Lighthouses, Business and Earning Money
How does a lighthouse relate to business and what does money have to do with either?
The lighthouse is a business and to continue to keep the shipping lanes safe, someone needs to pay – pay for maintenance, the lighthouse keeper and the power bill.
This morning Dennis Roberts shared Philosophy ( philo- “loving” + sophia “knowledge” )‘s photo on Facebook.
Roberta Budvietas
Use the Right Tools Right
There are so many tools on the market but finding the right tool and using is right can challenge most people.
The other day, we started the Ideas to $$$$s page on Facebook. Once we had the page up we debated getting the matching URL. So we opened Web Fire a new tool that can:
- Help with keyword research
- Help create videos
Which tool is right?
- Help find domains both keywords for new ones and expired domains
- Find find keywords for articles, blogs, content, and so much more with keywords and analysis
- Site tools including SEO, market analysis and so much more
- Press tools
- Article spinner and submitter
- Lead tools
It’s a fabulous tool for my writing for creating content but only if it gets used. And used properly.
Its like accounting tools, Every package ever created has remarkable feature but they only work for you if use them and understand the basics of what accounting is all about.
There are tools out there to manage your contacts but many people just use their CRM to manage the names and addresses rather than the relationships and interactions.
There are tools out there that help you find answers. Wikipedia is a great tool BUT I really am glad that my doctor and dentist and lawyer use proper tools to research answers.
There are tools to predict weather, earthquakes, tornadoes and much more but unless they are used right, people can and do die.
There are tools that help plumbers, builders, electricians, auto mechanics an repairman en of all types do their jobs but only because they know what tool to use and how to use it.
The Right Tools for You
When you go into business, you need tools. And you need to learn how to use those tools. You need to learn when to use those tools.
But a tool is only good if you use it and learn to use it right. The Web Fire tool is an example of having power but not using it. When we got the tool, I decided that is would be one tool to leave to the rest of the team to learn but when we did some exploring on Ideas to $$$$s the power of this tool for me finding the right words for articles and blogs.
In the kitchen, I have drawers full of gadgets to do everything from grate garlic to slice avocados. In my office, I have gadgets galore.
And the sad thing, like Web Fire, I still only know how to use a small portion of those tools right.
Do you have any tools that you bought but are still learning how to use and use right?
In the comment box, share the last tool you bought for your business. Tell me – when are you going to learn to use them right?
Tools are great time savers but every tool takes time to learn when to use it, how to use it, where to use it and every tool takes a bit of practice to use it right. Will you take that time to learn to use the right tools right for you to succeed in business?
May most of your ideas earn you $$$$s
Roberta Budvietas
What about the numbers?
This morning I read a great message from Sandi Krakowski. The title was “It’s Just Numbers” and the line that really
stood out for me was
“Behind every call, behind every lead, behind every opt in and email that we have the privilege of serving is a life.”
In business it is about the numbers but those numbers always relate to something happening with people. Every transaction is based on one person giving another person something that they want. The exchange, whether in goods, service, money, an address, or a comment is based on the exchange.
The Numbers
You always need to watch the numbers in business but if you take care of people, the numbers should take care of themselves.
And yes, sometimes you can give more than you get in the short run.
It can be a challenge taking care of the numbers but without doing the accounting or keeping track of the expenses and the outcomes, you can lose control.
- You need to know the costs you must cover with your sales to stay in business. These are broken into 2 main categories:
Costs to have something to sell (production costs – goods and labour)
Costs to keep the operation going (rent, phone, internet, transportation, taxes, etc.)
- You need to track that the money owing and owed is collected and paid
- You need to track your time, especially the time you promised to deliver in.
- You need to plan the actual ability to deliver. Without extra manpower you have only so many hours in any day to work.
- You need to monitor the time you spend doing a job to the number of hours you spend finding the next job.
Most people dislike numbers because they would rather just get on with their job. They believe that numbers complicate their job but…
- A chef uses numbers to figure out quantity needed to put quantity of goods on a plate at a price to serve to a client
- A fashion designer needs to work with the number of meters of fabric, notions and other bits that goes into a creation that will sell for a price
- A trades person works out the parts and the hours to quote to fix something.
- A manufacturer works out the the quantity of raw materials and labour they will need to produce the items to sell
- A retailer figures out the number of items they will sell and looks at things like size and colour too.
Roberta Budvietas
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Guest Blogging with Jon Morrow
