First, what’s viral marketing? Going “viral” isn’t just for social media platforms. It’s having a product or service with an experience such that customers feel compelled to tell others. Here are 2 components of viral marketing that are worth your time (and easy to execute): 1) Customer Reviews Studies show: Translation? First, you need an online presence;…
Pricing Power What comes to mind when you hear the phrase: “raise your prices”? Pricing will always be the fastest path to profitability. Full stop. The trick is getting it right. Before we unpack what goes into it, let me share this Charlie Munger quote on the concept of “pricing power” in business. Buffett and…
My goal at Profit Mastery is to save small businesses through consistent profit improvement. Along with our stellar profitability course, we’ll be regularly sharing tips, tricks, and strategies from our learnings. Thanks for reading. The ultimate business advice… A week ago, I attended a conference dedicated to business owners, search funds, and investors. There were several…
Focus on sales every day. This oft-touted advice is cliché but imperative to business success. Read the first few chapters of Ready, Fire, Aim by Michael Masterson and you’ll get the urge to start selling. You should dedicate some level of effort to selling, every single day. Most businesses don’t have the proper systems in place or resources for driving sales….
I’ve briefly touched on my background but haven’t yet shared the full story: my name is Colin and I’m an entrepreneur building a collection of businesses inspired by Berkshire Hathaway. We’re actively applying the Profit Mastery tools in our companies and this experience is a key driver on why we wanted to acquire Profit Mastery. It reminds me of an…
There are only 3 ways to convey information: If we rank them from easiest-to-hardest-to-understand, then it probably goes: 1) pictures, 2) words, 3) numbers. So why are we exclusively using numbers to understand our financial position? Enter: pictures. Why this matters? Aside from our inability to decode numbers in general, a single number (or a…
With Labor Day promotions behind us, it feels like a good time to talk about the financial impact from discounts, promotions, and marketing campaigns on your business. It goes something like this: These aren’t necessarily bad strategies. Remember, promotion is one of the “4 P’s of Marketing.” But we typically fail to account for them properly when…
“Send me your financials.” What I receive in response to this question is typically a mixed-bag. Maybe there’s a different answer depending on the recipient, but I’ll share my 5 favorite financial reports. These are the ones I’d want to see in order to really help someone. The 5 best financial reports (in order): The point is to look…
What’s your margin? Does anyone ask what your margins are or tell you to watch your margins? What does that actually mean? Understanding margin(s) starts with which one you’re looking at. Here are the “big 4” that are worth your time: A “margin” is simply the difference between the price and cost of something. It…
We posted this on LinkedIn not long ago and it absolutely oversimplifies things but at its core, producing good income really does happen this way: 1) Get good bookkeeping – hire help!2) Review financials regularly – and know what they’re telling you3) Track metrics (scorecard) and cash flow4) Make adjustments based on dataThere’s a lot that goes…