Happy new financial year!

I hope there is some fist pumping going on at your office this week! As the calendar clicks over to July 1 and the profit and loss statement clicks over to a fresh zero balance, I hope you have reason to celebrate.
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End of financial year is a big focus in business, often mixed in with messages of last minute sales, purchases and payments to ensure your tax is legally minimised, last ditch efforts to get the team across the line and hit targets you set yourself over 12 months ago.

I hope your busy June has resulted in a scorecard you are happy with.

I hope FY2019 was everything you intended it to be. Not just in terms of revenue and net profit, but also in terms of other milestones. I hope you achieved the work life balance you intended to, I hope you opened the new office you intended to, I hope you invested in your team as you intended to and I hope FY2019 delivered you some nice surprises too.

But that's all done now. Apart from the final few financial tweaks required to end the year with your accountant feeling as proud of the numbers as you, we're done.

Complete.

Now onto FY2020!

What will be your focus this financial year? It really is one of my most favourite times of the year and I sometimes wish we had a public holiday for all the business owners to reflect on what has been and what is to come. But then I snap into reality and think about how much I don't want to pay for another public holiday! I do however, love the opportunity to focus on what is ahead of us.

Here are some great questions for you and your leadership teams as you plunge into FY2020:

• What are my revenue goals? Be realistic here, don't just add 10% because the accountant sad it was a good idea. Can you stretch your business further? Or will your business actually contract this year? Build your business model to suit.
• What are my net profit goals? Often business owners end up with whatever is left over, rather than consciously planning for a specific target. Have you got opportunity to re-invest back into the business this year? Or is it time to pull additional funds out of the business? Again, be realistic, if you can do more than last year, get to it.
• What are my client mix goals? Have I identified my ideal client and my average client? Are they the same or different? Ideal clients need to be profitable and pleasant to work with. Are you identifying them by more than the amount they spend with you?
• Where am I getting additional revenue from? Do I need to sell more to my current customers or bring on new customers or a mix? 
• Have I got a plan on how to achieve all of these things? Remember, the profit and loss statement is an awesome scorecard, but it only measures the outcomes. We aren't actually in control of our revenue. However we are in control of the number of clients visits, number of proposals, number of tenders we complete, number of articles we write, number of Facebook posts we boost, and other inputs which in turn will lead to our revenue. With this in mind, what are your revenue and non-revenue targets for each month?

I hope FY2020 delivers everything you want and more.

Good luck! ​