I
n business, numbers matter. A successful
business brings in more than it spends: it’s
profitable. Unless you’ve got a Rockefeller-level
savings account, without profits you’ll eventually
struggle to pay your rent or mortgage, worry about
having to eat cup-a-soups until Christmas, and be
unable to buy fresh fruit without rummaging down
the back of the sofa for loose change. On the other
hand, get the numbers to work and you could have
the lifestyle you covet, be it traveling the world
while bossing your business or treating yourself to
theatre tickets that don’t involve craning your neck
around a pillar to see the stage. The numbers need
to add up, or your lifestyle won’t.
So far so simple, but while researching female entrepreneurs I discovered that a quarter of women
- a proportion double that of men - feel they do not
have the financial skills necessary to start a business. Equally as concerning, the most ambitious of
female-owned start-ups may one day approach a
private equity house for money but several studies
have noted that private equity houses tend to be
dominated by white, middle-aged men, who can
often show unconscious bias by investing in – you
guessed it – other white, middle-aged men. For
a female-owned business to get the funding they
need, they will need to know their numbers inside
out and not give anyone an excuse to dismiss them
or their ambition.
I don’t accept any of these trends as an unchangeable truth; women are as able to deal with finances
than men and they deserve equal opportunity to
grow successful businesses that have a positive impact on the world - employing people, contributing
taxes to the economy, or just making a damn good
product that makes our daily lives better.
With that in mind, here’s a simple three-step plan
for female entrepreneurs to dominate their numbers.
1. SET BOSS GOALS
Be specific on your financial goals, and set shortterm and long-term goals.
Your first goal should be your baseline goal. This
is what you need to subsist. No fancy splurges, but
you can pay rent/mortgage and you won’t be living
on cold beans. To determine this number, write
down all your core monthly expenses. The roof
over your head, the gas/electric/water bills and
food, plus any monthly business expenses such as
website hosting and materials. The sum of these is
the income you need to earn to break even: your
baseline goal.
Your other goal should be your longer-term ‘living
your life’ goal, which represents what you will need
to earn every month to live the life you really want
in the next three to five years. What holidays do
you want to take, where would you live? As with
your baseline goals, be as specific as possible so
you know the monthly income required to cover
these and can set a plan for your future to help get
you where you deserve to be.
Remember both these goals and commit to them.
Do whatever it takes that you can’t avoid them.
Write them down, tell people, keep them pinned
above your desk. They’re the foundation of your
business.
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