49.839 --> 00:32:57.440
well and was very profitable in her
in her trading, if you will.

432
00:32:58.119 --> 00:33:02.720
She decided about two years go to
acquire three more, and she acquired three

433
00:33:02.759 --> 00:33:07.680
more with the thought that it would
you know, she knew had the systems

434
00:33:07.680 --> 00:33:10.799
down in place, and here was
the downside to it. The downside was

435
00:33:12.039 --> 00:33:15.680
she kind of grew too quickly and
she spread herself too thin with three acquisitions

436
00:33:15.759 --> 00:33:20.279
all at once within a two year
period of time. That no sense,

437
00:33:20.519 --> 00:33:24.440
Sure it does. So the so
the applauding part was, yes, acquisitions

438
00:33:24.640 --> 00:33:29.680
is you know, to go from
one unit to a second unit, or

439
00:33:29.720 --> 00:33:34.079
from one store to another store.
I mean that it creates those economies of

440
00:33:34.160 --> 00:33:37.759
scale which is going to help you
with profitability. But it does need to

441
00:33:37.759 --> 00:33:42.759
be measured and it does you have
to realize and this kind of brings in

442
00:33:42.799 --> 00:33:45.400
that whole productivity piece is how much
time do you have available? Do you

443
00:33:45.400 --> 00:33:50.519
have the right people and were managers
in place that you can delegate to And

444
00:33:50.799 --> 00:33:54.160
the reality in this situation, she
didn't have the you know, the managers

445
00:33:54.160 --> 00:33:58.799
that she could move right into those
three stores. So she was burned out,

446
00:33:59.160 --> 00:34:01.880
and she was as profitable in those
three stores as she was the first

447
00:34:01.920 --> 00:34:06.680
one. Ultimately, you know,
it sorts itself out, but there's a

448
00:34:06.680 --> 00:34:09.840
lot of heartache and angst. So
acquisitions are really important. Second area of

449
00:34:09.920 --> 00:34:15.480
acquisitions I always like to help a
business look at is is there somebody in

450
00:34:15.519 --> 00:34:21.079
your marketplace that looks just like you. Likely it's a competitor, but let's

451
00:34:21.079 --> 00:34:24.320
say they're getting on in years and
they don't have a succession plan in place,

452
00:34:24.840 --> 00:34:29.280
and you know and or you know
their kids don't want to be in

453
00:34:29.320 --> 00:34:32.639
the business, and you approach them
and say, you know what, Sally,

454
00:34:32.679 --> 00:34:37.039
when you're ready to sell your business, I would love to talk to

455
00:34:37.039 --> 00:34:39.199
you. And now, Sally's probably
going to take two three years to think

456
00:34:39.239 --> 00:34:45.360
about that in terms of getting ready
to sell their business. But if it's

457
00:34:45.400 --> 00:34:49.199
a business that looks just like yours, you can handle those clients. You've

458
00:34:49.239 --> 00:34:52.920
got the back office ready to go, and you might need just some additional

459
00:34:52.920 --> 00:35:00.599
resources. It's an awesome way to
really bring in some her mental sales beyond

460
00:35:01.320 --> 00:35:07.360
just your organic growth. I think
that is a very powerful point, and

461
00:35:07.400 --> 00:35:09.079
it requires kind of having your head
up if you will, so you can

462
00:35:09.079 --> 00:35:13.119
see the forest for the trees.
I want to talk a bit more about

463
00:35:13.119 --> 00:35:15.639
all these points and finish the last
two, but let's go ahead and grab

464
00:35:15.719 --> 00:35:19.039
a quick and last break here if
we can. Lauren, I'm Alice Cortez,

465
00:35:19.079 --> 00:35:21.880
your host boun on the air with
Lauren Midgley, a business and franchise

466
00:35:21.920 --> 00:35:25.519
consultant, author and speaker on productivity
and profitability. She's the author of Awake

467
00:35:25.679 --> 00:35:30.280
Strategies to Increase Profits for the Franchise
Owner and other Insomnia business owners, and

468
00:35:30.400 --> 00:35:35.000
is soon launching a podcast called The
Business of Profits. She joined us today

469
00:35:35.000 --> 00:35:37.480
from Grapevine, Texas. Stay with
us, We'll be right back. Alis

470
00:35:37.480 --> 00:35:43.880
Cortez is a speaker and engagement and
development catalyst. She designs and delivers professional

471
00:35:43.920 --> 00:35:49.079
development, leadership and engagement workshops and
can bring her expertise to your organization.

