money Archives - American Quilt Retailer

Time Flexibility

Winter is hard, and if you’re anything like me it’s easy to slip into work mode. Next thing you know, other areas of your life start to be neglected. A friend calls to catch up and you realize your life has been consumed by work.

So how do you stop yourself from slipping into the haze of work mode? Ironically, I’ve found scheduling time for myself and time for hobbies has been the best balance.

Setting and enforcing work boundaries has also been a help. Mainly setting specific work hours – and sticking to them. If I find I can’t complete my work during those set hours, I find a way to work more efficiently.

And finally, I try to have a long-term mindset. It would be nice if I could everything done at once but that is not only unrealistic but a one-way ticket to exhaustion.

Time Management

Another trick I’ve been trying is scheduling each hour of my work day (breaks included). My process is simple as writing my daily-to-do list on a post it note; looking at my calendar, and filling in what needs to be done. I spend leftover time furthering my education or planning long-term projects.

Supposedly this tactic helps to save your creativity bank, and so far I’ve found that to be true. Plus, it’s helped me be more realistic with how long certain tasks take and enforces not spending too much time on one thing.

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At the end of the day, profit is how we’re able to run a business. If at the end of the year, year after year, you’re unhappy with the profit you’re seeing, something has to change.

Enter profit first cash management. What does this mean? Essentially, Profit = Sales — Expenses. Simple right? What if we switched this equation around to account for human behavior. In other words, what if it looked like this:

Sales — Profit = Expenses.

Game changing, right?

What is Profit First?

What do we mean by profit first? Profit first teaches you to take the profit first then use the remainder to run the business. Essentially what we’re putting into practice the time-tested adage “pay yourself first.” The first step to get started is to complete the profit assessment, which you can find here.

If you’re beating yourself up for the numbers you see after completing the assessment, you’re not alone. Thankfully, this is just the starting point.

Open Your Accounts

Now that you know where your finances stand, it’s time to set up your bank accounts. The five foundational accounts include:

Income
Profit
Owner’s compensation
Tax
Operating expenses

And it’s recommended quilt shops should open an inventory purchases account also.

Another way to do this is to open a profit account, then transfer 1% of each sale into that account. If your business runs on $1000 / month, it can survive on $990 / month. Although this feels like nothing, you’ve started a habit that will grow month over month and change your business habits forever.

Inspiration for this post came from “Overcome Financial Stress” by Jacob Curtis published in the October 2021 issue of American Quilt Retailer.

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Tag: money

Time Flexibility

Time Flexibility

Time Management

Profit First Cash Management

What is Profit First?

Open Your Accounts