How Do You Measure Success : Newsletter June 11, 2021

Hello All,

There are numerous definitions of success, the most popular of which generally relate to accumulation of money, fame and power. However, many of us measure our personal success in more nuanced terms. For some of us this might be a desire for a variety of life experiences while for others it might simply be the pursuit of a loving family. Measurement of personal success is deeply personal, somewhat intangible and defined solely by you.

Business success, on the other hand, can be measured quite specifically. The fancy word for the measurement of the success of your business is a Key Performance Indicator or KPI (also an acronym that can be used to sound smart). A key performance indicator is effectively a target that you devise to help you determine if you are meeting your objectives. Common KPIs that are applicable to most businesses include profitability, revenues and market share. Less common KPIs are specific to each type of business and industry. If you sell recurring software services, you might want to know the attrition rate i.e. how many recurring customers you are losing every month. A clothing retailer might want to know how many repeat customers they have every month. A writer with a series of books will want to understand how many first time readers go on to purchase the next book in a series. By defining the right KPIs for your business, you can customize marketing efforts , reallocate costs to better performing sales channels and ultimately have a more successful business.

If you own a car or are thinking about getting a car for your business, my latest (updated) blog post examines what you need to know from the perspective of both unincorporated or incorporated business owners and employees.

Speaking of KPIs, there are some simple financial measurements that any business owner can use to analyze their businesses. Check out my post on metrics to measure the success of your business.

Small Business Articles/Tips

And More on KPIs: If you are thinking about what types of KPIs that apply to your business, this article gives you a structure in the form of a “KPI Tree” that can help you evaluate and build what is most relevant and make your strategic objectives more tangible.

If your website is an important driver of your business revenues, this article from Squarespace gives you some insights on specific KPIs to track

Tax Tip : The deadline for filing your small business T2125s is Tuesday so don’t be late! Even if you can’t pay your balance, file your return anyway so as to avoid penalties which can be significant and easily avoided. Alternatively, if you haven’t been able to complete your return make an estimated payment as penalties are only based on taxes payable and any payment towards the balance will reduce this amount. And if i may say so myself, my Small Business Tax Facts Ebook can greatly facilitate the process if you want to try and do your taxes yourself. I usually recommend Ufile, but TurboTax or one of the other online tax software are usually fine.

QBO Tip: If you find yourself creating the same or similar invoices month after month, you can either copy invoices or create recurring invoices to simplify the process. To copy an invoice, open it up and click on “more”. You will see the option to copy it after which you can change any of the details on the invoice and resave it as a new invoice. Recurring invoices can be found in the gear section on the top right hand corner.

Books

Thanks for everyone who purchased my books. I really appreciate it and sincerely hope they have been useful. I would love to hear your comments!

Small Business Tax Guide: If you are doing your own tax return or simply want to understand how your small business taxes works, this guide attempts to explain tax concepts as simply as possible and provides somewhat entertaining examples (especially if you’re fan of detective fiction).

Small Business and Your Dividends: For those of you who are doing it yourself, and are a bit tardy with filing your dividend declarations, this book helps you understand exactly how dividends work and gives you a step by step tutorial on how to submit them to the government. There is also a free dividend checklist that you can download here.

Start Your Business: If you are planning to start a business, or have stumbled on to a business but now want to make sure that you haven’t missed anything, my book explores what every business owner needs to know from a regulatory, financial and tax perspective and provides actionable guidance.

All three books are also available at Amazon.

Discount: Save 25% on either guide by using the discount code “special” on my website.

QuickStart Your Quickbooks: My next book will be a step by step guide to setting up QBO and best practices. If you would like to be notified when it becomes available, you can sign up here.

Reviews/Feedback

For anyone who would like to provide their insights into existing blog posts, topic ideas for new blogs, feedback on my products/website or anything else, you can use my feedback form or email me directly. I’m always looking for ways to improve or provide value (to the extent possible) and this will be most helpful.

For anyone who has purchased my books through Amazon or even directly, and have found it valuable, a review directly on Amazon would be hugely helpful.

Thank you to all my subscribers. I really appreciate you guys and I look forward to hearing from you.

Hope everyone has a fantastic weekend!

Ronika