472
00:35:49.360 --> 00:35:53.360
She will help ignite meaningful development within
your workforce that will increase employee engagement,

473
00:35:53.480 --> 00:35:58.679
performance and retention. To learn more
or to invite Elise to speak to your

474
00:35:58.760 --> 00:36:04.199
organization, please visit her at www
dot Elise Coortes dot com. She would

475
00:36:04.280 --> 00:36:15.599
welcome the opportunity to help get your
employees Working on Purpose. This is working

476
00:36:15.639 --> 00:36:20.480
on Purpose with Elise Cortes. To
reach our program today, send an email

477
00:36:20.519 --> 00:36:28.039
to a lease Alise at Alisecortes dot
com. Now back to working on Purpose.

478
00:36:29.239 --> 00:36:30.920
If you're just tuning in, My
guest is Lauren Midgley, a business

479
00:36:30.920 --> 00:36:36.360
and franchise consultant, author and speaker
and productivity and profitability. She's the author

480
00:36:36.400 --> 00:36:38.880
of at six Am and I'm already
behind thirty strategies to get caught up in

481
00:36:38.920 --> 00:36:43.760
a crazy busy world and as soon
launching a podcast called The Business of Profits.

482
00:36:43.920 --> 00:36:46.000
I'm your host, Leise Cortes.
So before the break, Lauren,

483
00:36:46.039 --> 00:36:50.440
we were talking about those seven key
areas that impact profits and we were on

484
00:36:50.960 --> 00:36:52.519
acquisition and expansion. I didn't know
if you want to say anything more about

485
00:36:52.519 --> 00:36:57.519
that one before we turn to number
six technology. The only comment I would

486
00:36:57.559 --> 00:37:02.360
finish up with on the acquisitions is
that is a way to catapult your business

487
00:37:04.239 --> 00:37:09.760
to UH again, acquiring customers and
cash flow so that when you are ready

488
00:37:09.800 --> 00:37:15.239
to sell, you have, you
know, a significantly bigger business UH and

489
00:37:15.280 --> 00:37:20.480
that can be that can be powerful
if you will right some smaller businessesses.

490
00:37:20.840 --> 00:37:23.360
You know there may not be enough
interest from your you know, potential buyers.

491
00:37:23.719 --> 00:37:29.320
So it's it's it's a strategic decision
to help your businessess look bigger and

492
00:37:29.360 --> 00:37:35.559
better as well and then ultimately impact
profits. So moving into technology is the

493
00:37:35.599 --> 00:37:38.039
next various technology. And what I
would say here is that you know,

494
00:37:38.079 --> 00:37:44.280
there are in this country a fair
amount of what I would call just services

495
00:37:44.480 --> 00:37:49.639
businesses that are traditional in our community. It could be the painters, the

496
00:37:49.679 --> 00:37:54.239
plumbers, the electricians, it could
be you know, the ac guys that

497
00:37:54.400 --> 00:38:00.400
you know are really you know,
a big part of what happens in our

498
00:38:00.440 --> 00:38:05.079
homes and in our communities. But
some of these businesses have been were started

499
00:38:05.159 --> 00:38:10.039
in twenty thirty years ago or more, and they're still doing a lot of

500
00:38:10.079 --> 00:38:15.480
their processes in a manual way.
So my question for those business owners is

501
00:38:15.519 --> 00:38:22.239
to say, you know, can
you align yourself with a thirty twenty something

502
00:38:22.320 --> 00:38:27.639
thirty something who's comfortable with technology that
can come in and take a look at

503
00:38:27.679 --> 00:38:34.920
your business and determine how to streamline
some of your processes so that you know,

504
00:38:35.400 --> 00:38:38.559
let's call it, I call it
the drawer, the four drawer file

505
00:38:38.679 --> 00:38:46.119
full of customer folders right where there've
been where there have been services and products

506
00:38:46.119 --> 00:38:50.880
that have been delivered. Your gold
mine is in that four drawer filing cabinet.

507
00:38:51.159 --> 00:38:52.920
And not only is there just one
a lease, there might be ten.

508
00:38:53.719 --> 00:38:57.760
In those kind of offices. They
kept great records, but they're all

509
00:38:57.760 --> 00:39:00.840
paper now, and so how does
that get converted and you know, ultimately

510
00:39:00.880 --> 00:39:06.880
streamlined with technology. It's out there
and sometimes, you know, those of

511
00:39:06.960 --> 00:39:08.800
us that have been in business long
time, we don't have the energy to

512
00:39:08.880 --> 00:39:14.960
go make that happen, but it's
hireable to bring in, uh, you

513
00:39:15.000 --> 00:39:19.039
know, somebody who's very comfortable with
technology to make to streamline the business and

514
00:39:19.159 --> 00:39:23.880
ps all of that adds to profitability, can increase customer revenue, and you

515
00:39:23.920 --> 00:39:29.320
know, just make your business much
more attractive for sale when you're ready to

516
00:39:29.320 --> 00:39:32.480
make that happen. That is really
stellar advice in my view. Not like

517
00:39:32.599 --> 00:39:36.079
not that the rest of this hasn't
been as well, but certainly I think

518
00:39:36.079 --> 00:39:38.199
about in my own life how I
use technology and consume technology, and how

519
00:39:38.239 --> 00:39:42.159
reticent I tend to be to change
it. And I just have done the

520
00:39:42.159 --> 00:39:45.400
same thing over and over again,
and I recognize that business owners do the

521
00:39:45.440 --> 00:39:50.159
same thing at the detriment of their
client acquisition and service. I totally get

522
00:39:50.199 --> 00:39:54.079
that. Yes, yes, last
one is productivity. Productivity. And the

523
00:39:54.119 --> 00:39:58.880
way that I look at this,
if from a business owner standpoint, is

524
00:39:59.519 --> 00:40:04.639
most reasons why people get into business
for themselves is to have flexibility and freedom.

525
00:40:05.199 --> 00:40:07.880
And yet when you speak to business
owners, how's that going, They'll

526
00:40:07.920 --> 00:40:13.239
answer, well, you know,
I haven't had a vacation in two years

527
00:40:13.360 --> 00:40:16.519
or more. You know, my
business is chaos. I'm working fourteen hours

528
00:40:16.519 --> 00:40:19.960
a day, I always work weekends. I mean, all of those,

529
00:40:20.760 --> 00:40:23.719
all of those comments I hear a
lease and it breaks my heart because it's

530
00:40:23.760 --> 00:40:27.199
one of those things of saying,
you know, take a look at your

531
00:40:27.239 --> 00:40:30.400
time, and take a look at
the resources that you have. You know,

532
00:40:30.480 --> 00:40:35.920
let's call it revenue, new money
that you have to buy to either

533
00:40:36.079 --> 00:40:39.960
hire as a staff person or an
independent contractor. And where do you need

534
00:40:40.079 --> 00:40:45.599
to spend the money in your business
so that you have the time to,

535
00:40:46.320 --> 00:40:51.760
you know, be that visionary in
your business and not be doing the minutia

536
00:40:51.800 --> 00:40:54.840
and working in the weeds. And
you know, when I approach business owners

537
00:40:54.880 --> 00:40:59.639
on that, you know, I'm
trying to really truly elevate their vision of

538
00:40:59.679 --> 00:41:02.760
who they are in their business.
They're the CEO they're their president, they're

539
00:41:02.800 --> 00:41:07.880
the visionary, they're responsible for the
human capital and the capital to make that

540
00:41:07.960 --> 00:41:12.440
business run. But they don't have
to be you know, sweeping you know,

541
00:41:12.519 --> 00:41:15.679
the floor of the of the shop, if you will, right and

542
00:41:15.920 --> 00:41:21.000
and but that's what happens. And
so it's how how can you use your

543
00:41:21.039 --> 00:41:24.880
time most effectively for the role that
you have in your business? Mm hmm.

544
00:41:25.480 --> 00:41:29.840
I really really appreciate that. I
was just last week when I was

545
00:41:29.880 --> 00:41:31.559
talking with Brian and Orio. He
was talking about how in the beginning he

546
00:41:32.320 --> 00:41:36.360
literally would be on vacation when he
did get away, and the whole time

547
00:41:36.400 --> 00:41:38.599
he was gone, he was working
on proposals and responding to clients and handling

548
00:41:38.639 --> 00:41:43.599
issues, et cetera. And so
I couldn't agree more. Helping a business

549
00:41:43.960 --> 00:41:46.840
to really focus on being productive so
as to have that flexibility and freedom,

550
00:41:46.840 --> 00:41:51.440
it's just so important so that they're
running the business. The business isn't running

551
00:41:51.480 --> 00:41:55.400
them right exactly exactly, And there's
lots of ways to look at that.

552
00:41:55.480 --> 00:41:59.679
If you will, is your team
productive, is are they not? What

553
00:41:59.719 --> 00:42:04.280
are they need to do? What's
your mindset as the owner? You know,

554
00:42:04.360 --> 00:42:07.000
are there boundaries where you say,
you know what I'm it's a weekend

555
00:42:07.320 --> 00:42:09.239
and I'm not going to be working. You know, I'm going to have

556
00:42:09.239 --> 00:42:15.559
a start and stop times. And
you really hold to that, and I

557
00:42:15.599 --> 00:42:19.800
think a lot of times we need
to actually do less and not more right

558
00:42:20.679 --> 00:42:25.039
because we're more productive and we're doing
better with that limited effort, if you

559
00:42:25.079 --> 00:42:30.639
will. Well, that's going to
bring us to this next piece that I

560
00:42:30.719 --> 00:42:31.800
wanted to talk with you about.
Lauren. In our first conversation, we

561
00:42:32.199 --> 00:42:36.280
were chatting about what could we talk
about to really help our listeners today.

562
00:42:37.039 --> 00:42:40.079
One of the things that you mentioned
was that being able to focus on which

563
00:42:40.119 --> 00:42:45.119
of these areas can we impact profits
quickly? In so of what we've been

564
00:42:45.159 --> 00:42:49.360
saying so far, what would you
say to that, how could a business

565
00:42:49.400 --> 00:42:52.599
owner structure look at what they're up
against here to impact profits quickly? So

566
00:42:52.639 --> 00:42:57.760
I think the first place to look
at out of the seven that I've described,

567
00:42:57.880 --> 00:43:01.599
the first place to look is pricing
and truly look at you know,

568
00:43:02.000 --> 00:43:07.599
is your pricing strategy correct for your
market and your clients at this time?

569
00:43:07.760 --> 00:43:10.760
If not, what do you need
to do to make adjustments right so that

570
00:43:10.760 --> 00:43:15.400
that could be a quick fix,
if you will, to improve profitability,

571
00:43:16.760 --> 00:43:20.920
and it made just something that it
may be just something that needed to be

572
00:43:21.079 --> 00:43:24.760
done in your business. The franchise
franchise that I came from, we truly

573
00:43:24.840 --> 00:43:30.239
had annual price increases for our products. Our clients knew that there was going

574
00:43:30.280 --> 00:43:34.599
to be an annual price and it
just and it was our way of keeping

575
00:43:34.679 --> 00:43:37.519
up with the market but also keeping
up with you know, increasing expenses.

576
00:43:37.840 --> 00:43:44.400
So that's the that's the quick fix. I think the important one out of

577
00:43:44.480 --> 00:43:49.679
all the seven that I spoke about
is truly zeroing in on the people in

578
00:43:49.719 --> 00:43:53.599
your business. And that's a long
term. It's not a quick fix,

579
00:43:54.039 --> 00:43:59.400
but you know, there might be
some quick fixes when you look at I

580
00:43:59.480 --> 00:44:04.039
call it staf rank your staff in
terms of their performance, Who are your

581
00:44:04.039 --> 00:44:07.880
top performers, who are the rising
stars that are kind of in the middle,

582
00:44:07.920 --> 00:44:13.119
but they've got lots of potential.
And then if you've got some unproductive

583
00:44:13.119 --> 00:44:19.800
people, it really truly requires that
you make that decision and you make those

584
00:44:19.840 --> 00:44:24.559
replacements because it is impacting your profits. But ultimately, long term on people

585
00:44:25.039 --> 00:44:30.639
is the best. The best I
believe antidote uh is you know, just

586
00:44:30.760 --> 00:44:36.039
developing your people and honoring them.
And you know, I liked I had

587
00:44:36.039 --> 00:44:37.239
one business owner tell me and I
was like, oh my gosh, this

588
00:44:37.519 --> 00:44:42.280
really made a lot of sense.
These people that I've hired in my business

589
00:44:42.760 --> 00:44:47.079
are helping me realize my dream.
That's just profound, I know. And

590
00:44:47.119 --> 00:44:51.719
it was like, you know,
she happened to have been a professional,

591
00:44:52.480 --> 00:44:55.239
and she she said, I have
these people that you know, I would

592
00:44:55.239 --> 00:44:59.679
not be in business. I can't
do this alone. I need these people.

593
00:45:00.079 --> 00:45:02.559
And you know, I have always
dreamed of having a business. I've

594
00:45:02.639 --> 00:45:07.679
hired these individuals and I need to
honor and respect them and their talent,

595
00:45:07.760 --> 00:45:13.480
their competencies because they're helping me achieve
my dream. And that kind of goes

596
00:45:13.639 --> 00:45:17.320
code for they're helping me get flexibility, they're helping me with my freedom.

597
00:45:17.559 --> 00:45:22.639
They're helping me create an asset that's
somewhere down the road I can sell.

598
00:45:22.920 --> 00:45:27.119
Oh that's beautiful, and I really
appreciate how your presence. That I have

599
00:45:27.199 --> 00:45:30.039
another colleague here in town. She's
not quite a client yet, but hopefully

600
00:45:30.079 --> 00:45:32.719
she will be. Who speaks about
her people in the same way, and

601
00:45:32.760 --> 00:45:38.960
it's just really lovely. We are
very rapidly running out of time here already,

602
00:45:39.280 --> 00:45:43.920
Laurie. I can't believe how fast
time flies. You know, the

603
00:45:43.960 --> 00:45:46.639
show is about helping listeners across the
globe more meaningfully and productively connect with their

604
00:45:46.639 --> 00:45:50.719
work, and also really equipping leaders
to do the same, to be able

605
00:45:50.719 --> 00:45:53.760
to develop their employees. With that
in mind, what would you like to

606
00:45:53.960 --> 00:45:58.840
leave our listeners with I think that
I'd like to leave the listeners with that.

607
00:45:59.280 --> 00:46:05.599
It's your profitability and your productivity matters, and it's one of those things

608
00:46:05.639 --> 00:46:10.880
that you have to decide intentionally that
it's time to look at that and then

609
00:46:10.920 --> 00:46:17.559
make this just strategic decisions that make
sense with regard to those areas that we

610
00:46:17.639 --> 00:46:23.079
described today. If the profits are
not there and you're not clued into how

611
00:46:23.119 --> 00:46:28.440
to make your business profitable, you
know, you're not going to sustain that

612
00:46:28.559 --> 00:46:32.639
business. And you know, all
your hopes and dreams and investments, your

613
00:46:32.679 --> 00:46:36.920
family, people around you, I
mean, all of that is impacted.

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00:46:37.159 --> 00:46:38.199
I always like to say, at
least I hate driving down the road,

615
00:46:38.440 --> 00:46:42.639
you know. And there was a
business that I really liked and I liked

616
00:46:43.159 --> 00:46:45.000
going to, and then one day
I pull up and I look at the

617
00:46:45.000 --> 00:46:49.440
business and there's this little half sheet
eight and a half by five and a

618
00:46:49.480 --> 00:46:53.000
half white piece of paper tape to
the door and you look at it like,

619
00:46:53.039 --> 00:46:55.920
oh my gosh, there's no cars
here. What happened? And you

620
00:46:55.960 --> 00:47:00.159
walk up to that business and you
know it's we're no longer in business,

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00:47:00.199 --> 00:47:04.199
you know, whatever it might be. Next thing you see is the fur

622
00:47:04.280 --> 00:47:08.039
least sign on that business and you
think about it, like, what happened?

623
00:47:08.039 --> 00:47:12.280
It looked like they were doing well. It looked like they had lots

624
00:47:12.320 --> 00:47:15.639
of customers. You know, where
where did they go wrong? Where did

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00:47:15.719 --> 00:47:19.440
they not you know, make the
right decisions? And that's why I believe

626
00:47:19.480 --> 00:47:22.079
decisions and profitability are so tied together. Beautiful way to finish. Lauren,

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00:47:22.119 --> 00:47:25.039
Thank you so much for joining us
today and lending us your wisdom and all

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00:47:25.079 --> 00:47:28.800
your experience. Has been great to
have you back on. Thanks a least.

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00:47:29.079 --> 00:47:30.320
If you want to learn more about
Lauren Midgley or her books, her

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00:47:30.400 --> 00:47:35.599
speaking of her podcast, visit her
website. It's Laurenmidgeley dot com. L

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00:47:35.679 --> 00:47:39.000
A U R E N M I
D G L E y dot com.

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00:47:39.159 --> 00:47:42.400
See you next week. Remember that
work is at least one third of our

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00:47:42.400 --> 00:47:46.480
life, so let's work on purpose. We hope you've enjoyed this week's program.

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00:47:46.880 --> 00:47:51.920
Be sure to tune in to working
on purpose, featuring your host Alas

635
00:47:52.000 --> 00:47:57.639
Cortes each week on the Voice America
Empowerment Channel. This week, find your

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00:47:57.679 --> 00:48:20.039
life's purpose at work sh